511 Yard Coyote

[Lowedown]

THX,but be advised that was shot under 100% ideal conditions,no wind ,no humidity,rifle benched solid in a lead sled rest,two pound custom trigger job by Mcarbo in Florida,top shelf factory ammo. However i can hit them most of the time.Practice, one thing i'm on stickler on,know where your rifle shoots at the ranges you'll encounter,trajectory,energy etc,it does pay off.And carry a range finder so you can range fixed objects in the terrain you'll be shooting in.I'll typicall mark,100,to 500 yard objects so if a yote pops out i know where i need to hold to make the shot,most shots in northeast Ohio are max at 200,when you head south Ohio they can be 300 plus yards all day.

I'm with you on practicing, and KNOWING where to hold, as well as knowing ranges. This hunt was a very unusual situation for me. I forgot my reticle card, and hadn't yet memorized it for that particular set up as the scope had just been changed out on that rifle. My rangefinder was basically useless in the snow covered wide open ground, but a rockjack had at least given me some range reference from the stand. from the POI i was able to look back and range the rocks we had been sitting in. Have you seen any rangefinders that do snowy surfaces??? i want my next one to be able to handle the situation better if there is such a thing. Thanks!

 

[Ohlongarm]

I'm with you on practicing, and KNOWING where to hold, as well as knowing ranges. This hunt was a very unusual situation for me. I forgot my reticle card, and hadn't yet memorized it for that particular set up as the scope had just been changed out on that rifle. My rangefinder was basically useless in the snow covered wide open ground, but a rockjack had at least given me some range reference from the stand. from the POI i was able to look back and range the rocks we had been sitting in. Have you seen any rangefinders that do snowy surfaces??? i want my next one to be able to handle the situation better if there is such a thing. Thanks!

Ya got me there here in northeast Ohio it seems like there's always something you can mark with a rangefinder,even southern Ohio,WVA,PA,and SC,states i frequently hunt coyotes in.Ohio is me 85% of the time but several times a year i hit the aforementioned.

 

[window licker]

Pretty long poke for that bullet, good work.

 

[Coldfinger]

We had trouble getting educated dogs to come all the way to our calls in wide open country. It was fun to watch so many different coyotes from a long ways away though. Anyway, this dog was one of 3 on our final stand that wouldn't come any closer. Having just switched scopes on my 22-250 and unable to get a solid range on all the snow I took an educated guess and pulled the trigger. We were pretty excited on impact! I had gotten a rock-jack ranged at 187 for helping guess, then after hiking down to the coyote I was able to turn around and range the rocks we had been sitting in at 511.

I picked up this rifle in trade during college. It is a sporterized military Mauser action with a 26" barrel and hand shaped Walnut stock. It was built by an old timer from Oregon City named Dean Enstad. I put a Bold trigger in it, then built up a handload of 55 gr. V-max that puts 5 in a dime at 100 It's one of my favorite rifles to shoot. View attachment 165798

I wouldn't come to dinner with a 22-250 pointed at me either!!! Now that's fast food!

 

[Litehiker]

So good to see the payoff for long range shots, especially from a semi-custom rifle. The 22-250 is perfect for coyotes.

I'm down to using either my heavy 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger Precision Rifle or my light 6.5 PRC Browning X-Bolt Pro.
The 6.5 PRC is over-kill for coyotes but with lighter 130 gr. match bullets it should be OK.

Eric B.

 

[DSheetz]

Lowedown , Nice shooting . How much volume were you using and what sounds ? I have noticed that both can cause them to stay out too far . If the sound is too loud they don't want to come in and if they have heard that sound before around people they will be cautious of it .

 

[window licker]

I play my foxpr on max volume all the time. I havent had issues with volume being the cause of them hanging up. I have had problems with the hanging up when I have been careless either going into a set, or during. Granted, I hunt in eastern montana, in open prairie type environments, so blaring a Caller in a wooded or smaller area may introduce problems.

 

[DSheetz]

I live and hunt in Wyoming . The terrain is much the same here as there . I have hunted near Coalstrip before . I did coyote control for over 30 years . I haven't killed many coyote maybe 4500-5000 but I did notice that the loud volume caused me problems perhaps it's not a problem in your area .

 

[joseph singleton]

I live and hunt in Wyoming . The terrain is much the same here as there . I have hunted near Coalstrip before . I did coyote control for over 30 years . I haven't killed many coyote maybe 4500-5000 but I did notice that the loud volume caused me problems perhaps it's not a problem in your area .

You should get a MEDAL for those numbers/hip,hip,hurray,AWESOME

 

[DSheetz]

Thank You Joseph , I had a lot of interesting times over the years . I saw and did a lot of tings most people that hunt coyote would love to .

 

[DSheetz]

The weather plays a good part on how well sound and scent travels on any given day . If you have snow cover the sound will not be absorbed by the ground cover as much , if you have higher humidity the sound will travel better , if it's windy the sound will be deadened by it . A good sunny day with low humidity and the sound won't travel well . Put you game ears in and turn your FoxPro on walk out in front of it to see how far the sound is traveling . Coyote don't hear the same as humans they hear higher and lower ranges then we can they can and do hear a mouse walking in the grass 10 to 20 feet from them I can't any more . I have only met one deaf coyote , and he didn't live long . Most of the coyote I've met were smarter then the smartest domestic dog I've met because they had to be aware of their environment to stay alive . They see and hear things that we don't pay attention to unless we teach our selves to because they have to , to stay alive , unless we are in a combat zone then we train ourselves to so we too can stay alive . Then we too become alert and cautious of things that are different in our environment . They pay attention to the wind , birds , and even what the bugs or rodents are telling them .

 

[Lowedown]

I am still a novice caller. Those are amazing coyote numbers that few will ever attain! I probably was running the call a little loud, but we were calling to coyotes that were well over 2000 yards away. Since we could see them coming I wonder if it would have been good to turn the volume down incrementally as they got closer?

I think part of the hang up was the fact that we were in wide open bunchgrass prairie that was snow skiffed with no cover taller than 6 inches other than the small rock pile we were hiding against.

 

[DSheetz]

I like to start out with a low volume just in case there are some close that I didn't disturb on my way in . then increase the volume after a few minutes . If I see any movement I will turn it off and let them come . If they hang up then I will start at a low volume . If they hang up while you are calling stop calling and just watch them for a few minutes , 5 or more , then go back to calling at a low volume . You can be using too much volume or at the right time of the year you may be out of their kingdom and in the neighbors . If they are barking and maybe howling doing kick backs and or urinating maybe crapping they are usually marking their boundary lines . Just wait quietly for them to loose interest in you make note of where they were leave and come back in a day or two moving into their territory with caution , as if they caught you they would shoot you , and start out using a different call sound at low volume . You know that they have heard the other sound before and didn't want to come all the way in . I have laid on the ground beside rocks or sage brush maybe even just some tall grass to keep from being sky lined , I froze to the snow or ground more then once , watch for cati and ant hills depending on the time of year . Have fun pay attention to details and the environment let the coyote tell you about what you are doing right , or wrong and remember it .

 

[joseph singleton]

You got some killer info there DSheetz,start your own topic and please keep adding to GUIDE lines.GOT my full attenion..(both ears pointing forward)........