Baiting

Not been much going on at my bait site this year so far. Thought you might get a kick out of this Mexican stand-off as they would call it in the wild west.

MFDC7979 by Double Up, on Flickr

Photos don't reveal what happened next. Cat was a long ways from a tree, so reckon I'll just have to see if he ever shows up again. In the meantime, mine and the coyotes paths are going to cross one of these nights, and there won't be a tree available to help him either. Ha!
 
Bait had visitor few minutes ago. Full moon clear night, 6” fresh powder. No NV needed for this one. Used 22-250ai with 70 Berger hp. DRT.

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About 10 degrees out, no wind, and bright. He had been challenging my old Lab for about 1/2 hr before he came in. They were both pretty wound up looking for a scrap. Hardest part was waiting for him to stay still. He would take a bite and then dance around barking and howling back at Bo. Fun to watch and listen to.
 
Happy New Year to all!

Congrats tj!

Week - you could become rich and famous catching fish! Lol!

Finally....something happening at the bait sites. I got in my stand at 6:40pm and at 7:30 last night a small red vixen showed up. She got an early New Year's greeting from the Remington. Around 9:00, same stand, sensor light flashed again for a red dog. Just as I locked in and shot, he turned and I had a nice, clean miss. Uuugh! I will have to work for him on another night.
4:00am bait site #4. Alarm goes off, i check the outdoor camera to find a Red at the bait. This time I use a red light and my .17. One shot to the head and dog down.
I'm hoping this run of activity continues.

Red vixen: https://youtube/j7B6CCYurmk

Red vixen: https://flic.kr/p/2knQQFc

2nd Red dog : https://flic.kr/p/2knUgb3
 
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Looks like quite a bit of action lately, Gobbler. Sorry, but I couldn’t open the video link.

A coyote showed up at my bait site on Dec 24 and again last night. Both were around 10:00 PM. Windy and rainy tonight, so I didn’t stay at the cabin.
 
GG, pretty work on the foxes. Hope it continues for you, and maybe another coyote or two thrown in. I managed to get this one before the first day of the year ran out.

He was in the field lying down pretty close to some deer for at least an hour. I thought it looked too small to be a deer, but he was near enough to them that I didn't think it could be a coyote. When I rechecked the field an hour later he was still there, but the deer has moved on.

I did two howls and he stood up. Did a little Pup whimpers and thought he was coming but actually was leaving. I couldn't get him to stop where I had the best shot, and my shot selection wasn't the best either. I had to use a Coyote Fight to finally get him to stop. I managed the shot at 343 yds., but I am still just too anxious and feeling the pressure of not having a very good year. I'm just not really feeling relaxed and confident when I shoot. Seems like I can't really get steady. Of course having to kill one at almost 350 yds. in the dark isn't the easiest thing to do anyway. Here is the video:

 
DU you seem to be doing quiet well for unsteady. Hopefully the action will pick up at the "diner" and you can regain your 2020 kill mode. I haven't seen a coyote at the new house since March, talk about a dry spell!! I still have reds and grays keeping the bait cleaned up.
 
I've had some of those long dry spells as well. This one hasn't been as bad as some, but still not many opportunities. It's tough to keep at it when you go months without seeing one. I have reds and grays that visit about every night as well.
 
Happy New Year all. Congrats to everyone on the kills. DU, wow...what a shot!!! Nice work. What rifle/cal on that one? Also, are you running a range finder as you scan, or are these pretty much known distances in that field? Very slow on the bait here as well. Finally slowing down a bit after a very busy Christmas, so hoping the bait site picks up now. Stay after em.
 
I shoot a Ruger Predator 243 Win. with 58 V-max at about 3,750 fps with a Banish 30 suppressor. I pretty much know the ranges from the ditches, but I usually shoot the range the next day with my rangefinder. No, I don't have one for night time use. Wish I did for sure. About the best I can do along that line is turn the lights on at the house and shoot the range with the rangefinder looking back at the house if I pick a coyote up at night.
 
Actually even though the shot him home, it was a poor decision. I've had so few chances on the bait pile this past 6 months and also calling opportunities have been limited as well that I'm just really making bad decisions. As an example: I was pretty sure the coyote had hit the bait pile already that night and was just relaxing in the field until he got hungry again. When I checked the cameras the next day, the coyote had hit the bait pile at 6:45 and again at 8:30. Those would have been easy 150 yd. shots, but my wife was in my office on my computer and so I didn't get chance to check during that time.

I tell you that because, once a coyote here hits the bait pile, he is almost sure to return. Therefore, there isn't any reason to take anything except a perfect shot. In this case, not only was I feeling the pressure from a bad season so far, but it was the first day of the year and I really wanted to kill one on the first day.

My crosshairs were all over the place. I wanted to shoot him earlier when he sat down, but I just could not get steady. Then when he was at the best distance, he wouldn't stop. So, I finally took a bad shot and made it work, but there was no reason to even take that shot. I knew he would be "hooked" and it was just a matter of time until he gave me the perfect opportunity.

I don't know, maybe it will help some of the other baiters to read this and analyze why they take bad shots at times. I know, I know, I should be happy over a 343 yd. shot in the dark with thermal, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a poor shot decision and should not have been made.
 
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