Facing shot on coyote, width and height?

JTPinTX

JTPinTX

Custom Call Maker
I know a mature western coyote is approximately 18" tall at the shoulder. But on a facing shot, how wide is the chest cavity (8"?) and how tall on average to the top of the head (24" maybe)?

I am making a target to practice my range estimation using NV at night, and want to be as accurate as possible. I have a very good broadside target, but most coyotes come to the call facing me. Depth perception with NV stinks, and I am trying to develop some rules of thumb using my reticle to judge range with.

Any help is appreciated.
 
Coyote tip of ears 31-32 in.
Facing chest can be small without hide as little as 3" to 7" wide.
They get smaller when being shot at.
 
Facing shot is the toughest shot for sure. Take the hair off and there isn't near as much meat as a fella thinks there is. I'm talking about hair on though, for purposes of judging distance with a reticle. That tip of ears measurement is good, pretty much what I was looking for. I appreciate it.
 
Quote:They get smaller when being shot at.
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Classic, Mark! I thought it was just my imagination.

Regards,
hm
 
I'm gonna guess around 24" to the top of the shoulder so probably 28 to 30" or so at the top of their head. 9" or 10" chest if you're counting the fur. They're kinda like a skunk they look bigger than they are.

I was down in your neck of the woods about a week or so ago. Saw a grey fox dead on the highway right by the tractor supply store.
 
My daughter has a mini Aussie that to me "looks" dang near a perfect match for an average coyote, except "maybe" his legs are an inch or two shorter. Also his ears are probably 1-1.5" shorter. He weighs 32-33 lbs and is very lean, just like a coyote.

I measured him last night. Apparent chest width with hair was right about 7". Height at shoulder is 17 1/2" (from previous research I know 18-19" is a really good number for shoulder height for an average western coyote). His height to top of ears was 25 in an alert position. So, add 2-3" to that for longer legs and ears on a coyote and I think you are right in that 27-28" height range, to top of ears.

That should be good enough for me to make a cardboard cutout to put in the field at my house, and play with some known distances at night. My NV has a fixed magnification, I should be able to make myself some guidelines for reticle subtension off of that. This wide open country I night call in, I have to have some way to get an approximate distance.

OKRattler- If you saw that dead grey fox, you should have stopped by. Where I work is down the road south of that one mile, on the east side of the road. Big silver shop with white roof. We custom build water and foam tanks for fire trucks.
 
I saw that place I'm pretty sure. I went through on a Sunday you may have been out shootin coyotes. The next time I'm through there I'll look and see if anyone is around the shop and stop by and say hi.

I didn't realize grey foxes were around Wellington area. That kind of surprised me.
 
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The fox are only in town, not really out in the country. Coyotes kill them. We have a few reds around too. See both of them in town fairly regular, but I have never called one around here out in the country.
 
What's kind of crazy is my grandpa was through there a week before I was and he saw one dead on the highway about 2 miles North of Wellington.
 


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