Big Beautiful Face Full of Tungsten

DAA

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Got this gorgeous big male with the Benelli yesterday.

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A big coyote for my area, weighed him at 36 pounds. Just a beautiful coyote.

Stand was standard issue. Calling crosswind, my partner Tim behind me up the hill with a good view downwind covering us with his .243, me sitting down in the sage brush 10 yards in front of the caller. I saw a couple tweety birds flush out of the brush about 80 yards to my left (upwind), then a second later caught a coyote flashing through the brush on a line that put me perfectly between him and the caller. He checks up at 60 yards, like I said, he's headed for the caller and I'm on that line exactly, so he's seeing me and checks up. All I have is face and neck through a window in the sage at 60 yards. Not a typically ideal shot for a shotgun, in my opinion. But, my Benelli is loaded with 1-5/8 oz. of TSS #2. Which, through extensive pattern testing this summer and having killed about twenty coyotes with that load the past few weeks, I was actually very highly confident in taking the shot.

So, I put the bead on his nose and let 'er rip. He dropped instantly and was stone cold dead before he hit the ground. Peeled him later, counted 12 pellet strikes in his face and neck - the only part of him I could see when I shot. At 60 yards, a dozen hits in the face, penetrating the skull, that TSS is some bad ju-ju.

Yesterday was just a lot of fun. Calling was actually kind of slow, only three stands produced all day. But the whole day was just gravy anyway because I killed three (and missed one) on the first stand of the morning. And it was the first stand that really felt right so far this year - temperature was just below freezing, ground was frosty, little dusting of snow on the tops of some of the sage, had coyotes howling all over the place before starting the caller.

First solo triple of the year (had a couple tag team triples already), Tim was there but somehow didn't get any shooting on this stand while I killed three, missed one and had another come in and leave without getting a shot.

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Then nothing for awhile before we killed another single each on the same stand.

Then nothing again for a while before I got the big boy with the shotgun at high noon.

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And that turned out to be it for the day. Kept calling till dark but didn't see another coyote. Six is a good day though and it sure felt nice to need a coat all day, lol!

- DAA


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Always enjoy your hunts & pictures. That's one beautiful coyote.
Thanks for sharing, now send some of that cool weather down this way....triple digits getting OLD!

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: reddog964I see the Speed Bead is Missing
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??

Yes it is... First time out for coyote with it this year, I was having a hard time getting solid hits and determined it was hitting way low. So I put it away for the rest of that day.

Next weekend at the patterning board I found it was hitting way low and way right. Zero had moved big time!

Short story made shorter... I first thought it was the mount, now I'm more suspicious of the FastFire itself. So I just took the whole mess off the gun.

I don't know when I'll have time to tinker with it again. Probably not until spring. I plan to revisit the whole red dot thing again eventually though. But I'm thinking drill and tap mount with a more high end sight than the FastFire. When Cabelas had the Trijicon RMR on sale recently, I went to pull the trigger on one but they were sold out already. But I was thinking RMR w/Synch mount. May still end up going that way, but I kind of like the looks of the Deltapoint better. But haven't had time to check out mounting options for it yet.

Most likely end up with either the Trijicon or the Leupold on a D&T mount for next year but am just going to campaign the factory bead for this season.

- DAA
 
Was he still really blue when you peeled him? I started to skin one last week a georgous coyote but it was so blue I didn't want to get stung with the fur buyer ,so I pitched it. Sounds like a fun morning.
 
Originally Posted By: Dan WanfaltWas he still really blue when you peeled him? I started to skin one last week a georgous coyote but it was so blue I didn't want to get stung with the fur buyer ,so I pitched it. Sounds like a fun morning.

Not too bad actually. He was so furred up and pretty I just had to skin him, kind of expecting a blue belly. But, just faint stripes on the back, belly was strong. No problem that will show after being put up. He should bring top dollar.

- DAA
 
Very nice, Dave.

Beautiful coyote.
Always enjoy reading your posts.

I recently read a review of miniature red dot sights that indicated the top two to consider are Leupold and Trijicon.
They excelled in durablity and least likely to lose zero.
 
Outstanding.! That is great news. Time to put them on the stretcher. Our weather has been cold it's snowing right now. I would guess they weren't above 7200 ft??? Can you confirm that? I am not going to Utah to hunt so you won't have to worry about me hunting your country. Just want to compare the elevation to see if it is similar or less.
 
We have the Research and Development team working on the Delta Point Pro mounting solution. I'm slow, but at least I know I'm slow. That's pretty good shootin' with just a bead at 60 yards. Nice looking coyote.
 
Originally Posted By: Dan WanfaltI would guess they weren't above 7200 ft???

Yup. I just looked at a map, got those between 6500 and 6200 feet. The nice big one was the lowest elevation of the bunch at 6200. Down in the shotgun stuff
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Originally Posted By: BangPopWe have the Research and Development team working on the Delta Point Pro mounting solution.

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- DAA
 
Nice job! That tungsten shot seems like the bomb. But on another note I'm glad my bird hunting days are over. Wouldn't want to get "peppered" by some idiot using that.
Good for predators though obviously.
 
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