Quarter Mile Plus

[Tim Behle]

I was sitting here this morning, reading over some things on the this board. Trying to learn to develop an understanding for the Magnus effect, the Yaw of Repose and trigonometry and geometry and many other
forms of math and science that I hated the mere thought of in school.

Then my thoughts were interrupted by my wife's repeated shouting of "What is your stupid dog barking at again!" It took a couple of minutes to figure it out. Then with the aid of binoculars, I finally found the cause. There, on the other side of the wash, just beyond my 500 yard target stood what I believed to be a coyote.

So I handed Joyce the binoculars, and opened up my ballistics program on the computer. Found my load my scope was zeroed to, and looked up the range for 550 yards. Broke out the calculator and figured out the MOA I
would need to add to the scope. Then grabbed up the rifle and a bullet and walked out on the back porch. Amazingly he was still standing there, just watching the house and the dog. I added in the 8 MOA on the
scope, set the parallax to infinity and cranked the power up to 20X.

I was afraid he might leave before I could get a good rest from inside, so I wound myself in the sling, and leaned across the porch railing, and tried to get the crosshairs on him while listening to my wife in the back ground chanting, "Don't shoot him Tim, it's a Ranch dog" over and over again. I settled into my bubble, touched the 2# trigger, heard the resounding boom of the rifle, followed seconds later by a beautiful
"Whump!!"

The Wife was kind of right, it was one of those wild members of the canine family that tend to roam the ranches in this area. But I was a little off in my range estimation. He was closer to 575-580 and I hit a little
low. But being I was so far away, he simple made his way down into the wash and laid up under a yucca until I drove up in the truck to retrieve him.

Another beautiful morning in the High Desert,

How has your Christmas Eve been so far?

Tim

 

[Guest]

Tim,
Nice story. Yesterday a friend of mine who calls coyotes took my neighbor and I out. We weren't set up and calling but 30 seconds and 4 of them came running in. I was the only one able to get a shot off, had to shoot thru a small bush ( no problem for the 300RUM with 165 Hornadays at 3400fps). Hit high, ripped its spine out,dead instantly. Shot was only about 100yds. Do you ever get to make long shots out your way? I know the area, been thru there many time for work, going to Douglas and El Frida. Take care and have a Merry CHRISTmas.

 

[Ian M]

Tim,
You keep tempting me with your shooting and climate! We just got several inches of snow and have a beautiful bright day with lots of hoar-frost on everything. Going to be a really white Christmas.

That was an interesting story, that dog made the mistake of hanging there a little too long. Great shot, he no doubt needed killin'. Not many people have a measured range out there backdoor, complete with live targets!!

Hope to do some coyote hunting this coming week, I need some coyote action for the new M-70 Coyote I just broke in.

Interested to know if you folks get much snow. Probably about as rarely as we get an open winter without snow.
Hope you have a fine Christmas.
ian

 

[Tim Behle]

What I didn't mention, was that aggravating coyote has been waking me up since late October. He'd howl and bark and get the dogs stirred up, make two circles around the house and leave. Usually just before dawn. He'd wake us up for a day or two, then not show up for a week or so. He had it coming, I just wish he'd have appeared in the daylight a month ago.

Wayne,

Most of the coyotes I shoot are called inside of 100 yards and taken with a 17 Remington. But from time to time, I do like to get out on a friends Irrigation circles just North of Elfreda, and poke a few from a distance. I just got drawn for a Javalina tag, and will probably go there in hopes of taking a long shot at one. I hunt from time to time with a friend from Tucson, we've been talking about meeting up one morning soon up around Benson and trying out luck there. I've hunted the area once or twice and did fair. Drop me a note if you want to call a few and we'll see if we can get together after the first of the year. I called once North of Tucson, didn't do great with the coyotes that day, but nearly every wash I came across had a set of lion tracks in it. I do intend on going back to that area later this year if I can.

Ian,

The offer is still open, if you want to get away from the snow, just buy a ticket for Tucson. This year is a little colder than normal. It's only been in the low 50's the last few days. But I can look out my window and see snow the last couple of days. It's covering the top of the mountain my house faces. John-Henry's big hunt is the 23-25 of Jan. You are welcome to come then, or avoid the crowds and try a different time. 3 Day non-resident tags are $51.50, but I promise to bust my butt to make sure you at least get shots at coyotes. Hitting them is your concern, I'll just put them in front of you.

Oh, and we've gotten snow on the ground twice each winter the last two years I've been here. It was gone well before noon each time.

Tim