Yup, I failed again last night of shooting my coyote#6 at the rat farm. I have had success with my Coyote#5 back in December of last year with the same setup shooting from the loft. I thought it would be easy doing the same setup again, but I was dead wrong.
So here is my story leading up to my hunt for coyote#6.
I have started baiting the coyotes with rats and rabbits since last month and my trail cam footages captured last week showed a lone coyote was returning to the spot at around 5am. With that information I prepared my self by tagging a couple of rabbits a couple of nights before and then decided to give it a go this past weekend.
On Saturday morning I went to the farm to zero check my Impact MK2 shooting the H&N 25gr Gen 2 slugs at 28 yards out to 35 yards where the trail cam footages had shown where the coyote was mostly hanging around at. I was confident after the zero check and left with high expectation of tagging this coyote. I spent the rest of the day just relaxing with the family and rest up for my 3am start.
Well, I tried to nap for a bit before leaving for the farm at 2am, but I was too excited (and dumb) and left at 11pm instead. I should have known better as it was raining lightly that coyotes don't like to come out in the rain, at least that is my understanding. But I wanted to set up the rabbits bait sooner rather than later. So that was what I did when I got to the location. I staked one rabbit into the ground with a metal rod and the second rabbit just laying free beside it. My thought was for the coyote to take the first one and then return for the second rabbit when I would have a bit more time to shoot. Well, the plan went South pretty quick after sitting in my chair and enduring the cold for 5 hours. Yes, 5 hours of nothing happening except my body slowly freezing up like a steak in a freezer.
I spent my time glassing the field with my Nikon Monarch M511, 10x42 binoculars every two minutes or so. This binoculars can see profile of objects very well in low light condition so I can actually see rabbits and coyotes in the field. I did tried to close my eyes to rest but I was too afraid to pass out and missed out when the coyote appeared.
The first two hours wasn't that bad as I have had many nights like this before doing coyote hunt. Also, it wasn't as cold as back in December of last year when I was stalking the coyote#5. As the minutes ticked by slowly, things were going downhill from there. I began to feel colder and uncomfortable, but I was too stubborn and refused to quit as usual. Fatigue was creeping in and I felt like I was beginning to see objects that were not there. Ya, hunting in the dark cold night is not fun.
At 11:23pm, I saw a rabbit hopping around in the field. Perfect, I thought. It would draw the coyotes in. But nothing happened and I was still 5 hours too early.
At 12:25am, I saw movements in the field and I looked thru my binoculars and saw two ducks walking around. I thought, great, now the coyotes would definitely try to pounce on them. Again nothing happened.
Thru out the night I would hear dogs barking in the distance or ducks getting stirred up by something. Usually that meant coyotes are in the area. I waited eagerly and nothing happened.
Back to some stretching and moving my hands and feet to keep my body warm. Time continued to pass on by rather quickly.
3:13am. I saw movement in the field below and I tried scanning the area with my Pard007S paired with my Element Helix 6-24x50mm scope. The field of view was too narrow with this setup and it was extremely difficult to scan and spot the target. My trail cam actually pick up the image of the coyote running by and did a quick circle before disappearing thru the fence. This was when I made my first mistake. I initially spotted the coyote thru my binoculars. I then turned on and pressed record with my NV200 that was setup beside me. Looking back now, I think my movement or the quick startup light from the LCD had alerted the coyote and causing it to flee. Not only I might had spooked the coyote, the batteries of the NV200 had died as I didn't have it fully charged up from previous used.
35 minutes later, the coyote returned. I think this time it was me taking too long to power up my Pard007S and not able to locate the coyote quick enough. I have reviewed the trail cam footages and it looked like I would have had more time to place the crosshair on it to shoot if I had located it with my scope. That was my second missed opportunity.
Because I knew this coyote was very alert and cautious, I didn't want to turn on my IR on my gun when I was trying to scan around. Again with the limited field of view and no IR, it was impossible to locate this coyote. Trail cam showed it was in the field briefly and then took off again.
By now as you could imagine, I was both jacked with adrenaline and fatigued with cold fingers with a mind that wasn't 100%. My chance of success was pretty much at zero.
Finally I spotted the coyote on its forth return at 4:37am. I had my gun/scope on it, but it didn't stop moving. I believed it was due to the tiny "click" sound when I engaged the button of the external 850nm torch mounted on the side of my Impact. The sound must have echoed loudly in the quiet dead morning where the coyote took no time to flee thru the fence one last time. It never returned and sadly I had to pick myself up and gathered my gears to head home.
What an exhausting night. I started with upmost enthusiasm and confidence that I would get my coyote#6 if one was to show up. I thought I had everything planned out and prepared. But it wasn't to be, at least not this night/morning.
Another valuable lesson learned. If I truly want to be successful at shooting these coyotes, I would have to abandon any recordings and gadget to avoid unnecessary distraction. Unfortunately, I would like to capture footages and share with my viewers, lol.
Anyway, I am not throwing in the towels just yet. I will continue to bait and try my luck next time out. I will post this video soon.
Thanks for reading...
So here is my story leading up to my hunt for coyote#6.
I have started baiting the coyotes with rats and rabbits since last month and my trail cam footages captured last week showed a lone coyote was returning to the spot at around 5am. With that information I prepared my self by tagging a couple of rabbits a couple of nights before and then decided to give it a go this past weekend.
On Saturday morning I went to the farm to zero check my Impact MK2 shooting the H&N 25gr Gen 2 slugs at 28 yards out to 35 yards where the trail cam footages had shown where the coyote was mostly hanging around at. I was confident after the zero check and left with high expectation of tagging this coyote. I spent the rest of the day just relaxing with the family and rest up for my 3am start.
Well, I tried to nap for a bit before leaving for the farm at 2am, but I was too excited (and dumb) and left at 11pm instead. I should have known better as it was raining lightly that coyotes don't like to come out in the rain, at least that is my understanding. But I wanted to set up the rabbits bait sooner rather than later. So that was what I did when I got to the location. I staked one rabbit into the ground with a metal rod and the second rabbit just laying free beside it. My thought was for the coyote to take the first one and then return for the second rabbit when I would have a bit more time to shoot. Well, the plan went South pretty quick after sitting in my chair and enduring the cold for 5 hours. Yes, 5 hours of nothing happening except my body slowly freezing up like a steak in a freezer.
I spent my time glassing the field with my Nikon Monarch M511, 10x42 binoculars every two minutes or so. This binoculars can see profile of objects very well in low light condition so I can actually see rabbits and coyotes in the field. I did tried to close my eyes to rest but I was too afraid to pass out and missed out when the coyote appeared.
The first two hours wasn't that bad as I have had many nights like this before doing coyote hunt. Also, it wasn't as cold as back in December of last year when I was stalking the coyote#5. As the minutes ticked by slowly, things were going downhill from there. I began to feel colder and uncomfortable, but I was too stubborn and refused to quit as usual. Fatigue was creeping in and I felt like I was beginning to see objects that were not there. Ya, hunting in the dark cold night is not fun.
At 11:23pm, I saw a rabbit hopping around in the field. Perfect, I thought. It would draw the coyotes in. But nothing happened and I was still 5 hours too early.
At 12:25am, I saw movements in the field and I looked thru my binoculars and saw two ducks walking around. I thought, great, now the coyotes would definitely try to pounce on them. Again nothing happened.
Thru out the night I would hear dogs barking in the distance or ducks getting stirred up by something. Usually that meant coyotes are in the area. I waited eagerly and nothing happened.
Back to some stretching and moving my hands and feet to keep my body warm. Time continued to pass on by rather quickly.
3:13am. I saw movement in the field below and I tried scanning the area with my Pard007S paired with my Element Helix 6-24x50mm scope. The field of view was too narrow with this setup and it was extremely difficult to scan and spot the target. My trail cam actually pick up the image of the coyote running by and did a quick circle before disappearing thru the fence. This was when I made my first mistake. I initially spotted the coyote thru my binoculars. I then turned on and pressed record with my NV200 that was setup beside me. Looking back now, I think my movement or the quick startup light from the LCD had alerted the coyote and causing it to flee. Not only I might had spooked the coyote, the batteries of the NV200 had died as I didn't have it fully charged up from previous used.
35 minutes later, the coyote returned. I think this time it was me taking too long to power up my Pard007S and not able to locate the coyote quick enough. I have reviewed the trail cam footages and it looked like I would have had more time to place the crosshair on it to shoot if I had located it with my scope. That was my second missed opportunity.
Because I knew this coyote was very alert and cautious, I didn't want to turn on my IR on my gun when I was trying to scan around. Again with the limited field of view and no IR, it was impossible to locate this coyote. Trail cam showed it was in the field briefly and then took off again.
By now as you could imagine, I was both jacked with adrenaline and fatigued with cold fingers with a mind that wasn't 100%. My chance of success was pretty much at zero.
Finally I spotted the coyote on its forth return at 4:37am. I had my gun/scope on it, but it didn't stop moving. I believed it was due to the tiny "click" sound when I engaged the button of the external 850nm torch mounted on the side of my Impact. The sound must have echoed loudly in the quiet dead morning where the coyote took no time to flee thru the fence one last time. It never returned and sadly I had to pick myself up and gathered my gears to head home.
What an exhausting night. I started with upmost enthusiasm and confidence that I would get my coyote#6 if one was to show up. I thought I had everything planned out and prepared. But it wasn't to be, at least not this night/morning.
Another valuable lesson learned. If I truly want to be successful at shooting these coyotes, I would have to abandon any recordings and gadget to avoid unnecessary distraction. Unfortunately, I would like to capture footages and share with my viewers, lol.
Anyway, I am not throwing in the towels just yet. I will continue to bait and try my luck next time out. I will post this video soon.
Thanks for reading...
