JTPinTX
Custom Call Maker
All you guys know how coyote calling is, fast and dynamic. Being able to handle a rifle quick and effectively is a big part of putting coyotes on the ground. My daughter has been going calling with me since she was 5 years old and loves it. She started shooting a CZ-527 in 223 when she was 6. She has killed a few deer with it, lots of jacks, some cottontails and skunks too. Up until now though, getting a coyote on the ground has eluded her. Well, I am ecstatic to say, NO MORE!
She has always been a pretty good shooter. You can set her up, and once you get her in position she can hit very well. Getting her in position though, some days is easy, some is a challenge. This year we have been working really hard on it. We have been going out at night shooting jackrabbits, going out to my range and setting up on sticks shooting steel, doing that kind of shooting to help make her better. The goal has been to get her rifle handling good enough she can get on a coyote coming in fast and on the move. She has been close to getting her first coyote several times this year. For her the trouble is not pulling the trigger, it is getting the rifle on the coyote. Every time we go out she gets better, more comfortable handling the rifle, more confident in her abilities. If the truth were to be known, her abilities are much better than her confidence in those abilities. Often her default position is to let dad shoot the coyote so we make sure it doesn't get away. She is like her grandpa in that she really doesn't like to lose one. I just knew if we could ever get her first one, she would gain the confidence she really needs...
Saturday my baby girl was after me to go calling. We just couldn't get away that morning though, and I told her we would go in the afternoon. For various reasons we didn't get out of the house until around 3:30 or so. Nothing fancy either. We just went old school with camo shirts and blue jeans. She had her CZ, and I decided to carry an old Mauser in 257 Roberts. That rifle was a recent gift to me from an old friend of my fathers. That Mauser was needing to get blooded (with me) and I figured it was a good day for it.
We head out into some caliche/gyp/mesquite country that I haven't called in probably a year or so. First stand we get set up and I start it out with Wacky Woodpecker. About 10 minutes in I swap over to Waning Jack, to get some more volume and distance. Around the 13 minute mark a coyote comes loping in from our right rear quarter. He is angling past us, and looking at us as he goes by. I can tell immediately this is not the coyote for my daughter. This is going to happen really fast or not at all.
I swing the rifle up and he starts to straighten the angle out, going more away from us, and picking up a little speed. It was to little too late on his part though. The 257 Bob spits a 100 grain Hornady at him, and we hear it connect. He makes it another 20 yards before he goes down with the tail doing the helicopter. We go check him out and take a picture, he is definitely on the mangy side. Not horrible, but for sure getting along with it. After my daughter takes my picture, she tells me we need to carry him to the pickup. She informs me we have to do that, so that at the end of the day we can take our picture with all of our coyotes. At that point I am laughing on the inside, you just have to love the optimism of youth. Of course, I drag the coyote the 250 yards to the truck.
FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
We drive about 3/4 of a mile over to the next set. It is a perfect stand, I just know we are going to kill something here. It is a really good situation for her too. We are on the side of a hill looking over a bowl that is a nice big opening in the mesquite. We get ready, and I start with Wacky Woodpecker again. We get 2 1/2 minutes in, and here comes a coyote. It is coming straight in to us, not too hard, just right. This is the one, I just know it! I tell Brecklyn "Here comes one, right at us. Get your rifle on it!"
I put my rifle on it too, watching through the scope as it bounces up and stops for a 45 yard frontal shot. I ask my daughter, "Are you on it?" I hear the reply I have been waiting on for a long time now as she whispers back, "I've got it Dad!" About a second later the little 223 goes "spat!", and her first coyote goes all stiff legged and falls right over, tail doing the helicopter, as it eats a 40 VMAX center chest! She handled it like a pro, just flat smoked her first one.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YEJAbL t=_blank]IMG_3415 by [/url], on Flickr
We are both just super excited, whispering and high five-ing each other. I tell her to put another round in the chamber, we are going to keep calling.
A few more minutes of the woodpecker, and I swap to Waning Jack. We had nearly given up, approaching the 16-17 minute mark, when here comes a pair, rolling in hot and fast. In just a few seconds they are going to be in our front pocket. She doesn't know how to handle this pair, two coyotes this close and fast is tripping her OODA loop. She just says, "Shoot them Dad!"
I swing on the lead coyote, about 30 yards, and let rip. I hear the "Whop" and see it fall, so I immediately run the bolt and look for #2. It is blistering off to the right, going full bore. It is about 125 yards cutting through the mesquite when I get a sight picture on him. In this situation you just nearly can't put too much lead on one. I swing through him and way out in front, snapping the trigger just before he passes behind a mesquite. I am rewarded with another "Whop" and see him do a flip in the air as he crashes. I look back at number 1, and it is trying to get back up so I pay the insurance on it.
I look over at my daughter, and we are both breathing heavy, totally jacked up on adrenaline. Being a 9 year old girl, the words just start pouring out at this point. She has been quiet for too long, it is like a flood gate opening. For the next 15 minutes as we gather up coyotes and take pictures she jabbers non-stop.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Y3hFiF t=_blank]FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
As we get down to her coyote, she sees the coyote I hit on the run trying to drag itself away. I throw my rifle up and put another bullet in that one too. We get down there and this is what we find. I had cut its spine just in front of the hips on the running shot. Even as much as I held, it still wasn't enough lead.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YZiGhf t=_blank]FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
He was an old bugger too. Bad teeth.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YEJSK7 t=_blank]FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
Of course on the way home she had to call her mother and her grandmother and tell them all about it. We had to get the "Hero Shot" when we got home as well. By that time the light was getting bad so that picture didn't turn out so well, but it just has to be included anyways.
Great day with my daughter, one we will both remember for a long time!
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YZhWw9 t=_blank]FullSizeR by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156517515@N04/, on Flickr
She has always been a pretty good shooter. You can set her up, and once you get her in position she can hit very well. Getting her in position though, some days is easy, some is a challenge. This year we have been working really hard on it. We have been going out at night shooting jackrabbits, going out to my range and setting up on sticks shooting steel, doing that kind of shooting to help make her better. The goal has been to get her rifle handling good enough she can get on a coyote coming in fast and on the move. She has been close to getting her first coyote several times this year. For her the trouble is not pulling the trigger, it is getting the rifle on the coyote. Every time we go out she gets better, more comfortable handling the rifle, more confident in her abilities. If the truth were to be known, her abilities are much better than her confidence in those abilities. Often her default position is to let dad shoot the coyote so we make sure it doesn't get away. She is like her grandpa in that she really doesn't like to lose one. I just knew if we could ever get her first one, she would gain the confidence she really needs...
Saturday my baby girl was after me to go calling. We just couldn't get away that morning though, and I told her we would go in the afternoon. For various reasons we didn't get out of the house until around 3:30 or so. Nothing fancy either. We just went old school with camo shirts and blue jeans. She had her CZ, and I decided to carry an old Mauser in 257 Roberts. That rifle was a recent gift to me from an old friend of my fathers. That Mauser was needing to get blooded (with me) and I figured it was a good day for it.
We head out into some caliche/gyp/mesquite country that I haven't called in probably a year or so. First stand we get set up and I start it out with Wacky Woodpecker. About 10 minutes in I swap over to Waning Jack, to get some more volume and distance. Around the 13 minute mark a coyote comes loping in from our right rear quarter. He is angling past us, and looking at us as he goes by. I can tell immediately this is not the coyote for my daughter. This is going to happen really fast or not at all.
I swing the rifle up and he starts to straighten the angle out, going more away from us, and picking up a little speed. It was to little too late on his part though. The 257 Bob spits a 100 grain Hornady at him, and we hear it connect. He makes it another 20 yards before he goes down with the tail doing the helicopter. We go check him out and take a picture, he is definitely on the mangy side. Not horrible, but for sure getting along with it. After my daughter takes my picture, she tells me we need to carry him to the pickup. She informs me we have to do that, so that at the end of the day we can take our picture with all of our coyotes. At that point I am laughing on the inside, you just have to love the optimism of youth. Of course, I drag the coyote the 250 yards to the truck.
FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
We drive about 3/4 of a mile over to the next set. It is a perfect stand, I just know we are going to kill something here. It is a really good situation for her too. We are on the side of a hill looking over a bowl that is a nice big opening in the mesquite. We get ready, and I start with Wacky Woodpecker again. We get 2 1/2 minutes in, and here comes a coyote. It is coming straight in to us, not too hard, just right. This is the one, I just know it! I tell Brecklyn "Here comes one, right at us. Get your rifle on it!"
I put my rifle on it too, watching through the scope as it bounces up and stops for a 45 yard frontal shot. I ask my daughter, "Are you on it?" I hear the reply I have been waiting on for a long time now as she whispers back, "I've got it Dad!" About a second later the little 223 goes "spat!", and her first coyote goes all stiff legged and falls right over, tail doing the helicopter, as it eats a 40 VMAX center chest! She handled it like a pro, just flat smoked her first one.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YEJAbL t=_blank]IMG_3415 by [/url], on Flickr
We are both just super excited, whispering and high five-ing each other. I tell her to put another round in the chamber, we are going to keep calling.
A few more minutes of the woodpecker, and I swap to Waning Jack. We had nearly given up, approaching the 16-17 minute mark, when here comes a pair, rolling in hot and fast. In just a few seconds they are going to be in our front pocket. She doesn't know how to handle this pair, two coyotes this close and fast is tripping her OODA loop. She just says, "Shoot them Dad!"
I swing on the lead coyote, about 30 yards, and let rip. I hear the "Whop" and see it fall, so I immediately run the bolt and look for #2. It is blistering off to the right, going full bore. It is about 125 yards cutting through the mesquite when I get a sight picture on him. In this situation you just nearly can't put too much lead on one. I swing through him and way out in front, snapping the trigger just before he passes behind a mesquite. I am rewarded with another "Whop" and see him do a flip in the air as he crashes. I look back at number 1, and it is trying to get back up so I pay the insurance on it.
I look over at my daughter, and we are both breathing heavy, totally jacked up on adrenaline. Being a 9 year old girl, the words just start pouring out at this point. She has been quiet for too long, it is like a flood gate opening. For the next 15 minutes as we gather up coyotes and take pictures she jabbers non-stop.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Y3hFiF t=_blank]FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
As we get down to her coyote, she sees the coyote I hit on the run trying to drag itself away. I throw my rifle up and put another bullet in that one too. We get down there and this is what we find. I had cut its spine just in front of the hips on the running shot. Even as much as I held, it still wasn't enough lead.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YZiGhf t=_blank]FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
He was an old bugger too. Bad teeth.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YEJSK7 t=_blank]FullSizeR by [/url], on Flickr
Of course on the way home she had to call her mother and her grandmother and tell them all about it. We had to get the "Hero Shot" when we got home as well. By that time the light was getting bad so that picture didn't turn out so well, but it just has to be included anyways.
Great day with my daughter, one we will both remember for a long time!
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YZhWw9 t=_blank]FullSizeR by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156517515@N04/, on Flickr
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