Not Wile E. enough

[Toby Bradshaw]

I was walking to my first calling stand when this yearling male climbed out of the sage and onto a boulder about 75 yards away, wondering what had spooked that herd of mule deer. I shot him offhand with my Rem 700V .222, 24gr H322, 40gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. I could hear the impact and found him lying on top of the boulder -- he never took step after the shot.

 

[painter]

good job, love the 222 never tried any of the 40gr, hope u bag a few more, may all your bullets fly true. painter

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Get em all! Good job

 

[earlcurtis67]

If I may ask, how much if any did the tape on the barrel affect POI? I have almost the exact rifle but w a stainless barrel

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

If I may ask, how much if any did the tape on the barrel affect POI? I have almost the exact rifle but w a stainless barrel

No effect. I used this rifle to win the local factory class benchrest trophy for the whole score shooting season more than 20 years ago, so it would be easy to see if the barrel wrap caused a problem. Below is a 200-yard target from that season. Ignore the crossfire on target 1!

 

[jpx2rk]

Nice gun, nice yote.

 

[earlcurtis67]

Very nice! Thank you

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

We had a hard rain last night, so I though that some coyotes might be on the prowl when the bad weather broke this morning. This yearling male proved the FoxPro adage: "Don't leave a stand without playing Pup Distress 3." When I saw him coming I muted the call. He stopped in the sage facing me about 75 yards away with just his head and neck showing. The 40gr Nosler Ballistic Tip entered just below his chin and took out his spine in the neck.

I just about got eaten alive by the mosquitoes that were hungrier than the coyotes.

 

[CaptainMal]

Happiness. Thanks for sharing your joy and skill.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

I was just getting set up on my first stand of the morning when 4 coyotes came breezing past me no more than 40 yards away. I don't know if they winded me, heard me, or saw me (still didn't have my face camo and gloves on), but three of them spun around and headed back up and over the hill. The fourth one kept going down to the sagebrush flat, and proceeded to start barking at me. For the life of me I couldn't find him in my scope in the thick sage, but from his voice I knew that it was an adult male. He couldn't resist Pup Distress 3. I muted the call as soon as I saw him coming, about 150 yards out, but he never slowed down. I whooped a couple of times to stop him, but he kept coming directly towards the call at a fast lope. He went past the call without stopping, still galloping, so I had to take a running shot. Luckily he was close -- about 20 yards. Even more luckily, my first shot knocked him down, but it took another shot to finish him. Rem 700V, .222, 40gr NBT.

It's a good year for coyotes in the Great Basin. Last year's peak in the jackrabbit population has resulted in a big coyote population this year. I saw six in 20 minutes of driving the back roads yesterday.

 

[snert]

Nice old VS...gotta love that rifle

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

There are lots of coyotes in the sagebrush/rabbitbrush/greasewood flats where there are no elevated shooting positions. So this morning I brought my Mossyback shooting sticks, set up the FoxPro in a fairly open spot, and stood on the shady side of the tallest sagebrush in the vicinity. I played Lightning Jack for about 10 minutes, then switched to Pup Distress 3. On the third cycle this female pup appeared about 100 yards away, curious but definitely not charging the call as the parents usually do.

 

[jpx2rk]

Knockin' 'em down. Nice pictures

 

[5spd]

You are doing a super job on them summer dogs.
Good calling & shooting.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

You are doing a super job on them summer dogs.
Good calling & shooting.

It's personal -- coyotes come in on my Harris's hawks's jackrabbit kills (you can imagine how much screaming the jack does with two hawks attached to it), and that can be lethal for the hawks. Besides, I'm an amateur coyote hunter compared to you!

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

I was running my dogs yesterday and jumped a coyote bedded down in the sagebrush/rabbitbrush. I went back early this morning and made another "stand-up" stand with my tall shooting sticks. I put the FoxPro 100 yards out to draw attention away from me, although I was doing my best to blend in by standing next to the largest sagebrush on the hillside at the edge of a more open flat. I started with vole squeaks because there was no wind and I thought that the coyote might be fairly close by -- didn't want to spook him with a loud call right off the bat. In 2 minutes there were coyotes coming out of the woodwork -- at least 4, maybe 5, bounding through the tall weeds, looking for the source of the squeaking, play-fighting, growling, etc.

I got a little flustered and couldn't stay on one coyote long enough for it to stop moving, because they were in and out of the tall weeds (wet spring this year). I was afraid that sooner or later one of them was going to wind me and it would be game over. Finally one stopped while I had him in my scope, but only his head was showing above the weeds. I shot him in the head at 120 yards, and then the rest of the coyotes scattered. One ran directly towards me, and all I could see in the scope was fur, then weeds, then fur as he porpoised through the cover. I missed him running at less than 30 yards, and he ran by me so close that I should have clobbered him with my shooting sticks. My knees were shaking, not just from the cold (low 30s this AM).

I had coyotes all around me barking at my followup Pup Distress call, but I couldn't see them. I switched to Nutty Nuthatch and had a female Cooper's hawk just about land on my .222 barrel.

This morning's coyote was a yearling male.

 

[rifleman700]

TB you are a bonified dog slayer!!

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

It was cloudy in the east this morning, and in the low 30s with a light south wind, so a good day to call from a normally-sunny hillside. After about 10 minutes of "vole squeaks," I caught a glimpse of reddish coyote sneaking along right at the base of the hill, but he was gone before I could whoop to try and stop him for a shot. He wouldn't come back for more vole squeaks. I went to "bay bee cottontail" (louder), then "lightning jack" (loudest), but no dice. I could see for at least a half mile, and was surprised that nothing else came in, since the ground was littered with fresh coyote scat.

I always try "pup distress" before leaving a stand, and in about 10 seconds the same (I think) coyote (re)appeared, running towards the FoxPro. I muted the call, which stopped the coyote about 50 yards downhill from me. He was partially obscured by sagebrush but I took chance on threading the 40gr Nosler Ballistic Tip through some branches. The coyote went down at the shot, tail flipping in the air, but got up and ran about 10 feet before collapsing -- a handsome adult male in his prime. You can see the entrance wound if you look carefully at the first photo. The exit wound isn't subtle.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

I'm enjoying hunting the flats from my "stand-up" stands, but my Mossback shooting sticks are not ideal because they don't have a swivel top, limiting rifle movement to about 60 degrees. Beyond that, I have to reposition the rifle in the sticks, and that creates too much movement, not to mention making it difficult to keep a moving coyote in sight. I really like my Bog-Pod bipod (rattle-can camo and camo wrapped) for shooting from a sitting position, so I bought the tall (68") Bog-Pod CLD-2 camo shooting tripod on sale from Cabela's.

I got to put my new tripod to good use this morning. I set up beside a heavy wooden corner fence post with the rising sun at my back, to conceal myself as well as possible while standing up. I put the FoxPro about 80 yards out in the greasewood flat. Vole squeaks, bay bee cottontail, lightning jack -- nothing doing. Within 30 seconds of Pup Distress 3 a coyote came trotting in from my left, circling the call right at the edge of the more open area. I tracked the coyote in my scope, hoping she would stop. After 180 degrees of tracking (love that smooth-swiveling top on the Bog-Pod!), I whooped to stop the coyote. She looked in my direction but kept trotting. I whooped again, and the coyote started running for the fenceline. I didn't think she would stop, so I tracked about 6 inches in front of her and touched off a shot. Unbelievably, the coyote did a complete endo, finishing with the signature tail flip. The 40gr NBT hit this beautiful adult female right on the shoulder -- the best (=luckiest) shot I've ever made, 131 long paces from my stand. [Revenge for the many easy standing shots that I've missed!]

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

Running my dogs yesterday afternoon we jumped a family of 4 (maybe 5) coyotes bedded down in the sagebrush. I went back this morning to see if I could call some of them in. I started about a mile north of where I saw them, on a small hillside with a decent view of the flat below. I tried the usual litany of sounds with no success. On my walk back to the truck, I saw a coyote mousing in the middle of an alfalfa pivot that had just been cut, about 400 yards from me. It was a good opportunity to watch the coyote's reaction to various FoxPro sounds. I played vole squeaks, lightning jack, and pup distress. The coyote looked in my direction with every change of sound, but then went back to mousing. I'm not surprised -- the places I call are absolutely loaded with coyotes, but only a minority usually respond to the FoxPro.

I moved to the spot where I saw the coyotes yesterday, a sagebrush/rabbitbrush flat. No luck.

Another mile south I made another "stand-up" stand where I shot a pup a few weeks ago. I gave "nutty nuthatch" a try on the FoxPro. Even though the area is fairly open I didn't see the coyote until he was right on top of the call. It's amazing how often coyotes simply appear, like magic, without being detected on the approach. I shot this good-looking adult male at 40 yards. He never saw me, even though I was standing up, directly in his line of sight.