Coyote hunting

[Wormydog1724]

As some of you may know, I very much enjoy predator hunting, calling predatory animals. I have killed twice this year and both have been coyotes, both have been males.

The first was on 11/25/11. I got off from work and decided to go deer hunting. I park my vehicle about 300 yards from my stand and was walking in from the north, the wind was out of the south at about 15mph. As I was walking, I noticed a lot of coyote tracks in the mud. I said out loud "sure is a lot of coyote tracks". No sooner than I finished that sentence, movement caught my eye in front of me. I froze and waited for it again. Sure enough about 70 yards in front of me was a coyote hunting for field mice. He was upwind from me so he couldn't smell me, and didn't hear me drive in. He had no idea I was within 100 miles.

I was there to deer hunt so I wasn't even going to shoot him. He was slowly working his way towards the creek and would soon be out of sight. I have always wanted to try to call one in using nothing but my mouth as a call and now would be the perfect chance. So I squatted down behind a 5ft cedar, got ready, and squeaked my lips. Sure enough he stuck his head up and in he came. I kept squeaking until he was about 25 yards in. At about 30 yards away he began bouncing high above the grass trying to get a better view of the mouse he was about to have for dinner. At about 15 yards, mid-bounce, in the air, I let one fly and nailed him square in the chest. He dropped and didn't move. 55 grain Hornady V-Max did the trick.

I was hiding behind the 2nd cedar, peaking through the split branches on the left side.

I suck at mspaint so here is some google earth to show the layout.

The red line is how far I walked from the truck, about 120 yards, the yellow line is how far he was when I spotted him, about 70 yards, the green line is how far he was when I shot him, 15 yards.

 

[brandt9913]

Nice work!!!

 

[Ksmirk]

You ever need help your more than welcome to shout my way Nice song dogs dude looks like the fur is pretty thick already must be gonna get cold this winter. Later,

Kirk

 

[dennishoddy]

Dang thats awesome how you put the graphics on the Google earth! Is it a feature built in, or how did you do it?

I was out last night for the last day of regular gun season, and spotted a short tailed, short legged mountain lion right at the edge of a wheat field just sitting there. The bobcat was at 315 according to the range finder. He was just sitting there staring into the field. I finally spotted a coyote sitting on his haunches at around 600 yards or so, staring at the bobcat. They kept this up for awhile, and as I had not been seeing any deer decided to use the MADD mouth call I keep in the pocket. This thing is so loud that you need hearing protection to run it. I could get them to look at me, but always put their eyes back on each other. Finally quit calling, out of breath, and just watched them. The cat finally came my way, but the coyote moved in the opposite direction. Never saw the cat. It finally got dark, while glassing the area where I thought the cat would come through, I finally looked to the south and there were 4 does looking at me....too late to shoot.
This is why I love hunting. Didn't have to kill anything to have a great time.

 

[Wormydog1724]

The second was killed tonight. Me and my brother got off work a little early and decided to call a spot we had never tried before. He had the shotgun and a rifle and I had my rifle. The wind was hard out of the north tonight and cold, so we knew we would have to call in or close to a creek where the coyote may be bedded. I sat the call pretty close to me and got on high ground so I could watch. My brother got in the creek a bit with shotgun. I was watching south even though the wind was wrong, I just had a feeling. We had the call running for about 5 minutes when movement caught my eye. I got my scope on it and it was a coyote. He was almost directly downwind from my brother just in the tree line of the creek and he wasn't coming out. He kept raising his head high trying to figure out what the scent was he was picking up. I watched him for probably just under a minute and decided he wasn't coming out. So I got the crosshairs lined up and squeezed the trigger. The thud from the bullet hitting him was louder than the sound of the rifle.

He was a mature male. Probably weighed close to 40 pounds.

google earth setup

The wind was out of the north and the coyote hung up just inside the tree line. He thought he was still in cover enough from the tall weeds but he still wanted to see the call and see if it was dinner or not. All I could see was his chest and head and I put a 55 grain Hornady V-Max right in the middle of his chest.

 

[dennishoddy]

Nice bushy dog! I"ve noticed that every coyote I've seen this season has a great coat of fur. Seems like the years past, a lot have had the mange, and look really bad.

 

[Wormydog1724]

Dang thats awesome how you put the graphics on the Google earth! Is it a feature built in, or how did you do it?

Ya I downloaded Google Earth to my computer and they have all sorts of features built in it, even a shitty flight simulator that is kinda fun to kill some time. I just figured out how to save images from it. I wish I could make the distances show up on the lines but I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe by the time I get another coyote I will have it figured out.

Sometimes those coyotes and cats are tricky. I'm not gonna lie, we don't kill something every time we go out. Sometimes we don't even see an animal after several sets. But sometimes, just sometimes, everything lines up and works out and we put fur on the ground. There's no science to it or no right way. Just got to get out and try it. Only way to learn is to try it. Or the Yoda quote about doing or not doing, no trying. whatever.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've had Google Earth on the computer for awhile....gonna have to go back and play with it I guess.

I made two sets in the early afternoon heading to the deer hunting site, and like you said....nothing there. Next time, same place, there might be a shot. Its all fun.

 

[imhntn]

Good going Wormy! I am going to try to catch up soon. My .17 Rem wants blood.

 

[Ksmirk]

Another with a 17 Rem? COOL! they work real well but I don't shoot the plastic tip I shoot the heavyweight those 27.5 and 30gr bullets LOL I gave up my 22-250 after getting the 17 Rem it's like lightning struck the dog real bang flops. Later,

Kirk

 

[dennishoddy]

We need some stats, along with the range reports......

 

[Ksmirk]

Dennis what info would you like? I'm already headed off to work but I'll get some stuff for ya later.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've always been a fan of the hyper velocity small rounds. I have a .17 HMR, that I'm impressed with, but really haven't heard much about the .17 caliber center fires. In my opinion, the .17HMR is marginal for coyotes for one reason only. Bullet construction. The bullets disintegrate on impact. I'm assuming the .17 center fires have a better bullet built for them.

 

[DoctorJJ]

Nice stories, Wormy.

As for the small caliber, I've got a 204 Ruger upper which is just dying to try itself on some coyotes.

 

[handlebar]

Called these two up Saturday in the wind. A friend killed them both and it was good enough to win a local coyote calling contest.

 

[dennishoddy]

Congrats on winning the tourney! Nice looking fur on them too.

 

[handlebar]

This weekend kills.

 

[dennishoddy]

Is this from the coyote contest Marcus was posting about?
Thats a GREAT day! Congrats guys!

 

[Wormydog1724]

That's from the Central Oklahoma Predator Challange held in Blanchard, OK. 1st place killed 7, 2nd place had 4, and I think 3rd had one coyote and a bobcat.

 

[dennishoddy]

And where did you place?

Handlebars team won 1st then. Congrats again!