Spot and stalk long range coyote action last night

[204 AR]

It's been awhile since I've had any new videos or even been out hunting. It's harder as the days get longer but I sure did enjoy the warmer temps last night!

Yesterday my buddy got a new toy he needed to try out, a helmet set-up for scanning. There's a sheep/cattle farm he's been trying to help out before they start lambing here in a week or so, they usually lose quite a few to coyotes I guess. At the same time, I've been working on honing in my drop data and my shooting ability off the tripod. Late winter I was having a rough stretch connecting on longer shots and there were several problems. First was just a lack of steadiness. Just as important was an ammo issue. I had gotten lazy checking my shoulder set-back on the 243 and was setting them back over 10 thou. This caused inaccuracy coupled with the use of blems bullets imo. It also caused a couple head separations. I had swapped shell holders at some point and didn't re-adjust.

It didn't take long to spot the first coyote in the cattle lot. Then it turned out to be three, we were scanning from about 500 yards and decided to get closer as we felt they weren't going anywhere any time soon. Calling was discussed and decided against, first it hasn't been effective for him out there, and second if it did work it would be chaotic and probably only result in 1 kill and we wanted 3. We ended up getting within 200 yards somehow in the nearly full moon and got set up. Here's the footage:



The third coyote was out of view at the time over a rise but I soon spotted him as he climbed a distant hill away from us, topping out on the horizon at 650 yds but not going over. It ended up following that ridge 180 degrees around us, going into a shelterbelt of small trees and out the other side, popping into view momentarily along the way but mostly hidden. We waited this guy out, with my partner letting out a lone howl on the diaphragm at one point, which brought it back into our general direction. Probably a half hour into the wait, an opportunity arose:



At this point we knew there were more around and just held our ground. One came over the hill to our south and into the same shelterbelt as the last one, and we just waited. Finally it started circling back the way the last one had come in from and I managed to make a couple pretty long shots on it. These next two videos are the same coyote, got a leg the first time and put it down the second.



We called it quits at this point as it was about midnight.
This is what I did to address tripod steadiness. I tried my buddy's tripod with the Fatboy leveling bowl which is pretty sweet, but didn't really seem much steadier. The issue was getting some rear support. I have a couple sets of very tall shooting sticks and implemented them under the stock. It's not a super fast thing to set up and it's one more thing to carry along, but it makes the shooting position rock steady for the longer shots.

 

[hm1996]

Good job, Russ! Thanks for sharing.

 

[jmeddy]

Good night. really good shooting-500 in the dark, wow. You came up with a set of really tall bench rests

 

[hm1996]

It's not a super fast thing to set up and it's one more thing to carry along, but it makes the shooting position rock steady for the longer shots.

Interesting concept, Russ. Bet it's really solid.
My son gave me a set of compound sticks that I never had the opportunity to get out for a field test. I had built a set somewhat similar from driveway stakes and played with previously, but too flexible for me. The commercial ones are much stiffer and adjustable to boot.
Took the lighter ones to the range and shot from my short kid's chair and the results were promising. Only shot a couple of groups and as far as windage, it was like a benchreast! Only variance was tendency for vertical stringing, which I believe could be overcome with a little work on position. Unfortunately have not had a chance to work with them. Believe with the adjustable sticks (which take a bit longer to set up due to height adjustments) adjusted to correct height for sitting on ground or chair, resting elbows on knees would make for a very solit platform. No windage adjustment other than moving a leg, however.

.308 BAR @ 100 yds sitting on short chair. Believe resting elbows on knees or leaning back against something solid would have controlled vertical stringing, never got a chance to try various positions.

Not sure if this would help night hunting but is very light and relatively simple to deploy.

ETA: Just thinkin out loud, if there was some way you could collapse your sticks and lash them to the rear legs of your tripod, it would work similarly and be a bit easier to deploy/and to carry. Then you'd have only three legs contacting ground. Might want to get out the old boy scout handbook on lashing and give it a go.

 

[204 AR]

Thanks guys.
I was considering something like that Clarence, I watched a Hornady podcast where an English hunter told about a set he uses called Viper Flex. They look promising. Light weight and solid. Cons are panning much at all, which is an issue with the extra sticks also, and more importantly leaving the rifle locked in unattended while scanning would be impossible.

 

[Don_P]

480 yards, that was impressive! That's putting some faith in that range finder and ballistics calculator! .....and I can see why you do! Awesome!

 

[lockrotor]

Great job on that shooting. Keep it up, the farmer going to love it.