Second Coyote
This stand was on the side of a hill, in a wide draw where I had a good view of the opposite hillside that had been burned and a saddle off to my right. The saddle dropped off into a fairly large canyon with a few smaller side canyons in it. I would be able to see anything coming from any direction just as long as they didn't sneak into the bottom of the draw and come right up the hillside I was sitting on. Guess what? That's exactly what this coyote did!
I had just ended my first set on the THO call and this danged coyote popped-up ten feet off of my left shoulder and was running right at me! I had my rifle laying on my lap with my right hand resting on the bolt handle. The barrel was pointed at the coyote, sort of. The coyote slammed on the brakes at five feet from the muzzle. I measured it! It was five freaking feet! I dropped my finger into the trigger guard and pulled the trigger with my rifle still in my lap. I figured I was going to splatter it's brains all over me, but I missed, duh! The coyote stood there for a second before fleeing. I suppose the muzzle blast deafened it and possibly blurred it's eyesight momentarily. I was shooting my .243. Well, when I racked the bolt, the coyote decided to give me a running shot and took off. I swung on it, pulled the trigger and all I heard was a loud click. I worked the bolt again and all I got was another click when I pulled the trigger. I looked at the rifle and my floor-plate was open and all of the cartridges where on the ground! Apparently, when I pulled the trigger with the rifle lying in my lap, my finger hit the floor-plate release because I didn't have a grip on the rifle. I grabbed a round off the ground, wiped it off, dropped it into the chamber and took a poke at the now fleeing coyote. I missed! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif All this time I was lip squeaking as loud as I could. I grabbed another cartridge off the ground, wiped it off, dropped it in the chamber and took another shot. Twack! Nailed it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I couldn't believe my luck. At this point the coyote was 150 yards plus. Everything happened so fast, I didn't really have time to think. After rolling the coyote I just stood there dumbfounded. Everything that could have gone wrong did and I still got the coyote.
I remembered to get the call in the photo this time.
As you can tell from the photo, by the time I connected, the coyote had made it to the area that hadn't burned.
Third Coyote - Three stands in a row
This stand was similar to the previous stand in that it was a burned area, but it was flanked on two sides by brush. I hope to have an ecaller someday for these areas because you could set them up at one side of the burn, hide on the other side and shoot the coyotes when they circle down wind of the call. They'd have to come out into the burn to get downwind of the call and they wouldn't be right in my face like this one and the last one was.
I had to sit next to a real small creosote bush and yucca for this stand. The only thing blocking my panoramic view was another yucca and a small dead bush just in front and to the left of me. I started in with the bunny blues on the THO call. It was 15-18 minutes into the stand and I started thinking about getting up when I noticed a coyote was sneaking up on me. It had it's head down low and was keeping the small bush between itself and me. This coyote was staring right at me through the bush and I couldn't move without spooking it. The bush was only 10 feet away and the coyote was getting close. I gave a lip squeek as I raised my rifle and she took off right out into the burn area. I squeeked again and she stopped at exactly 100 paces away. When I pulled the trigger it was lights out for this coyote. The two previous coyotes were pretty torn up from the 85 gr, HPBT but this one was a larger bodied animal. She had a small entrance wound and the bullet didn't exit.
Here's the third coyote.
I figured that three coyotes on three consecutive stands was a good sign and I want to save a few to share with other folks that might want to come hunting so I headed home. It wasn't even lunch time yet, but it was getting pretty hot out there. Thanks to all of you folks here for inspiring me to get back at these coyotes and thanks to TheHuntedOne for such a great call.
This stand was on the side of a hill, in a wide draw where I had a good view of the opposite hillside that had been burned and a saddle off to my right. The saddle dropped off into a fairly large canyon with a few smaller side canyons in it. I would be able to see anything coming from any direction just as long as they didn't sneak into the bottom of the draw and come right up the hillside I was sitting on. Guess what? That's exactly what this coyote did!
I had just ended my first set on the THO call and this danged coyote popped-up ten feet off of my left shoulder and was running right at me! I had my rifle laying on my lap with my right hand resting on the bolt handle. The barrel was pointed at the coyote, sort of. The coyote slammed on the brakes at five feet from the muzzle. I measured it! It was five freaking feet! I dropped my finger into the trigger guard and pulled the trigger with my rifle still in my lap. I figured I was going to splatter it's brains all over me, but I missed, duh! The coyote stood there for a second before fleeing. I suppose the muzzle blast deafened it and possibly blurred it's eyesight momentarily. I was shooting my .243. Well, when I racked the bolt, the coyote decided to give me a running shot and took off. I swung on it, pulled the trigger and all I heard was a loud click. I worked the bolt again and all I got was another click when I pulled the trigger. I looked at the rifle and my floor-plate was open and all of the cartridges where on the ground! Apparently, when I pulled the trigger with the rifle lying in my lap, my finger hit the floor-plate release because I didn't have a grip on the rifle. I grabbed a round off the ground, wiped it off, dropped it into the chamber and took a poke at the now fleeing coyote. I missed! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif All this time I was lip squeaking as loud as I could. I grabbed another cartridge off the ground, wiped it off, dropped it in the chamber and took another shot. Twack! Nailed it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I couldn't believe my luck. At this point the coyote was 150 yards plus. Everything happened so fast, I didn't really have time to think. After rolling the coyote I just stood there dumbfounded. Everything that could have gone wrong did and I still got the coyote.I remembered to get the call in the photo this time.
As you can tell from the photo, by the time I connected, the coyote had made it to the area that hadn't burned.
Third Coyote - Three stands in a row
This stand was similar to the previous stand in that it was a burned area, but it was flanked on two sides by brush. I hope to have an ecaller someday for these areas because you could set them up at one side of the burn, hide on the other side and shoot the coyotes when they circle down wind of the call. They'd have to come out into the burn to get downwind of the call and they wouldn't be right in my face like this one and the last one was.
I had to sit next to a real small creosote bush and yucca for this stand. The only thing blocking my panoramic view was another yucca and a small dead bush just in front and to the left of me. I started in with the bunny blues on the THO call. It was 15-18 minutes into the stand and I started thinking about getting up when I noticed a coyote was sneaking up on me. It had it's head down low and was keeping the small bush between itself and me. This coyote was staring right at me through the bush and I couldn't move without spooking it. The bush was only 10 feet away and the coyote was getting close. I gave a lip squeek as I raised my rifle and she took off right out into the burn area. I squeeked again and she stopped at exactly 100 paces away. When I pulled the trigger it was lights out for this coyote. The two previous coyotes were pretty torn up from the 85 gr, HPBT but this one was a larger bodied animal. She had a small entrance wound and the bullet didn't exit.
Here's the third coyote.
I figured that three coyotes on three consecutive stands was a good sign and I want to save a few to share with other folks that might want to come hunting so I headed home. It wasn't even lunch time yet, but it was getting pretty hot out there. Thanks to all of you folks here for inspiring me to get back at these coyotes and thanks to TheHuntedOne for such a great call.
