My hunting partner, his friend and I decided to go up to Northern Michigan for a long weekend of coyote hunting and socializing. We went scouting for spots Thursday afternoon to hunt that night. Found 3 spots that looked promising. The first spot didn't produce anything, no sounds or sightings. The second spot produced a ton of sound, they sounded off as soon as we got out of the truck and they answered our call the entire time we were there. It almost sounded like they were booger barking but I can't say I have ever heard them booger bark before. I have been using TT breeding stands to great success this season. They never came out to play but we stayed for an hour and a half before moving on. The third spot we called a 2 track that ran across a river and through some swampy land. We used the river to our advantage as they couldn't get down wind of us. We called for 20 minutes before we saw something on the two track but we didn't shot as we couldn't ID the target. After another 10 minutes we got one to cross the 2 track and look at the caller at 80ish yards. He was pretty squared up to me and I shot him right in the chest. I think we went looking for him too fast and maybe we pushed him but we backed out and came back the next morning. He bled the entire way but still went 375 yards from where I shot him; it was a big male. Attached are some pictures. Can I post some more gory pictures so we can critique the use of the 80 grain ELDVT in 6mm?
Northern Michigan coyote
- Thread starter Lazer32
- Start date
DoubleUp
Well-known member
Your description of the second stand sounds like you were busted from the start. Probably should have moved on after 15 minutes. I've never had much luck shooting coyotes with a blue covering over my head. 
Congratulations on the big male and finding him. Surprised he ran 375 with an 80 gr. slug in him.
Congratulations on the big male and finding him. Surprised he ran 375 with an 80 gr. slug in him.
crapshoot
Well-known member
Pretty cool. Especially getting to hunt with a member of The Blue Man Group!
Post 'em. Did the bullet get in him or pass outside the ribcage?
I shot him in the chest and it looks like the bullet went under his armpit. Does this look like the bullet exploded on impact? There was a hole under the armpit and blood coming from his mouth and nose. He was pretty square to me when I shot around 80 yards. There was a blood trail right to him in the snow but we backed out around 200 yards to let him die.
Attachments
Dane G
Member
In my limited experience frontal shots commonly have results similar to this. Especially inside 100 yards. Sometimes they flop over and you think they’re toast then they start to crawl off. Sometimes they wheelie on out of there and you never find them. And, sometimes they DRT, but usually those are impacts that are higher toward the neck. There is a lot of bone structure for the bullet to glance off of on a lower frontal shot. It is exacerbated by fast twist barrels paired with varmint projectiles. All that said i’m still taking the shot if that’s what i’m presented with.
Congrats on the coyote and the time spent with friends.
Congrats on the coyote and the time spent with friends.
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I have found a couple that had similar low wounds (don't know if they were exits or some kind or 'blow-up' but the vids showed them to be probably exits) that amazingly made it a couple hundred. Wish I had an explanation for you. I can say that on one of these I could see the undamaged heart through the hole! Tough suckers with a will to live.