Saturday morning coyote

Houser in NC

Houser in NC

New member
I shot a coyote Saturday morning but couldn't find it.

Here's what I can't figure out. After the shot it ran out sight down through the woods, the whole time squalling and crying. There was lots of loud rustling leaves and still lots of squalling. It sounded like it was just off in the thicket behind me with the racket never getting any fainter. Then all the noise just stopped. The noise didn't fade away like it was getting farther away, it just stopped. I figured it was just laying right behind me dead, wrong. I couldn't find anything but some hair where I shot it and nothing else. It is thick with tangled briars and bushes and most of my search was on my hands and knees. I feel like the 60 yard broadside shot was good using a 223 and 60 gr. V Max.

I've replayed it over and over in my mind and even checked my rifle to be sure it was still zero'd. I even when back and looked later Saturday evening.

Bad shot? Shoulder shot with no exit hole and no blood? Did it run farther away than I was looking and died? ( But why did the noise just stop?)I haven't killed many and hate to loose one even though I wasn't going to mount it or anything.

Any opinions from you more experienced guys would help.
 
If it was in really thick brush, it could have been right around the corner and you just missed it...

Hurt animals have the capacity to hide really well, if they are able to move at all..It was probably lung shot and took a little while to bleed out..

I'm like you and would hate not to know I'd made a clean kill, but those things do happen... Don't beat yourself up over it..

I know some guys that wouldn't have taken the trouble you did..not that I respect them,,, but I know them..
 
After seeing a coyote go straight down my buddy walked right past it. I mean like feet away and didnt see it till I told him it was there.

Maybe yours wasclose and u just missed it. I also shot a yote at 80yds with a .223 55gr ballistic tip. The dog did a front
lip ran in circles about 3 times and I watched it run out of sight 300yds away. I couldnt believe it went that far. I would bet he is real close to where you last heard the camotion, he is just blending in really good.
 
Thanks Old Turtle & 12ring,

When I first saw the coyote I noticed how dark it's coat was.
It was as dark as the ground clutter and could blend in very easily. It is possible I might not see it unless I stepped on it in all that crap.
It was a lot darker than others I have seen around here.

I thought about going for a transfusion due to the blood loss because of the briars. lol

 
Last edited:
Here's my experience with wounded coyotes - they're tough. I once blew the heart and lungs out of one and then it ran like 80 feet - with a huge hole in it and no vitals. Another time I shot one too far back, right through the ribs, and it ran for 300 yards before me and my partner found it staggering around and finished it off. It's tough, and sometimes you lose coyotes. Just last week I shot a coyote, watched him do the death dance for about 10 seconds when suddenly he straightened up and ran off. I went over and found blood, hair, crap, pee, and even bone fragments covering the area where he was spinning. After that there was no blood trail. I looked high, low, and ever under bush for a 200 yard circle, and never saw him again. I looked for almost an hour. Like I said, sometimes you just lose them - they can run a long ways unless you completely shut them down with a solid hit.

Here's what I do to find wounded dogs should they not drop right there. Look for the path of least resistance, i.e. wounded animals generally don't run up a hill. They want to get to cover quickly, and they want to run to familiar places, meaning they may return on the same path they came in on. Look for blood and hair on tall grasses or on the brush they may have had to crawl into or through to try and get away. Once you find something, mark it and then slowly walk a circle around it until you find the next sign. This is the hard part, as dark blood here in the desert dirt can be hard to spot at times. Keep trailing them until you completely lose the trail, then mark that spot and slowly walk circles, getting larger and larger, around the last sign. Check under bushes and such as you search, since they love to crawl up in there. Keep your head up, though, and check your surrounding terrain - I have been trailing wounded animals and looked up to see them a little ways ahead of me trying to get away. This is a great time for a finishing shot. As for your dog going silent and then disappearing, my guess is that he was thrashing around trying to bite at his wound when he realized the imemdiate danger hadn't passed, so he settled down and ran off.
 

I went back and looked a little more this evening but never looked for it the way that in came in. I just concentrated looking where I last heard the racket which was uphill from where I shot it. I didn't even check down the hill which is where it came from. I'll have to remember all the advice next time.
When my dad is checking his pasture fences later this week I'll have him look for buzzards circling around.
 
I've seen alot of coyotes drop, spin, biting and squalling at the shot wound...then all of a sudden, get up and run like they've never been hit. We pursued one last season, on foot for a mile or more, that finally took 8 shots from the .223 to finally put it down. Sometimes they amaze you what they can take. It really makes you cry when it happens to a good looking bobcat. We lost 4 in one night with a hunter, last season. I wasn't real pleased with the performance of a .204 since.

Good luck.

Tony
 
Last coyote i shot took a 55 gr v max out of my 250 from 60 yards square in the chest. looked like a shot in with soft ball, and still ran 50-60 more yards. No idea how, could have put my fist inside of it. Luckely mine had a blood trail. Coyotes are tough little devils. But like old turtle said... you have done the responsible thing and looked hard for it. Most people wouldn't.
 
the last one i shot whimpered and ran around in a about 5 circles then went quiet and took off on a dead run i followed him into a draw and shot him again and he ran into some thickets and i lost him and finally i started walkin into em and bout stepped on him before i seen him
 
Last fall my partner and I had a double come in, he put the shot on the farther dog and I ki yied the second one to a stop. His shot looked good, so he watched me hit the second one. Sure double, not exactly. When we went to pick the dogs up his ran off. There was a good chunk of intestines and other entrails around were he got hit. We tracked that dog for over a mile and never caught up to it before we lost sign. Hunting the river bottom we probably crawled right by him but we could not find him. Some times everything goes right and it still turns out wrong.
 
Thanks guys.

They are tough animals. They seem to be a lot harder to put down than a deer. My hunting buddy lost a coyote a couple years ago after a 30 yard shot using buckshot.
 
Houser:

The other part of the equation is that we spend a lot of time developing good "fur loads" (and you are using one, in my opinion) that are designed to not exit. The small entrance hole just doesn't leak much. It makes blood trails almost nonexistent. If the ground isn't good for tracking, it makes recovery tough. Good job on putting some effort into it anyway.

tt
 
I guess it's possible that coyote had a den in those briars and the sound just stopped cause he ran inside the den. If that's the case, he's more than likely dead in there. We lost a big male three weeks ago. 60 yd broadside chest shot with a 55 grain v-max .223. Death spins on impact and rolled in the sage. When we went to recover him, GONE. No hair, blood, tracks, nothing... I even filmed the whole thing and we still can't figure out how he got away. If you hunt long enough, it's gonna happen. It suck's but it happens.
 
You guys have brought up some good points.

The V Max probably did not exit or there would have been evidence of blood or meat somewhere. I'll probably start using a tougher bullet like Sierra Gameking on coyotes from now on.

Also, there were ground hog holes everywhere in all that thick tangle of stuff. Some of them were pretty big too, big enough for a coyote to crawl into. You're right. It could be in one of them, dead.
 
Remember - animals aren't like humans. They don't take a gunshot and then lay around crying about it. They do everything in their power to get away, survive, or at the very least, not be found.

I really like my 55gr Remington Core-Lokt rounds. They are not always fur friendly, but I don't have many coyotes run off after being hit with it.
 
Originally Posted By: rizzo
I really like my 55gr Remington Core-Lokt rounds. They are not always fur friendly, but I don't have many coyotes run off after being hit with it.

I searched and read about the 55gr. Sierra #1365 and the 62gr. #1395 before you posted about the Core-Lokts. Do you get an exit hole on most hits?
The fur doesn't really matter to me since most are not that good.
 
No I don't normally get an exit wound. Sometimes I get some pretty serious pelt damage, though, especially if I get a solid bone hit on the shoulder or something like that. Nothing I can't sew up, but then again I don't really keep coyotes.

I get my rounds from The Hunting Shack, a place in Montana. It's once used military brass loaded with the Core-Lokt rounds. Pretty good price, beats my local stores even with shipping when I buy them in 250 or 500 round amounts.
 
Thanks for the info rizzo but I want a bullet that will probably shoot through so I ordered some 55gr and 65gr Sierras to try. Maybe they'll shoot through and I'll at least have a blood trail to follow next time. I know there's no magic bullet but trying something different will be a good start. The Core-Lokt will be next on the list if the Sierras don't work out.
 
Houser, have you seen the coyote anatomy illustration under the predator biology section? This is a real brief post compared to the one Stiff neck at the top of this section awhile ago. Stiff neck earlier post was by far the best I have ever seen at describing how so many coyotes are wounded and get away. I wish he still had that posted because it really shows where the very best kill zone is. I know I used to aim too far back thinking I would hit the shoulder bone, but his illustrations show the very best place to shoot them is just above the front leg and there is not any bone there. Good luck in the future.
 
You talkin about this picture? I've always aimed for putting the bullet through the front shoulder. You are almost guaranteed a vitals hit, and at the very least seriously disabling them.

anatomy_coyote_side_I.jpg
 
Back
Top