FINALLY connected with my first yote!!!

J

johncraddock445

New member
After 6 months of unsuccessful night hunting (roughly 20 trips or so) I FINALLY connected with one (possibly 2) about an hour ago! I started the whole night hunting adventure last September with red scan/kill light like every hunter does. Since then I have been chasing the perfect setup to help me achieve success. I went from lights to a X-sight for a couple months with ZERO success (didn't even see a coyote) I realized my problem was trying to scan with such a narrow FOV so after a ton of reading I sprung for a HD19a thermal monocular. This was an all out game changer. My 2nd night out with the thermal I laid eyes on a coyote for the first time at night although I couldn't find him in the X-sight due to the FOV. I decided to pull the trigger on a Armasight Vampire which got here on thursday. I dialed it in Thursday night and finally made it out calling tonight.
About 45 seconds into "lightning jack" I spotted 2 heat signatures in the field to my right about 250 yards out. I had a really good feeling they were coyotes by their movement. They started work toward the call at a pretty good clip as I tracked them with the thermal. There was a small dip between us where I knew i would loose sight of them momentarily. I knew when/if they popped up on the other side I was finally going to get my chance to burn some powder. BAM! there they were at 80 yards! As my heart was racing 100MPH I made ID through the Vampire and I managed to squeeze off a good shot...Yote 1 was DRT and yote 2 was hauling the mail to the wood line. My Foxpro switched to pup in distress and 2-3 minutes later I spotted yote 2 work his way to get down wind. He was headed away from my but stopped right about the 180ish yard mark (quickly learned just how hard range estimation is at dark) as I sent a 150gr Inter-lock after him. To my delight he spun 2-3 times and dropped only to get up again and hauled [beeep] to the wood line. After gathering myself for a few minutes I packed up my set and went to try and located yote 2 with no luck. I shot him in the middle of a cut corn field and had a hard time recalling where exactly he was standing when I shot due to all the excitement. Like 5 Year old on christmas morning excitement I tell you. All in all I can say with 100 percent certainty that I am hooked for life. Thank all of you guys that have replied to my questions or reached out to me to share some of your experience.

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You're off to the races now. The first one is special, but all those that follow are pretty sweet as well. CONGRATS on your first, persistence has won again. I am really liking my HD19A as well.
 
A really great story! Great to hear you had success and do not feel like the lone ranger about range finding at night though a scope. Not an easy thing to do.
 
I feel your pain.. I've still not got one.. Took my son out a few weeks ago for his first time when he was in town.. [beeep] things came right in and he missed one and got one. I think we saw 5. I do the same thing by myself and nothing.. guess he smells better, idk..
 
Anyone who called in a coyote at night and kills it should be proud. I feel lucky every time it all comes together.
Good job, it does get easier but never gets less exciting!
 

Nice going, John. Persistence is the name of the game in predator calling. I used to call a lot to get a few now and then, but it was all worth it when I did score.

Glad the Vampire worked well for you. What illuminator did you use?

Also, tell us about the rifle and caliber you used. Always good to hear about equipment.
 
Another night and another dog down! Just as I was about to walk off the set due to a heavy dog rolling in. Just as I was about to pack up I spotted a heat sig 200 + yards out that came in off the river bottom to good 'ol faithful light ing jack. I switched over to the vampire and wham! He closed the distance to less the 80 in the blink of an eye. He made his last pause as I sent a .308 150gr interlok his way and he made it about it 20 yards then met his maker. I'm absolutely flabbergasted that I have put in 6 months of grinding with zero success the with 2 nights back to back I have hammered 3 coyotes. All that being said, I well prepared for my next 15 sets to show up empty.
Thank all of you guys for the words of encouragement. I am absolutely certain I would not have been able to do any of this with out this forum and the guys that go out of their way to help folks like me out!
 
Congrats on another one, may your success numbers continue to multiply. You are on a roll now. Video may be required very shortly. We are trying to be patient with you as you get your predator legs lololol.
 

You are on a roll for sure, John but as you say, the odds are things will go quiet for a while. A taste of success now and then helps keep a guy going. It does get frustrating at times though. Just stay after it. Words of encouragement from PM members have helped keep me in the game too.

Weekender, as nice as it would be, getting videos with the Vampire can't be done since it doesn't have video capability (without a lot of cumbersome camera equipment behind the ocular etc.) Would be nice though.
 
Great success story ! Are you sure your using enough gun ???

Haha just pulling your leg.

Calving has begun here and the biting mites have been bad so fur is low quality. I'm thinking about following your lead and exercising some of my bigger calibers.

7WSM
300 Winnie

With lower chance of getting good fur, I'm swapping to DRT due to energy.

Thanks for sharing your success !!
 
Thanks Norm Dahl.
I originally though I was going over over board with the 308 but now after shooting 3 of them i'm not so sure... My summary is just like with 223... you have to have the right bullet selection. I shot these 3 with hornady 150gr inter-lok's with very minimal damage. I believe the bullet is so stout that the lightweight frame of a coyote isn't allowing it to expand... Unhappy with that side effect I pulled the bullet on about 70 rds I had loaded up and replace the inter-lok's with 150gr SST's. I'm hoping to see the SST's blow them to pieces but we'll see.
 
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