I've been blessed to hunt deer on a private farm for the past 5 years harvesting quite a few. In the process I've taken 5 coyotes from the farm while deer hunting. If a coyote comes out on a deer hunt, it becomes a coyote hunt.
The very dry weather here made the early deer season tough here but the good Lord blessed me with two does and a 7-point during rifle season. Having one buck tag left I went a couple more times, one without seeing anything and the final hunt on the 3rd of January.
Earlier I had been blessed with my first double on deer, doe and the buck on the same morning, and on January 3rd I was blessed with my first coyote double. I had seen three does by 7:45am that morning. At 8:10 am the first coyote, the large female in the picture below came out in the field at roughly 220 yards. She was headed towards the cattle farm to the left of the field I hunt so I got on her quickly and dropped her where she stood with my TC Venture in 7mm-08. A smaller coyote, think large pup size, went running off after I shot her. I couldn't get on the pup fast enough.
I had carried two rifles with me, the TC Venture in 7mm-08 and a TC Venture Predator in .223. The former setup for deer while the Predator was setup specifically for coyotes. This day I was hunting out of the loft of an old barn so having both rifles with me wasn't a problem.
At 9:15am I caught movement through the branches of a tree at the far end of the field, just beyond the first coyote laying dead in the field. Checking through my scope I noticed it was a darker coyote checking out it's dead companion. Quickly I switched rifles to the .223 since I hadn't had a chance to take one with it yet and wanted to test it. The 2nd coyote was very anxious and darted back and forth working it's way to the dead coyote. After a few seconds it worked it's way directly behind the first coyote and stopped to check it out quartering towards me. I took the shot, it spun around about 4 times biting at the exit then ran off to my right roughly 20 yards and dropped behind a stump. I had tried to get back on it to make a follow up shot but couldn't. I could see it's hind leg and watched it slowly slump down as it expired.
While I would have loved to fill the final buck tag, I'll gladly take two coyotes to help the deer population for next year. I do intend to get back to that farm several times through the spring/summer to try to take more of these foul beasts.
In the 7mm-08 I'm shooting a handload Nosler 140gr E-tip. In the .223 I'm shooting some of the Ted Nugent ammo loaded with the Barnes 45gr TSX. I haven't had the chance to work up a good handload for the .223 yet but hope to soon and it shoots the 45 gr Barnes quite well.
Here's some pics.
The two dogs. The big one weighed 40lbs on my deer scale while the smaller weighed 32 lbs.
Another shot of the coyotes. The smaller one had mange starting on the right side of it's face and on two legs.
My rifles leaned up in the barn.
The view of the far end of the field showing the location of the two coyotes. They are both on the ground and circled in this pic.
Thanks for looking. Hope to finally have some luck calling one in soon. So far my success has been in ambushing them while deer hunting.
The very dry weather here made the early deer season tough here but the good Lord blessed me with two does and a 7-point during rifle season. Having one buck tag left I went a couple more times, one without seeing anything and the final hunt on the 3rd of January.
Earlier I had been blessed with my first double on deer, doe and the buck on the same morning, and on January 3rd I was blessed with my first coyote double. I had seen three does by 7:45am that morning. At 8:10 am the first coyote, the large female in the picture below came out in the field at roughly 220 yards. She was headed towards the cattle farm to the left of the field I hunt so I got on her quickly and dropped her where she stood with my TC Venture in 7mm-08. A smaller coyote, think large pup size, went running off after I shot her. I couldn't get on the pup fast enough.
I had carried two rifles with me, the TC Venture in 7mm-08 and a TC Venture Predator in .223. The former setup for deer while the Predator was setup specifically for coyotes. This day I was hunting out of the loft of an old barn so having both rifles with me wasn't a problem.
At 9:15am I caught movement through the branches of a tree at the far end of the field, just beyond the first coyote laying dead in the field. Checking through my scope I noticed it was a darker coyote checking out it's dead companion. Quickly I switched rifles to the .223 since I hadn't had a chance to take one with it yet and wanted to test it. The 2nd coyote was very anxious and darted back and forth working it's way to the dead coyote. After a few seconds it worked it's way directly behind the first coyote and stopped to check it out quartering towards me. I took the shot, it spun around about 4 times biting at the exit then ran off to my right roughly 20 yards and dropped behind a stump. I had tried to get back on it to make a follow up shot but couldn't. I could see it's hind leg and watched it slowly slump down as it expired.
While I would have loved to fill the final buck tag, I'll gladly take two coyotes to help the deer population for next year. I do intend to get back to that farm several times through the spring/summer to try to take more of these foul beasts.
In the 7mm-08 I'm shooting a handload Nosler 140gr E-tip. In the .223 I'm shooting some of the Ted Nugent ammo loaded with the Barnes 45gr TSX. I haven't had the chance to work up a good handload for the .223 yet but hope to soon and it shoots the 45 gr Barnes quite well.
Here's some pics.
The two dogs. The big one weighed 40lbs on my deer scale while the smaller weighed 32 lbs.
Another shot of the coyotes. The smaller one had mange starting on the right side of it's face and on two legs.
My rifles leaned up in the barn.
The view of the far end of the field showing the location of the two coyotes. They are both on the ground and circled in this pic.
Thanks for looking. Hope to finally have some luck calling one in soon. So far my success has been in ambushing them while deer hunting.
