SmallCaliberCentral

I went out for a long day yesterday, hoping to hit my 4 secret open country spots. I called in 3 coyotes on Tuesday in the woods each coming in seperate, and I didn't get a chance to shoot any of them because of all the brush so I was anxious for some sage and bitter brush as opposed to pines and firs.
The first spot yielded the male coyote below. First stand dog down after 8 minutes of calling. Felt like it was gonna be a record book day.

Next spot I was headed to I found somebody's trapline. Not wanting to disturb everything, I back out and went to my 3rd spot.
Upon reaching no. 3 I found fresh tracks of a couple of guys dragging out a coyote probably 1 or 2 days before.
Oh well, lots of room at spot no. 4.
Before reaching spot 4 a badger made the mistake of crossing the dirt road in front of my truck. Perfect critter to try out my new savage .17 hmr.
I threw in the clip, that had 4 17grain vmax in it. Probably a mistake. Should've taken the time to load up the 20 grain hollows. He ran after the first shot, and I missed the second 2 runners. Then I caught up to him, and shot at his head. He flinched, and then growled at me. I either missed, or it glanced off the top of his head. Should have known it might shoot a little high at a close distance of 20ft.
I ran back to the truck and loaded up with the 20 grainers. Tracked him down again (can't believe he didn't find a hole to crawl in) and nailed him with a 20 grain hollow point. This bothered him enough to die.

Tried to find a jack rabbit for some more hmr fun, but they were too smart for this young buck.
Well, off to spot 4 again. Saw these sheep from the road.

Finally I reach spot 4. A place were I saw lots of coyotes while deer hunting. However, I only made it 2.5 miles into spot 4, because there was too much snow drifted on the road even for my quad.

Tried one long stand anyway, and called in these 8 mulies, but no coyotes.
Not a record book day, but all in all a great day. Sure beats workin.
Here is a pic of the new .17hmr.

Cool pictures. I like the stain color on the .17.

Very nice writeup. I liked the pictures too. The HMR is a good lookin rig. I prefer the 20gr HP's in my HMR for groundhogs & I also prefer head shots. More bone mass in my findings equals devestating instant results. Glad you got that badger.

The deer picture is missing the sleigh tho!!

bullfrog: That was one great day you had, better than ANY day at work! Great pictures of the adventure too.

The color on your HMR is much darker than that of the guns two of my buddies have....I LIKE it! Rich and dark; perfect. I bet Mr. Badger doesn't appreciate it at all though......

Nice write up.. What call do you use to bring them dogs in??... That is a nice lookin HMR . A local chain has them on sale for $299 with a scope That's tempting after seeing yours.

Bullfrog, nice pics. Hows the your new Savage HMR shoot?

That .17 has a laminate stock, and it is darker than others I've seen of the same model. I was thinking about saving a little dough and going with a plastic stock, but since it's more of a bench gun then a walkin around gun, I decided to get something a little prettier. Plus, all my friends have the cheap stocks, so it will be nice to have something different. I almost went with a marlin w/ laminate and fluted barrel, but by the time I did a trigger on it, it would have been more expensive than the savage. The savage shoots real nice though. I wish the accutrigger in this model went a little lighter, but at 2.5lbs it's not bad. It will be a fun gun to have around for the nephews, and eventually my boy.
The call around my neck is a "hot dog" from primos. I also usually have a mouse squeaker handy. I used the hot dog in conjunction with my foxpro this time. I usually start out with some mouth calls, and then go to the foxpro.
I didn't see this dog until he was within 80 yards as he came up through the bottom of a draw. He was pretty eager, and I shot him at 70 yards as he was headed straight towards me. No exit as I shot him right in the chest. 32 gr. vmax factory.

Great day in the country! I didn't know they had the big horn sheep in Oregon! Nice hunting. Fun day in the snow.