SmallCaliberCentral

Yesterday, my youngest son Ethan, came home late afternoon from college and when he pulled into the driveway saw a coyote out in my bean field south of the house. We have been hearing coyotes in the night but haven't seen anything during the daylight hours. Last Wed. we cut the beans so I had my CZ 527 Varmint in a handy location in the house in case I saw one out there.
Ethan got out of his car, went in the house and got the gun, then walked out to my upper deck behind the shed to get a shot at the coyote.

The upper deck.




The coyote acted like it didn't see him go up and kept nosing around on the ground. Ethan figured it was out there somewhere between 200 and 250 yards judging by the backstops in the field. The 100, 200 and 300 yard backstops are in the left of the picture. The coyote was next to the cornfield.




Here is the coyote's view of the shed.




Ethan put the crosshairs on the coyotes shoulder at 232 yards and touched off the trigger. He said the coyote flopped over and rolled around and then got up and went into the cornfield about 10 yards away. He went down there and found where the coyote was when he shot it. There were wads of fur and a lot of blood on the ground.




He proceeded into the corn field and found where it had stopped a couple times.





At this point, Ethan called me at work and told me the story so I suggested backing out and I would be home soon and we would finish tracking the coyote. This would give the coyote time to lay down and hopefully die.

I got home and grabbed the .22 pistol and we headed into the cornfield. The coyote was loosing a lot of blood and could tell by the rub marks on the ground that it wasn't moving too good. We went about 30 yards past where Ethan had stopped and saw the coyote trying to get away in a flooded out spot in the field. I then finished it off with the pistol.

The coyote was a full size mature female, I'm guessing around 26-28 lbs. The 39 gr. Sierra B.K. hit high on the near front leg breaking it, then tore a chunk out of the lower chest without getting into the chest cavity and then proceeded to break the other front leg.



This is a good example of what can happen with probably any bullet when bone is hit first.


Here is Ethan's "hero" shot.

Good job! Convenient that you've got coyotes trained to come out on/near your rifle range!

Good Job! Nice shooting deck! You will have to try calling them in! For some more fun.

excellent job there fellas a dead yote is a good yote

Melvin Congrads on getting the yote. What's your thoughts on the shot? The angle your son was shooting at? I realize with a hit like that the yote wasn't gong any were. Still a lot of damage for a little bullet. Thanks for sharing the pics and story alway 110%!
Later
Ray P

Ray P,

About the shot. Ethan hasn't done much shooting since our prairie dog trip 3 or 4 years ago so I'm pleased with the shot for the distance. I try for lung shots myself and try to stay away from the heavy bones. We can't always make the perfect shot all the time, I know, I've had my share of blunders through the years.

This is the 3rd coyote I personally have seen shot with the 39 SBK that was torn up. All 3 had been hit in solid bone. I know there are others here on the board that favor other bullets over the 39's but this bullet shoots very accurate in all three of my 204's. As long as I do my part, I rarely see a bullet exit except at longer ranges. I shot one in this same field about 3 years ago at 332 yards (lasered) through the lungs that had an exit wound you could cover with a dime and dropped it on the spot. I've torn up more coyotes with my 22-250, 220 Swift, 243, 6MM, 270 and even my 8MM Rem. Mag. than the 204 and the 39's have.

I'm not a fur hunter so it's not a major event if one gets torn up some. Even though it's a coyote, I still don't like to see them suffer.