It's all about shot placement.

[SVT_Tactical]

Missing, bad hits....it is called, "Hunting"....

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Hits behind the diaphragm with a 243 and 22/250 AI means a very dead coyote. I do not save hides, so I am a, "cutt'em in half kind of guy" with the caliber I choose. I have killed plenty of coyotes with 22 Mag Win HP, 22 K Hornet, 17 Mach 4, and 17 Rem.
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Topic is shot placement, so I place my shot to get the most Air Time.

Love this. Was on a deer hunt some years back at a bean field where most shots are 400+ and a coyote strolled by about 500 yds away. Sure was fun to see the 338LM hit him.

 

[David Milisock]

Missing, bad hits....it is called, "Hunting"....

Coyotes coming into a call often do not stop, you can yell at them, whistle, bark....they just keep hard charging! You leade them, follow though with your swing, and you hit them all over the body... Hits behind the diaphragm on coyotes, usually means a lost coyote with sub calibers.

Hits behind the diaphragm with a 243 and 22/250 AI means a very dead coyote. I do not save hides, so I am a, "cutt'em in half kind of guy" with the caliber I choose. I have killed plenty of coyotes with 22 Mag Win HP, 22 K Hornet, 17 Mach 4, and 17 Rem.

Out West, we slaughtered the chucks in Idaho and Utah. I liked the 222 with a 50g Ballistic tip and 50g Sierra blitz as a minimal cartridge after seeing more than a few crawl off...I hate crawlers. Chucks can be tough to anchor solid on quartering angles, and WIND is always an issue.

We had a ranch we shot that was a feed lot for cattle. The chucks would move in out of the dessert/lava rock and looked like terminates moving in on the cattle's feed bins, which were 2x12' nailed in a V form with legs on the bottom....just the right height for a chuck to crawl into. The trick was to flip the chuck out of the feed bin and not bloody up the feed for the cattle. Unbelievable that the rancher told us to not worry about hitting a cow, just come and get him if we did hit one....we never did.

My favorite Chuck rifle is a 6 Rem AI with 70g Blitz Kings at 4100-4150(26", 14T, .020 FB). I like to see the chucks getting T'd off like a football going for a Field Goal! Flying...not crawling...

Topic is shot placement, so I place my shot to get the most Air Time.

It's the truth, as much as I hate to say it I'm not God. No matter how hard I try I miss and on occasion have a bad hit. The challenge is to do better and make quick clean follow up shots.

How is the barrel life on that 6MM AI?

 

[nakneker]

For two decades myself and two friends hunted coyotes all over the southwest. We found one isolated pig farm that had an open pit for their dead pigs, it wasnt uncommon for them to dump 5 pigs a day in that pit. The first time we drove up to that pit there was a single file line of coyotes leaving it as the sun came up, we didn’t have the guns because we were being shown around by the owner. If I told you how many coyotes were in that line you’d call me a liar so I won’t. We hammered that place for the next year and half. We put a serious dent in the coyote population there which really needed some control, mange and disease was rampant. I wouldn’t get near one of those coyotes, they were that nasty. We were on our game after that experience, made some incredible shots before dial a coyote existed. As tuned up as we were after that we still would make a bad hit once in awhile, it was more depredation than hunting, the vast majority of our hits were solid though. When calling to keep furs or hunting big game I’m more selective with my shots but things happen and if you do very much of this your gonna make a less than ideal shot once in awhile. Ive never met the guy who never misses or makes a bad shot now and again. The goal is obvious though, be patient and make the best shot you can whether that means a rest or whatever your method may be. There’s lots of ways to play this game.

 

[ohlongarm]

For two decades myself and two friends hunted coyotes all over the southwest. We found one isolated pig farm that had an open pit for their dead pigs, it wasnt uncommon for them to dump 5 pigs a day in that pit. The first time we drove up to that pit there was a single file line of coyotes leaving it as the sun came up, we didn’t have the guns because we were being shown around by the owner. If I told you how many coyotes were in that line you’d call me a liar so I won’t. We hammered that place for the next year and half. We put a serious dent in the coyote population there which really needed some control, mange and disease was rampant. I wouldn’t get near one of those coyotes, they were that nasty. We were on our game after that experience, made some incredible shots before dial a coyote existed. As tuned up as we were after that we still would make a bad hit once in awhile, it was more depredation than hunting, the vast majority of our hits were solid though. When calling to keep furs or hunting big game I’m more selective with my shots but things happen and if you do very much of this your gonna make a less than ideal what once in awhile. Ive never met the guy who never misses or makes a bad shot now and again. The goal is obvious though, be patient and make the best shot you can whether that means a rest or whatever your method may be. There’s lots of ways to play this game.

Bad hits are sometimes inevitable, I had one a year ago running shot hit a yote in elbow with a 22 hornet, tracked him a mile in snow , nothing a week later he limped in to my bait pile, dropped him, when I find the pics will post em. here's two early spring 2021, dropped at 100 yards with a 17 WSM , spine shot where I'm pointing never knew what hit em.

 

[AckleymanII]

Quote:

"How is the barrel life on that 6MM AI?"

The 6 REM AI has a very, very long neck. With a zero freebore reamer, the 75g V max shank/bt does not get into the shoulder, neck junction, so the 70g what evers are above the shoulder neck junction with plenty of bullet in the neck!

Barrel life is actually longer than you would ever think. AA2700 is very, very cool burning, few know this fact. Also, when you start off with zero to .020 freebore, you have added barrel life from that alone. Win 760 and H414 gives much better barrel life than say IMR 4064 or H4350. If you want to eat the barrel up in a hurry, but have great speed with accuracy, throw N550 into the picture.

Ever see a chuck hit with a 60g Hp doing 4400 fps? Chucks detonate, with the extremes in speed, Looks like a Red paint ball hitting a jet black rock! 80g Sierra blitz bt in the 14 twist at 3800 are magical in how they get chucks to fly to parts unknown with R#19, but 19 is not as easy on barrels as AA 2700. I shot several bob cats in half with the 80g load..100 yd shots. While using a Lohman Varmint hand call, I Shot one off a giant bolder, it disappeared, then came back, shot it again...was two different cats.

 

[David Milisock]

Quote:

"How is the barrel life on that 6MM AI?"

The 6 REM AI has a very, very long neck. With a zero freebore reamer, the 75g V max shank/bt does not get into the shoulder, neck junction, so the 70g what evers are above the shoulder neck junction with plenty of bullet in the neck!

Barrel life is actually longer than you would ever think. AA2700 is very, very cool burning, few know this fact. Also, when you start off with zero to .020 freebore, you have added barrel life from that alone. Win 760 and H414 gives much better barrel life than say IMR 4064 or H4350. If you want to eat the barrel up in a hurry, but have great speed with accuracy, throw N550 into the picture.

Ever see a chuck hit with a 60g Hp doing 4400 fps? Chucks detonate, with the extremes in speed, Looks like a Red paint ball hitting a jet black rock! 80g Sierra blitz bt in the 14 twist at 3800 are magical in how they get chucks to fly to parts unknown with R#19, but 19 is not as easy on barrels as AA 2700. I shot several bob cats in half with the 80g load..100 yd shots. While using a Lohman Varmint hand call, I Shot one off a giant bolder, it disappeared, then came back, shot it again...was two different cats.

I load a standard 6MM Remington to max pressures and get decent barrel life, 3,500 last barrel and 1,500 so far on this one, using Reloader 19 and 75 grain Hornady VMAX. Velocity is 3,900 FPS, if you hit a chucks head just right it almost removes the skull from the hide.

 

[ohlongarm]

Bad hits are sometimes inevitable, I had one a year ago running shot hit a yote in elbow with a 22 hornet, tracked him a mile in snow , nothing a week later he limped in to my bait pile, dropped him, when I find the pics will post em. here's two early spring 2021, dropped at 100 yards with a 17 WSM , spine shot where I'm pointing never knew what hit em.

This coyote took a 35 grain Hornady v-max at about 150 yards full run, got away, a week later with a stiff infected leg he came back to a bait station and this time the shot was good.

 

[K22]

I've killed my fair share in Ohio, Pa, West VA, VA, North Carolina, over 60 in Ohio since April, I put the time in when I go usually 8 hours , sometimes more, in all honesty I couldn't count crawl away on one hand, I won't take a shot unless I know it's good. Some good shooting there by you, however in most instances I can't even find a bullet hole in mine. What caliber and scope are you using. I'm hooked on 17's , but can call out the 204 artillery if need be, 17 WSM out to 250 easily with the right shot, I'm thinking 350 with the new CZ 17 hornet, about 10 days out from completion. The scant few crawl offs I had were seen in their stove pipe holes dead but not recoverable. Also have taken several coyotes with the 17 WSM, each and every one recovered .

These days I use a 223 Rem's. Have serveral that are very acccurate. In the past over 10 years ago I've used 222 Rem, 22 250, and 243.

I try very hard to discipline myself to take humane shots within my capabilities. But make the slightest mistake off a shooting cross stick and you miss or worse, wound one. I practice a lot at the range with the sticks and I'm quite good out to about 250 yards off the sticks. Of course wind and mirage has to be dealt with and shooting in the field is a lot different than shooting at the range.

At 74, my shooting skills at not near as good as even 10 years ago. Due to over development, major changes in farming practices, and over predation I'm neaingy the end of my ghog hunting career. I now see more deer and predators than ghogs. Also component prices are going to eventually drive me out of the shooting sports.

I've had a good run since 1999, taking 1,911 ghogs to date at roughly 81% success rate (i.e. confirmed kills). Only on rare exceptions and then only at the request of the farmer for a problem hog, have I shot any under 100 yards.

Quite honestly, I enjoy just being out in the fields these days and enjoying nature. I'm going through a very difficult time, my wife has stage 3 cancer so I haven't been out much this year. Last year I missed most of the season due to double hernia surgery.

 

[Coonman300]

K22, great post! I always enjoy reading your posts. What a wonderful 22 years of shooting ghogs. I know you quit writing about your hunts because of the “no pics, it didn’t happen” sentiment but I always liked to follow along with your hunts and would love to see them in the future. Sorry to hear about your wife...will keep both of you in my prayers.

 

[sw282]

Like Real Estate and Bullets, lts all about ''LOCATION, LOCATION, LACATION''

 

[6MMsteve]

I've had 2 doubles ground hog hunting, once was from about 200 yds with a 270...the hogs was standing up fighting or something and when they both lined up I leter rip gotem both...then I was out in the middle of a field filling the cornplanter with fertlize had my rifle there was 2 eating they kept moving inline with each other and I gottem both with a 220 swift. luck I guess but they was KIA