So back in late July of this year I was talking with my neighbors to the right of me one morning. My neighbors wife asks me; so, have you seen the coyotes scaling the walls lately?
To which I replied; no I haven't. What time of day have you been seeing them at?
To which she replied; in the morning around dawn. We're worried about our dog because he's too old to fight.
Most days after that I made it a point to quietly walk out back to see if I could see anything and a couple of days I went out there and saw a pair, scaling the walls. There was a pair living in the yard of the unoccupied house behind my neighbor. At the time I only had a 22 Springer and my FX Dreamline Tactical, also in 22 cal. But I wanted something bigger to really be able to take them out in one shot. Not only to be humane but also because I don't want a wounded coyote running around the neighborhood, nor do I want to have it go and die in someone else's yard and then have to retrieve it there. So I purchased and built up an M3 Sniper in 30 cal with a 700mm barrel.
After having to scare one coyote off one morning as it was charging my daughters little dog, I started taking things more seriously. Now this whole situation has been a learning process, and a process in general. These coyotes were very illusive. Sometimes they would trigger the security light right outside my bedroom, but by the time I got up, looked out the window to see what it was, then grab my rifle, open up the door, they were long gone.
So, I put up motion detecting security lights on my pergola facing the corner of the yard that they were coming over to get in my yard. This would give me a few more seconds look out the window and get my rifle and open the door. But I was still a few seconds too slow. So then I changed my strategy. When the lights would come on I would skip looking out the window and instead just grab my M3 which was right by my door, open the door, chamber a round, then take aim. I was getting close but still a few seconds shy. So, I once again modified my strategy. Lights come on, don't look out the window, pick up the rifle and chamber a round before opening the door, take aim. I was only off by like 3 seconds several times. I narrowed it down to the rifle being too long to get through the door quick enough.
Fast forward to the beginning of this month. I purchased and built up an M3 Compact in 30 cal. Put a Titan scope on it with illuminated reticle because that is essential for low light and night time pesting. FX Hybrids were/ are my choice of projectile for this mission. 2 weeks ago I started dropping 1 collared dove a few times a week and putting them in a specific location in my yard. This was to be able to keep the coyotes still longer and to keep them occupied.
Fast forward to tonight. It was 11:45pm and I got up from my TV room to go to bed. As I entered the kitchen I saw through the French doors that the security lights were on. So I grabbed my 30 cal M3 Compact and headed to my room. The bedroom was dark still and I didn't turn on any lights. Headed to the French doors in my bedroom and saw the damn coyote on the small retaining wall 10 yards away from my door. I chambered a round, quietly opened the door, stepped outside, and scanned the perimeter. The wind was blowing towards me so that was good. I hear the coyote stepping on leaves right behind the bush just 10 yards from me so I wait quietly and patiently. Boom, I see him heading towards the corner of the yard where he usually jumps over and into my yard at. I raise my rifle, it's loaded and the illuminated reticle is on. He looks at me but has a confused look on his face like he didn't really know I was there. The 10,000 lumen light outside my door is also looking at him, making it hard for him to see me.
He jumps up before I can take a shot but his placement was off because as soon as he got to the top of the wall he forgot about the cactus on the other side. He got poked in the face and fell back down in my yard. He looked at me, I looked at him through my cross hairs and sent a 30 cal FX Hybrid right into his chest. He yelped real loud, did a little dance for about 2 seconds, stood real weak and looked straight at me and I squeezed the trigger and sent a second 30 cal FX Hybrid right into his mouth, dropping him on the spot without a twitch. Had this been daytime I would not have needed two shots, but in the dead of night, even with the security lights it was still pretty dark. I'm happy that my daughters little dog has one less coyote to worry about!
There will be more, but now I'm ready and have the process down to a science
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