Coyote in tall grass-What would you do?

C

cmatera

Active member
Went to my farm in MO for the holiday weekend. I was looking across the road from my house into a 60 ac pasture. I saw a head that looked like a coyote. I grabbed my gun and snuck across the road to the gate. My cat came out of the pasture at my feet! I got my gun up and waited. I saw the coyotes head for 2-3 seconds. It lowered and I fired into the grass where I thought his body would be and he jumped up and ran off. I couldn't wait much longer as I had company that wanted to leave-car doors slamming etc. It got me thinking. What would you do if you had time? Would you go in the pasture and try to get closer than the 200 yds, whistle to get him to stand up, call softly, lip squeak him, or wait till they take the hay out? The gun I grabbed was a .17 Fireball. Would a different gun go thru the grass toward the lighter top part?
 
I would of made sure I could see it first in my scope & made a killing shot instead of shooting into the grass blindly & hoping I hit it.
 
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I would of made sure I could see it first in my scope & made a killing shot instead of shooting into the grass blindly & hoping I hit it.



+1 on that. I'm sure somewhere near the top of the list of gun safety it reads BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET.

I hunt coyotes in the tall grass almost exclusively. CR grass between wheat fields to be exact. Generally I get two kinds of shots, the 'up close and real personal' in your face shot, the more distant 'poke their head up for a look' shot. Neither requires ghost shooting.
 
RC- The CR grass out here will be dead and dried out, still standing 15-24" even thru the winter.

looks like this in the winter (Jan 2009)

PIC000021.JPG


Its really more like straw here than grass.
 
Wait. Be patient. If you weren't seen, more than likely, a few lip squeaks would motivate the coyote to take a "curiosity" look (eyes wide open, ears up and pointed at the sound). If not, bark once. I've had this work several times while playing peek-a-boo with coyotes in the sage.
Marty
 
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I saw a head that looked like a coyote.



I don't shoot at things that look like a target. I MAKE SURE before I shoot. Shooting where you think the body should be is a gamble at best. What you did is very wrong on many levels. No coyote is worth it.
 
cmatera......out of respect to the animal no shot should hav been taken.....out here where i hunt-out of respect to the sheep & cattle raisers the last thing i want to do is create a problem for them by wounding a predator.
 
I'd of shot the 'yote where I could see him, and if I couldn't see him, then I would wait till I could. Hit the head if you see it, but don't guess where he is. Cause really you are guessing where he was.
 
Come on guys, he clearly stated that he saw the head for 2-3 seconds and THEN fired right were the body would be. This was on HIS farm where he knows whats out there.

What is so wrong about this??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif Its not like he was poppin' shots off blindly. And how is wounding a predator creating a problem? To me it is solving a problem. A wounded "kitty killer" will most likely die. Wasn't that the reason for pulling the trigger in the first place? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I personally like Head shots. They are either DRT or run off unhurt. A 17 or even a 308 is not going to penetrate that grass. It is going to blow up upon striking almost anything. One of the magazines did a test and it was found that regardless of bullet or caliber nothing was a good "Brush Gun." All deflected easily.
 
Thanks for all the meaningful responses. Yes I was shooting on my own farm. Yes I know it well. The area behind my shot was safe (a hillside). No, I did not wound the animal, I watched it run away. I was not worried about "educating" this coyote. Was more than glad to just run him off and keep my cat safe. As I stated, conditions did not allow me to wait, neither my company leaving nor the lightning flashing in the sky.
 
I'd have shot the cat, thrown it out in the field, then spotlighted the coyote off of it later that night, but that's just me...I'm a dog guy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Me and my buddy passed on 4 coyotes that were as close as 35 yards just the other day. The reason we passed was because of tall grass, we could only make out the tips of their ears. I didn't feel comfortable with the shot so I told my buddy to let them walk. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions like that, but if it wasn't tough....then every one could do it...whats the fun in that?

In that scenario, I say let'em walk...make sure they don't know your there...and bust their butt next time.


Chupa
 
I'm a dog guy, but I'm a cat guy too. Not much of a people guy. Once, I told someone that one of my pets meant much more to me than them, and if they or the pet had to die and it were my decision, we wouldn't be having the conversation.
 
Quote:
Come on guys, he clearly stated that he saw the head for 2-3 seconds and THEN fired right were the body would be. This was on HIS farm where he knows whats out there.

What is so wrong about this??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif Its not like he was poppin' shots off blindly. And how is wounding a predator creating a problem? To me it is solving a problem. A wounded "kitty killer" will most likely die. Wasn't that the reason for pulling the trigger in the first place? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif



Personally, I wouldn't shoot unless I had a clear target. Secondly, why wouldn't you worry about wounding a coyote or any animal for that matter. I hope to cleanly kill all animals I shoot at, unfortunately that don't always happen. When I do wound something and don't find or find it a week later with serious gangrene or other infection, I am very dissappointed. The last thing I want is some anti or borderline anti finding an animal I wounded that is all infected and near death. That would probably add one more to the anti list or start some kind of problems where I could lose my permission on hunting ground.
 
To answer your question , first you will need some elevation , a turkey stool, or sompthing to just get your butt off the ground a few inches is all that is required , it will give you an advantage , the coyote is having the same problem you are , thats why many times you will see them coming in Bounding up and down. Only advantage they have over you is that darned nose LOL.
The post i made a couple of days ago was about just such a set up , tall grass and a field that rolled away from our set just gently enough to mess us up for any kind of mid range or long shot .
It was one of those fields that rolled on forever in the wrong way to do a caller any good . Im sure many here know what im talking about .
what i did was set the caller down wind about 20 yrds and out only about 10 yards, I had a road to the back side and the sun was blinding anything that tried to sneak in or down wind . we had no problem seeing both coyotes that responded to the call .
the first boogered out when the big male we took came into the call .
That tall grass can be all you need to put the stand to your advantage , It just takes away one advantage the coyote has ( eyesight) over us and makes the odds a little more even .
If we had a stool the other day there is no doubt in my mind we would have had a double . a Ghillie would be a great idea as well . hope this helps , jerry
 
juice 1050......next time i run into smiley i'll ask him if i can only wound the coyotes.....after all,the lambs across 285 run slower than calves or jacks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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