nealm66
Well-Known Member
It's definitely good times. It's hard to see for the younger generation though and I've had a couple enlightening conversations with my 28 year old son who thinks everything is all messed up lol.
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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We have to have seen harder times to know that today isn't as bad as them . Too all have a good , Good Friday and Easter take a few moments to think about the meaning of it no matter what your beliefs are or aren't . If nothing else just watch a sun rise or sun set and know that the beginning of a new adventure begins with the sun rise and that a new adventure is coming tomorrow with the setting of todays sun set so that we can rest and be ready for it in the morning . Dave
So here we are , we got up way before sunup had a cup of coffee , filled our thermos and maybe had a bite to eat . We've been looking for this day since September when we got our first snow storm . The winter wasn't a hard one it just seemed to hang around being a little cold , windy and some snow only one cold spell that got and stayed below freezing for a couple of weeks . This morning is the beginning of the spring denning season for us , it's late April nearly May . Two mornings ago a guy called you to say he wanted you to come out and do some preventive control for him in his lambing pastures . We put our gear in the truck and water for us and the dog , the dogs water is more important to us then our own , humm , run a quick check of our inventory . Tp , water , some food , rifle , ammo , calls , gas cartages , fuse's lighter , small flash light , pistol belt , knife , plier , wire , a few snares and traps with stakes hammer and digging tool , sifter , clean pan covers , my small knife edge file , some lures for the coyote nose , shovel and several other things . Once I leave the home I will not want to be with out something that I might need out there including tire plugs and a small air compressor that plugs into the trucks power source . Yes more crap then most would ever carry but it's all there for a reason I'm going to be 60 miles from town and several miles from any ones home and walking is a part of the job , but walking because I picked up a nail in my tire just isn't part of what I want to do and the spare wasn't checked , it was by the way but I have had two flat tires in the past because I slipped on some ice hit a rut and rolled both down hill tires off of the rim . Got to a flat spot , jacked the truck up and aired them up popped them back on the rim then finished the day before going home . The dog and I load up and we are off , the truck was fueled last evening when we got back to town , it's a habit to top off the tank every evening so that it's done for the next morning with my dirty clothes on . We drive for a couple of hours to where we are going to start our days work park and get out we walk to the rim of a set of draws that we have hunted before and taken dens from . There is this special juniper tree I like to set up in , it's high up near the top but a little down to the south side of the draw system not sky lined but you can keep covered behind it in a slight saddle as you cross to that side of the hill . Keeping close to it you go to it's front where there is an opening in the bows that was put there many years ago just for you to set up in it , the rancher was ask if you could do that first and he said sure thing if it helps you kill coyote for me , those limbs were taken home and a wreath made for my grandmother her favorite tree is the juniper .
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The dog and I get set up and are watching the sun come up . We listen quietly to the world waking up the meadow larks are singing their song for us our favorite birds song , we have waited all winter for them to come back and sing . Off to our left the sun is starting to peak over the hills and we are able to see clearly all of the 100 acres that this system of draws covers as well as off into the bad lands farther to our south and east . Down and several hundred yards it starts to happen a long lone deeper howl , followed by a higher pitched howl from the draw down hill from me 500 yards . In a couple of minutes it is repeated but this time the lower pitched howl is closer to me and the higher pitched howl is still in the same location , She doesn't know it but she just told me where she and her mate have their puppies hidden . Buckwheat and I set and just let this happen till we hear them get together do their greeting yips and yaps and watch them doing their dance sniffing and checking each other out . I get my own howler out and do one long female pitched howl , they freeze look our way as Buckwheat slips out to do his thing , he puts himself out into a place that they can see him , he's done this for a few years and loves what he does . I howl once more and they respond with their own howls and some barks they aren't happy about me being in their area . They stop talking and see Buckwheat then head his way as he heads toward them . He takes after the smaller one gets her in range she postures arched back bristling main tail down between her legs trying to put the fear into this intruder the bigger of them tries to get Buckwheat to come towards him . She stands her ground snarling and bearing her teeth bang she falls Buckwheat hits her as she is dropping shaking her like a rag . The bigger male hits him in the back end a chase follows , buckwheat breaks off barking and displaying the male gets baited in and charges Buckwheat turns and comes back my way at about 50 yards he stops turns and sets up a stance the male stops postures and falls in his tracks . T he exciting part of the morning is over they are taken back to the truck loaded up we then drive a two track road around to the bottom of the draw closer to where the female had been earlier when she answered her mate .
nealm66
Well-Known Member
Not sure if it's the same there but the coyotes around here pack up a lot and have been known to bait dogs out and kill them. We had a a German Shepard that killed a few coyotes defending the farm animals and I remember my dad always worried about it. He used to bait them with cow guts after a butcher and pretty sure the German shepherd had a much better kill rate
When we got back to the truck with the coyote in tow I dropped them at the back of the truck , got Buckwheats rubber water and food dish's out gave him some good water and food we sat and I gave him his petting thanking him for another job well done . Then I had a job to attend to , I got my nitrile gloves on opened my garbage bucket and then opened the female found her uterus pulled it out then I could count the purple lumps and know from them how many pups she had, had and an approximant age of them from time of birth by the size of the lumps . This was an older female and had pupped early . These pups should be old enough to want to howl . When we got to the bottom of the draw system we hid the truck got out and started walking not carrying very much with me and call , a rifle . The leather gloves , a coil of barbed wire a shovel and that were left in the truck for after I located the exact den site . As we walked I looked over the ground and in the dust and sand of the draw were a ton of prints coming and going . I was in the right draw too many tracks saying so . We got to a good set up spot and I set up then got my call out and loudly made some hurt puppy screams waited for a few minutes and did it again . There it was what I wanted to hear the pups were all out howling at the hurt puppy screams that I had made . A lot of steps avoided by knowing that there was a good chance they were old enough and would respond to my call . She had told me of their age and that she had , had six puppies , Now I knew with in a few feet where they were and no other adult had come to me . We went back to the truck gathered what we needed to have to take the den , this gave the pups time to calm down and gather or go into the den . a bunch of pups scattering like a covey of quail isn't a good thing trust me I learned it the hard way . The pups were taken from this den and it's now past noon so we head to the next place we need to check out . When we get there we have some coffee and eat a little , eat lightly you don't want to not be able to move fast if you need to so don't over fill your stomach . It's too hot to call and you want a rest so I find some shade set up in it and have a nap while waiting for it to start to cool down for the next pair to be called . That will be around 3 in the afternoon I have 30 or 45 minutes for that time . The morning is pretty much repeated it's getting dark when we finish with the second den and full on dark when we get home fuel the truck shower eat and relax a little then sleep just to do it all again the next morning . You love it or you don't do it long it's your way of life . I also worked at a power plant on night shift so I could support my family but come denning season would use my vacation for den hunting . A month of seven days a week up to 16 hours a day . I loved every second of it took pride in my work at both jobs showed respect to others and the animals that I took for over 36 years of doing predator control . This is just one of the days that I remember spent with my friend Buckwheat doing what we both loved so much and also enjoying the other things out there in the world of coyote hunting . Have a Happy and healthy Easter one and all .
Nealm66 , For the most part it's in the fall of the year that a family group will run in packs here and work your dog over pretty badly . It was in August that Buckwheat decided he had done it long enough . I had 6 pups answer he knew he was too old to take on that many at the same time . That's why you don't want a dog that will stand and fight but lure them to you then get them to stand for your shots . Some breads of dogs are just too aggressive and die because of it so aren't the dog of choice for decoy dogs . I liked the cur dog breads as they were smart and not overly aggressive didn't range far before checking back in with me . Buckwheat was a southern black mouth cur . On fox he would run over the top of them looking down on them for a while then he would bite them in the neck and end it . With coyote he would get their attention do a short chase then head back to me . It didn't take him long to figure out that I was his protection from a coyote and just how close he should be for me to shoot them . Once the shot was fired and he saw that they were hit he would shake them like a rag . I started him on fox and coyote on the trap line and lung shot animals to put them at a disadvantage for him . Thus he learned to associate the sound of a shot with grabbing them .
There are so many factors that play into the size of their territories . I have seen years where there were dens within a couple of miles of each other , and years that they were farther a part and some they were closer . The prey base , the numbers of coyote in the area as well as the health of the animals themselves . Is there parvo , distemper or mange in them ect. . I took four dens from 6 sections of one ranch one year that's 6 square miles and 8 adult coyote with their pups , 8 pups , 4 pups , 6 pups and one with 10 pups in the litters . But on the other hand I took only 6 pairs out of 60,000 acers another year , 3 pups , 4 pups and 5 pups in the litters . There weren't any prey animals to speak of the weather was strange we got a late April blizzard and below zero weather two feet of snow . A lot of coyote left the country for better conditions . I have caught coyote that had traveled from other areas of severe weather that had the pads worn and bleeding from traveling . The black hills and sand hills area had deep snow and cold weather that year that lasted several weeks animals that could traveled long distances to find food including deer antelope ect. you could see herds of them walking on roadways because that was the only place the snow wasn't too deep . Hundreds of them died by being on the railroads to travel . The predators ate what they could find dead and walking on snow and ice took it's tole on their feet . In a normal year here they will have an area of roughly four to five square miles per denning pair . A dry pair will have a smaller area perhaps 2 square miles . In a lot of years you will have a couple of males running together in a smaller area . The last few years of drought and no food base they are bunched near the sheep , calves and water ways , ponds with large areas that aren't inhabited by many animals of any kind . The coyote numbers , fox and bobcat numbers are way down as are the deer antelope and even the p- dog numbers not very many mice or rabbits either so they are having to roam larger areas to feed as well as having lower number of pups with some not breeding at all .
Well I've been keeping busy as has everyone else . A few weeks ago I found a good deal on stripped uppers , I got a smooth side no forward assist but it has a brass deflector for less then 50.00 . It's plenty heavy enough not to have any flex and do what I wanted . I set it up laid it out and machined a 1/4 " slot in the lefthand side of it 5" long for a reciprocating side charging knob . Then I took my bolt carrier group pulled the bolt and marked where I needed to drill and tap for the charging knob set it up and took a carbide drill and drilled it for a number 10 32 Allen head cap screw ran a carbide 1/4 " carbide end mill down to make a flat for seating my knob . I had an old 1/2 " grade 8 bolt with the head rounded of so I sat it up and turned my charging knob counter sank it drilled and tapped it screwed my grade 8 cap screw into the hole then lock tited it in the knob cut it to length and screwed it into the bolt carrier put the bolt back into the carrier it fit the bolt wasn't bound up by the knob . I then cleaned the carrier group and put a band of pig putty on the back end of the carrier let it cure and machined the slot for the buffer retaining pin in it and sat it up in the lathe to turn it to the right size so it would fit in the receiver and go back into the extension tube . Now I have a side charging upper with a bolt carrier group that won't have any bolt tilt , or drop in the back of the carrier as it is supported but still the right weight and works with my upper and buffer and spring . I'm running an A2 buffer and spring from a car 15 that had the adjustable stock not the fixed stock but was still running the buffer system for the fixed stock . I had a 20" S.S. barrel with a 1:9 twist rate that I mounted figured out the shims I needed for the barrel nut to line up correctly when it was torqued to have the best performance . put some green loc-tite on it to bed it to the receiver and assembled it . Checked the function again and was happy . Next I took a piston drive system and set it up on the rifle length barrel with an adjustable gas block and hand guard . I only had to make a couple of adjustments to the hand guard for the piston to have free movement . Running some factory loads from federal of 55 grain hollow points I put it on a lower that I had just to test drive it and got the gas adjusted so that the cass ejects slightly to the rear . Setting it up in the lower receiver I want to run it on is another story . I have to make a trip to Casper now so it will wait till I get back home .
I'm a little bit OCD when it comes to my rifles so when I first get an upper I check it out to make sure that the barrel nut extension is finished true to the bore for the bolt carrier group . They make and sell a nice lap for doing this but me being me and having time on my hands I built my own . It has a tight fit through the barrel extension and into the carrier bore . I put a small amount of 320 grit lapping compound on the larger diameter lap and push it down to the face of the extension then give it a couple of twists . It will take the anodizing off of any high places or where it isn't aligned with the bore . Normally they aren't bad with in a few thousands and lap in quickly . To me it seems as if every barrel and upper have a sweet spot that they run their best at as far as torque goes on the barrel nut and it can be kind of a hassle to find it on some but as I say I'm OCD about that kind of thing . So I start on the lower end of the torque range try it and find the sweet spot using trial after trial test firing and checking till I'm happy with the grouping . Then I set it up for that way and torque . With my lower receiver I drill and tap them for a 5/16 set screw so that I can tighten the screw against the lug on the upper receiver for the rear take down pin . I set up my set screw and drill it for a poly plug so that it can then be used to take any play out between the upper and lower receivers and test drive them first . I have been known to then use some JB to bed the two putting release agent on the upper receiver . As I said on this one wanted to use an A2 buffer and spring so put it in the extension tube on this lower and went with a adjustable magpul stock that I had on hand from another build I did for a friend that wanted a different stock . I didn't like the trigger I had in it so then got a nice two stage trigger drop in set at 3.5 lbs. I like a curved trigger as that is what I'm used to . I had some 416 S.S. round stock that made a good flash hider . I set it up and drilled it then ran my end mill in it so I had a nice flat bottom the correct depth made my wrench flats on it tightened it on the barrel and marked it for my holes . I made my holes on a 25 degree angle and 3/16 " diameter four on the top and four on each side but nun on the bottom . I tightened it just enough so that it won't come loose used some anticize on it . checked that it didn't affect the grouping . So far I'm happy with what I have .
nealm66
Well-Known Member
Won't be long and I'll be sending my 22 creedmoor over to a buddy for some long range test kills. I had 90gr vid's shooting extremely good and was using it in some local 600 matches and placing 1'st and second but the Berger's have disappeared so switching to 88 eldm's. They're supposed to arrive today and hopefully have time to get them ready this weekend. It's getting close to fawning season and he's just going to thin a couple coyotes out. I'm still know very little about gunsmithing but have recently re bedded a couple rifles and did make for some really good improvements. Will be shooting a mile at 16" gong when I bring the 22 creed over ( not with the 22 creed!) . One of the rifles I've been messing with for a buddy is a 30-378 and he wants to see how far away he can zap a coyote with it. My buddy that I'm dropping the rifle off too has freaky eyesight and it will be fun to see what happens. It's open country farmland with some draws and some really long shots are possible
Sure would be cool to roll one at a mile lol. DSheetz, as usual, sounds like your search for perfection is serving you well. While I've put a couple ARs together, I never really knew you could accurize one that much but you are definately opening my eyes to it. I have a couple projects in the works but between setbacks and what seems like I've been chasing myself in circles the last month or so, I haven't got very far on anything fun lol.
It's kind of an obsession with me an addiction if you want to call it that . It's something about studying things and figuring them out . There are some really good people out there that the military trained as armors on their shooting team and the Navy trained some gunners mates as well as the other branches have studied on making accurate AR platforms . They all have some special purpose rifles as do a lot of civilians for longer ranges and accuracy . It keeps me busy and life interesting as well . We all have set backs and for me money is sometimes not available for some of my projects so they take longer to accomplish but then that gives me more study time and I have been known to change my mind on how I was going to do something by finding out there just might be a better way then I first thought .
