By Mark Sessions | Tennessee

I hunt coyotes year-round in middle Tennessee. I use both a rifle and a shotgun depending on the property that I'm on. My shotgun is my favorite weapon for the way I hunt. It's quite a challenge in the thick Eastern terrain. I love to call them in close and see the intensity in their eyes and the way they hunt their prey.

It was November 4th as I approached my stand location at first shooting light. I was walking up a gnarly grown-up fencerow. I was deliberately slow and quiet on my approach as I topped the rise to see the land below. Looking across the property line onto another farm about 250 yards out I saw what I believed to be calves running around and kicking like they will sometimes do early and late in the day. I quickly realized that they were coyotes. I quickly sat down and counted four of them as I got my FOXPRO Fury caller out of my fanny pack. I set the caller between my legs, as there was no time to move it away from my position. I took a deep breath, turned the caller on young rabbit distress and let it rip. The coyotes quickly stopped chasing each other and disappeared into the surrounding woods.

I sat for what seemed like forever, probably just a minute or so, before the first one appeared. It was a female and she was heading my way, so I concentrated on her. When she got in the 40-yard range I lined up the sights of my Benelli Super Black Eagle and fired a round of Hevi-Shot 3½-inch T-shot, dropping the coyote. When I shot, a big one jumped out of the fencerow and took off running down the hill. I quickly switched to coyote distress, hoping it would turn and give me a shot. It immediately spun around and bounded toward the other dead coyote. I guess he smelled the blood from the other one and turned and began to run, but I fired and dropped him, too. I kept calling, hoping that maybe I could call in one of the other two that I saw earlier, but to no avail. The first coyote was a 28.37 pound female and the second one was a 32.82 pound male.

I took off to my next stand at the very back of the farm. As I approached my stand I spotted the tree that I always sit against and beyond it I noticed a coyote down the hill coming up the fencerow. He was a good 100 yards or so away and I needed him to be within 55 yards. So, I sidestepped behind the tree and lip squeaked three times. The coyote started my way and once it was in range I downed my third coyote of the morning — a 27.1-pound female!

I don't think I would have had the same success that morning if I didn't slowly and quietly walk to my stands using the available cover to hide my approach.

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