Today was a good day for coyotes to move apparently. I shot one on the way home from taking my daughter to daycare. It was crossing one of our fields and I had the Sako 243 in the truck. I picked up an old Sako used a couple years back, one side of the stock was faded from hanging in the truck window for years. It isn't pretty anymore but still shoots great. Anyway this coyote stopped to look at a crow at 275yds and a 90gr Accubond nailed him. He started spinning and yipping and 4 other coyotes popped out. One ran right to the wounded coyote who snapped at him. The uninjured one took off zig zagging toward the creek and I tried a shot but missed. He never ran a straight line or showed signs of stopping.
This evening I decided to go make a couple stands calling. I took my FoxPro Prairie blaster and AR in 204. The first spot produced nothing but the second I got one to come in. I was 20 minutes into the stand and switched to a pup distress sound. At about 22 minutes I had a coyote come in from an unexpected direction and surprise the heck out of me at 11yds. He had to have circled under the rim of the hill and crossed several hundred yards of wide open short grazed brome grass. Hunting alone I often have to leave an area unwatched and I thought that was the safe one to leave. Anyway the coyote popped up at 11yds and went right to the decoy built into the FoxPro. He saw me as I shifted my gun and dropped the remote and headed back out. He dropped below the rim and I had to move a bit and picked him up again at 136yds. I hit him as he ran with a standing offhand shot and the 45gr Hornady took out his spine and exited through his chest. It wasn't exactly how I planned my first calling session of the fall, but I'll take the results. The little 204 sure seems to perform with the 45gr SP bullet. My 20" 204 shoots them at 3325fps and shoots them well under 1/2" at 100yds. I hope to get several more before switching over to whitetail hunting, and then hit it hard after deer season ends.
This evening I decided to go make a couple stands calling. I took my FoxPro Prairie blaster and AR in 204. The first spot produced nothing but the second I got one to come in. I was 20 minutes into the stand and switched to a pup distress sound. At about 22 minutes I had a coyote come in from an unexpected direction and surprise the heck out of me at 11yds. He had to have circled under the rim of the hill and crossed several hundred yards of wide open short grazed brome grass. Hunting alone I often have to leave an area unwatched and I thought that was the safe one to leave. Anyway the coyote popped up at 11yds and went right to the decoy built into the FoxPro. He saw me as I shifted my gun and dropped the remote and headed back out. He dropped below the rim and I had to move a bit and picked him up again at 136yds. I hit him as he ran with a standing offhand shot and the 45gr Hornady took out his spine and exited through his chest. It wasn't exactly how I planned my first calling session of the fall, but I'll take the results. The little 204 sure seems to perform with the 45gr SP bullet. My 20" 204 shoots them at 3325fps and shoots them well under 1/2" at 100yds. I hope to get several more before switching over to whitetail hunting, and then hit it hard after deer season ends.
