Figured I would share some of the pictures of a few of my hunts this past year. Early last year I made a few changes to the way I went after coyotes at night. They were both equipment and tactics changes. I have always been into long range shooting and decided to apply that to coyote hunting, but doing so at night.
I equipped my AI AXMC with a good white phospher clip on and got a Wilcox RAPTAR S ES onboard as well. I am using a Trijicon SkeetIR X head mounted to spot with and the CNVD on the rifle to shoot with. IR illuminator is the Atilla 200. A good, strong, variable power unit. Calibers used were mostly 6mm Creedmoor and some 65 Creedmoor. Best performing bullets have been Berger 105gr Hybrids, Nosler 70gr Varmagedden, and in the 65CM the 90gr Varmagedden. Now the Varmageddens start to lose it in the wind at around 700-800 yards, but we don’t usually have much wind at night so it is not too much of a concern. I’m using a scope with a Horus H59 and all shots have been made using holds. Also all shots were made off a RRS 34L.
So what I began to do differently was find a spot or hill on a farm or piece of land that gave me the best vantage point possible and I would set up on that spot watching. I would scout prior to see where the coyotes generally bedded during day and check field edges and old dirt roads, paths, trails for tracks to get an idea of where they would be moving. I would get started at sundown. Usually hunting until just before midnight. I decreased the amount I called a good bit. Usually within an hour after dark, 2-3 given coyotes would come out and start mousing or running boundaries.
I would wait until they had the most exposed ground between them and any cover, range-hold and fire. If 2 were a couple hundred yards out into a field I could almost always kill both before either made it to cover giving that I didn’t miss the first shot. If that first coyote hit cried out for a few seconds, the second one would almost always stop 150-250 yards away and look back, giving me a shot at him. My rate of doubles and triples skyrocketed. The trick to it was being able to hit them no matter where they were in that field or opening so long as I could see them. I had more shots in the 400-600 yard range all year than I did anything under 400. The longest kill was 819 yards back in the summer. I also worked a deer depredation permit for a large farm over the summer in the same manner and that gave me additional chances at coyotes using this type of shooting. BTW I took deer out to about 790 yards with the 6mm Berger 105gr Hybrid and 8 times out of 10 the deer never made it 50 yards from the point of being shot. A couple maybe got 100-150 yards. I was very impressed with this bullet.
I shot these two with 2 different shots and this is exactly how they fell. I shot the first and he fell down yelping. The second did a circle of about 70 yards and came back to the first, where I dropped him as well. Shots were just at 400 yards IIRC.
One shot out near a chicken house pit.
These two were roaming a cattle feedlot at the time, just different ends of it. About 300 yards out either way.
These two were part of a group of four that initially came out on me about 800 yards across a hay field. They were running all four abreast and headed straight toward me so I let them come. When they got around 150 yards I shot the first one. The three ran out to about 400-500 yards staggered in distance and stopped. I got the second one at around 420 IIRC. A third one cleared a fairly wide briar hedgerow and stopped just past 600 in a second field. I shot him as well, though I didn't try to get through the hedgerow to collect him. The fourth never stopped running after #2 was shot.
I equipped my AI AXMC with a good white phospher clip on and got a Wilcox RAPTAR S ES onboard as well. I am using a Trijicon SkeetIR X head mounted to spot with and the CNVD on the rifle to shoot with. IR illuminator is the Atilla 200. A good, strong, variable power unit. Calibers used were mostly 6mm Creedmoor and some 65 Creedmoor. Best performing bullets have been Berger 105gr Hybrids, Nosler 70gr Varmagedden, and in the 65CM the 90gr Varmagedden. Now the Varmageddens start to lose it in the wind at around 700-800 yards, but we don’t usually have much wind at night so it is not too much of a concern. I’m using a scope with a Horus H59 and all shots have been made using holds. Also all shots were made off a RRS 34L.
So what I began to do differently was find a spot or hill on a farm or piece of land that gave me the best vantage point possible and I would set up on that spot watching. I would scout prior to see where the coyotes generally bedded during day and check field edges and old dirt roads, paths, trails for tracks to get an idea of where they would be moving. I would get started at sundown. Usually hunting until just before midnight. I decreased the amount I called a good bit. Usually within an hour after dark, 2-3 given coyotes would come out and start mousing or running boundaries.
I would wait until they had the most exposed ground between them and any cover, range-hold and fire. If 2 were a couple hundred yards out into a field I could almost always kill both before either made it to cover giving that I didn’t miss the first shot. If that first coyote hit cried out for a few seconds, the second one would almost always stop 150-250 yards away and look back, giving me a shot at him. My rate of doubles and triples skyrocketed. The trick to it was being able to hit them no matter where they were in that field or opening so long as I could see them. I had more shots in the 400-600 yard range all year than I did anything under 400. The longest kill was 819 yards back in the summer. I also worked a deer depredation permit for a large farm over the summer in the same manner and that gave me additional chances at coyotes using this type of shooting. BTW I took deer out to about 790 yards with the 6mm Berger 105gr Hybrid and 8 times out of 10 the deer never made it 50 yards from the point of being shot. A couple maybe got 100-150 yards. I was very impressed with this bullet.
I shot these two with 2 different shots and this is exactly how they fell. I shot the first and he fell down yelping. The second did a circle of about 70 yards and came back to the first, where I dropped him as well. Shots were just at 400 yards IIRC.
One shot out near a chicken house pit.
These two were roaming a cattle feedlot at the time, just different ends of it. About 300 yards out either way.
These two were part of a group of four that initially came out on me about 800 yards across a hay field. They were running all four abreast and headed straight toward me so I let them come. When they got around 150 yards I shot the first one. The three ran out to about 400-500 yards staggered in distance and stopped. I got the second one at around 420 IIRC. A third one cleared a fairly wide briar hedgerow and stopped just past 600 in a second field. I shot him as well, though I didn't try to get through the hedgerow to collect him. The fourth never stopped running after #2 was shot.
