The Rancher said, "Can you help get rid of Coyotes"

[augnmike]

Switch and I took a trip recently to a ranch up north from which I had received a call for help in getting rid of coyotes. Well being the givers we are, we agreed to help them out.

We got in the area of the ranch about 7:00 am (I know, late start). I called the caretaker and he guided us on to the property by phone through a couple of gates. Once on the property we were at a serious disadvantage since we had no idea about the lay of the land.

We parked the rig and walked a good 1/4 mile to stand one. The area looked like Wyoming, a few oak trees but for the most part long miles of pasture with the tallest shrub about eight inches tall. Virtually no place to hide. We got in a slight shaded depression on a hillside (the order of the day) and Switch set the caller up about 100 yards out.

He began with some distress calls and worked through the usual sounds we use. Less than ten minutes into our sequence I notice some cattle that were about 500 yards out begin to run away from something. I point this out to Switch and he nods his head. Within 20 seconds I see a coyote running through the cattle toward the calling. I tell Switch and he finds the dog and we get ready. I had lasered the surrounding area, really important when you can see over a thousand yards in three directions, so I had some landmarks. At about 250 yards the dog stops coming and begins to loiter, takes a leak, kicks dirt on it and begins to lose interest. Switch puts on puppy whines and the dog starts again at half speed. At about 180 yards the dog turns to get downwind of the sound and as he disappears from our view because of a big oak I tell Switch that he is going to have to shoot him if he continues in that direction Switch nods and the dog shows on the other side at 185 yards. One bark, he stops and Switch nails him, good shot. One down.

Stand two- Dry

Stand three-Switch goes to put out the caller and looks up to see a coyote standing there looking at him about 50 yards out. Switch drops the FX3 and shoulders the rifle, but no matter how hard he squeezes it won't fire with the safety on (been there, done that). He clicks it off and shoots but misses and the dog is off to the races. Switch makes a sweet running shot at about 75 yards and number two is down.

Stand three- Dry

Stand four- Switch is putting the call down and I am sitting on our stand location, a really high hill over looking a valley with visibility 1000 yards in three directions. As he is coming back and sitting down I notice a coyote walking about 450 yards away to our left. He is going away at an angle so Switch goes to hit the caller but it won't work, no line of site with the FX3 so we are sitting there and I remember I have a hand squeaker on my shooting sticks I start hitting it hard and the dog stops for a bit but loses interest and goes about leaving the area. Switch gets up to arrange the caller and as he return I notice over his shoulder a coyote about 300 yards out, I say don't move and he freezes right next to me. I get the coyote in the scope and now it is 275 yards out. Switch gets his rifle and turns just as I am dropping the hammer. I am on 14x power and I put it right on the coyotes back, the shot takes out his heart and he staggers but doesn't go down immediately. I crank another on in tube and Switch says, "you missed". I shoot again as the dog is falling from the first round. Switch says,"stop shooting until he isn't moving" I said, "what the heck are you talking about I nailed him with the first shot and he's down". I then see that he is looking at a different dog that is about 30 yards behind the one I killed. That coyote starts to walk toward his downed partner but Switch cranks on the call and he turns and starts running to the call. We can't believe it! He gets to about 70 yards and stops and Switch anchors him twenty feet from the caller. Nice double. Numbers three and four down.

Stand Five- I am putting out the caller and a coyote comes out of a nearby wash running out in front of us. I motion to Switch to get him to turn on the caller I am putting down in order to get the dog to look. He sees me waving my arms and pointing but he didn't know what I wanted. The coyote comes into view Switch shoots and misses the running shot I can't see the dog because of a hill in front of me so I run to the top and see the coyote starting to crest the next hill I put a shot on him (lucky) and hit it in but it keeps going. We make the stand and then go to try and find the dog with no luck.

We leave the property and scout another ranch that wants help and return for and evening stand or two at the original ranch. Our last stand of the day in the same place we got the double brings a coyote out at about 500 yards, he comes in on coyote vocals and sits down and watches us for half a minute we switch to puppy whines and he starts in toward us. He gets all the way to about 130 yards and Switch barks him to a stop but he stops with only his head and neck visible to me. Switch is sitting about a foot and a half higher than me since I chose a deep depression to sit in and the dog is behind a mound. Switch had no intention of shooting so his rifle is down, too bad because his view is of a broadside dog looking right at us. I calculate where his body and chest should be and shoot into the grass but he was facing the other way and the round goes right by him exploding in the dirt behind him. That one got away, I was really bummed.

In total we saw nine coyotes and shot at six, hit five, recovered four. Not bad for a nine hundred acre property.

Rumor has it that another ranch has a coyote problem too and they wanted to know if we would mind shooting pigs if we got the chance. Of course in spite of the extra work we agreed to do that.

It was a long but fun day and I have a couple pics to share with you guys. Sorry it was long but I like to give some details of the situation.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/ ... G_2496.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/ ... ery005.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/ ... ery007.jpg

[WrzWaldo]

Nice! You gotta love it when you fall into some action like that.

[Ryan S Albright]

Good Job thanks for the post. Hunting coyotes offers some real challenges.

[acloco]

Mike,
What bullets? Is yours the stainless 204?

NICE shots. Congrats.

[Drew Jaeger]

Nice animals. What was your load?

[Lee C.]

Mike, look's like you and switch had a great time. And some nice looking coyote's you guy's shot. Keep up the good work.

[Rugerdogdog]

Wow that's the kind of day we all dream about! Ditto the ??? about bullets/loads. And where abouts was this fantastic expedition? I really do need to start talking to some of the many ranchers around my neck of the woods. Great narrative too! I was riveted!

[augnmike]

We have had a pretty good season we have had two five dog days and this four dog day (would have been five but we lost one).

Acloco, one dog was on the Berger rounds you hooked me up with and it was at 276 yards on a laser. Small entrance hole right over the heat and no exit. More blood than usual but only because of the heart shot. I also have one gray fox and one cat on the Berger 35 grain HP's. In all case not much pelt damage and DRT.

Load was the:

H335 27.4 grains
Berger 35 grain HP
CCI 450
Remington cases

[acloco]

The 35 Bergers are working well then.

Nice pics!

[augnmike]

Yes they are you did it right. My press came in the mail today, thanks for the lead it looks awesome. It's not orange though, which is nice.

Also the warden said OK on the items we discussed I am waiting for a check from a guy that bought my FX3, I will contact you when it gets here.

[Sidewinderwa]

Nice going. It is great when you can hook up with a rancher that will let you shoot and can be a win win situation. I just fell into one of those. He keeps telling me of more places to shoot. Great going, thanks for sharing!

[acloco]

Yes they are you did it right. My press came in the mail today, thanks for the lead it looks awesome. It's not orange though, which is nice.

Also the warden said OK on the items we discussed I am waiting for a check from a guy that bought my FX3, I will contact you when it gets here.

I will send a can of Chevy Orange paint! LOL!

Glad the warden gave you time off with good behavior!

I am driving to Lock, Stock, & Barrel on Friday....and a small gunshow on Saturday. I might need to stay at your house.

[janneuf]

Just curious about where you're located?

[augnmike]

I am in Southern California, not much good to say about CA except we do have some pretty good predator hunting. Unfortunately we have a lot of left wing liberals to go with it. Now if only we could combine the two

[Rick in Oregon]

Yep, they come under the "varmint" label for sure, and unfortunately, there's no open season......