2 yotes down today

[mcseal2]

Got a couple more today. The first one I got while working this morning. I was hauling a round bale on my flatbed to carry extra for Dad, he had 2 more bales on the tractor. I spotted a coyote in some tall grass that thought he was hidden. The new custom 243 was riding along this morning with the handload I worked up over the last few days I wanted to try. The coyote was only 135yds out so the 85gr Speer SPBT was still moving pretty good when it hit him, muzzle velocity is 3333fps. The entrance was right behind the shoulder and small, the exit was mid-rib on the offside and about 3". This may not be a fur friendly load, but it sure hammers them.



When we got work done I patterned my 870. I don't turkey hunt anymore so I thought I'd make that my coyote shotgun. The original barrel threw every buckshot pattern I tried about a foot and a half high at 40yds. I bought a 20" smoothbore barrel with rifle sights on it and a Carlsons coyote choke tube. It took some sight adjustment to the left, but now Federal Premium 3" #4 buck loads are hitting where the sights are at 50yds. Patterns would be a bit iffy at 50yds. 45yds they are plenty tight, and 40 they are wicked. I had 3 different 3" #4 buck loads to try, this was the slowest but best patterning for me.

That done I headed out to call a coyote. It was pretty windy so I tried a tactic I saw on a video this week from TBR outdoors. I set the FoxPro, Mojo Critter, and squirted some Coyote Juice out where the wind would carry the sound/scent into the timber. Then I backed off to the side about 60yds and set myself up, so that anything coming into the call from directly downwind wouldn't smell me. I heard a coyote howl nearby while setting up my last set about 4:15pm, just a single yote. I howled back with the FoxPro female howls and waited. No response, no coyote. I tried some Lucky Bird distress calls on low volume and still nothing. After a period of silence I tried some more female howls, then a male challenge howl. I gave it a couple more minutes of silence and then hit the Robin Distress. About 5 minutes later a big coyote popped out of the timber at 300yds. I stayed quiet until he stopped, then hit the Luscious Lips coaxer on the FoxPro. He trotted in along the timber until directly downwind of the call, then started coming straight toward it. He stopped to check things out at 150yds and I was on him at that point, I went ahead and shot him. He was only about 80yds from the call and decoy, but with me sitting off to the side the shot was a bit longer. I used my DPMS Prairie Panther with the RAM 55gr V max load it shoots at 2962fps. That rifle is really picky but shoots that well. It did very little damage hitting the chest of the big male.

 

[mallacootasmoothie]

Awesome stuff, I love hunting predators!

 

[hammer0419]

Very nice. I can't wait to get out with my new 257 air rifle I just finished.

 

[elkguide]

Good shooting.

 

[Davebuech]

A pretty good day indeed!

 

[mcseal2]

Thanks everyone. I got a few more stories since then.

1-20 A little before 4 I heard several howl as I was getting ready to set up on one side of the road. They were about 3/4 of a mile away on the opposite side of the road, still where I could hunt. I went back to the truck and moved closer. I had where they were picked out, but busted two walking into position, they had moved closer. I called anyway and got one coyote to show up at 265yds but didn't try the shot and he disappeared, never saw him again. I had the 20" 223 AR and hoped he'd come closer and offer a higher percentage shot. He never reached a spot where he could see the decoy. I tried another spot where I'd heard another one, and busted one setting up there also. I probably would have got that one if I'd just mouth called from the cover on top of the hill and not set up the call and decoy. No plan is perfect! I have a new plan for next time I hunt there though, call from the opposite side of the ridge and don't try to get close. They will be on that side next time and it won't work either now! Just have to keep trying.

1-21 Went out for the last hour and a half of daylight again. I got one to come in on my last stand. I started out with a quiet mouse distress in case anything was close, then did a male long howl and female howl. I started up the rabbit distress then. After probably 20 minutes with light going fast and a light rain starting I saw a yote coming in. He dropped into the creek bottom and out of sight for 5 minutes or so. I scanned with my binos and found him slipping in on my decoy in the gloom through the corn stubble. I ended up dropping him 7yds from the decoy by the time I got him in the scope. Another big male, probably a 60-70yd shot with the AR again. He circled so he could come from downwind at least 200yds to the call.

The night before last I got another one, #10 for the year. I called him in setting the call so he could come downwind of it but not me. This one responded pretty quick, I did about 3 minutes of mouse distress quiet then did the two howls again. He popped out above and downwind about 3 minutes after the first howl. He had a bit of elevation on my set-up and never did come in, just paced and looked at 135yds. I think he was looking for a coyote, didn't come to the distress. I was prone behind some rocks we dumped in a ditch and when he got behind some grass and brush I moved to get the gun on him when he re-appeared. He spun a few times after the shot then fell. I was using the AR, 55gr V max again. I only found one hole back on his hip that I thought must be an exit but decided to check the gun anyway the next afternoon when time allowed.

The last 3 yotes have been big males I think are coming in to breed or defend territory, not to distress. Its pushing 60 today, weather is mild and I don't think they are to hungry. The squeaks will usually bring them in closer once they see the decoy though, not going to pass a meal if it's right there.

 

[mcseal2]

I've got 10 now in 2017, it's been a good start. Here is what I used and what it did. All but the one last night dropped on the first shot and didn't move after.

Calling
204 Ruger AR, 45gr Hornady factory load @3325fps, 160yds. Entry front chest, small exit behind shoulder
204 Ruger AR 45gr Hornady 80yds, entered throat tiny exit back of neck (only part of yote visible)
204 Ruger AR 45gr Hornady 21yds, facing me entered chest no exit
25-06 100gr Sirocco II @ 3187fps 220yds broadside behind shoulder, tiny entrance 1/2" exit!
(I was doe hunting but had a predator call in my pocket. Yote scared the deer, I killed the yote)

223 20" AR 55gr V max @ 2962fps 154yds entry behind shoulder, no exit
223 20" AR 55gr V max 60yds entry mid rib, no exit, 2nd shot entered hind quarter, hit bone and made a mess. Light was going fast last night and I couldn't stop him once he locked on the decoy, made a bad shot
223 20" AR V max 135yds. Never found entry, exit through hip

While working on the ranch, carrying rifle in truck or UTV
25-06 100gr TTSX factory load 221yds caliber size entry, 3/4" exit behind shoulder
243 90gr Accubond factory load 3028fps 189yds small entry 1.5" exit behind shoulder through spine
243 85gr Speer SPBT 3333fps 135yds small entry behind shoulder, 3" exit mid-rib offside. Hit rib.

As you can see I have a tendency to take the more powerful and flatter shooting guns in the vehicle. Calling I can hopefully get a good high percentage shot for the little guns. I like the idea of an AR platform if I call multiple yotes in too. Growing up on bolt guns I'm using predator calling to make myself get better with the AR platform. Working if I get a shot this late in the year they are often either running away or stopping at longer range. The ones I've killed lately have been exceptions. I like something that will break whatever it needs to and dump them then.

I haven't been using the old reliables this winter because I'm testing out the newer ones. I have my old bolt 204 zeroed for the Hornady 40gr V max Superformance loads it's shooting really well. I don't like them on coyotes that well so I haven't used it. They make a fist size hole without penetrating much on close chest shots if they hit a shoulder bone. On longer shots they can splash. If they are broadside and you miss a rib going in they drop coyotes like lightning, but I'm not a fan. The 45gr Hornady SP has always been a reliable killer for me, often exits. I've killed a bunch of yotes with that bullet from the old bolt gun. Since I have the AR in 204 now I'm using it for the 45gr bullets and using the other one for smalle varmints. The V max makes crows explode!

The 6mm with the Superformance powder and 70gr Ballistic Tips at 3824fps has been a safe queen the last couple winters. I need to get her back out and kill some more yotes, that bullet at that speed makes for a near perfect truck gun, hold center to 350yds properly zeroed. It's killed a bunch past 300yd as they stopped to look back. It can be messy on a close called one if it isn't hit at an angle where there is plenty of coyote to soak up the shrapnel. I had issues getting brass and now that I have some I haven't got anything loaded. I want to see how the 243 and 25-06 do with their bullets. I know that the 6mm and that load will destroy a bobcat if I get one called in so I'm doing some experimenting with game bullets from the other two, hopefully they will pass through a cat without blowing it up. So far the Sirocco is looking promising, but it's a small sample size on both

 

[mcseal2]

I thought about titling this one Fun with Beer and an AR, but thought that might not present the best image.

I parked my boat under the shed this year thinking I'd be using it again in a few days. The river flooded, haying started, and that never happened. Emptying it out didn't either, got busy and didn't do it. I had a cooler of beer I forgot about in the boat that got hot this summer, then froze enough times the cans are all bulged out and the beer is skunky. It was alcohol abuse I know.

I've been doing most of my predator calling with an AR this year. I've used them some for the last several years, but kept going back to my familiar bolt guns. I have always just shot the bolt guns better. This year I have been practicing a lot more with the AR's but mostly at closer targets from offhand, kneeling, and kneeling with shooting sticks. I just set up the AR's for the Stoney Point or Primos Rapid pivot bipods I've always liked for the bolt guns this week. I shot another coyote last night at 135yds with the DPMS Prairie Panther AR in 223. I could only find one hole in it clear back near the hip. I knew I shouldn't have hit it there and shot from prone over a rock so figured I'd better check the gun. I was 90% sure I just never found the entrance wound and that was the exit but wanted to be sure. The coyote had mange so I wasn't going to skin it to find out.

Rather than just go to the bench I decided to do some field shooting. I took the cooler of ruined beer and several rounds of firewood to a big brome field with a big hill behind it, good spot for longer shots with a great backstop. I set the beer up on the firewood rounds scattered around the field with the UTV and then backed off to shoot. I took my bolt 204 and 243, plus the DPMS. The wind was 15-25mph so it was pushing me around a bit as I shot, but straight at me so I didn't have to hold for it.

I shot sitting off the bipod, sitting off the bipod with my back rested against a tree, and prone over the pack. With the bolt guns that are heavier, have crisper triggers, and have better scopes with finer crosshairs I could reliably bust the cans to about 130yds with my back un-rested. I could add 30yds to that with my back against something solid and using my knee under my elbow. It took a lot of the wind wobble I was getting out if I did that. I could bust 200yds cans prone over the pack with no problem. I pinned a part of a busted can to one of the firewood rounds and hit that at 310yds prone with the 243 also. Bolt guns and my shooting of them was fine for what I do.

Then I got out the AR. I started out with my back un-rested off the bipod and busted two cans each at 80 and 115yds. I hit 50% on the four 150yd cans this way. I rested my back against the tree, used my knee, and then busted 4 straight. Prone the 200yd cans were no problem with the AR either. I never could get the wind wobble down enough with any of the guns to try 200yds off the bipod, a 12oz can isn't very wide and I couldn't keep the vertical crosshair on the can.

After seeing that the AR was capable in my hands, I started having fun with it. I would drive out with the UTV and set cans/firewood chunks at random distances and positions and then go back to where I'd left my pack. I'd take the farthest can first like I'd do with a group of coyotes, then try to shoot the rest as quick as I could left to right or right to left. There must have been 50 cans in that cooler and I got them all shot. The bipods I like pop off the gun instantly with a straight push so I even shot some close ones without it after taking a far can. An occasional missed can showcases the advantage of the AR, the quick follow up. The 6" top of a round of wood I lay down made for a good 250 and 300yd target after I ran out of cans. I was having great fun until I ran out of bullets. That's easier to do with the AR too.

While the cans don't move like coyotes, they are bigger than cans too! I feel more confident now than ever in my ability to shoot the AR's at them off the bipod especially inside 200yds.

The DPMS is picky on what it will shoot well, but it's favorite load is a cheaper locally made reman ammo. In my rifle it pushes a 55gr V max at 2962fps. My rifle recently got an aftermarket trigger that isn't quite as good as my bolt guns, but is pretty darn nice. The scope is a Bushnell 3200 Firefly 2.5-10x50 with a plain duplex reticle that works alright for 223 ranges. I like having 14x or more on the top end, but can't see where it hurt me only having the 10x even prone. I also learned that it's easier to use the pack as a good rest when it's full of gear and soft clothes instead of a giant Prairie Blaster FoxPro call. If I ever get another call I'll get one of the smaller ones, that thing fills my Eberlestock X3 pretty much by itself.

My other AR is a 204 and it's off getting a new stock at the gunsmith right now. The cheaper collapsible one that it came with the lower I use on it rattles to much for me. It's getting a better one with a wider top for a better cheek weld. I'm getting myself talked into a 22 Nosler upper for it also this summer, then getting both uppers Cera-koted to blend in where I hunt. My 243 has that cera-kote and I have to be careful where I lay it down. Before spending the money I figure I need to make sure I am going to get good enough with the AR's to actually use them instead of the bolt guns. I'm thinking so. Even after I get the other AR set up for predators I'll probably use the DPMS some hunting, and a lot for practice. It will be much cheaper to shoot.

 

[Retterath]

nice work, way to get those deer killers