Post by coyote6974 on Jan 7, 2014 21:52:31 GMT -5
After sitting around for three days enduring the snow, wind, and cold weather I decided to try doing a stand for coyotes this evening. I went out to a gravel pit where I'd shot and field dressed a deer on New Years day hoping maybe the gut pile had drawn some coyotes and that one or two may still be hanging around. I parked my jeep at the gate, gathered my gear and hiked about a half mile to my stand along the edge of a cornfield bordering the gravel pits brushy edges. I'd walked into the corn field and set my FoxPro in the snow then returned to the stand and sat down with my back against my favorite tree. Before even turning on my call I saw what I thought was a huge mink running out of the field into the edge of the brush. It was about 120 yards from me so it took me a second to realize that it was a coyote moving through the foot deep snow with his belly against the snow and his legs unseen. I picked the moving coyote up in my rifle scope and followed him until he stopped looking into the brush. I settled the crosshairs on his shoulder and squeezed off a shot. The coyote did a summersault in the air then headed toward the edge of a steep 30 foot incline that drops to the edge of the gravel pit. I heard a whine from him but couldn't see the downed coyote from my stand. I got up and walked through the foot deep snow toward where I'd last seen the coyote, and as I got about 50 yards away I spotted some movement. Sure enough the coyote was down but had just raised its head. As I shouldered my rifle it jumped up and went over the edge of the pit bank.
I followed the coyote over the edge and tracked it onto the ice covered gravel pit. It had left a pile of scat on the ice then went around the edge of a little peninsula that juts out from the bank. The snow had drifted over the edge of the drop off and was nearly chest deep as I went down to the ice. Being alone, I decided I'd best not push my luck walking on the frozen over pit so I climbed back up the incline through the deep snow to where I'd came over the edge. It was quite a struggle getting back up that steep incline in the deep snow so I decided I'd best wait until tomorrow to try to come back and recover the coyote. It wasn't something a guy in his late 50's needed to doing much of with no one around for miles.
Went back out this afternoon with a friend with me. We were able to track the coyote across the ice, around the edge of the little peninsula that juts out into the lake. We found it dead up under the reeds that cover the peninsula. It's a small female that likely weighed a bit under 30 pounds. The 55 grain Sierra Gameking had eviscerated it after hitting it just behind the shoulder. It was ugly.
I followed the coyote over the edge and tracked it onto the ice covered gravel pit. It had left a pile of scat on the ice then went around the edge of a little peninsula that juts out from the bank. The snow had drifted over the edge of the drop off and was nearly chest deep as I went down to the ice. Being alone, I decided I'd best not push my luck walking on the frozen over pit so I climbed back up the incline through the deep snow to where I'd came over the edge. It was quite a struggle getting back up that steep incline in the deep snow so I decided I'd best wait until tomorrow to try to come back and recover the coyote. It wasn't something a guy in his late 50's needed to doing much of with no one around for miles.
Went back out this afternoon with a friend with me. We were able to track the coyote across the ice, around the edge of the little peninsula that juts out into the lake. We found it dead up under the reeds that cover the peninsula. It's a small female that likely weighed a bit under 30 pounds. The 55 grain Sierra Gameking had eviscerated it after hitting it just behind the shoulder. It was ugly.
