Larry in SD
Handloader
- Nov 8, 2004
- 426
- 1
I know that is now a very good score and not what I was hoping for, but the first time being in that area and considering the weather conditions I'll take it.
I ventured 185 miles north & west from my home to where my daughter lives in Wishek ND Friday morning. I arrived out there about 1:40PM. After a quick lunch we headed out to do some scouting and learning the area that I was to be hunting. Lot so hills, a few trees and lots and lots of wide open spaces. The first place we were going to hunt was right next to my daughter's father in law's ranch yard. This was a hay field on the west side of his yard that was about 1/4 mile north to south and 180ish yards east to west. On the west side of this hay field was a thin shelterbelt. On the east side was a thick shelterbelt with 4 or 5 rows of trees, some of which were evergreen trees. There was an opening about in the middle of this hay field through the shelterbelt on the east edge. This opening in the trees would be our vantage point.
Straight west of our position was a dead calf that had died a few days prior to my arrival that was situated just below the crest of a ridge. In the northwest corner of the hay field was the carcass of a bull that died in August. From our vantage point the bull carcass lasered 256 yards. There was also a fence line running east to west on the north edge of this hay field.
We got set up about 10:00PM. I started out with a Female Coyote on the ICOtec GC300 Electric Caller. After the first howl of the Female Coyote track I pushed the Male Coyote button on the caller, and both howls played. Immediately Coyotes answered us. We stuck it out for a little over an hour but nothing showed. My son in law suggested we sneak out and try an abandoned gravel pit a couple miles away, which we did.
After checking out a couple spots without any response we returned to the first spot at approximately 12:25AM. We just got into position and I glassed towards the bull carcass and noticed we were not alone. There were 4 or 5 Coyotes just on the north side of the bull carcass. One (what I thought was a large male) seemed really nervous. I got set up and was waiting for my daughter to give me the signal she was ready. I instructed her to take one of the ones on the right and I'd take the one on the left since I was to the left of my daughter.
I whispered 3 or 4 times asking if she was ready. The one on the left I had in my crosshairs kept milling around and looked like he was going to start up the snow bank and into the trees on the west. I remembered I had lasered the bull carcass and said to myself that was 156 yards. I held low on the chest knowing full well that my bullet will be about 1.4" high at 156 yards. MY AR-15 roared to life and the coyote was sighted in on made a dash for the trees and was out of sight. The other 3 or 4 headed north west through the trees.
As soon as the sound quit echoing I started catching heck from my daughter and son in law for not being more patient. When they quit chewing on me I grabbed my laser rangefinder and ranged the bull carcass and immediately knew why and how I missed. As I stated earlier it was 256 yards and I shot right under the coyote.
We snuck out of there, tried a couple other spots with no response and at 1:30 AM or so headed back to that same spot again. We had sat there a few minutes when I spotted a Coyote up on the snow bank along the trees what I guess was close to 500 yards. I did some mouse squeaks to no avail and then all of a sudden I figured out why I could not get that coyote's attention. All of a sudden there were two coyotes there and they were breeding.
I was glassing a different direction and when I glanced back there was only one coyote there. I whispered to the kids where did the other coyote go. After a minute or so my son in law spotted the other coyote and said he is sneaking along coming towards the trees straight north of us. When this Coyote got to the fence line it headed straight west for the bull carcass. Once at the bull carcass it milled about for a few seconds and headed northwest up on the snow bank on the east side of the trees. All of a sudden the coyote stopped. I had him in my scope and bracketed between my crosshair and bottom post (which with my scope on 6x measures 9"Wink. There was slight daylight between the coyotes feet and my bottom post and slight daylight between the top of the coyote and my crosshair. In my mind I asked if that is about 30" that is about 350ish yards. My mind flashed to the ballistics chart card I had in my pocket and decided to hold like I was and try the shot.
I touched the trigger and sent a 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip out of the muzzle of my 16" AR-15 at 2942 FPS. Almost immediately my daughter was pounding me on the back hollering "you got him". I am hear to tell you that was instant death and I do not believe that coyote so much as twitched a single hair. It was like his light switch was turned off. (That afternoon in the daylight we laser the spot where the coyote was standing when I shot and the opening in the trees where I shot from, it was 343 yards).
Upon my son in law retrieving my coyote we learned it was a younger male probably born in 2013, a decently looking silvery coyote.
OK now the ice was broken so to speak but no more were meant to fall to my AR as it turned out. We stuck it out till 4:00AM that morning and called it a night.
Saturday during the day was a bust. We had a strong wind with lots of drifting snow. Saturday night It turned cold and was super humid. It was like there was ice crystals in the air and the visibility was not even half of what it was Friday night. We gave it the old college try but could not come up with anything until about 2:0AM. We did get one pack to answer us but no takers no matter what calls I tried.
Sunday afternoon found my son in law being a tractor mechanic as with the cold southeast wind his tractor needed to feed hay would not start. He removed the batteries headed into town to warm the batteries and charge them. On the way back to town there was a little bolw so to speak in the side of a hill with some scrub trees on top. This bowl was on a north facing slope and there out of the wind was 4 Coyotes just laying on the snow. We tried to sneak up on them. but as we tried to sneak over a ridge down wind from the coyotes they spotted us and were up an over the hill.
One broke away from the rest and headed for a fence line. My son in law said I know where he is heading, so we got in his truck and headed a mile east. Sure enough as we were nearing the spot where my son in law thought the coyote was heading I spotted him. I got ready for a shot, barked, barked and barked some more but coyote not get the coyote to stop. He wasn't running all out so I tried a shot and lead him a touch too much. At my shot the coyote turned on a dime and headed back the direction he had came from and disappeared over a hill into a big basin. Last we saw of him he was a mile away going over another hill.
Sunday night a mini blizzard move in, it was super cloudy, snowing with 20 + MPH winds.
It ended up we saw a lot of coyotes both day and night, got to fire my AR a few times and did hang a nice silvery coyote in the barn along side of the one my daughter shot during the last full moon.
Part of the day on Saturday was fixing a mistake I had made on my son in law's rifle but now we have the RIGHT scope rings on it so it is comfortable for him.
I had a great time and can not wait till the next time.
Larry
PS when my daughter forwards me the photo(s) I will get them down loaded and posted.
I ventured 185 miles north & west from my home to where my daughter lives in Wishek ND Friday morning. I arrived out there about 1:40PM. After a quick lunch we headed out to do some scouting and learning the area that I was to be hunting. Lot so hills, a few trees and lots and lots of wide open spaces. The first place we were going to hunt was right next to my daughter's father in law's ranch yard. This was a hay field on the west side of his yard that was about 1/4 mile north to south and 180ish yards east to west. On the west side of this hay field was a thin shelterbelt. On the east side was a thick shelterbelt with 4 or 5 rows of trees, some of which were evergreen trees. There was an opening about in the middle of this hay field through the shelterbelt on the east edge. This opening in the trees would be our vantage point.
Straight west of our position was a dead calf that had died a few days prior to my arrival that was situated just below the crest of a ridge. In the northwest corner of the hay field was the carcass of a bull that died in August. From our vantage point the bull carcass lasered 256 yards. There was also a fence line running east to west on the north edge of this hay field.
We got set up about 10:00PM. I started out with a Female Coyote on the ICOtec GC300 Electric Caller. After the first howl of the Female Coyote track I pushed the Male Coyote button on the caller, and both howls played. Immediately Coyotes answered us. We stuck it out for a little over an hour but nothing showed. My son in law suggested we sneak out and try an abandoned gravel pit a couple miles away, which we did.
After checking out a couple spots without any response we returned to the first spot at approximately 12:25AM. We just got into position and I glassed towards the bull carcass and noticed we were not alone. There were 4 or 5 Coyotes just on the north side of the bull carcass. One (what I thought was a large male) seemed really nervous. I got set up and was waiting for my daughter to give me the signal she was ready. I instructed her to take one of the ones on the right and I'd take the one on the left since I was to the left of my daughter.
I whispered 3 or 4 times asking if she was ready. The one on the left I had in my crosshairs kept milling around and looked like he was going to start up the snow bank and into the trees on the west. I remembered I had lasered the bull carcass and said to myself that was 156 yards. I held low on the chest knowing full well that my bullet will be about 1.4" high at 156 yards. MY AR-15 roared to life and the coyote was sighted in on made a dash for the trees and was out of sight. The other 3 or 4 headed north west through the trees.
As soon as the sound quit echoing I started catching heck from my daughter and son in law for not being more patient. When they quit chewing on me I grabbed my laser rangefinder and ranged the bull carcass and immediately knew why and how I missed. As I stated earlier it was 256 yards and I shot right under the coyote.
We snuck out of there, tried a couple other spots with no response and at 1:30 AM or so headed back to that same spot again. We had sat there a few minutes when I spotted a Coyote up on the snow bank along the trees what I guess was close to 500 yards. I did some mouse squeaks to no avail and then all of a sudden I figured out why I could not get that coyote's attention. All of a sudden there were two coyotes there and they were breeding.
I was glassing a different direction and when I glanced back there was only one coyote there. I whispered to the kids where did the other coyote go. After a minute or so my son in law spotted the other coyote and said he is sneaking along coming towards the trees straight north of us. When this Coyote got to the fence line it headed straight west for the bull carcass. Once at the bull carcass it milled about for a few seconds and headed northwest up on the snow bank on the east side of the trees. All of a sudden the coyote stopped. I had him in my scope and bracketed between my crosshair and bottom post (which with my scope on 6x measures 9"Wink. There was slight daylight between the coyotes feet and my bottom post and slight daylight between the top of the coyote and my crosshair. In my mind I asked if that is about 30" that is about 350ish yards. My mind flashed to the ballistics chart card I had in my pocket and decided to hold like I was and try the shot.
I touched the trigger and sent a 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip out of the muzzle of my 16" AR-15 at 2942 FPS. Almost immediately my daughter was pounding me on the back hollering "you got him". I am hear to tell you that was instant death and I do not believe that coyote so much as twitched a single hair. It was like his light switch was turned off. (That afternoon in the daylight we laser the spot where the coyote was standing when I shot and the opening in the trees where I shot from, it was 343 yards).
Upon my son in law retrieving my coyote we learned it was a younger male probably born in 2013, a decently looking silvery coyote.
OK now the ice was broken so to speak but no more were meant to fall to my AR as it turned out. We stuck it out till 4:00AM that morning and called it a night.
Saturday during the day was a bust. We had a strong wind with lots of drifting snow. Saturday night It turned cold and was super humid. It was like there was ice crystals in the air and the visibility was not even half of what it was Friday night. We gave it the old college try but could not come up with anything until about 2:0AM. We did get one pack to answer us but no takers no matter what calls I tried.
Sunday afternoon found my son in law being a tractor mechanic as with the cold southeast wind his tractor needed to feed hay would not start. He removed the batteries headed into town to warm the batteries and charge them. On the way back to town there was a little bolw so to speak in the side of a hill with some scrub trees on top. This bowl was on a north facing slope and there out of the wind was 4 Coyotes just laying on the snow. We tried to sneak up on them. but as we tried to sneak over a ridge down wind from the coyotes they spotted us and were up an over the hill.
One broke away from the rest and headed for a fence line. My son in law said I know where he is heading, so we got in his truck and headed a mile east. Sure enough as we were nearing the spot where my son in law thought the coyote was heading I spotted him. I got ready for a shot, barked, barked and barked some more but coyote not get the coyote to stop. He wasn't running all out so I tried a shot and lead him a touch too much. At my shot the coyote turned on a dime and headed back the direction he had came from and disappeared over a hill into a big basin. Last we saw of him he was a mile away going over another hill.
Sunday night a mini blizzard move in, it was super cloudy, snowing with 20 + MPH winds.
It ended up we saw a lot of coyotes both day and night, got to fire my AR a few times and did hang a nice silvery coyote in the barn along side of the one my daughter shot during the last full moon.
Part of the day on Saturday was fixing a mistake I had made on my son in law's rifle but now we have the RIGHT scope rings on it so it is comfortable for him.
I had a great time and can not wait till the next time.
Larry
PS when my daughter forwards me the photo(s) I will get them down loaded and posted.
. It is always a great time when you can hunt with one of your kids.
