As many of you know, it has been a slow year for me on the coyote killing. Since any hope of equaling or bettering last year's total of 85 is non existent, I decided to switch back to my AR-15 in 223 for a while. It doesn't have the range of the 243, but with a 16" barrel is nice and compact with the Banish 30 suppressor.

I had a pair hit the bait pile early last week. With all the rain we've had it took them until last night to return.

The pair came in just before 10:45. The female went right to the bait pile and started eating. The male as they usually do, kept hanging back and allowing the female to eat all she wanted.

I was hoping to get them in a position to kill both, but since I was shooting my AR-15 with a 50 gr. V-max, I decided to take the closer shot on the female hoping the male might run a few yards and stop to see what happened to her. No such luck as he hit the afterburners and didn't stop till he reached the woods. The 50 gr. V-max shot all the way through her and exited on her left hip. Here is the picture as she lay and the video. Unfortunately again the weather conditions were not really conducive to thermal video.

#31 by Double Up, on Flickr

Video:

Nicely done as usual ! 223 still works !

I’ve tried bait a few times. Sat on a dead cow at a farmers I know. Seems like the trail cam pics showed when I wasn’t there they were. No consistency to them either. Could be there any time day or night. Did get to watch a herd of raccoons destroy the cow though, they were like a school of piranha. I can’t sit that long, rather move and call.

Pabow, I agree. I'd much rather kill one calling, but when I can't call my setup allows me to pick up a few on the bait pile. Successful baiting is pretty specialized. Trying to sit out in the open or even from a tent is pretty tough and requires a lot of hours in the cold. In order to be successful, it is best to have a cabin or at least a heated blind to stay in. In my case, my home sits on about a 200 acre field and I can shoot them from my office window on the bait.

That’s pretty nice. Do you have a alarm or light ok it so you know there there ?

Yes, I run a Hosmart alarm system, but I actually saw this pair last night as I was looking out the window with the thermal. I saw two deer on alert in the field staring over into the woods. In just a couple of minutes the coyotes popped out.

Another fine shot with great results.

I’ve got a Banish 30 suppressor on order. I’m at day 153 waiting on my tax stamp approval. The waiting is killing me. Planning on putting the Banish 30 on a 6.5 Grendel.

I have been very pleased with my Banish 30. You need to go ahead and order the break-down kit they make for disassembly. It will make cleaning so much easier.