From one of the ranches I call on in CO.
Ended up w/4 shot & a possible 2.
Thursday night I checked the dead cow pile & saw a new cow in it that was not touched yet so I sliced the belly open about 6" to let some "smell" out...wheeww did it.
I also set up the trail camera I got last month.
About 8:15pm or so the rancher took me out to along the cattle feed sluice w/his red spot light and we saw 3 sets of eyes in the dead pile & my shotgun was usless for that range. We went & got my rifle and I rode back out on the flatbed. He stopped and hit the light & I saw 4 sets of eyeys. 2 split off and the other 2 lined up and I guestimated the body stance (I cannot see them, just the eyes) and let the 6x45 fly...WHAAPP, sounded like a solid hit. I have my 6x45 dead on at 200yds and 2" high at 100yds now. I ranged it the next day at 268 yards.
I am wearing my street clothes also & it was chilly!
We drove to that side and saw it was a big male (39lbs) and both of us could not figure out where I hit it as there was no blood, but a mouth full of blood. I pulled the fur back and saw I had put a round through the neck below the skull, not bad for guessing from a set of beady eyes.
I get up Sunday at 430 am, eat and walk in a circle to a spot I have laid out last year from the dead pile, its 168 yards from the pile down wind as it blows every morning.
Right at 6:38am I see movement finally as its just that light enough & see a coyote at the new cow and standing over it. Its lined up and at a slight angle so I put my illuminated scope on it and see it looking off (there may have been another one) and Bam..drops out of sight. I wait an hour hoping more would come in for an early bite, no shows. I walk to the pile & see it on the backside of the cow with a round in the right ear & out the left ear, nice shot I say to me.
That reminded me of my mom always telling us kids, does everything go in one ear out out the other? It was a male at 36 lbs.
I shot a mangey coyote about 9:30 am at a different spot I called at, but it was on a side I cannot get to so I left it in the gully.
Sunday eve the rancher pal stacks up some bales of hay into a snipers post for me & DDW when we shoot there at night.
I decide to stay in it all night with the red spotlight to shoot as many as I can thinking it would be easy....yea right!
Well I counted over 30 coyotes total, (now of course they were coming & going many times) none could be picked out in my scope w/the red spotlight and tryng to hold it then look in my scope was fruitless. None stayed as they could smell my scent I'd bet and that the bales were new to them on the hill, so they were in bit of cagey.
I could see them very well with my Cascade binos, but not w/my scope.
I shot 2 though, one at about 10pm and one way later. I was sure I hit as I heard whaps, but in the morning there were none laying out, besides blood all over one spot.
I could also hear them barking around me during the night.
My feet were frozen blocks of ice, hand were numb EVEN w/ those heat packs.
2 am I walk to the truck and let it run while I change my socks to heated ones over wool socks and put on my sorrels, then I sleep till 4 am in it getting my feet & hands back to body temps.
I walk back to the hay bales & wrap up under 2 sleeping bags I put in it earlier. 6am I wake up to look at the pile, my scope lens are under ice, so I have to try to hurry to get that removed as I know a coyote will be at the pile. My binocs are good as I did not leave them up on the bales in the open.
Yup I look over it and see one at the pile, trying to be calm and get my gun into action I finally see it in the scope and when it turns broadside giving me the cold shoulder. Pow, I drop it, it is a 32lb female in prime fur.
They all had perfect thick fur, cept for one male that had some mange on its belly.
I stay there till 7:30 am hoping another will show, they dont.
If I had a night vision scope I personally feel that I could of easily shot 7 with all them out there.
You can see while I was snoozing at least 2 coyotes hit the dead pile, still I would not see them with my set up.
The haybale post is behind me on the hill, 185 yds to the pile from there.
**Things to remember**
More heat packs, change socks, boots before night, get a set of insulated coveralls, (I did have on 2 shirts, sweat pull over, one down liner & 1 sweater jacket on under the top jacket, I was nice & warm upper body.
Keep rifle covered with towel so it don't frost up in 7* temps, have a thermouse of hot TEA to stay warmer as my orange juice & soda froze solid.
Night vision scope OR laser designator is on my get list.
Ended up w/4 shot & a possible 2.
Thursday night I checked the dead cow pile & saw a new cow in it that was not touched yet so I sliced the belly open about 6" to let some "smell" out...wheeww did it.
I also set up the trail camera I got last month.
About 8:15pm or so the rancher took me out to along the cattle feed sluice w/his red spot light and we saw 3 sets of eyes in the dead pile & my shotgun was usless for that range. We went & got my rifle and I rode back out on the flatbed. He stopped and hit the light & I saw 4 sets of eyeys. 2 split off and the other 2 lined up and I guestimated the body stance (I cannot see them, just the eyes) and let the 6x45 fly...WHAAPP, sounded like a solid hit. I have my 6x45 dead on at 200yds and 2" high at 100yds now. I ranged it the next day at 268 yards.
I am wearing my street clothes also & it was chilly!
We drove to that side and saw it was a big male (39lbs) and both of us could not figure out where I hit it as there was no blood, but a mouth full of blood. I pulled the fur back and saw I had put a round through the neck below the skull, not bad for guessing from a set of beady eyes.
I get up Sunday at 430 am, eat and walk in a circle to a spot I have laid out last year from the dead pile, its 168 yards from the pile down wind as it blows every morning.
Right at 6:38am I see movement finally as its just that light enough & see a coyote at the new cow and standing over it. Its lined up and at a slight angle so I put my illuminated scope on it and see it looking off (there may have been another one) and Bam..drops out of sight. I wait an hour hoping more would come in for an early bite, no shows. I walk to the pile & see it on the backside of the cow with a round in the right ear & out the left ear, nice shot I say to me.
That reminded me of my mom always telling us kids, does everything go in one ear out out the other? It was a male at 36 lbs.
I shot a mangey coyote about 9:30 am at a different spot I called at, but it was on a side I cannot get to so I left it in the gully.
Sunday eve the rancher pal stacks up some bales of hay into a snipers post for me & DDW when we shoot there at night.
I decide to stay in it all night with the red spotlight to shoot as many as I can thinking it would be easy....yea right!
Well I counted over 30 coyotes total, (now of course they were coming & going many times) none could be picked out in my scope w/the red spotlight and tryng to hold it then look in my scope was fruitless. None stayed as they could smell my scent I'd bet and that the bales were new to them on the hill, so they were in bit of cagey.
I could see them very well with my Cascade binos, but not w/my scope.
I shot 2 though, one at about 10pm and one way later. I was sure I hit as I heard whaps, but in the morning there were none laying out, besides blood all over one spot.
I could also hear them barking around me during the night.
My feet were frozen blocks of ice, hand were numb EVEN w/ those heat packs.
2 am I walk to the truck and let it run while I change my socks to heated ones over wool socks and put on my sorrels, then I sleep till 4 am in it getting my feet & hands back to body temps.
I walk back to the hay bales & wrap up under 2 sleeping bags I put in it earlier. 6am I wake up to look at the pile, my scope lens are under ice, so I have to try to hurry to get that removed as I know a coyote will be at the pile. My binocs are good as I did not leave them up on the bales in the open.
Yup I look over it and see one at the pile, trying to be calm and get my gun into action I finally see it in the scope and when it turns broadside giving me the cold shoulder. Pow, I drop it, it is a 32lb female in prime fur.
They all had perfect thick fur, cept for one male that had some mange on its belly.
I stay there till 7:30 am hoping another will show, they dont.
If I had a night vision scope I personally feel that I could of easily shot 7 with all them out there.
You can see while I was snoozing at least 2 coyotes hit the dead pile, still I would not see them with my set up.
The haybale post is behind me on the hill, 185 yds to the pile from there.
**Things to remember**
More heat packs, change socks, boots before night, get a set of insulated coveralls, (I did have on 2 shirts, sweat pull over, one down liner & 1 sweater jacket on under the top jacket, I was nice & warm upper body.
Keep rifle covered with towel so it don't frost up in 7* temps, have a thermouse of hot TEA to stay warmer as my orange juice & soda froze solid.
Night vision scope OR laser designator is on my get list.
