LYON
PMA Member
I'm going to start a little thread on my coyote season this year. I won't be actively hunting them until probably January but every once in awhile stuff just works out nicely, so I'll post as I either shoot them and/or once I start hunting them.
Just dropped #1 on the year this morning. My house sits on a hilltop that overlooks a pasture and a pond. Here's the back of my place.
There's a nature reserve immediately to my south that has a small amount of timber, and there's more timber about a quarter mile to our north. Over the last two years since we've moved here, I've gotten multiple shots at coyotes that are just meandering along through the pasture from one timber to the next. Sunday morning, we were getting ready for church and I see a coyote hanging out way up at the top of the hill above the pond. It's about 340 yards from the back of the house. So of course I have to take a shot...I didn't have the most ideal rest and missed, twice. But it still didn't run off like a maniac even though it had been shot at twice. I don't think it knew what happened.
So Monday about noon, I get a text from my wife and she says there's a coyote laying just above the pond on the opposite side. I finally talked her into taking a shot, coached her through loading my gun and she missed. I'm pretty proud that she even tried. A 220 yard shot is quite the poke for anyone, especially someone who rarely shoots.
Yesterday evening I was getting curious about my gun's zero. I'm not completely surprised with either of our misses but I still wanted to make sure it wasn't the gun. So I set a target up at 350 and put three shots into about a 3" group that was about 3" low. Can't complain about that, the misses were obviously human error.
So now I have full confidence in the guns ability after checking it and then this morning I'm leaving for work, get about 100 yards down the road and she calls me and says there's a coyote on our side of the pond. I throw it in reverse, back up the road and up the driveway, go inside and grab my gun. My shooting sticks weren't handy at the moment so I went out the front of the house, walked around to the north side and leaned against a post that is for our bird feeders. He was moving left to right and not too far from getting into the standing corn so I barked him to a stop at somewhere around 100 yards, and flinched when I shot....My heart was racing a little too much and that dang bull barrel on that gun is supper heavy and hard to hold still if you don't have a great rest. So I missed a chip shot and he took off trotting away. I quick moved over to our picnic table and kneeled beside it with the gun on top. I barked a few times and he finally stopped behind a tree. 10-15 seconds later he walked out and was within 10 yards of being into the corn field, I barked again, he stopped, I took my time squeezing it off and dropped him in his tracks at about 230 yards. Absolutely huge male. Probably the biggest I've shot. I had to head to work but I'm hoping he stays cool enough today that I can skin him tonight and tan his hide. Very nice fur on him. Sorry for the crappy pic, but my 4 year old who didn't want to stand beside it is pretty fresh on his photography skills!
Just dropped #1 on the year this morning. My house sits on a hilltop that overlooks a pasture and a pond. Here's the back of my place.
There's a nature reserve immediately to my south that has a small amount of timber, and there's more timber about a quarter mile to our north. Over the last two years since we've moved here, I've gotten multiple shots at coyotes that are just meandering along through the pasture from one timber to the next. Sunday morning, we were getting ready for church and I see a coyote hanging out way up at the top of the hill above the pond. It's about 340 yards from the back of the house. So of course I have to take a shot...I didn't have the most ideal rest and missed, twice. But it still didn't run off like a maniac even though it had been shot at twice. I don't think it knew what happened.
So Monday about noon, I get a text from my wife and she says there's a coyote laying just above the pond on the opposite side. I finally talked her into taking a shot, coached her through loading my gun and she missed. I'm pretty proud that she even tried. A 220 yard shot is quite the poke for anyone, especially someone who rarely shoots.
Yesterday evening I was getting curious about my gun's zero. I'm not completely surprised with either of our misses but I still wanted to make sure it wasn't the gun. So I set a target up at 350 and put three shots into about a 3" group that was about 3" low. Can't complain about that, the misses were obviously human error.
So now I have full confidence in the guns ability after checking it and then this morning I'm leaving for work, get about 100 yards down the road and she calls me and says there's a coyote on our side of the pond. I throw it in reverse, back up the road and up the driveway, go inside and grab my gun. My shooting sticks weren't handy at the moment so I went out the front of the house, walked around to the north side and leaned against a post that is for our bird feeders. He was moving left to right and not too far from getting into the standing corn so I barked him to a stop at somewhere around 100 yards, and flinched when I shot....My heart was racing a little too much and that dang bull barrel on that gun is supper heavy and hard to hold still if you don't have a great rest. So I missed a chip shot and he took off trotting away. I quick moved over to our picnic table and kneeled beside it with the gun on top. I barked a few times and he finally stopped behind a tree. 10-15 seconds later he walked out and was within 10 yards of being into the corn field, I barked again, he stopped, I took my time squeezing it off and dropped him in his tracks at about 230 yards. Absolutely huge male. Probably the biggest I've shot. I had to head to work but I'm hoping he stays cool enough today that I can skin him tonight and tan his hide. Very nice fur on him. Sorry for the crappy pic, but my 4 year old who didn't want to stand beside it is pretty fresh on his photography skills!
Good job. Keep up the good work.
Well done!
