This is my 4th or 5th year of hunting turkeys. Because of a extreme reactions to poison oak I am limited to hunting an area about 150 miles from home. The turkey numbers there are low, but hey!, it's a place to hunt! Because of work obligations, I've only been able to hunt a couple of days each year
A few years ago I called in a cow elk and calves using a Freak pot. This year I was working a gobbler (Finally found one!) but couldn't get him to come past my shooter. After about half an hour of waiting, I heard him gobble still in his original location, so I quietly put my new slate into a vest pocket and stood up. I took about three steps out into a barren from the juniper thicket I was hunkered in, and from a rimrock less than a hundred yards to my left came a very loud irritated and mournful howl, followed quickly by a half dozen more.
I've hunted, fished and camped in coyote country for 55 years, but I've never heard a coyote with a howl like that. The timbre and volume were all wrong. The closest ranch dwelling was about 12 miles away, ruling out dogs. However, wolves migrated back into NE Oregon about 8 or so years ago, and I was fortunate enough to hear some one night 4 years ago, and this sounded like that. My gut tells me that even though wolf numbers are still low, I had one responding to my calling, hoping for a snack.
Even if it was just a big coyote, it was great fun!
We didn't score a bird in the three days we hunted this time, but the season still has weeks to run and I'll be back out there for another 3 or 4 day trip.