Spring Fling...sort'a (Pic's)

Ursus21

Active member
Well its finally warmed up around here a little. Enough to fool us into thinking Spring might actually arrived. There is still enough snow and ice around to make me not fully believe, hence the "sort'a" in my title. Saturday, I just had to get out since it was such a nice day for a change. Anyway I have a .243 that I hadn't killed anything with yet. I bought some Hornady Superformance 58gr ammo and really wanted to see how it would perform on coyotes. I was favorably impressed with it. No big nasty exit wounds. At times no exit at all. Kills coyotes like the Hammer of Thor. I mean kills them RIGHT NOW! I can like that a lot.

Here is my very first kill with the rifle.
TroyCoyoteFeb19B.jpg

A little later that day I called in a triple and was only able to get this one before they the rest escaped. I love this wide open, rugged, type terrain for hunting coyotes!
TroyCoyoteFeb19DLandscape.jpg

My partner on this trip is older than me by 15 to 20 years, but he can shoot and contributed his share to the tally. This is a nice big male he killed and the last coyote of the day. Interestingly enough this coyote had a bullet would right on top of his rear, just in front of his tail. The wound was about as long as my ring finger and about a 1/4 inch wide and a 1/4" deep. He'd definitely had a really close call in the last month. Guess he used up all his luck though. ;)On a side note my partner killed this coyote at 261 yards as it was trotting towards us. Killing a coyote on the move at that distance impresses me anyway.
DavidMcClendonFeb19E.jpg


Called in 10 coyotes to within 300 yards or less. Killed half of them. Of the 19 coyotes we saw, only 3 did not take a step towards us. Some others came in but would hold up too far out to shoot. Well at least too far for me to shoot. Overall it was a fantastic day spent with a really good friend.

Got to love the sign, eh.
TroyCoyoteGroupFeb19.jpg

 
Good story and pics... gotta love the Big Sky Country.... back in 1998... my wife and I traveled all over the West in a motorhome for a three month honeymoon... and we spent alot of time in Montana shooting pheasant and quail around Ft. Benton in late Oct.... never thought about coyotes at that time... love them upland birds... I think it's time for another honeymoon this fall...
 
All but one or the coyotes came into coyote vocals. We'd start off with prey in distress on a hand call for 10 mins. If nothing showed we'd switch to coyote vocals. Several times we located the coyotes before we started calling. It was interesting to study their behavior. Usually they would perk up and listen when the distress sounds hit their ears, but then after a minute or two they would completely ignore it. In fact they would likely as not just go lay or sit down. However the coyote vocals usually got'em stirred up.
 
Sorry Troy, I'm not a big fan of your photos...cause I'm not in them! Hey, I didn't know there was land under all that snow.

That fence picture is a wall hanger for sure.
 
Originally Posted By: Ursus21Got to love the sign, eh.
TroyCoyoteGroupFeb19.jpg



When you have access there is no better sign....except maybe "Pavement Ends Here". I always like seeing that sign.

Great trip, story, and photos Troy.
 
Switch, you've been in quite a few. Hope to see you in some more in the future. We got to get your little calling buddy out here with my daughter and tear it up.
 
Originally Posted By: HunterHeinzi like the photos not really likin the one where it says posted not much fair game when only a few are allowed to hunt there.

Great job Ursus.. Hey bud, trust me on this one, posted signs dont slow much anyone down when it comes to coyote hunting. you rarely hear no from a landowner and most dogs have heared a call.. In the rare occasion you do get on some un-called stuff it can be fun. But I doubt its the case, as it rarely is.
 
getemclose is 100% correct. Darn few coyotes in this country haven't been shot at or heard a call. In fact the big male on the right side of the photo had a bullet wound across the top if his butt, just in front of the base of his tail. I imagine it happened within the last month. All these coyotes were called in within a mile or less of busy county roads. Not many areas in ranch/farm country that doesn't have a road nearby. Oh, and just for the record, none of the coyotes came off the land where the sign was posted. I do have permission to hunt there (and I've killed a half a dozen coyotes there this year), but just thought the sign made for a unique photograph. The first coyote of the day was called in and killed on public land. He was part of a triple that came in, but we only managed to kill one from the group. One last note, where getemclose and I generally hunt there is very little in the way of public land that would be quality coyote hunting land. It's either learn to impress landowner's or stay home. The latter is not an option in my mind!
 
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