SmallCaliberCentral

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, I headed out of Williston. Man are there ever lots of drilling rigs and also completed wells out there. Pipelines seem to have been installed all over the place. I headed to a spot out east of a rancher’s buildings where there is a very nice long wooded draw running to the east north east from where I parked my pickup. I thought about taking my shotgun along but nixed that idea. I walked into the west southwest and crossed the little ravine that had a little stream running through it and got to a spot where I could call to the NW. I could see pretty well to the east, north and west. I set the FOXPRO up to the northeast of me and used the dying jackrabbit sound. After I thought 14 or 15 minutes must have elapsed, I muted the FOXPRO and looked down at my watch. My chronograph said that almost 15 minutes had passed by since I started calling. When I looked up from my watch, I spotted a coyote face looking through some brush not more than 35 yards to the NW of me. It was looking east towards my FOXPRO which was silent. My rifle was almost pointing exactly at him so I didn’t have to move much to get the crosshairs on the coyote. Unfortunately, there were some branches from the brush growing there that seemed to be in the road of the shot and all I had to shoot at was his head. I held off on the shot. The coyote advanced a step or two higher up out of the ravine, intently staring in the direction of the FOXPRO. He was now standing almost broadside to me and I could clearly see his head, chest and shoulder area. I put the crosshairs behind his right front shoulder and squeezed off the shot. The Danzac coated 30 gr. BTHP Kindler Gold bullet WHACKED the coyote but didn’t knock him down! He spun around while biting at the bullet entrance wound and then ran down the bank of the ravine and out of sight. I knew I had hit him in the heart/lung area so I was sure he would expire quickly and was hoping he would not be too hard to find.



I shut off my remote, ejected the empty round and chambered another round and slowly crept over to the edge of the ravine. I could not see any blood or fur at the spot he was standing when I shot. There was no blood on any of the tall grass blades or the brush either as I began to walk in the direction he disappeared. I took my time scanning the deep grass in the ravine as I walked along and found the coyote piled up just 40 yards from where he was when I shot him.



He was stone-cold dead. The bullet had hit right where I aimed and had made a tiny hole about 1/4 inch in diameter. I have a .17 TAC cartridge pointing to the entrance hole in this photo.



There was no exit hole. I stepped off the distance from where I was lying when I took the shot to the spot the coyote was standing and it was 30 yards!!! As I mentioned earlier, I had thought about taking my shotgun with when I stopped to walk to this place but left it in the pickup. Oh well, the old .17 Tactical worked well anyway.

This was a big old male coyote and he had some very nice, big sharp teeth. Here’s one of my .17 TAC shells alongside his gleaming white teeth:



I set my FOXPRO stand up and placed my camera on it to get a couple of hero photos. Here’s one where you can see the coyote and my beautiful smile. He had nice long guardhairs.



It took me 10 minutes to drag him the half mile back to the pickup. I sprayed him down with flea spray and loaded him up into the back of the pickup and headed for another calling spot. Once again, I was amazed to find oil well drilling pads, drilling rigs, new pipelines, and lots of oilfield vehicles all over this once-quiet and pristine area. The oilfield activity might be good for the workers and the mineral acre owners, but it sure messes up the once-quiet countryside. I did find a place I wanted to walk into and call and when I got in about a quarter mile there was a backhoe digging away about 1/4 mile to the WNW of where I wanted to set up to call. I walked in another 1/2 mile to the SE and called for over 40 minutes with no takers. I think all the activity has the coyotes jittery in this particular area.

I drove to the ranch house of one of the landowners in the area and had a chat with him and thanked him for allowing me to hunt and then headed for home. I stashed this coyote in the freezer with the other three from my October 21 hunt. I hope prices are decent so I can afford to fill my gas tank!!!

LeRoy,

Another great report, keep them coming.

glad you whacked another! good job

That's a great story and pics. Hope all the drilling won't permanently ruin the area for hunting.

Here's hoping you sack up a bunch more Leroy. A buddy in Tulsa in the oil business said they are making a lot of overnight millionaires up there but it sure plays heck with the hunting. I have had some of that going on in Oklahoma in areas I hunt with natural gas. New roads and compressor stations right where the turkeys liked to roam and you could not hear a turkey over the compressors if you wanted to. Seems like they have all moved out anyway. Maybe poaching is much easier with all the new gravel roads running through the place too.

Way to go Silverfox! Maybe you should consider taking a slingshot to add more challenge to those close shots!