I am having the worst luck this year!

jinxed247

jinxed247

New member
So I went out calling last night. The wind was a little stronger than I liked but at least it was blowing in a direction that wouldn't ruin my spots.

The first spot I went to was a bust so I cruised on down the road to another state land spot that I discovered and set up. I started out with the usual locator howls and when nothing responded I turned on my Foxpro and put on juv red fox in distress.

I let the call run for about twenty minutes, with me intermitantly changing the volume, and during that time I was also scanning with my xlr250 kill light. If there's one thing that I have learned over the years of hunting in NY is that you usually don't get the quick call in...when you do take advantage of it!

Anyways, when nothing came into the red fox in distress I let the area calm down for about ten minutes and then started up jackrabbit in distress.

Twenty minutes into it I am scanning with my kill light and when i bring the light over to the left here come a set of glowing eyes! As he enters the field he is heading right towards my speakers and I am howling at him at the top of my lungs but he's intent on eating my call.

I put my crosshairs on him when he was about 70 yards out and squeeze the trigger when he was trotting to my call. Boom! Whop and flop!! He tumbled over and just layed on the ground biting at his side. While he was doing that I switch the caller to ki-yi's and when nothing came in I shined my light back to the coyote I just shot and the little bugger was nowhere to be seen!

What the heck. So I trudge out to where I rolled him and found plenty of hair and blood. To make a long story shorter I tracked him for over two and a half hours until I lost all sign of him in some swampy cedars.

That makes me 0-4 on recovering coyotes this year! Yeah, I am getting them in but man it's getting more than a little frustrating!!!!
 
Tough luck, Jinxed.

I'm new to this stuff myself, but I've read a lot of accounts on here on where coyotes lay down on initial shot shock and then get up and run off.

I think maybe based on what I'm reading, a second anchor shot and then start your ki-yis. I'm not sure that two shots quick is worse than one shot and a lost pelt and plenty of frustration. Just my two cents.
 
Their vital area is small and they are tuff [beeep] beasts. Maybe you are furring them. If they sit there and bite at themselves it usually isn't a kill shot either guts or flesh wound. I'm still not sold on those vmax bullets. They are all over the place outta my AR and 22-250. Try boat tail hollow point. Sierra or Speer
 
Yeah...I going to be looking into a new coyote round. I am getting half inch groups out of the vmaxs but this is the first time that I am having issues killing coyotes with them.

The crappy part is that I had picked up four boxes of vmaxs the other day.
 
they are extremely tough... i shot the front leg completely off a large male one year in jan as a pair was running full steam at me. i shot him first and wheeled on the female thinking i had him in the bag only to turn around and see him running up the hillside across from me. i was stunned. never did find that bugar but from then on i never underestimated them. i keep shooting until they arent moving lol.
 
Originally Posted By: jinxed247Hornady 55gr vmax and yeah...next time I will be sending more lead downrange!

I'm guessing out of a .223.

That should be plenty of lead. Gotta be some less than ideal shot placement going on with your 4 get escapees..

Shoot em twice.
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Jinxed,I lost four in a row last year and I saw the bullet hit just behind the front shoulder. This year I have killed and recovered 11 but lost two,one was double tapped. They are very tough,some times they run on shear adrenaline!! I just try and concentrate and take my time on that first shot,most of the times thats easier said than done.
I stopped using the 55 Vmax,because I had a lot of really trashed fur and some crawl offs,not saying it was the bullets fault.I do however love the 50 grain Vmax in my 22-250.Bullet hits and does not exit.
 
Yeah they are tough. The one from the other night could have been a bad hit but the three from a couple of weeks ago were center mass so I don't know what happened to them. I guess I'll just keep shooting til they aren't moving or just try some head shots.
 
That sucks! Even though they shoot awesome, I would get away from those highly explosive V-Max's and try a soft point or hollow point type bullet. Our northeastern coyotes are a lot bigger than those in the south and especially on the facing/quartering to shots that often come with calling you need a bullet that can break some bone and still get well into the engine room. I don't mind an exit wound on broadside shots if it means I get the penetration I need on less perfect angles. If you handload, I have had good luck the Berger Match HP bullets. Stay with a "typical" bullet with - i.e. 50-55gr for the .22 CF's rather than be lured by the bit of extra velocity you might get by going lighter. Basically, think of coyotes as the "big game" of varmints and don't shoot prairie dog bullets at them.

I just recently shot the first coyote with my .223 WSSM and 55gr. ballistic tips. No doubt the velocity is plenty and so the cartridge should have hammered her, but it exploded on her ribs on a slight quartering to angle and made a horrific entry wound with no exit. She did died on the spot after a few seconds of spinning and biting but it is clear to me those plastic tipped bullets are not ideal for a 35# critter.
 
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That's what I don't understand...is that I don't think that i am getting any expansion. Everything that I have shot this year I have gotten a complete pass through. Even the two deer that I killed with it.
 
As I said I have had many,many kills with my 22-250 and the 50 grain Vmax,I can get four rounds in a nickel at 200 yards,and the terminal preformance is awesome,tiny entry,no exit all energy into the coyote. For my AR-15 however I use exclusivly Speer 52 grain H.P.bullets,they have a large tip opening and preform awesome at the 3100 m.v.out of both my Ar-15 rifles,also the large opening allows me to move my bullet forward a bit for added accuracy and still has plenty of room to feed in the magazine.
I mentioned last year that I lost four dogs,I had run out of my Speers,and was using Sierra 55 grain H.P. bullets well after the losses,I did recover a dog the I had shot from the left shoulder trough his body and exited his right hip,almost
12" of body mass and no expansion (and he ran for 200 yards and piled up in the woods,thanks to snow I would never have found him),I went back to my Speers. Now maybe if the 55 grain was used in my 22-250 it would be better at 3600 m.v. but who knows?? Try some of the bullets mentioned and see what works for you and your rifle.
And remeber everybody has bad hits and lost dogs,it sucks,but its gonna happen.
 
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I will be trying out some new bullets soon...or I might just order the .223 dies and components that I need and mess around with loads that way.
 
Jinxed,are you using an AR-15?I know this will kick off a number of people saying not to,but I do add a small crimp on my AR ammo only.If you get a set of Lee dies it should come with a special crimp die,its the best and easiest crimping die to use in my opinion.
 
Yeah I am using an Ar-15...I actually have the Lee press...I load for my .308 and my brothers .243. What would you recommend for a load?
 
Well,I would post in the reloading section,and you will get a ton of great loads for the AR!! I have had great luck with IMR-3031,Reloader #10 and #7,but I settled on VitaVouhri N-135 25 grains,with my Speer 52 grain H.P.'s. For my 22-250I use IMR-4064.
 
keep shooting. V-max in my opinion are on the soft side. If you hit the shoulder there's a chance the round will not enter the vitals.

best bet is to keep shooting.
 
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