Coyote #8 – the final chapter or the curse continue?
What do I mean by the title? Well, for those of you who has followed my journey to my coyote #8 hunt will know what I have been through and the two failed attempts that I had in the month of December of last year.
I got a text from the farmer this past Friday March 15 saying that the coyotes have been active again at the pit digging up the dead calves and eating them. I have been monitoring their activities since December and my trail cam had captured many clips of them coming and going at different times and dates. There was no regular pattern to their visits, just randomly showing up making it very difficult to setup an ambush.
I was busy that evening, but I was able to come to the site the next evening at 8:15pm. Sun was already set, and it was getting dark. I quickly went up to the loft and setup my tripod by the window and mounted on my FX Impact MK2. I didn’t want to do a test shot and make any noise because these coyotes have come here around 7:30pm before. However, I did zero my gun on the day before. I did a pre-check with my Pard007S night vision scope to make sure it was recording properly and have enough battery life in it.
I placed my chair about 5 feet from the edge of the window and positioned myself so I could watch the trail cam below. I sat and waited patiently, and I visualized the procedure I would need to perform when I saw a coyote.
It has been almost 3 months ago since I was here last. I remembered vividly the two attempts that occurred at this same location where I failed to hit the same coyote. 1st attempt was on Dec.12 where the coyote duck its head down and the slug missed and possibly clipped off some of its head fur. 2nd attempt was on Dec.26 when I had anticipated the coyote to stay down to eat the flesh of the dead calf. Unfortunately, it lowered its head, grabbed a hold of the cow’s hide, and immediately pulled back. My slug hit where its head should have been and impacted the concrete retaining wall. This coyote had escaped death twice.
My note to myself was to keep calm and be patience if I get a third chance tonight. Well, my opportunity came much sooner than I had anticipated. In the past I had waited between 4 to 6 hours sitting in the cold, freezing nights before seeing any activity and I often, went home without seeing any coyotes. This night must be my lucky night as only 45 minutes had passed when I saw movement down below using my Nikon binoculars. I saw a dark figure came into view from the right. I caught a glimpse of the coyote and I quickly sprung up the seat and quietly moving towards my gun.
I immediately turned on the external IR light mounted on the right side of my Impact and followed with a firm pressed on the power button of my Pard007S. My heart was racing fast, and my adrenaline was sky high. I have been here before and experienced the exact same thing, so I ordered myself to breathe and calm the f@ck down. So, I took in a couple of deep breaths and opened my eye to the bright white light from the night vision camera. My eye quickly came into focus, and I saw the coyote just hopped on to the dirt mount.
Everything happened so quickly but time seemed to be moving in slow motion, at least that was how I felt at the time. I tracked the coyote’s head with the cross hair. It was standing upward on the dirt mount, and it turned its head to the left and looked back as if it was looking at its mate for an assurance that it was safe to be there. It then took a step up and faced directly in my direction. The recording time started at 19:55:51 which should be 20:55:51 as I didn’t change the daylight-saving time. It only took 9 seconds when I squeezed off the shot and the slug rocketed thru the barrel at 968fps, packing 52 ft.lb of energy, hitting its left temple and dropping the coyote helplessly to the ground. The coyote’s mouth was wide opened as it hit the dirt and its hind legs were stretched back violently. The front paws were moving in an uncontrolled manner, as if it was trying to crawl. The head, tail and paws quickly came to rest. It took 9 seconds for it to stop moving completely. It was a quick and humane kill shot. I continued to film thru the scope cam and saw that a follow up shot was not needed. The chest was not moving, and it had stopped breathing.
I finally tagged my coyote #8. Or did I…
I will post this video as soon as possible. Please be sure to watch it and find out what happened.
Here are 4 sequent of shots.
Thank you.
Air Rifle Pesting
