Since Ive been posting some here I thought I would pass along my last two days out. First ones kind of long.
I finally got to go out to my ole stopping grounds for some coyotes monday morning.
Thought sunrise was around 8am, but it was later so I was there kind of early.
When it started to have enough light out to see I started my way slowly on a top of a ridge to start glassing around to see what I could see. It was pretty quiet. WHen I was about 600yds away from the farm yard I started to see lots of coyote tracks and since it just snowed alittle I knew its been from the last day. I stopped on a small vantage point and glassed for about 10-15 minutes thinking that I would start seeing them moving around, but didnt see a thing. Usually this spot puts out, specially the first day of a new year. Anyways didnt see anything so I kept moving. Theres kind of two valleys that run parallel with each other, so I decided to sneak over to the other one and do some glassing. WHen I got over to a nice little vantage point for this valley I didnt see anything moving but a few deer. I decided I was going to pull out the foxpro for a lil callin. As I was all layed out prone ready to start callin I see a coyote joggin down in the valley looking up at me. I knew he couldnt tell what I was at the moment, so I pulled out the range finder and ranged him at 212ish. Got ready and gave a lil bark he just happened to stop just like he knew the plan I had for him. The 243 barked too and the awesome sound of the poppin sound of the 70gr N BT connecting sounded back to me. Man I love that sound. lol
Heres kind of a pic from my advantage point. I forgot to take a photo from my shooting position because to was excited to collect my first yote of the year and my first yote with my 243. :0
The prize
He was a nice average size, but Im guessing he was still young because how nice he teeth are
Well after this guy feel in his tracks I turned on some pup distress and let the rip echoing down the valley. After about 4-5 minutes of nothing moving I stopped it for a looking around. Seeing nothing moving in front of me, I looked around behind me because I just thought I should look downwind of me. I see a coyote just hanging out about 200ish yds azz planted to the ground looking my way. I guess his sniffer is broken because he should be able to smell something. oh well advantage for me. After a few seconds of looking at me I make a move to turn around and get ready for a shot on him. He knows something aint right so he jogs off behind some bushes. Well like I said before, advantage for me.. Well this guy runs right down the valley in front of me. Thanks buddy cause hes must be reading the same playbook the first coyote was reading. heh Anyways he stops on a ridge behind some bush so no shot, but I know if he keeps on the ridge that he"ll come to a nice opening. I range that opening at 230ish yds and wait from him. About a minute later hes following my playbook, I dont remember sending out any memo to these guys but whatever they are following it. I bark and the 243 a second later. Yote down. Nope he decides to get back up and run down into some brush. I watch where he scampers off to and take note. Now its time to walk down and see what I have. As Im walking down I start realizing that I have to drag these guys out, [beeep] this is gonna suck. lol Maybe I need to rewrite that playbook where they run and stop somewhere nicer for me.
Get down to where this last guy was shot at and theres blood and parts everywhere. Easy tracking thats for sure, but I know I prolly aint draggin this guy out of here now. Which is a good thing, but I just lost 25 bucks because of it. He was only 20yds down in the bush with a split belly, [beeep]... Went back to the place where he was and ranged back to my position and it was something like 260 and change. Im guessing that might have something to do with it.
After I stop many times because it was a [beeep] of alot of work dragging one dog out of there, I finally made it back to the truck where I have to strip a layer of clothing off because I was sweating ballz sacs and its getting nicer out now. As Im doing this the farmer and helper pulls up in the tractor and we talk alittle bit. He tells me that he just had a calf like this morning or last night out in the pasture and there just was two coyotes hanging around there. He jumps in my truck and we go for a drive and shows me where, plus his truck was out there anyways. I get out and look around but dont see anything. He takes off and I grab the caller and set up. I play the rabbit while looking around the direction they supposedly took off not that long ago and see nothing. I stop the caller around the 3 minute mark and expect to see one come charging in by now. I look back around my 5 oclock and theres a coyote about 15-16 feet behind me just looking at me trying to figure out what the heck I am. Im layed out in a snow bank wearing all white not moving. I watch him looking at me and ever once in awhile he looks away I get a chance to slowly move my rifle to swing over to him. After a little exchange back and forth Ive finally had enough and swing into a shooting position, but my 243 wasnt made for short distances, arg. With a 6-24 power scope on it, it was useless. I took a hail mary shot before he got to some nearby bushes and was gone. A shotgun would of been nice for that quick stand. Im still feelin pretty good as I already got two yotes on my first stand.
Off to the next farm just acouple miles down the valley. Stop in for a quick chat to ask if I can still shoot on his land this year and Im back walkin and glassin. I come to a nice overlooking place and throw out the caller for a few minutes of the rabbit. It wasnt more then 3 minutes again I have a coyote coming in off in the distance. I like to stop the caller to kind of keep them guessing when they are around 200-300yd mark. He comes and stops about the 200 yd range and plants his arse. I turn the caller back on to reel him in some more but he doesnt wanna move right now. Should of left it runnin some more. Oh well I can do a 200 yarder. Well I guess I couldnt this time, [beeep] mt F up. He takes off and is gone like a rocket. I fire up pup distress and hes having none of it and keeps on trucking. I let the caller keep on blasting away and notice another yote running towards the caller and me. I have the caller kind of behind me because of the wind situation. I can see him through some bush half running to get out if front of me no more then 120 yds. I shut the caller off and he pops out infront but... Im not ready for him. He turns towards me and the caller and starts up the hill, he finds a little low spot and I loose sight of him, Im thinking that its only for a second or two before he pops up right front of me. He doesnt show. I hold my position and still nothing. Arg I slowly get up on one knee and can see everything now but I dont see the coyote any wheres. Im like [beeep] I just lost another one. I look back at the caller and hes standing right on top of it 20yrs from me. I raise my rifle and shoot just as he looks at me and 243 barks and it goes down. I reload for a follow up and dont see anything moving. I stand to see that I spined him and slides down the side of the hill into some bush. I know that I just wasted another 25 bucks so I put another one into him to end the suffering. For some reason I decide to turn the caller back on for some more pup distress. I dont know why because I made a [beeep] of alot of racket so far, but I do. No more then a minute of that I see ANOTHER yote off in the distance on a hill looking my way. His arse is planted to the ground on top of a small hill and hes not budging. I throw every call I can think of at him and he still sits there. I yank out the rangefinder and he sitting at 450. Im thinking that I was shooting steel out to 400 all this summer, whats another 50? heh I range him again and it says 451yds. I dial up 4.5 MOA (thats a easy one to remember) and leave the windage as there is no wind right here. I get into a stable position prone and calm my breathing for abit and let the 243 bark once more and I drop the fricken thing moreless in its tracks. DOG DOWN. If there were anymore coyotes around after that shot they were soon running because I was freaking out yellin and ####. LMAO If the farmer was out he would of even heard me. lol
I packed everything up and went for my walk. When I was retrieving the caller I followed the tracks of that yote that came up and he walked right beside me on the edge of the hill and I didnt even seen him at about 12-15 feet away.
Picture time
Heres the coyote I caught at the caller
You really have to watch your shot placement because you can really make a mess with these 70grainers.
Now for the real prize. Well for me anyways.
You can see that he pretty much fell forwards and died. W00ty w00t
Since I was by myself its hard to get a pic with you holding up your prize, so this will have to do.
That was pretty much my day for shooting coyotes and I was kind of bagged and it was only 1 oclock.
The rest of my day was me talking with another farmer that I shoot coyotes for and ask if I was good to shoot there again this year and I had to get my 223 shooting again because I was throwing money away on pelts. Its fun though. I bought some lake city brass for my 223 and just wanted to make there were no pressure signs because Ive never shot 5.56 brass before. Worked like at charm.
Also saw these girls after I was done shooting some paper. Its zoomed in from my cell so it aint the best pic.
That was my first day of really chasing coyotes for this winter.
I finally got to go out to my ole stopping grounds for some coyotes monday morning.
Thought sunrise was around 8am, but it was later so I was there kind of early.
When it started to have enough light out to see I started my way slowly on a top of a ridge to start glassing around to see what I could see. It was pretty quiet. WHen I was about 600yds away from the farm yard I started to see lots of coyote tracks and since it just snowed alittle I knew its been from the last day. I stopped on a small vantage point and glassed for about 10-15 minutes thinking that I would start seeing them moving around, but didnt see a thing. Usually this spot puts out, specially the first day of a new year. Anyways didnt see anything so I kept moving. Theres kind of two valleys that run parallel with each other, so I decided to sneak over to the other one and do some glassing. WHen I got over to a nice little vantage point for this valley I didnt see anything moving but a few deer. I decided I was going to pull out the foxpro for a lil callin. As I was all layed out prone ready to start callin I see a coyote joggin down in the valley looking up at me. I knew he couldnt tell what I was at the moment, so I pulled out the range finder and ranged him at 212ish. Got ready and gave a lil bark he just happened to stop just like he knew the plan I had for him. The 243 barked too and the awesome sound of the poppin sound of the 70gr N BT connecting sounded back to me. Man I love that sound. lol
Heres kind of a pic from my advantage point. I forgot to take a photo from my shooting position because to was excited to collect my first yote of the year and my first yote with my 243. :0
The prize
He was a nice average size, but Im guessing he was still young because how nice he teeth are
Well after this guy feel in his tracks I turned on some pup distress and let the rip echoing down the valley. After about 4-5 minutes of nothing moving I stopped it for a looking around. Seeing nothing moving in front of me, I looked around behind me because I just thought I should look downwind of me. I see a coyote just hanging out about 200ish yds azz planted to the ground looking my way. I guess his sniffer is broken because he should be able to smell something. oh well advantage for me. After a few seconds of looking at me I make a move to turn around and get ready for a shot on him. He knows something aint right so he jogs off behind some bushes. Well like I said before, advantage for me.. Well this guy runs right down the valley in front of me. Thanks buddy cause hes must be reading the same playbook the first coyote was reading. heh Anyways he stops on a ridge behind some bush so no shot, but I know if he keeps on the ridge that he"ll come to a nice opening. I range that opening at 230ish yds and wait from him. About a minute later hes following my playbook, I dont remember sending out any memo to these guys but whatever they are following it. I bark and the 243 a second later. Yote down. Nope he decides to get back up and run down into some brush. I watch where he scampers off to and take note. Now its time to walk down and see what I have. As Im walking down I start realizing that I have to drag these guys out, [beeep] this is gonna suck. lol Maybe I need to rewrite that playbook where they run and stop somewhere nicer for me.
Get down to where this last guy was shot at and theres blood and parts everywhere. Easy tracking thats for sure, but I know I prolly aint draggin this guy out of here now. Which is a good thing, but I just lost 25 bucks because of it. He was only 20yds down in the bush with a split belly, [beeep]... Went back to the place where he was and ranged back to my position and it was something like 260 and change. Im guessing that might have something to do with it.
After I stop many times because it was a [beeep] of alot of work dragging one dog out of there, I finally made it back to the truck where I have to strip a layer of clothing off because I was sweating ballz sacs and its getting nicer out now. As Im doing this the farmer and helper pulls up in the tractor and we talk alittle bit. He tells me that he just had a calf like this morning or last night out in the pasture and there just was two coyotes hanging around there. He jumps in my truck and we go for a drive and shows me where, plus his truck was out there anyways. I get out and look around but dont see anything. He takes off and I grab the caller and set up. I play the rabbit while looking around the direction they supposedly took off not that long ago and see nothing. I stop the caller around the 3 minute mark and expect to see one come charging in by now. I look back around my 5 oclock and theres a coyote about 15-16 feet behind me just looking at me trying to figure out what the heck I am. Im layed out in a snow bank wearing all white not moving. I watch him looking at me and ever once in awhile he looks away I get a chance to slowly move my rifle to swing over to him. After a little exchange back and forth Ive finally had enough and swing into a shooting position, but my 243 wasnt made for short distances, arg. With a 6-24 power scope on it, it was useless. I took a hail mary shot before he got to some nearby bushes and was gone. A shotgun would of been nice for that quick stand. Im still feelin pretty good as I already got two yotes on my first stand.
Off to the next farm just acouple miles down the valley. Stop in for a quick chat to ask if I can still shoot on his land this year and Im back walkin and glassin. I come to a nice overlooking place and throw out the caller for a few minutes of the rabbit. It wasnt more then 3 minutes again I have a coyote coming in off in the distance. I like to stop the caller to kind of keep them guessing when they are around 200-300yd mark. He comes and stops about the 200 yd range and plants his arse. I turn the caller back on to reel him in some more but he doesnt wanna move right now. Should of left it runnin some more. Oh well I can do a 200 yarder. Well I guess I couldnt this time, [beeep] mt F up. He takes off and is gone like a rocket. I fire up pup distress and hes having none of it and keeps on trucking. I let the caller keep on blasting away and notice another yote running towards the caller and me. I have the caller kind of behind me because of the wind situation. I can see him through some bush half running to get out if front of me no more then 120 yds. I shut the caller off and he pops out infront but... Im not ready for him. He turns towards me and the caller and starts up the hill, he finds a little low spot and I loose sight of him, Im thinking that its only for a second or two before he pops up right front of me. He doesnt show. I hold my position and still nothing. Arg I slowly get up on one knee and can see everything now but I dont see the coyote any wheres. Im like [beeep] I just lost another one. I look back at the caller and hes standing right on top of it 20yrs from me. I raise my rifle and shoot just as he looks at me and 243 barks and it goes down. I reload for a follow up and dont see anything moving. I stand to see that I spined him and slides down the side of the hill into some bush. I know that I just wasted another 25 bucks so I put another one into him to end the suffering. For some reason I decide to turn the caller back on for some more pup distress. I dont know why because I made a [beeep] of alot of racket so far, but I do. No more then a minute of that I see ANOTHER yote off in the distance on a hill looking my way. His arse is planted to the ground on top of a small hill and hes not budging. I throw every call I can think of at him and he still sits there. I yank out the rangefinder and he sitting at 450. Im thinking that I was shooting steel out to 400 all this summer, whats another 50? heh I range him again and it says 451yds. I dial up 4.5 MOA (thats a easy one to remember) and leave the windage as there is no wind right here. I get into a stable position prone and calm my breathing for abit and let the 243 bark once more and I drop the fricken thing moreless in its tracks. DOG DOWN. If there were anymore coyotes around after that shot they were soon running because I was freaking out yellin and ####. LMAO If the farmer was out he would of even heard me. lol
I packed everything up and went for my walk. When I was retrieving the caller I followed the tracks of that yote that came up and he walked right beside me on the edge of the hill and I didnt even seen him at about 12-15 feet away.
Picture time
Heres the coyote I caught at the caller
You really have to watch your shot placement because you can really make a mess with these 70grainers.
Now for the real prize. Well for me anyways.
You can see that he pretty much fell forwards and died. W00ty w00t
Since I was by myself its hard to get a pic with you holding up your prize, so this will have to do.
That was pretty much my day for shooting coyotes and I was kind of bagged and it was only 1 oclock.
The rest of my day was me talking with another farmer that I shoot coyotes for and ask if I was good to shoot there again this year and I had to get my 223 shooting again because I was throwing money away on pelts. Its fun though. I bought some lake city brass for my 223 and just wanted to make there were no pressure signs because Ive never shot 5.56 brass before. Worked like at charm.
Also saw these girls after I was done shooting some paper. Its zoomed in from my cell so it aint the best pic.
That was my first day of really chasing coyotes for this winter.
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