Video: Coyote Attacks Turkey Decoy at Full Speed
Dave Maas 04.25.17
Dr. Grant Woods from Growing Deer TV is a frequent contributor to OutdoorHub, and he recently shared this amazing video on his Facebook page. The clip was filmed by Oklahoma turkey hunter David Harris.
Watch close and hit the play button a few times. The coyote runs between two standing hen decoys, then specifically targets the hen that has been placed in the breeding position below the tom decoy. After realizing that things aren’t what they seem, the coyote prances past another hen decoy, and it’s already glancing side-to-side looking for its next meal before disappearing into heavy cover. Very interesting!
In the Facebook post, Woods asked: “Have you ever seen anything like this happen while turkey hunting?”
Thinking back on my own turkey hunting career, I’ve certainly seen plenty of coyotes, and I’ve had a few respond to my turkey calls, but they usually stop well short of shotgun or bow range. Unlike turkeys, coyotes have a keen sense of smell, and most often I think they detect ground scent left by our boots, human odor on our turkey decoys, or simply get downwind of us. After all, we usually don’t think about controlling human odor while turkey hunting.
That said, I did shoot a coyote that was stalking my turkey decoys in Florida. I had yet to kill an Osceola turkey to complete my Grand Slam, and for a moment on my first morning in Florida, I had gobblers approaching in thick cover. But then they went silent. Moments later, I found out why. A mangy coyote suddenly appeared from the cover, and he slowly put the sneak on my dekes. When he finally stepped with 25 yards, I ended his day with a load of No. 5s.
