remingtonman_25_06
Handloader
- Nov 17, 2005
- 2,807
- 402
Went out to Jmads calling all day today since we got a few inches of fresh snow over the night. Figured it would be a good day to do some calling. I took my Rem 700 ADL in .222 remington w/55g Bulk SP bullets over 24.5g IMR4895, which is good for 1/2 MOA and 3100fps.
First stand was unbelievable to me. I went to a place where there is usually a dog or two hanging around some cows. I parked the truck back some 1/2 mile and made my trek to my calling destination in the dark. After about 15 minutes I reached my first stand. I was thinking about bringing the JIB decoy but I figured heck with it, this would later prove to come back and bite me in the butt...I set the foxpro about 20 yards ahead of me and started out with the coyote locator for a couple minutes. It was pretty foggy all day, and visibility was limited to anywhere from 100-300-400 yards through out the day. Waited a couple minutes and nothing, went to the male challenge for a couple minutes and waited, after a minute or two I heard a response in the direction I figured the dogs would be. Switched to coyote pup in distress for a few times, followed by rodent distress. About the 25-30 minute mark was going by and all I had come check me out was a big hawk..I was by myself and was set up looking down a road where I thought the dogs would be coming from. I was just about to hit the call again for 1 last distress, when I caught movement in my left eye over my left shoulder. 2 coyotes were running over the hill on a dead run towards me about 250 yards away. I was thinking great! Im gonna get both of em lol. Well as I was sitting there, I didn't wanna move, so I just barely had my head turned, in the meantime another coyote was hot on the other two's trail, I'm looking/waiting/watching and another comes over the hill, and another, and I cant believe what I"m seeing, and another comes over the hill. So now I got 6 coyotes on a dead run towards me and I am sitting with my 222 on shooting sticks at a 180 degrees the wrong way. When they got to about 150 yards they all stopped and were looking my way hard...I didn't know what to do, wanted to keep still so as not to bust em, but I still was in no position to shoot. The remote was still in my hand so I hit the rodent distress, soon as they heard that the first 2 were like competing to get to me first. There was just a little tiny tiny draw bout 50-75 yards that when the first 2 coyotes got into I thought the only thing I could do was flick my wrist and get my rifle off the shooting sticks and swing my rifle over my body to get into somewhat of a position without busting them. Well as soon as I did that, every single one of them coyotes stopped, including the first 2, that stopped in the bottom of that little draw, I could just barely see there neck/head so I raised up slow and quickly as possible, had the leupold on 4x, steadied the crosshairs right below his jaw and squeezed off, boom, nothing! Had coyotes running everywhere, didn't know which one to get on and keep on with 6 of em running around. I ended up missing 3 more times on the run at between 75 and 200 yards. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Iv'e never had 6 coyotes come to the call, let alone within 75-100 yards, and then end up missing all of them. I dont see how I missed the first one standing there, granted it was a neck/head shot, but it was close! And then, with the 6-8" of fresh powder, they couln't run that fast, so how I emptied my gun on them trotting away at 100 yards is beyond me, I was leading em a foot or two, depending ya know on range and angle and dog speed, haha. I was pretty bummed out to say the least...pretty much just speechless..On top of that, the fog was now worse, visibility was getting way worse anywhere on the farm so I thought I pretty much just blew my only oppurtunity for the day. Not a happy camper at this point in time. I sat there for 5 more minutes after the shooting was all said and done with the pup distress on trying to get maybe 1 of them to swing back my way, nothing. I pack up the call and my gear and head for the truck, all in the meantime thinking to myself, I'm just gonna go home, I had enough of today already. Got to the truck and decided well I"m already out here so I"m gonna go check out another spot where theres usually a coyote running around and try my luck, even though visibility was probly 200 yards at most. I parked the truck about 830, made my 1/2 mile walk to my 2nd stand and once again set out the foxpro on top of a fencepost in the bottom of a canyon. I sat up on one side of the hill about 30 yards and started with a male challenge, within a minute or so, I heard a coyote bark back and it sounded fairly close, definately within callin range. This got my excitement up a bit and this time I positioned myself to exactly where I heard that sound come from, in fact, I actually got up and went up the hill/fenceline about another 20 yards to a higher rise to see just a bit more. I then switched to pup distress, did 1 call sequence and waited, within 5 minutes I saw a big ol dog coming right for me. He came over the top and was looking to kick some butt I do believe...He got to about 125-150 yards and stopped, looking right at me, I had the 222 on shooting sticks looking his way...I took my glove off slowly/carefully and looked at him through the scope, soon as I found the fine plex on his brisket I touched the 1.5# trigger and sent a 55g SP on its way. I saw the coyote drop right in his tracks, not a twitch, not a tail flip, notta nothign, DRT is what I like to call it! I didn't get up right away, I sat and called for about 10 more minutes hoping something else was close by and would come in but no such luck. I made the short trek to retrieve my coyote, it was a good size male, probly 25 lbs or so, nice coat. That 55g SP entered right on his brisket and did'tn exit. Perfect performance for a fur hunter, works for me, dead coyote...That got my adrenaline going again for the morning so I decided to stay out all day and call and drive around a bit. That ended up being the last coyote I saw for the day and that was 915 am. I made 5 or so more stands, heard and seen nothing, made a couple loops trying to run into one, no such luck, although with visibility and the fog, seeing one was not likely unless it was standing close to whichever road I was driving at the time. All in all It was a good day I guess. Never not learn something when you go calling thats for sure. I wanna do a lot more calling and get good at it, theres nothing like watching a coyote come running into the call. I"ll be having nightmares of them 6 tonight...
Heres the one that didn't get away...Some of the gear used today, Rem 700 ADL w/ Leupold vari x II, 4-12x, 55g Hornady SPs at 3100fps, stoney point shooting stix, foxpro FX3.
Heres what he looked like when I first got to him, he bout got lost in the snow. Absolutely got flattened by the triple deuce, didn't know what hit him. Doggy heaven!!!
Hit him right where I was aiming, this time anyways, lol
Group pic
This is where I was calling from, if you look straight out in the pic, about 30 yards to the left of the fenceline and about at the fogline is where he last stood.
First stand was unbelievable to me. I went to a place where there is usually a dog or two hanging around some cows. I parked the truck back some 1/2 mile and made my trek to my calling destination in the dark. After about 15 minutes I reached my first stand. I was thinking about bringing the JIB decoy but I figured heck with it, this would later prove to come back and bite me in the butt...I set the foxpro about 20 yards ahead of me and started out with the coyote locator for a couple minutes. It was pretty foggy all day, and visibility was limited to anywhere from 100-300-400 yards through out the day. Waited a couple minutes and nothing, went to the male challenge for a couple minutes and waited, after a minute or two I heard a response in the direction I figured the dogs would be. Switched to coyote pup in distress for a few times, followed by rodent distress. About the 25-30 minute mark was going by and all I had come check me out was a big hawk..I was by myself and was set up looking down a road where I thought the dogs would be coming from. I was just about to hit the call again for 1 last distress, when I caught movement in my left eye over my left shoulder. 2 coyotes were running over the hill on a dead run towards me about 250 yards away. I was thinking great! Im gonna get both of em lol. Well as I was sitting there, I didn't wanna move, so I just barely had my head turned, in the meantime another coyote was hot on the other two's trail, I'm looking/waiting/watching and another comes over the hill, and another, and I cant believe what I"m seeing, and another comes over the hill. So now I got 6 coyotes on a dead run towards me and I am sitting with my 222 on shooting sticks at a 180 degrees the wrong way. When they got to about 150 yards they all stopped and were looking my way hard...I didn't know what to do, wanted to keep still so as not to bust em, but I still was in no position to shoot. The remote was still in my hand so I hit the rodent distress, soon as they heard that the first 2 were like competing to get to me first. There was just a little tiny tiny draw bout 50-75 yards that when the first 2 coyotes got into I thought the only thing I could do was flick my wrist and get my rifle off the shooting sticks and swing my rifle over my body to get into somewhat of a position without busting them. Well as soon as I did that, every single one of them coyotes stopped, including the first 2, that stopped in the bottom of that little draw, I could just barely see there neck/head so I raised up slow and quickly as possible, had the leupold on 4x, steadied the crosshairs right below his jaw and squeezed off, boom, nothing! Had coyotes running everywhere, didn't know which one to get on and keep on with 6 of em running around. I ended up missing 3 more times on the run at between 75 and 200 yards. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Iv'e never had 6 coyotes come to the call, let alone within 75-100 yards, and then end up missing all of them. I dont see how I missed the first one standing there, granted it was a neck/head shot, but it was close! And then, with the 6-8" of fresh powder, they couln't run that fast, so how I emptied my gun on them trotting away at 100 yards is beyond me, I was leading em a foot or two, depending ya know on range and angle and dog speed, haha. I was pretty bummed out to say the least...pretty much just speechless..On top of that, the fog was now worse, visibility was getting way worse anywhere on the farm so I thought I pretty much just blew my only oppurtunity for the day. Not a happy camper at this point in time. I sat there for 5 more minutes after the shooting was all said and done with the pup distress on trying to get maybe 1 of them to swing back my way, nothing. I pack up the call and my gear and head for the truck, all in the meantime thinking to myself, I'm just gonna go home, I had enough of today already. Got to the truck and decided well I"m already out here so I"m gonna go check out another spot where theres usually a coyote running around and try my luck, even though visibility was probly 200 yards at most. I parked the truck about 830, made my 1/2 mile walk to my 2nd stand and once again set out the foxpro on top of a fencepost in the bottom of a canyon. I sat up on one side of the hill about 30 yards and started with a male challenge, within a minute or so, I heard a coyote bark back and it sounded fairly close, definately within callin range. This got my excitement up a bit and this time I positioned myself to exactly where I heard that sound come from, in fact, I actually got up and went up the hill/fenceline about another 20 yards to a higher rise to see just a bit more. I then switched to pup distress, did 1 call sequence and waited, within 5 minutes I saw a big ol dog coming right for me. He came over the top and was looking to kick some butt I do believe...He got to about 125-150 yards and stopped, looking right at me, I had the 222 on shooting sticks looking his way...I took my glove off slowly/carefully and looked at him through the scope, soon as I found the fine plex on his brisket I touched the 1.5# trigger and sent a 55g SP on its way. I saw the coyote drop right in his tracks, not a twitch, not a tail flip, notta nothign, DRT is what I like to call it! I didn't get up right away, I sat and called for about 10 more minutes hoping something else was close by and would come in but no such luck. I made the short trek to retrieve my coyote, it was a good size male, probly 25 lbs or so, nice coat. That 55g SP entered right on his brisket and did'tn exit. Perfect performance for a fur hunter, works for me, dead coyote...That got my adrenaline going again for the morning so I decided to stay out all day and call and drive around a bit. That ended up being the last coyote I saw for the day and that was 915 am. I made 5 or so more stands, heard and seen nothing, made a couple loops trying to run into one, no such luck, although with visibility and the fog, seeing one was not likely unless it was standing close to whichever road I was driving at the time. All in all It was a good day I guess. Never not learn something when you go calling thats for sure. I wanna do a lot more calling and get good at it, theres nothing like watching a coyote come running into the call. I"ll be having nightmares of them 6 tonight...
Heres the one that didn't get away...Some of the gear used today, Rem 700 ADL w/ Leupold vari x II, 4-12x, 55g Hornady SPs at 3100fps, stoney point shooting stix, foxpro FX3.
Heres what he looked like when I first got to him, he bout got lost in the snow. Absolutely got flattened by the triple deuce, didn't know what hit him. Doggy heaven!!!
Hit him right where I was aiming, this time anyways, lol
Group pic
This is where I was calling from, if you look straight out in the pic, about 30 yards to the left of the fenceline and about at the fogline is where he last stood.
