Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

There are a few of us unfortunate souls that believe in precision shot placement not just accurate shot placement. Sadly, it becomes an obsession for us, we don't get mad at ourselves when we don't put the round exactly where we intended it to be, but we do study on it so that we can figure out what went wrong. Did I let my finger move to push or pull to the side did I flinch some or let my breathing interfere with it? We play with whatever firearm we get trying to make it a better fit for us, a better trigger, a better bedding to the stock, does the front or back action screw need to be torqued more or less if so, why? We tend to read and study on it we learn more about the bullet itself, we study the powders and how they work, we look at the brass itself and try to get each piece the same as we can to the others, we worry about the seating depth of our bullets compared to the lands of the rifling. We talk to others with the same affliction to try and pry some of their hard-earned knowledge from them that we can put to use for our own needs. We read books written from the past and present, by others that had like minds or a need for precision shooting, I was recommended some reading and some of it is way over my head and was done by way more complicated and cluttered minds than mine, some of it was written by people more like me and in a manner that even I could comprehend and get some good out of it. One good history book on the sniper and some of the things employed in finding and training them as well as what it takes to be a good hunter of any type of animal, especially predators like coyotes, cats ect. is titled One Shot One Kill by Charles W. Sassen and Craig Robberts. I have many times said that when you are hunting coyotes that you need to act like if they spot you, they will shoot you and have had more than one person say that they couldn't do that, and nobody was going to shoot you, the point was missed, yes they won't shoot you but you don't want to let them know that you are there you want them to be fooled by you not knowing that you are a human looking to end their life.I told one guy that was complaining that no one would take him deer hunting, I will, and I will show where there is a good buck bedded that you can shoot before he even knows you are there. He looked at me and said that's not very sportsman like. I looked at him and said no that's hunting at its finest. He decided he didn't want to go with me when I walked up next to him and spoke to him before he realized I was anywhere close to him, and I wasn't even trying to sneak up on him. It's all just a part of hunting coyotes, small targets, with a keen sense of their world and surroundings, you blending into their world as if you were born there with them.
 
Dave, I'm a firm believer in my prey never knowing that I am anywhere around.
Whether that's a long range shot or super close, however I can put the bullet precisely where it needs to go, is what I want to do.

We owe it to the animals, whether we "like" them or not.

Ed
I completely agree. Have stayed put and hid many times after a shot with other animals close by that had no clue what just happened, just knew something had. After all clear and settled down, when I'll break cover and make the recovery. Sometimes not always able to do this but always try to if at all possible.
 
I learned early in life not to do things in anger because you can't undo it. A bullet sent down range cannot be called back. I have killed a few thousand coyotes over the years, and I have no amosite for them I actually have a regard, and respect for their abilities to survive being one of the most persecuted animals on earth, as well as their family raising abilities. I sadly have seen a lot of hunters of big game that didn't actually know the animal's anatomy well enough to make a good kill shot shooting too high. not realizing the vital spot would be lower, and so many people that get too excited to shoot correctly, especially with their first few coyotes. Yes, we do owe it to the animals to make quick clean kill shots or when we trap or snare them to study and learn the most effective ways to do it. I did learn how to do it the best ways that I could for the areas and ways available to me and still am doing the best I can to keep learning how to be better as do most of us. And yes, I have done my share of making mistakes at it while in the early stages of my career but tried to not make the same mistake twice and to learn from them as we all do. So much to learn and be shared with others and so little time even if we were to live to be 300 years old, we would still have more that we wanted to learn. And again, I wish to say thank you to all that share what they know with all of us!
 
Some of the things in Texas' proposed changes for mountain lions are borrowed from other states regulations on them that are already in place. The numbers of lion and human interactions will increase as the populations of both increases. The lion only comes out on top in the short run, then gets hunted down and euthanized as they call it to make it more palatable to the people in general. I think when you look at the majority of our population, they have been shielded from the realities of life. Death is dealt with by others in today's world here in the United States. We don't have to take care of our dead for ourselves now someone else does it and we pay them to do it. They are most times put in a hospital or care facility, where someone else does the work of dealing with them. The vast majority of the population doesn't live close to animals or agriculture and aren't exposed to that aspect of life. Not very many people have actually seen an animal, or human being in a natural setting being born or dying. They have never seen an animal really being taken down by a predator to be eaten by it. How many of the population has seen 20 or 30 lambs killed with just their soft parts eaten to take back to a den full of young puppies, how many have seen a heavy female killed by predators with her young pulled out of her so that the liver and lungs could be eaten and taken back to the pups? Not very many. Breakaway devices aren't a bad thing on a snare, education in the use of snares is a good thing, if it is listened to and learned. Trapping with leghold traps isn't a bad thing if the person doing it knows how get their targeted animal by being taught how to. That isn't the case in so many instances' people are just turned loose to figure things out on their own, or just kind of muddle through things leaving a bad impression on others of how wrong things can go. That sticks in the minds of those that haven't seen the reality of the world more than the right ways that things go when done correctly and others are taught the better ways of doing things. This site is here to help others to learn and discuss the ways that we have figured out to do things better, it is all of our responsibility to help others be better people, I can take a good person and help them be even better, but I can't take a bad person and turn them into a good person God is the only help for them. I and others have seen what happens when people are left to learn things on their own tons of mistakes happen some people will decide that they already know it all and will make a mess of things then some other person has to come clean up after them as they go on making another mess to be cleaned up. You don't have to agree with me or me with you we aren't built that way we are built to have our own thoughts, but hopefully we are also built to be able to learn, even by the mistakes of others. I can share my ways of hunting, calling, trapping and snaring predators with others and hope that they can be helped by it as they can do the same for me, I can tell you what is the best that I have found so far for me but I can't say this is the only and best way so now you have to do it this way or else. I don't know all of the different circumstances that are playing into the decision-making process in other parts of the country, or all of the foolish things that have played into it. I can only see what I am shown and take the time to look farther into it and know that what once was now has gone to the wayside mostly because of others and a few bad decisions. In the end there are so many outside influencers that are causing a lot of problems for others who started green peace? Who started PETA ? It's not just somethings that some person here has thought up.
 
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So far, I have learned that the Thomson snares with the stiffer cables that are preloaded need to have more attention paid to keeping the wind from closing them, they don't untwist as easily as the finer aircraft cables do with an animal that decides to roll instead of jump over the fence and hang up, and you can feel more at ease using their 5/64 cable in place of the 3/32 aircraft cable. The breakaways that I modified for them work well with their locks, their locks might be a little better lock up on the stiffer cable than the cam locks, but both work well with the cable. Time will say more to me about them.
 
It was cloudy, windy, and snowed all day yesterday till around five in the afternoon then the clouds moved out and we had sunshine for a few hours. The temperature only got up to 43 degrees but with winds running around 25 mph it wasn't very comfortable. We can nearly always use moisture and it was good moisture soaking in well. Today was sunny but windy with gusts over 40 mph but it did get to 63 degrees and tomorrow is to be in the 70's but all next week is only forecast for the 50's for highs and some more moisture on and off. Pretty typical for this part of May here and at this altitude. I guess that's why you can find a coat in my truck at any time of the year. Near daybreak should be good howling and tracking tomorrow before the wind picks up around nine or ten. With the snow having melted and making mud on the trails and bottom of the draws tracking should be good any tracks will be pretty fresh and show well even if the light isn't the best, not like the dust print tracking when you need to look at the right angle with the sun in the correct relation to them. Having worked the same area for so many years and knowing where they like to den sure does have its advantages, but then after doing it for a while now it's kind of better for me to get a good idea of where to start even if I need to go to a new area. I should be able to set up and do some locator howls and be pretty well able to see them jump up before they talk or even if they don't talk because of being in the area in the past and seeing them respond knowing that they will most likely be close to the same places as their ancestors were, the same as deer, antelope, cows, sheep and other animals do they will find the same trails, water holes, feeding areas, and denning areas.
 
The wind never laid down last night it was blowing 23 mph when I got up this morning with gusts of 36 mph. They predict it will continue to blow for the next couple of days with rain and snow mix starting later this evening. Not good predator hunting weather no matter who or what you are. Most of the critters will be laying in protected areas and I think it might be the best thing for me as well.
 
The weather turns nasty when the warm humid gulf fronts meet the cold dryer northern fronts. It's been dumping rain down south and causing some pretty hard winds to blow in the northern central parts of the country. It looks like the weather will be moving eastward this week. We here will be having cooler than normal weather and a lot of the southern and central parts of the U.S. will be having strong storms and a threat of tornados. We had winds of up to 45 mph here today and are expected to have winds up to 90 mph tomorrow and into the week. To all of the people in the dangerous weather areas I hope you are and stay safe somethings can wait till it clears up, but somethings can't if it can wait it is okay if it can't be cautious while you are doing what needs to be done.
 
Here today we are having rain and snow mixed with high wind gusts. South of us I-25 is closed to high profile and light weight vehicles most trucks under 40,000 pounds are asked to stay off the highways and in places those up to 50,000. Small cars and pickups are asked to stay off the highways also. You will always have those people that say it doesn't apply to me and those that say well I didn't know. Sadly, if they get in trouble and have problems, they aren't the only ones that they have put at risk, the ones that come out to help them are then put at risk because of their actions. With wet weather and winds of 25 - 90 mph it's not going to be very productive to be out in the pursuit of predators for a while. Lambing is set to start and several of the ranchers don't want a lot of people roaming around in their pastures with the livestock at this time. I had one young man tell me that I was afraid of getting my truck muddy one time but about the time I told him it didn't bother me to wash my truck that I just couldn't see cutting ruts in the roads unnecessarily his dad told him that it wasn't very smart to be doing the same thing. I guess us older people were taught differently. It didn't take but one good butt chewing for me to get the message and think before I acted, my grandparents didn't hold back when they thought you needed to think a little differently about your actions. You darned sure didn't have to guess about what they were telling you about what they thought you were doing wrong in their eyes. While we are out in the pursuit of predators we need to show respect for the land, animals, people we are working for and who are the landowners, and thusly ourselves and our families.
 

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