First time out

firefox117

New member
First time out solo hunting coyotes. Find a night spot of land here in Missouri, might not be much, but at least I can call it mine.

So after spending the night to make sure I had everything, including the kitchen sink, felt pretty good when I arrived. Showed up about 645, just a hair after day break, but still plenty of time to get set up before the sun really started to rise today. The first field I decided to head to was about 45 yards long, surrounded by forest on all sides, and had recently been plowed.

As I arrived, I set up all my stuff, and noticed my elevation was set to +7 clicks. Easy fix, set it back to zero, and off I went. Got my Banshee caller in the mail last week, first time using it as well.

Walked about 1/3 of the way into the field, placed the called about 75 yards from me, along with my decoy, walked back, sat in front of a hay bail, and went to town.

20 minutes in, no luck.

Now the field rolls slightly, so I don't have a clean shot all the way down. I packed up, and started walking towards the end, and sat up a little closer to the tree line. Again, called for about 20 minutes, using a mix of distress calls, no luck.

Well, figured I'd hit the ol'coyote pup distress call, and see if I would have any luck. I let it go for about 30 seconds or so, and turn it off. No sooner I turn it off, than a pair come running out off the trees, at most, 70 yards from me.

Now, these guys don't even stop to say hi to me, they could care less. They trot right out into the field without a care in the world, and beeline it to my decoy flopping around, then stop. What could I ask for, perfect broadside shot, 60-70 yards away, dog wasn't even moving. I line up, steady myself, and BAM.....

Now, this is where you enter your favorite string of cuss words. Bullet hits about 2 feet low. Dog just stands there and looks at me, trying to figure out what's going on, while the other one starts to trot off.

Ok, I think to myself "man you just got excited, shoot again dummy". I chamber another round, and Bam.....nothing. Again, hit about 2 feet low. By now, the gigs up, both dogs don't seem to really care, and trot off and head into the woods.

Needless to say, I'm heading back to the range to recheck my scope. For the life of me, I don't remember making a single change to it since I zeroed it, but I must have done something, and forgot to re-zero my elevation to reflect it. Rookie mistake.

Spent the rest of the morning looking and calling around, but no luck.

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I like the looks of your meadow surrounded by trees. Just when you think you've made every mistake there is coyote hunting, trust me, you'll find another.
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Welcome to PM.

Regards,
hm
 
Hey, thanks for the pics and story.
It just part of the learning curve, NBD.
One of my "moments" came after a hunt, no luck, and went to eject the live round and only got air.
Had made the motion of charging a round into my AR before the hunt.
Ever since, I check & verify one is really in the tube.
 
Anytime.

Well, that's the joys of hunting, right, hahahah. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time, and have a photo of some dogs. Must have been a hundred tracks on the ground, so I can either assume one dog is running around like crazy, or there's at least a few of them in the area.
 
You did call in a pair so that was good for your 1st time out alone.
We have all missed easy shots due to 1 thing or another.
They will still be out there, maybe a tad smarter.
Main thing is not to over call any specific spots.
 
Man I hate an equipment failure! Forgot to chamber a round once this year, dang I hate that.

You said your turret was spun 7 clicks? I'd bet money you're exactly 1 revolution off.
 
Originally Posted By: 204 ARMan I hate an equipment failure! Forgot to chamber a round once this year, dang I hate that.

You said your turret was spun 7 clicks? I'd bet money you're exactly 1 revolution off.

Yup, spun up 7. I thinking either 7 is my new zero, or it's all jacked up now. Will recheck it this week, and head out again this weekend. Either way, the problem will get fixed.
 
7 clicks would be worth approximately 1 1/4" @ 70 yards; I'm with 204 and guessing you're 1 turn plus 7 clicks off. Your plan to make a trip to the range is a good move.
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Regards,
hm
 
I was at Lamar Mo. last week and sure would like to have had a chance to call over some of the cut corn fields there. Will be going back in a few more weeks and will be prepared. Lots of farming in that area and my daughter has some contacts.
 
Going out again tomorrow. Got the rifle sighted back in, and only thing I can figure is one of my kids had to touch it. Came up two full rotations, and stopped back on 0. Spot on.

Should have no reasons to miss any dogs tomorrow, hahaha.
 
ff117, ya did good, first time out on your own and called in 2 coyotes, that is good. Check your zero and try again. I see you are here in Mo. also, I'm in Sedalia, how far away are you? Take care, John.
 
Originally Posted By: hm1996
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edit to add: Assume you keep your ammo locked up.

Regards,
hm

Nah, I leave it in the chamber. Figure they gotta learn somehow, hahaha.

No, it's all locked up, but when daddy is cleaning his gun, the kids want to help. Only thing I can think of is while I was messing around with other stuff, one of them figured out "hey this thing turns" and did what kids do best.

Got out again today, bright and early. Nice day for calling, no wind and about 50 outside. The farmer had plowed all his fields since the last time I was out, so I had open lanes of fire as far as I could see.

Started calling and stayed out till about 9:30. Didn't see anything today, but heard about 7-8 dogs barking back, so I know they are there. There was a herd of cows in the trees today as well, so not sure if the dogs we keeping around them, if they didn't want to come out since the fields had just been plowed, or they are coyotes, and they do whatever they want to do.

Farm property is surrounded by national forest, so took a walk around there for a while for Turkey, didn't get lucky either. Did jump three whitetail and had a bobcat staring me down, so all in all, was a fun morning.
 
Originally Posted By: glockmeisterff117, ya did good, first time out on your own and called in 2 coyotes, that is good. Check your zero and try again. I see you are here in Mo. also, I'm in Sedalia, how far away are you? Take care, John.

John,
You're not that far actually, down at Fort Leonard Wood myself, so about 2 hours. Zeroed in my rifle this weekend, came up almost two full turns, and spot on again.

I start my retirement leave this week, so pretty much off work from now until January. Shoot me a PM if you got some free time.
 
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