Baiting

Things have really picked up at my bait site recently. I got yet another one last night, a crippled female that I have been watching for a while. She has been very nervous around the bait but last night she made a fatal mistake. Dropped on the spot at 89 yards from the 25-06 and 70 gr. Blitz King. Again, no exit on the broadside shot. Scope is the Infiray Bolt TL-35 v2, shot was on base mag of 3x.

Click On The Photo To See The Video

8th Bolt 3-3-25, Crippled Female 89 Yds by David Vance, on Flickr

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Bullet Impact side

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Offside

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Right foot is missing toenails and appears deformed. Possibly caught in a trap, not sure.

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Bone Pile is over the steep bank beyond the 4-wheeler. There's a lot of coyotes over that hill.

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Sightings have picked up quite a lot lately, and still another one showed up last night. They seem to be on the move now. It’s supposed to rain and snow tonight as well as high winds so I probably won’t hunt tonight. Maybe tomorrow night.
 
Thanks, Bait. I like the 25-06. It does hammer them for sure, and it’s a head scratcher about no exits on broadside shots. But also, the 6mm Remington does a fine job too with the 55 gr. Blitz Kings. The 25-06 is way more cartridge than I need, but it is very accurate and a pleasure to shoot. I like to keep things interesting so I mix it up sometimes.
 
Thanks, DoubleUp, I probably will take it if I can get an accurate hog load worked up. I am still having somewhat of an issue with stiff bolt closure when chambering, though it is better than before. I plan to take it to a gunsmith to have it checked out after my coyote hunting is done for the season. I got no help from Weatherby from two returns. We are planning a hog hunt in June.
 
06, I think you are reloading. Can you bump the shoulder back a little further, a little more cam over? May help with stiff bolt close. Just thinking out loud here...
 
Bait, the rifle even has stiff bolt closure sometimes on factory rounds. The crazy part is that on any given time the bolt will function smooth as a baby’s bottom, eject normally and then that same round when rechambered sometimes had stiff bolt closure.
 
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That is strange 06. Had a guy talk to me one day about a bolt hard to close on a 6.5 PRC I think, if I remember right. He explained some things that sounded about like what you are experiencing. I told him to send it in. It would close hard, but shoot fine once chambered, but I told him that was not good. Anyway, sent it in to the manufacturer and I believe it had a short chamber. I think they rechambered it for him, free of course. I've had good luck with manufacturers taking care of firearms regardless of the age of the gun. You may just give the manufacturer a call and get a return authorization and send it in. probably wouldn't cost you a thing.
 
Bait, I returned the gun to Weatherby twice. They claim it functions as it should and is within specs. After I received the rifle back the first time, I opened the box in the gunshop that it was shipped back to, and a friend who works at the shop got a box of factory ammo off the shelf and tried chambering. Same problem. I phoned Weatherby again from the gun shop, got a return authorization for the second time and returned it that day. I didn’t even take it home. When it came back the second time nothing had changed. My friend who works at the gunshop does some minor gunsmithing, and he polished the lugs lightly and that helped a little, but the problem remains. I am done with talking to Weatherby so I plan to have a gunsmith look at it. It shoots so good, otherwise I would give it up.
 
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Gotch ya 06. Wow, you have been through the wringer on that one. Hopefully a good smith will sort it out. Yeah, the 25-06 is a dandy chambering, hopefully it's something obvious and simple. Keep us posted, that's a curious issue...
 
In a blind in Alberta, heard from a little birdie that the “HAMMER” had dropped, details will be a few days in coming, stay tuned.
 
Spot, I took a couple of photos of the bolt. I haven't greased the bolt cam.

The other day I tried cycling a new box of factory Cor-lok's and all functioned smoothly. Federal American Whitetail won't and have stiff bolt closure, some rounds more than others. My handloads neck sized sometimes are stiff and other times functions smoothly - with the same round. I can cycle them over and over and sometimes good chambering and other times stiff. It's hard to figure.

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wolverines said:
I got 2 pics of a coyote last night on by bait cam. First coyotes on my property in quite some time. Neither one was actually on the bait so I'm not getting too excited, but it's a start.
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So in continuation to this, I got sick shortly after and have been out for almost a week. I started to get more pics of a pair that quickly turned into a pattern of one of them coming in at around 11 pm nightly. They’d made quick work of the carcass and I felt like I had a small window to get him killed. Last night was my first opportunity to sit in my shack. I set my alarm for 10:30 but ended up getting up right at 10. Good thing cause the coyote showed up at 10:40.

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I originally thought they were coming in from the east, but I was wrong. Coyote came out in the same spot they had since I started running bait at this property 8 years ago. I quickly learned that my miscanthis in front of my blind is blocking a lot of my view limiting my shot opportunities. I edited the video to just the kill shot, but I watched the coyote for almost 4 minutes. Ended up having to move the rifle to a different window and shoot it in the field to the south.



Male, DRT with the 6mm ARC/75gr vmax at 127 yards. Best part, I was back in bed by 11:30! 😆 I did get a couple pics of the other one a few hours later. Debating on sitting for that one tonight.

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