Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

I kind of like the 223 bolt action for calling with a 55 gr. hpbt sierra running 26 gr. of h335 out of a 20" barrel . We all have our favorite rifles and chamberings and reasons that we choose them . I didn't like the fast light weight bullets as it seemed for me that they just punched through and I lost a few pay days that way . They died but were hard to find some times . I built a 6.5x284 and used 120 nosslers for longer shots it seemed to work well in our Wyoming winds . I gave it to the guy that replaced me when I retired , my family was raised his wasn't .

You are quite right about we all have our favorite rifles and cartridges and we all have our individual reasons for why we like what we like! Everyone has their own choice for their own reasons! What I find valuable is to learn why a person chooses what they do. Understanding their reasoning will tell you a lot about why you might or might not make the same choice!

Wyowind , I like your thought process . Always trying to learn myself . I'm old not dead yet .

I have a "lucky" long shot story, it was back in the 90's we were just south of the Canadian border hunting deer. At the time we were shooting 30-378's and did not know squat about long bullets or high BC's......but we thought we were smart. Anyway shooting a 180 grain Nosler ballistic tips @ 3400 fps.......we just worked a coulee and "no deer", so we were walking back to the pickup. It was dead calm and there was a coyote sitting on a coulee rim watching us......there was 4 of us and I said to one fellow, "I am going to try to hit that coyote"...........his comment was no fricking way. Keep in mind this load would only group 3 shots in 12" @ 1000 yards, I lay down prone, harris bi-pod, dial the gun up and wait for the coyote to stand up. It finally did and walked straight away, I barked at it, it turned broadside...sent one down range and when that 180 hit that coyote it just spun it around.....that fellow got P'oed and could not believe it...I knew it was very, very lucky shot.....1030 yards..... With this same load I once hit a coyote running straight away @ 400 yards and it just cart wheeled him.......large male, full of a deer gut pile and the bullet never exited.....fragile fragile. When I picked that coyote up by his back and shook him side to side it sounded like a 5 gallon can of soup. Have learned a lot in the last 30 years and now shoot 6.5 calibers with long high BC bullets.

The reason I like the 223 was it was easy to reload for , didn't cost much to reload for , I started out using 4320 powder until it became hard to get , I could get the 55 gr hpbt's to blow up inside of the coyote and even fox most of the time and not tear up the fur at close range when calling . And brass was easy to come by in my area . New not used military brass . It also was very accurate . lastly if I had to I could buy loaded ammo almost any where I went , maybe not what I wanted but I could get it.

All of those were very practical reasons. Makes sense to me even today.

Reemty J , I enjoy hearing about other peoples experiences while hunting thus the title . Thank You . We all have had some good experiences that others will enjoy hearing about .

Some of the best memories are the ones where the coyote shows up to a stand from the most unlikely place and you are still able to move slow, reposition and close the deal. The closer they are to you, the more difficult that is to do, they miss almost nothing. Between their senses and their smarts, coyotes are a very worthy adversary. That is the mystic and challenge that keeps a guy coming back and scheming ways to get better and trick one heck of a smart resourceful canine........... I have shot them with everything from the 30-378, 270, 3 different 22-250's, 6XC, 6.5 creedmoor and my new gun for this year is a CZ varmint in .204, going to shoot the 39 gr. SBK............the BC on this bullet makes it amazing out to 500 yards, I am guessing real solid from 0-350 yards.....this spring and fall/winter we will have some new adventures.....soon as my rings get here and I dial the load in we are going den hunting with call in hand....more to come.

A few years back I was out hunting coyote when this guy ran upon me and goes who the h are you and what the f are you doing here . I told him who I was and that I worked for the ranchers doing coyote control and then asked him who he was . Well I work for such and such oil company and I was told not to let anybody in here . So I called the rancher and he told the guy who and why I was there and to let me be . We then visited awhile he finally said you must do ok there are dead f n Coyote by every gate . When I killed a coyote so as to get paid per coyote I'd throw them down by the gate going into the pasture they were killed in that way the rancher knew how many and where they came from for his books . That worked well for the most part except one year . I'd throw them down un skinned as the price was such that it really didn't pay for me to skin wash and put them up 2-5 dollars each . This kid was just starting out and when he would see one of mine by the gate he would pick it up and tell his friends what a good coyote hunter he was by all the dead coyote he showed them . I'd tell the rancher where they were but when he got there they weren't there any more just some blood most of the time . When I figured out what was going on and who was doing it we had a chat and I explained to him he was stealing my pay check he stopped doing it . Just a kid not knowing what he was doing to me so he could have some bragging to his buddies .

When I first was in Mondamtana (1983) I was lucky enough to live in the same small town as a good coyote trapper and caller, this fellow was generous and helpful in my learning curve (he showed me coyote howling along with rabbit sound, howling was pretty new then) and I was able to go with him many times. One thing he told me was, he did not believe anyone could walk a coyote down, meaning, cut a fresh track, get your snow camo on and track it down and shoot it............well I am 1/2 sauerkraut, so I just had to prove him wrong. It was December and back in September I had shot the front leg off a running coyote and could not recover it. Well we had new snow and there was the three legged track of that coyote, long story short, 2 miles later I caught up with that coyote and put a 52 gr speer hollow point from my 22-250 in it. By the way, that front leg was almost completely healed and that coyote was fat!! In the following 37 years I have got on a fresh track and caught up with the coyotes successfully more times than not. My last 2 were 2 winters ago, followed a pair on a windy day for 3 miles + and when I caught up with them, they were curled up sleeping 200 yards away in a shallow draw, pounded the female (really white pretty color) with 6.5CM and the male (dark ugly one) didn't know where I was at and ran quartering to me and the next shot got him thru the middle. My opinion "you can follow up and kill most anything if you use what GOD gave you, brains, binos and an accurate rifle....where we are here on the prairie you make sure you keep your wind away from where that coyote is heading and every little rise you come up too, as soon as your eyes can see over it, put those binos to your head and look hard.....got to spot him before he sees you.....move up slowly and stop and look a lot. Once you know the coyote is over the next rise, you can walk fast till you can see into the next draw and do everything slowly all over again. I love to do this on windy days where calling is not an option, it pits you are more even terms with your prey..........but dam its fun!!!

Reempty that's got to be a blast. Our terrain around here wouldn't let that work around here but I could do that kinda thing all day lol. Like you said it's a chess game and to checkmate one of those you've really done something.

one more, sorry about being a game hog here guys, but that darn Dsheetz guy got me going......I manage a bird property in my free time so am after coyotes year around there. It was an hour after daylight and I spotted one on east side of a deep coulee about 3/4 mile away. He was lazily doing a little mousing, but just half heartily, there was snow on only 30% of the ground. The wind was marginal (as far as him scenting me) but he finally drifted into a finger draw so I took off walking fast till I got on his side of the draw and went real slow glassing as the top of the finger draw was not visible as he could have moved over the top out into the field over the hill or bedded in that draw for the morning. When I left the pickup, I debated on taking the shotgun, but decided no way was I getting that close to him. As I topped enough of the draw to see into it, the wind was very marginal. It was a grass draw and the bottom east half was crop stubble, the very bottom had 12-14" high stubble and no snow. I sat there glassing intently for 3 to 5 min and all a sudden I felt the wind change, the coyote smelled me and busted out of that taller stubble in the bottom running right to left 50 YARDS away................dang, 3" dead coyote would have killed him in one shot. Anyway I shot 3 times (6.5 CM) running and never touched him, all that time and energy and I screw up the shooting.........that is how it goes sometimes. Lesson?? ALWAYS take the SHOTGUN.........ALWAYS as you never know when it will make it very easy!!!!! Okay, someone else.......I will sit down a while.

After reading these stories of yote hunting I thought I would share one of my own. from 2001 to 2005 I lived Susanville CA and went to school at Lassen JC for gunsmithing. the second winter there I got invited to go coyote hunting on a sheep and goat ranch in a little berg 10-15 miles south of Susanville. I was friends with the owner's grandson. I showed up before sunrise as instructed. I had a 17 Rem, 223 Rem, and my 300 W/M. why the 300 I have no clue I just brought it without thinking. I met all the other hunters involved with the ambush of the coyotes. there were callers, trigger men and as I remember the temp was a brisk -5 or -9 it was a bit hard to make out with the fog hanging around the temp meter. they had arraigned a shooting structure out of hay bales, wood, and tarps. it was very civilized. A small stove was in there with us to keep us a bit warmer than the air would allow. at the first crack of dawn the callers were in full voice. cotton tail in distress, lambs whining for mama, and other distress calls filled the air. it took less than 10 minutes for the snowy field to fill with coyotes running for the field we were in. I learned a lot about how buck fever must feel like. So many targets so little time to shoot them. The coyotes were plentiful in 2002. that Saturday morning one coyote would not come in. he stood stowic on a rise at the edge of the canyon at 500 yards. not coming in, just standing there watching. no one wanted to take that shot with the wind coming down the draws. I was the idiot that said, "Hell, I will try for him." I pulled out the 300 and lined up and let one fly with some "kentucky windage and elevation". it landed nearly dead center 20 feet infront of him. I lined up again and let a second fly; when I got back out of recoil, the coyote had disappeared. I thought I scared him and missed him twice. the next Saturday morning I was pulled aside and asked never to use my 300 on a coyote ever again.. that is when I found out I did hit him with my 300.. only small parts remained after the 175 grain slug struck him. I lost count of the number I personally got in the few months after that. what will stand out in my mind was the one marbeled grey and white wolf I got. the anger or hunger in his eyes have haunted me since then. even after 18 years I sometimes still see those eyes in my dreams. that was the day I was hooked for life on coyote hunting. my first time and one of the best memories I have of coyote hunting.

And that sir is what this thread is for .