Coyotes at the Farm
December 14, 2011
I've been wanting to get a Coyote for several years now and have almost been successful several times. The first time, I had an accurate 223 Remington Thompson/Center Encore rifle with a 4-16X Tasco scope on it when a Coyote came into my field at a bit over 200 yards. Two shots later with no hit the Coyote was gone heading fast toward the next county.
That gun had been sighted in just a few days before but when I checked it a couple of days after the missed coyote shots, it was shooting about 10 inches too high. I took that scope off, had it fixed and then sold it and a couple more Tasco scopes I had.
Then one summer, there was a Coyote by the driveway in broad daylight biting at itself. It must have been rabid. I shot at and hit it but it was lost in a field of corn. There was the day one that came through my front yard. Unfortunately, on that day a dog had also come through the yard and by the time I saw the second animal was a Coyote and not a dog, the Coyote was long gone. On another occasion there was the one that danced around in front of my tractor while mowing one evening when I was entirely unprepared to shoot anything. This past summer, while sitting on the front porch, a Coyote came up the border of the corn field. I shot at it and probably hit it but it was in the corn like lightening never to be seen again. Coyotes were starting to seem intangible to me; something like ghosts.
Today, I had been up around 5 AM to go to an early meeting and was scheduled to go to work at 6 PM in the evening. Being a bit short on sleep, I took an early afternoon nap in a recliner in the living room. I woke up and was sitting thinking about getting up when through the front window, I saw a Coyote crossing the newly harvested field just in front of my yard.
I knew from experience how fast Coyotes can vanish so with no more day dreaming, I dashed upstairs to my office, carefully opened the window from which I had removed the screen for just such occasions and shouldered my Thompson/Center Contender rifle chambered for the 204 Ruger cartridge and stuck the barrel out the window.
The Coyote had paused briefly and now decided it had business elsewhere and started trotting east. It was not alarmed; if it had been, it would have been out of range in seconds but a Coyote even when not in a hurry covers ground quickly. I much prefer shots on motionless animals when I have a good rest but this time I had to take a shot at a trotting Coyote or lose it.
I steadied the rifle as best I could, followed the Coyote in the crosshairs of the scope, eased pressure on the trigger and managed a bang flop neck shot at a range of about 108 yards.
The coyote was a very nice one with thick cold weather fur that went to the taxidermist for mounting.
3/4/12
I looked out of the back window at the farm today and saw a Coyote crossing the field which still has corn stubble about 10 inches high. Once again I went for the 204 Ruger but this time I had to go out a back door to get into a good shooting position.
By the time I arrived in back, no Coyote was to be seen. I didnŐt think it would have gone far so I watched about 25 acres of corn stubble for awhile and was finally rewarded by seeing a bit of movement as the Coyote got up and then lay back down again. It blended in so well with the color of the field and corn stubble, it was quite difficult to see and, in fact, as I got the rifle into position I lost sight of it and had to wait until I saw a little more movement.
I centered the scope crosshairs on the Coyote's neck and it was another bang flop, dead right there shot.
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© Martin J. Lohne 2011. Written 12/16/11. Updated 3/4/12