After receiving a copy of the video from our very own River Runner, who asked me to write a review in exchange for the DVD, I sat down and watched the non-stop action of hunting coyotes in the wide open spaces of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Southern Colorado.

Let me begin by describing what this video is, and is not. First of all, it is an amazing display how close coyotes can be called, and how multiple coyotes can be called into a single stand. Secondly, it is also a demonstration of how coyotes respond to calling and how they approach a stand. Since almost all of the footage is of coyotes that are called in open county and can be seen coming in from as far as three quarters of a mile away, there is plenty of time to observe how they respond to the calls, set up and wind direction. One of the more amazing aspects of this video is that over half of the coyotes are taken with a shotgun!

This is not however, a "how to" video with a lot of instruction on calling, set up, or what makes good calling county, although, there is some of that. It is also not one of those videos with a lot of hero shots, high five's, or product advertisements. It is simply a "lets's go out and shoot some coyotes" video that was a pleasure to watch. Even though the calling county looks nothing like anything I have here in the south, or what you will typically find in the east, I think that it will be something that any predator hunter will enjoy regardless of their geographical location.

Now more specifically, what does it contain, and what can you expect? Although it does not state the running time anywhere on the box, I would estimate that it is about an hour or so in length and has footage of over 36 coyotes being called in and shot. All of the calling is done by either Jeff or Les Johnson who are winners of the Midwest, National, and World Championship coyote calling contests, all in the same year no less. Together, they have won the Midwest twice, been crowned National Champs four times, and as a team placed as high as second in the World Championships. All of this comes straight off of the box.

Now, what's not on the box. These guys are all business when it comes to calling and shooting coyotes. All of the calling is either done using the Crit'r Call (Pee Wee and Standard) or by Les simply using his mouth and hand. There is a short segment in the middle of the video, where they discuss how to use the Crit'r Call to make various calls and how to position the call within the mouth to produce the desired call and/or volumn. One might think that since these guys are calling coyotes in wide open country where they can see them coming from long distances that they would show off their marksmanship and snipe them from long range. Better think again. How about calling in a coyote from half a mile away, and then taking him out from 7 or 8 steps away? As I said, over half of the kill are made using a shotgun, usually a Browning Gold 10 gauge with buckshot, while the rest are taken using a H&K .223.

Just to show you that they can make a long shot when needed, they take one at a laser ranged 617 yards. The highlight of the video, though may be where they take 5 coyotes from a single stand. This is not a running and gunning stand either. This is calling in 5 separate coyotes, and picking them off one by one. Pretty impressive. Three of the 5 are taken with the shotgun at ranges of 20-25 yards (2 of the 3 fell within a few feet of one another) while the other two were taken with the .223 at ranges of 200-225 yards. All in all, they killed 11 that day.