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Hunting & Fishing Let’s start a coyote thread.

The coyote rig, and a 6 creed dome shot from last night
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Got out this weekend and had no luck. Could hear them yipping about a half mile away. Tried male howls, female howls, pup distress, several prey distress and nothing. That’s 2 trips in a row of the same thing.

I called in bobcats, a raccoon and the neighbor’s dogs but no coyotes. Only night time hunting. Calling on about 500 acres that hasn’t been hunted except by me over the past 2 months. Did about 5 stands, each lasting about 30 minutes. Started with coyote vocals then moved to prey on each stand.

Do things change during breeding season or do they get smart to the calls that fast?
 
Got out this weekend and had no luck. Could hear them yipping about a half mile away. Tried male howls, female howls, pup distress, several prey distress and nothing. That’s 2 trips in a row of the same thing.

I called in bobcats, a raccoon and the neighbor’s dogs but no coyotes. Only night time hunting. Calling on about 500 acres that hasn’t been hunted except by me over the past 2 months. Did about 5 stands, each lasting about 30 minutes. Started with coyote vocals then moved to prey on each stand.

Do things change during breeding season or do they get smart to the calls that fast?
5 stands and you got coons and a bobcat?

I've made 50 stands in a row without calling in a mosquito. No reason to be alarmed about 5 dry stands. The weather is changing, and their activity is pretty sporadic right now. They are still wearing their winter coats and it's been warm where I live, maybe you too? They are paired up now and establishing den territories. Everybody is digging. You will find dug up ground everywhere. You need to be on top of them to move them right now it seems..
 
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The ones that I have called in within the last few weeks were under cover within 400 yards when I started calling. I've called several others in to about 700 yards but they just sat there for a few minutes then wandered off. +1 on getting in closer
 
It's tough out there right now. I was out all day Saturday and only called in the one pair. I had another one take a look and wander off before I could get a shot, and another one that seemed to be sort of coming to some howls and then flat out bolted when I started playing rabbit.
 
Do you have access to get closer to them?
Sometimes. This past trip they were mostly on an adjacent property. Did have one howl that was closer and I moved down to where I thought he was but based on game cam I think he left before I got there.

5 stands and you got coons and a bobcat?

I've made 50 stands in a row without calling in a mosquito. No reason to be alarmed about 5 dry stands. The weather is changing, and their activity is pretty sporadic right now. They are still wearing their winter coats and it's been warm where I live, maybe you too? They are paired up now and establishing den territories. Everybody is digging. You will find dug up ground everywhere. You need to be on top of them to move them right now it seems..

Good to know it’s not just me. The 5 stands was this past trip. Did about 5 on the trip before that too but between the two I got a bobcat and had a few raccoons snooping around. I don’t hunt them at the moment.
 
Last time I went out, I called one in on the first stand. It hung up around 300 yards behind a tree, so I switched to a rodent to coax it in. It turned around and ran off like it had been shot at. Then called in a pair on the second stand to fight and pup distress sounds. Killed the first one at 120 and the second at 325. Made 3 dry stands, then called in another pair that came to howls. Shot one, and never got a shot at the other one. I've had 5 coyotes run off in the last month after playing rabbit or rodent.
 
Last time out, first stand I started with a female howl for less than 2 minutes, switched to a rabbit distress, killed two that came in about 3 minutes apart. Had a third come in to the first one that we shot and it ran off behind a tree row about 500 yards away and started barking at us. We moved 150 yards closer and switched to a breeding fight and he quit barking and came in to 250 yards and we shot him.

We killed two more later that night and one came to a jack rabbit distress, and the other to Scooby snack. I have killed at least 6 with Scooby snack this year.
 
I am up three or four times a night
In addition, I have high BP and high cholesterol, so I am taking meds for that. Lisinopril is supposed to make you pee. But it at least it keeps the widow maker away from me.
 
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In addition, I have high BP and high cholesterol, so I am taking meds for that. Lisinopril is supposed to make you pee. But it at least it keeps the widow maker away from me.

Same here plus diabetic, and a few other surprises
 
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First stand of the new year and called in a coyote. Made 5 stands, killed this guy, saw a pair well over 1k yards away and tried to close the distance and call them in with no luck, and last stand of the day had a coyote howl at us from the trees but wouldn’t commit and saw him trotting up the hill at 780 yards. Friend took a stab at him before loosing him over the hill but didn’t hold enough wind.
 

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A few weeks back, landed a 333 yd shot on a big male I missed a few months earlier in nearly the same spot
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By far my longest kill to date
.308 178 gr eld-x I was running at the time
You can see the body on the ground at the top of the reticle donut
A0ED06E9-F326-46EC-93A0-029478D82AC3.jpeg
From a South Texas stand
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Even a big coyote is quite small at that range on 10x (see the pic with the 6” steel plate for reference) Coyote was quartered away
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Folded him though🙌🏻
Gonna get a skull and pelt to commemorate ole boy
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A few weeks back, landed a 333 yd shot on a big male I missed a few months earlier in nearly the same spotView attachment 8093317
By far my longest kill to date
.308 178 gr eld-x I was running at the time
You can see the body on the ground at the top of the reticle donut
View attachment 8093319 From a South Texas stand
View attachment 8093318
Even a big coyote is quite small at that range on 10x (see the pic with the 6” steel plate for reference) Coyote was quartered away
View attachment 8093323
Folded him though🙌🏻
Gonna get a skull and pelt to commemorate ole boy
View attachment 8093322
Congratulations my friend, but that isn't how you skin a coyote. Now, you can do it any way you want, but canines are traditionally case skinned.
 
There are 1000 ways to skin a cat, and I don’t know any of them
I understand. Nothing wrong with what you did, especially if you are going to finish it yourself. I'm just making you aware of the most common method. For making yourself a rug for personal finishing, what you did is probably just fine.
 
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2 weeks later my buddy got his first coyote at 185 yds out the left window of the same deer stand
Big male
Very quick to get his gun out the window and on target
6.5 creedmoor landed right behind the shoulder and a touch low, ran 50 yds and was under some brush dead
143 gr eld-x made an effective, gaping wound channel
We will have 2 nice skulls for the memories
 
View attachment 8094318
2 weeks later my buddy got his first coyote at 185 yds out the left window of the same deer stand
Big male
Very quick to get his gun out the window and on target
6.5 creedmoor landed right behind the shoulder and a touch low, ran 50 yds and was under some brush dead
143 gr eld-x made an effective, gaping wound channel
We will have 2 nice skulls for the memories
Had to laugh at that pic. The blacked out face of the dog lol.
 
More blood for the M24R:

I had a sick calf die, so I've used the carcass as bait the last few days. Almost zero coyote activity (I usually bust them at night with a thermal).

As dawn rose yesterday, I spotted one at what I guessed was about 210'ish from the back porch. He wasn't on the calf carcass, but was eating colostrum shit. I grabbed what I had handy (the M24) and slipped out the door.

Put the dial on 2, held high spine as the coyote was at a hard quarter to me and let fly. Heard the thump, regained the target...coyote was down hard, but was alive and trying to see what was pinning it down ...it was now perfectly broadside. Held 3" or so higher and let another fly. Saw that impact just behind the shoulder as I rolled it a second time.

Lasered at 244 yards (on a 210 guess) when I put out hay a half hour later. The first shot had entered about 1/3 of the way from the bottom (~3" below where I aimed). It probably took out a lung, but that 175gr SMK basically eviscerated the stomach and intestines, leaving probably a 10" opening...I'm guessing it was tumbling. It was mortal for sure, but I felt better about giving a finisher.

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The rifle:
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We've had more snow than usual also, sure adds an extra challenge for hunting at night. Biggest reason I havn't hunted as much this year has been the weather.
 
We've had more snow than usual also, sure adds an extra challenge for hunting at night. Biggest reason I havn't hunted as much this year has been the weather.
The snowshoes have been getting a workout. A buddy tagged along on this hunt and spent more time pulling himself out of waist deep holes than he spent walking lol
 
I usually shoot them at night.

However I noticed one in my herd this morning as the sun rose.

Played the game of laying prone on my concrete patio in my skivvies in 45* and had to thread the needle between moving cattle. It was about a cow's width window.

My rangefinder was dead, so I guessed 275, and dialed .9 mils on my 6.5x47 shooting 120gr Scenar-L at 2,780 FPS.

Got a perfect window, and a perfect broadside in about 2 MPH wind. Saw the impact and watched the coyote break down in two stages, ass first hitting the ground, and then the front collapsing. Gave myself an internal high five as the coyote flopped a few times...then flopped some more.

Waited for another window and then tried a head-on shot on the flopping coyote that was biting back at its side now. Saw the impact as the bullet skipped off the face and then run down its side and into the hip area.

Coyote stopped moving so I went back inside and loaded two more back into my magazine. Walked back to my dining room windows...damn coyote is still moving.

Repeated the setup and let one fly into the middle of the neck. I finally saw that I was about .1 mil high, so I came down a tenth. That got him to stop moving, but I was hyper sensitive at that point and swore I saw breathing. The 4th and final round when through the head, top to bottom.

Range ended up being 258 when I got my backup rangefinder out. I'm familiar with the land layout, so I knew I wouldn't be off much on the guess.

When I put out hay, I went over and surveyed the mess. That first shot went through and through...nothing but some blood loss on the entry side where he laid (still alive) for a good minute or two.

Entry point (the bloodiest) and exit are marked by blue dots because you wouldn't see them otherwise.

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Here's the 3rd and 4th impacts. Note: with a bone strike, I got the bullets to tumble and leave much larger asymmetric exits.
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At this point I'm not real sold on the 120gr Scenar-L for killing anything but steel. Yeah, with a bone strike I got good inadvertent exit wounds. However just about any hunting bullet would have been more humane. I couldn't feel any broken ribs from the first shot, so I guess I just got "lucky" and slipped between them.

As always, I suck at everything, and YMMV.
 
I usually shoot them at night.

However I noticed one in my herd this morning as the sun rose.

Played the game of laying prone on my concrete patio in my skivvies in 45* and had to thread the needle between moving cattle. It was about a cow's width window.

My rangefinder was dead, so I guessed 275, and dialed .9 mils on my 6.5x47 shooting 120gr Scenar-L at 2,780 FPS.

Got a perfect window, and a perfect broadside in about 2 MPH wind. Saw the impact and watched the coyote break down in two stages, ass first hitting the ground, and then the front collapsing. Gave myself an internal high five as the coyote flopped a few times...then flopped some more.

Waited for another window and then tried a head-on shot on the flopping coyote that was biting back at its side now. Saw the impact as the bullet skipped off the face and then run down its side and into the hip area.

Coyote stopped moving so I went back inside and loaded two more back into my magazine. Walked back to my dining room windows...damn coyote is still moving.

Repeated the setup and let one fly into the middle of the neck. I finally saw that I was about .1 mil high, so I came down a tenth. That got him to stop moving, but I was hyper sensitive at that point and swore I saw breathing. The 4th and final round when through the head, top to bottom.

Range ended up being 258 when I got my backup rangefinder out. I'm familiar with the land layout, so I knew I wouldn't be off much on the guess.

When I put out hay, I went over and surveyed the mess. That first shot went through and through...nothing but some blood loss on the entry side where he laid (still alive) for a good minute or two.

Entry point (the bloodiest) and exit are marked by blue dots because you wouldn't see them otherwise.

View attachment 8106785
View attachment 8106786



Here's the 3rd and 4th impacts. Note: with a bone strike, I got the bullets to tumble and leave much larger asymmetric exits.
View attachment 8106788




At this point I'm not real sold on the 120gr Scenar-L for killing anything but steel. Yeah, with a bone strike I got good inadvertent exit wounds. However just about any hunting bullet would have been more humane. I couldn't feel any broken ribs from the first shot, so I guess I just got "lucky" and slipped between them.

As always, I suck at everything, and YMMV.
I had similar shot placement last night on one at about 250 yards. It dropped, and kept on living somehow for a good 20 minutes until I got to it and realized it was still alive. I was shooting a 243 loaded with 87gr vmax. They’re tough animals.
 

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I had similar shot placement last night on one at about 250 yards. It dropped, and kept on living somehow for a good 20 minutes until I got to it and realized it was still alive. I was shooting a 243 loaded with 87gr vmax. They’re tough animals.

I would say your results are even more surprising.
 
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