This past weekend called my brother and I called in two coyotes. The dogs crossed each other. We started shooting and we started missing. Fun but Fustrating! We practice shooting and have bipods mounted. But is there any Tips or Tactics for hitting more fur instead of snow in field?
Connecting on the shot... Tips and Tactis on hitting more dogs?
- Thread starter Thwap
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triple_deuce
New member
After the day me and my hunting buddy had about a month ago. I think I could also learn some tips and tactics. We were just driving around and saw 22 yotes. Out of that 22 we only got one. This was the first time I had taken my 270 coyote hunting because I had dropped my 222 the night before and needed to shoot it first. When you drive up on a coyote its harder than when they are coming to your call. Most of our shots were running or a long ways out. I'm sure that coyote fever had a big part in my missed shots.
I think there are some keys that I ahve learned and would like to share:
1. One take your time, no need to rush the shot, especially if they're coming. More yotes are missed cause people rush.
2. Take high percentage shots, in your range at still animals who are present a quality shot.
3. Aim Small Miss small. Focus on the point of impact not the whole situation.
4. Breath and squeeze the trigger.
5. Make sure you are comfortible.
1. One take your time, no need to rush the shot, especially if they're coming. More yotes are missed cause people rush.
2. Take high percentage shots, in your range at still animals who are present a quality shot.
3. Aim Small Miss small. Focus on the point of impact not the whole situation.
4. Breath and squeeze the trigger.
5. Make sure you are comfortible.
Byron South
New member
Great tips elks.
I would only add that you need to be intimately familiar with your rifle, so much that it takes a lot of concious thought out of the proccess. The more you have to think about what your doing and conciously make adjustments the more likely a miss. You should, after practice, be able to spot your target, lift your rifle, and have the crosshairs superimposed on your target without trying. In other words it should be practiced enough that concious thought is not required and it becomes automatic. Trigger time is required to acheive this but you don't neccessarily need to shoot to practice although it helps. You can simply (READ CAREFULLY) put in a coyote video and practice on coyotes on the screen (MAKE DANG SURE YOUR GUN IS UNLOADED). If you have a quality firearm dry firing will not damage it. Mucle memory is required in any sports activity if you want to be competative. Shooting coyotes is no different. (DID I MENTION BE SAFE ?) Practice and familiarity breed confidence and defeats doubt. There is no room for doubt when often times there is such a narrow window of opportunity when calling coyotes. Don't confuse this with rushing the shot, however a "long thought" is often a "wrong thought". If doubt creeps in it is always better to pass on the shot.
To be a good game shot your rifle should be a part of you and not an ad on.
Byron /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I would only add that you need to be intimately familiar with your rifle, so much that it takes a lot of concious thought out of the proccess. The more you have to think about what your doing and conciously make adjustments the more likely a miss. You should, after practice, be able to spot your target, lift your rifle, and have the crosshairs superimposed on your target without trying. In other words it should be practiced enough that concious thought is not required and it becomes automatic. Trigger time is required to acheive this but you don't neccessarily need to shoot to practice although it helps. You can simply (READ CAREFULLY) put in a coyote video and practice on coyotes on the screen (MAKE DANG SURE YOUR GUN IS UNLOADED). If you have a quality firearm dry firing will not damage it. Mucle memory is required in any sports activity if you want to be competative. Shooting coyotes is no different. (DID I MENTION BE SAFE ?) Practice and familiarity breed confidence and defeats doubt. There is no room for doubt when often times there is such a narrow window of opportunity when calling coyotes. Don't confuse this with rushing the shot, however a "long thought" is often a "wrong thought". If doubt creeps in it is always better to pass on the shot.
To be a good game shot your rifle should be a part of you and not an ad on.
Byron /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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Red Lobo
New member
along with all of the great info so far, another thing I'm learning to do (but sometimes still forget) is let them keep comming closer as long as they will or until you feel they are going to wind you. A lot of times they will stop at 100 or 200 yards and I'll think I better take the shot NOW!!!!! When looking back if I had just calmed down a bit I could probably have gotten him in quite a bit closer and made a better shot. My 2 cents worth.....
.....oh yea, and make dang shor your scope covers are open if you use them!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
.....oh yea, and make dang shor your scope covers are open if you use them!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
DLTinOKLA
New member
I might be saying something that most will think is a given on "connecting on the shot" but I say this from my own personal experience and failure. MAKE SURE YOUR GUN IS SIGHTED IN CORRECTLY! Recently I've missed very few times and even made some difficult shots for me. This is after I realized my .243 was shooting way too high at 100+ yards. I thought I had it sighted in because I had hit many close shots. But after missing several long shots I put on new scope and resighted in the rifle. I've had great success since!
thePiedPiper
New member
Great posts, I am going to do some of that Byron.
The thing that works for me, and I got it from traditional archery, Watch the spot till the bullet fills it up. In other words, pick a very small spot, put the crosshairs on it, and watch the dog drop in the scope. Learn to pull the trigger by moving your arm backward, rather than squeezing with you finger.
The thing that works for me, and I got it from traditional archery, Watch the spot till the bullet fills it up. In other words, pick a very small spot, put the crosshairs on it, and watch the dog drop in the scope. Learn to pull the trigger by moving your arm backward, rather than squeezing with you finger.
statelinerut
New member
Great posts guys. That is why I like this site so much.
Phil_Schmidt
New member
KNOW YOUR RIFLE-
First thing you should do is PRACTICE. And not just at 100yds, out to as far as your gun will effectively kill a coyote. Find out how far the bullet drops at all ranges inside that mark and write it on the stalk of your gun or someplace it will never be lost. That way if you range a yote at 400yds and your too excited to remember the drop, You will have it right there.
Secondly and just as immportant IMO. GET THAT TRIGGER WORKED ON.
This will make a huge improvement mostly in hunting situations because we tend to jerk the trigger and pull away from the animal when we get too excited. This will also be a great advantage on those long shots.
First thing you should do is PRACTICE. And not just at 100yds, out to as far as your gun will effectively kill a coyote. Find out how far the bullet drops at all ranges inside that mark and write it on the stalk of your gun or someplace it will never be lost. That way if you range a yote at 400yds and your too excited to remember the drop, You will have it right there.
Secondly and just as immportant IMO. GET THAT TRIGGER WORKED ON.
This will make a huge improvement mostly in hunting situations because we tend to jerk the trigger and pull away from the animal when we get too excited. This will also be a great advantage on those long shots.
Navy_Gunner
New member
Ditto, what everyone else said. Lets face it though, adrenaline is the biggest factor. In the Navy we did "stress courses" to help train to shoot under pressure. I know when I have one or even more coyotes running towards me I get super excited, my high blood pressure kicks in, and I shake like a wh_re in church. That is all part of the game. If you dont get excited you better go try another sport like maybe base jumping or swimming in tanks full of great white sharks. You win some you loose some.
I say the hunting is training in itself. The first year you may suck, and never hit a dog. But you will get better at controlling all the variables in shooting. I can hit silver dollars all day long at the range, but when the heat is on Im often lucky to hit a pie plate
I say the hunting is training in itself. The first year you may suck, and never hit a dog. But you will get better at controlling all the variables in shooting. I can hit silver dollars all day long at the range, but when the heat is on Im often lucky to hit a pie plate
jedicazador
New member
I train with my rifle often at least every week, It maybe my .22lr or my .308 or 5.56 however I get out there and train. I practice scenarios that I may encounter in real world situations. Since you cant bring a Yote to the range or maybe you could if you had an old hide hang it out at the range and shoot it thereby desensiting yourself to getting the fever. I also like to hit reactive targets like eggs and golf balls and ballons placed at unknown distances. some of my buddys and I will run a while and get the heart going and then run to the line and load and see who can call and hit more eggs before the other shooter can. When ever I put the cross hairs on a target be it a Yote, paper target or suspect, I try to visuilize just the same paper target at the range until the SH** stops flying Train like you fight...
Mike
Mike
tcman
New member
Best thing for practice is the orange faced clay "pigons" for shotgun shooting. You can run around placing those at different distances and have a grand old time zeroing in on them. I don't know how long it's been since I shot one of those clay pigons with a shotgun instead of my 22-250 or 223.
260_Rifleman
New member
One thing I would like to add.
If you are serious about taking shots and having realistic expectations of getting solid hits at distances beyond about 200 yards, you will increase your chances hugely by actually taking a rifle training course where they specifically teach you how to shoot at extended distances utilizing real world equipment and tactics.
I was a target shooter for many years and won my share of 600 and 1000 yard matches but simply did not feel that the target shooting success translated well into real world shooting skill. After quite a bit of contemplation and research I decided to attend a long range shooting school that specialized in "real world" training.
Went to a facility in South Oklahoma called Badlands that specifically trains shooters on how to hit real world targets at long range. They utilize multiple unknown distance ranges where they take you out to some knoll overlooking a section of land. Some of the sections are brush, some are pasture land, and some are mixed grazing land, but all have steel targets that are at unspecified distances where you get practice and instruction on locating & identifying & taking shots at real world type targets. They work you on moving targets as well as stationary targets.
I took the 4 day basic and 4 day intermediate courses as well as practicing on my own regularly at a local 600 yard range. These days I have the ability and confidence to take (and make) shots well past what most untrained hunters would consider. Even started putting it on video cause a couple of buddies at work said BS when I mentioned taking an animal cleanly at long range while hunting.
If you are serious about taking shots and having realistic expectations of getting solid hits at distances beyond about 200 yards, you will increase your chances hugely by actually taking a rifle training course where they specifically teach you how to shoot at extended distances utilizing real world equipment and tactics.
I was a target shooter for many years and won my share of 600 and 1000 yard matches but simply did not feel that the target shooting success translated well into real world shooting skill. After quite a bit of contemplation and research I decided to attend a long range shooting school that specialized in "real world" training.
Went to a facility in South Oklahoma called Badlands that specifically trains shooters on how to hit real world targets at long range. They utilize multiple unknown distance ranges where they take you out to some knoll overlooking a section of land. Some of the sections are brush, some are pasture land, and some are mixed grazing land, but all have steel targets that are at unspecified distances where you get practice and instruction on locating & identifying & taking shots at real world type targets. They work you on moving targets as well as stationary targets.
I took the 4 day basic and 4 day intermediate courses as well as practicing on my own regularly at a local 600 yard range. These days I have the ability and confidence to take (and make) shots well past what most untrained hunters would consider. Even started putting it on video cause a couple of buddies at work said BS when I mentioned taking an animal cleanly at long range while hunting.
Shooting, good shooting is easy to exlpain, but not always as easy to become disiplined at. The short version of good shooting is simply, not pressing the trigger until the sights, either iron or crosshair is aligned with the target, and held there thru the trigger press. It's that simple and that difficult.
The best advice I have on the subject is to sychronize the sight picture with the trigger press, in other words focusing intently on the targe tand pressing the trigger simultaneously. Many times the shooter will divide his concentration first on the sight picture, then have the urge to slap the trigger, it will never work that way, at least not well.
The object is to grab a crude sight picture first, then as you begin the trigger press, focus more intently on the target at the same time, with the desired results being the sear tripped just as your sight picture was at its most precise. This can allhappen is as little as a few tenths of a second, or ten seconds, just depends on the skill of the guy yanking the trigger
The best advice I have on the subject is to sychronize the sight picture with the trigger press, in other words focusing intently on the targe tand pressing the trigger simultaneously. Many times the shooter will divide his concentration first on the sight picture, then have the urge to slap the trigger, it will never work that way, at least not well.
The object is to grab a crude sight picture first, then as you begin the trigger press, focus more intently on the target at the same time, with the desired results being the sear tripped just as your sight picture was at its most precise. This can allhappen is as little as a few tenths of a second, or ten seconds, just depends on the skill of the guy yanking the trigger