Buster, I use binos and a rangefinder. I glass the area of my stand and I range several points of interest. Sometimes it's hard to judge distance when the landscape is featureless, as it is here in the winter with snow on the ground, or across a slough, valley etc.
I then know where the 300yd, marker is. Quite often I have hunters with me that can't judge distance very well and even though they can kill out to 300 yds. they very seldom get that long of a shot in their usual hunting situations. I seldom shoot at runners, unless they have already been hit, so 90%+ of my shots are standing.
With the excitement of watching a coyote come in from a mile out, hunters not used to this have difficulty judging distance, so as a result, nearly all the misses I see are "over" shots.
Ranging the terrain when we get setup, gives us reference points and allows the confidence to say what the distance really is. Confidence is a big factor in shooting well.
We certainly do kill coyotes at very close range, but the idea is to kill at least one on every stand /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif, binos, and rangefinders increase our odds of doing this. BTW we don't kill one coyote on each stand. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif sometimes we kill more. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Mike Granger was up on a trip and had killed 2 coyotes on one stand, a third coyote was flat out running away.
I'm comfortable shooting at coyotes at 300+. I use a bipod and shoot them when they are standing.
As I followed the coyote in my scope, Mike called out the distances from his Leica rangefinder with the scan feature.
He was also yelping to get the coyote to stop. When he stopped, I knew the range, 340 yds. within 2 seconds of him stopping he was dead.
Without Mike and the rangefinder, I may not have killed that coyote. BTW I was shooting my Ruger #1 in .223. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
So yes if they come in close, the rangefinder may not make the difference. But after the first one is dead, and the rest are leaving, it will help to know the range.
For shotgun stuff, it is also good to know whether it is 35 or 55yds. in the heat of the moment, that may not be easy to do and makes the difference between a dead coyote or a runner.
I'm not saying binos and rangefinders are for everyone, but they work for me. Some guys like sticks, I like bipods. Some guys like little itty bitty guns like .17's /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif and some guys like manly calibers like .204's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Whatever floats your boat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
