Benjamin Bulldog .457 Coyote Hunting.

[Unspecific]

So a little backstory and I am new to the forum so forgive me if this is in the wrong section, but about a month or so ago, a coyote dragged my cat by the scruff of her neck into the woods and luckily during the process, my wife ran outside and started yelling at it and he dropped her even though he was deep into the woods. My cat came running back and only had a split lip after it almost got owned by the yote.

I never was into PCPs but this event made me want to seek out some vengeance. I have never killed an animal before or even been hunting at all, but I have also never had the chance to or else I would have taken the opportunity to do so. I ended up researching some PCP air rifles and ended up pulling the trigger on a .457 Benjamin Bulldog and love the thing.

I went and got my first hunting license to keep things legal and was ready to get started trying to call some coyotes. I set up a little tail wagger in my yard up against the woods as I only live on an acre, but have about 50 acres of woods behind my place. I started to hear about 6-7 coyotes howling so I started to call using a baby cottontail distress call for about an hour at about midnight. I started to pan my yard with my ATN IR 4k scope and low and behold, a yote appeared between some trees. I was super nervous and forgot about my crosshair placement and read that going for headshots would be the best, but i shot him frontal center mass and heard the thud of his flesh after i pulled the trigger. He ran away pretty quick but I knew i hit the guy. I went up and checked and saw blood about 3 ft away from when I shot the guy. I looked for about 2 hours but couldn't seem to find him. I went back this morning and tried to follow the blood trail for a few more hours but had no luck.

If i hit the guy center mass with a .457 slug, is it likely he ran away pretty far and just folded? Either way, it was my first shot at an animal and I nailed him nonetheless, so I'm pretty satisfied with the shot, but next time I would aim for the head.

I'm going to try again tonight with a different call and will be aiming for the head this time. Any chance I may see one again tonight, or do they learn not to return where their buddy was blasted?

 

[Ezana4CE]

So a little backstory and I am new to the forum so forgive me if this is in the wrong section, but about a month or so ago, a coyote dragged my cat by the scruff of her neck into the woods and luckily during the process, my wife ran outside and started yelling at it and he dropped her even though he was deep into the woods. My cat came running back and only had a split lip after it almost got owned by the yote.

I never was into PCPs but this event made me want to seek out some vengeance. I have never killed an animal before or even been hunting at all, but I have also never had the chance to or else I would have taken the opportunity to do so. I ended up researching some PCP air rifles and ended up pulling the trigger on a .457 Benjamin Bulldog and love the thing.

I went and got my first hunting license to keep things legal and was ready to get started trying to call some coyotes. I set up a little tail wagger in my yard up against the woods as I only live on an acre, but have about 50 acres of woods behind my place. I started to hear about 6-7 coyotes howling so I started to call using a baby cottontail distress call for about an hour at about midnight. I started to pan my yard with my ATN IR 4k scope and low and behold, a yote appeared between some trees. I was super nervous and forgot about my crosshair placement and read that going for headshots would be the best, but i shot him frontal center mass and heard the thud of his flesh after i pulled the trigger. He ran away pretty quick but I knew i hit the guy. I went up and checked and saw blood about 3 ft away from when I shot the guy. I looked for about 2 hours but couldn't seem to find him. I went back this morning and tried to follow the blood trail for a few more hours but had no luck.

If i hit the guy center mass with a .457 slug, is it likely he ran away pretty far and just folded? Either way, it was my first shot at an animal and I nailed him nonetheless, so I'm pretty satisfied with the shot, but next time I would aim for the head.

I'm going to try again tonight with a different call and will be aiming for the head this time. Any chance I may see one again tonight, or do they learn not to return where their buddy was blasted?

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@Unspecific Welcome to AGN. In my observation yotes tend to move around sort of unpredictably outside of denning season. I'm no expert and this is just based upon what I've seen. If food is plentiful, I'd expect them to stick around more consistently, but they do roam pretty vast areas in my area. If you're dealing with the same pair or group, they seem to get wise to calls pretty swiftly. I hope you have a decent sound library. How did you range the distance to your target? You mentioned that you forgot about crosshair placement. Do you recall where you were aiming? How well are you acquainted with that rifle and ammo combination? How long have you owned it?

 

[BlackICE]

With a 0.457 I would think a double lung shot would be better, more margin of error and you have plenty of power to do the job. It may walk away 10s of yards but will be soon dead. Those doing head shots are for reasons of less FPE or they don't want the yote to run into the neighbors yard.

Heads can always move at the wrong time and you will miss the puny brain. Lungs are much larger and slower to move.

 

[Contndr35BB]

So a little backstory and I am new to the forum so forgive me if this is in the wrong section, but about a month or so ago, a coyote dragged my cat by the scruff of her neck into the woods and luckily during the process, my wife ran outside and started yelling at it and he dropped her even though he was deep into the woods. My cat came running back and only had a split lip after it almost got owned by the yote.

I never was into PCPs but this event made me want to seek out some vengeance. I have never killed an animal before or even been hunting at all, but I have also never had the chance to or else I would have taken the opportunity to do so. I ended up researching some PCP air rifles and ended up pulling the trigger on a .457 Benjamin Bulldog and love the thing.

I went and got my first hunting license to keep things legal and was ready to get started trying to call some coyotes. I set up a little tail wagger in my yard up against the woods as I only live on an acre, but have about 50 acres of woods behind my place. I started to hear about 6-7 coyotes howling so I started to call using a baby cottontail distress call for about an hour at about midnight. I started to pan my yard with my ATN IR 4k scope and low and behold, a yote appeared between some trees. I was super nervous and forgot about my crosshair placement and read that going for headshots would be the best, but i shot him frontal center mass and heard the thud of his flesh after i pulled the trigger. He ran away pretty quick but I knew i hit the guy. I went up and checked and saw blood about 3 ft away from when I shot the guy. I looked for about 2 hours but couldn't seem to find him. I went back this morning and tried to follow the blood trail for a few more hours but had no luck.

If i hit the guy center mass with a .457 slug, is it likely he ran away pretty far and just folded? Either way, it was my first shot at an animal and I nailed him nonetheless, so I'm pretty satisfied with the shot, but next time I would aim for the head.

I'm going to try again tonight with a different call and will be aiming for the head this time. Any chance I may see one again tonight, or do they learn not to return where their buddy was blasted?

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IF you double lunged a coyote w/ any thing 30 caliber or above it's dead !

 

[crittahitta]

He ran pretty hard so Im ”assuming“ you hit him but not solid. Probably grazed him good. He will be back. Hopefully next time he comes in we get some pics. Keep trying

 

[JimD]

I agree with the other comments. A 45 caliber hole through the chest will kill a coyote. But no airgun is terribly flat shooting and a 45 bulldog is not the fastest shooting 45. So knowing the range and holding appropriately will be key to success. I like to play around with chairgun (which is no longer supported but if you hunt around I think you can download it for free) to determine where I want to zero the gun. Then I shoot targets out to the maximum distance I plan to use the gun and compare my shooting results to what chairgun predicted. I usually have to adjust the scope height and/or bc of the projectile to get a reasonable match. Then I make stickers to go into my scope caps to tell me the holdover for different ranges. I have a laser range finder but I think it is best to use it ahead of time, especially on a coyote. Know where you will hold for the most likely "show up spots" before the coyote comes in. You also might want to kill a rabbit or squirrel or something to use as bait to get them to come to a specific spot and add some attraction.

Another way to deal with the ranging would be to get a Arken Zulus or similar electronic scope. It has a laser rangefinder built in and will adjust your aim point for you.