I should have known better

Catfish · #1 10-18-2008, 04:23 PM

Most of the bean have been run around here and they are getting a start on the corn. With all the clear fields I fet that I should put a rifle back in the pick-up, soooo I put the .204 in for groundhogs. So what do I see, yep, a coyote and haveing hit 4 of them with the 32 gr. Sierra bullets and not getting a 1 of them, I put down number 5. While racking the bolt I seen it`s mate booking acrossed the field so I took a shot at her. While watching her the male got up and ran off.

Well the .22-6mm is back in the truck now so I won`t be haveing any bullets in any coyotes, just big holes clear through. About an hour and 1/2 later Gene called me and said he shot the frount leg off a female and she got and got away while he was tring to hit the male.

I do have 6 geese in 3 days of season though.

sure wish I could get coyotes like that.

Andy L · #2 10-18-2008, 04:54 PM

Good fuel for anits, Catfish. Sounds like crippling animals doesnt bother you?

Slob hunters make me sick.

Just to make sure my point is clear, replace the words for coyote with deer and go post it in the whitetail section. " I have cripped sevaral deer with this gun but finally got one." "He shot the leg off a doe and she got away while he was shooting at a buck."

Again, slob hunters, no matter what the animal.

Mike Moss · #3 10-18-2008, 07:20 PM

Catfish,

You must aim better and take more careful shots. A 204 should kill a coyote with a solid hit.

jmarriott · #4 10-19-2008, 08:18 AM

How far a shot we talking here catfish.

Sometimes if they are packed up i get one i hit with the .222 rem and it still a dead yote walking or running but none the less they will run till the air runs out. Tuff yotes and some of our coy-dogs are large.

Got a blood trailing west highland terrier i use on a 30 foot leash if I can't find after the hit i bring out the dog. I used to get calls to help locate hit deer, dog just hones in of yote blood the same as deer.

Catfish · #5 10-20-2008, 03:14 PM

The shot was 330 to 340 yrds and it was standing. I had a chest shot as I know that the 32 gr. Sierra`s don`t penitrate well. I don`t like to cripple animals and let them get away, but if I do cripple one that gets away, I want it to be a coyote. If there had been enough blood I would have tracked it, or if there had been snow. BUT I do shoot at every coyote that it is safe to shoot at.

GoodOlBoy · #6 10-20-2008, 04:10 PM

I agree with you Catfish, I shoot at every yote I come across. I like to make a clean kill on everything I shoot, but seeing what the yotes around here have done to calves, dogs, foals, chickens, and everything else they can catch the last few years makes me not lose a winks sleep over a wounded yote. In point of fact a wounded yote tends to be jumped on by any other yotes in the area and they treat him like any other dog they come across.

I also agree I would have switched rifles. The 204 is a neat round and I would like to plink with one, but I have heard tooo many stories of it not doing the job on yotes, and wolves.

GoodOlBoy

Evan03 · #7 12-25-2008, 04:07 PM

cats results seem to be a trend. 204s are small critter getters and just arent packn much energy past 150 to kill reliably.

frm what im seeing in idaho is the 20 cal fad along with the 17s are dieng, though we still see them due to churners havn to try the newest thing out. chuners keep our market alive.

Catfish · #8 12-26-2008, 12:15 PM

Evan, I have alot of faith in the .17 Rem. and my problem with the .204 is more a problem of bullet selection than cal. The problem with my CZ is that it likes the 32 gr. Sierra`s and they are to thin skinned for coyote, but excellant on groundhogs. The way it shoots the Sierra bullets I`m scared to try to tune the rifle for a different better bullet. Besides I have several other rifles that will slam a coyote.

Larryjk · #9 12-27-2008, 01:12 PM

The 32 gr. bullet out of a 204 just doesn't "kill" coyotes. If you want to stick with the 32 gr. bullet you have slow it down to about 3600 fps, otherwise you just blow hair off the dog. Try the 45 gr. Hornady bullet. They made them for us complainers who can't kill coyotes with the light bullets.
The 204 is pure poison on prairie dogs and rock chucks (and wood chucks) but coyotes are too large for the light bullet. A fellow I bought 45 gr. hollowpoiints from in Canada was using them in a necked down 20/ 22-250 and said they were pure lightning on wolves. I don't doubt it. Try the heavier bullets and they will do the trick.

Nulle · #10 12-27-2008, 02:44 PM

Know the limits of the gun and ammo you are working with and try and make clean kills on whatever game you are after. If I saw a yote and had a gun I thought was too small there is no way I would take the shot and let the animal suffer.

Larryjk · #11 12-27-2008, 08:41 PM

Andy L., Ease up! I don't think Catfish is a slob hunter because he has shot at a coyote and it escaped. That can happen with almost any caliber rifle. You must know the coyote is one of the toughest animals for size there is. I have seen them running away with half their intestines dragging. They are extremely tough for size. If they can regain their feet after being shot, they are gone. What Catfish did is not slob hunting in my book. Maybe I am wrong.
Take a look at the next post subject "Beyond 500 yards". Shooting deer at over half a mile. There is a internet site called "Best of the West". They advocate shooting at game at extremely long range (1000 yds+). They sell the rifles and scopes that make it possible"sometimes". They show the hits at long range. They don't show the misses; and they sure as hell don't show the wounding shots. And I doubt they follow up on the wounding shots at that distance. That might better fit the slob hunter category.

Nulle · #12 12-30-2008, 10:19 AM

Sounded like there was more then one crippled and as far as the long range blasting I don't go along with that either.

bigbrother · #13 02-02-2009, 05:34 PM

Well, I'm sure that you guys have instantly killed everything you have ever shot at. Never needed even a follow up shot. Never had to track anything that was hit imperfectly either. The reality of it is gentlemen is that if you actually hunt long enough, something will go wrong and you will make a poor shot. Jim Shockey has done it, I'm sure none of us on this site would say he is a slob hunter either. Hell, he uses a muzzleloader and shoots further than what the "experts" say is ethical. So are we gonna bash him...I think not. I read an almost unbelievable story about a guy making his own bow and everything and going out and killing a deer with it...incredible but how could he have known it was going to work? (I think that was awesome btw) Should we bash the way he hunts? Why do we want to pick on the method or weapon? It's all hunting if it's legal is it not? Is it not up to the individual to decide on his/her own concious if what they are doing is right and ethical? I for one feel more confident with my 6.5x284 on a deer at 900 yards than a flintlock at 70. In fact, I would take the first shot given the right circumstances but probably not the second.

I'm not judging whether or not shooting at a coyote when you're not 100% sure you can kill it is the right thing to do or not. That's up to the individual. What I will tell you is that until Catfish shot at one, hit it and didn't get it he wouldn't have known what he knows now. Chalk that one up to experience, isn't that how we all learn in life. At least he's man enough to say "hey guys, I should have known better, I tried it, it didn't work so does anyone have any better advice?" Afterall, isn't that what this whole site is about?

You're absolutely right about not showing the misses and the wounding shots on television or the internet. Talk about fuel for the antis....BUT we ALL know things don't go perfectly all the time. Just ask your wife...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but we all need to join together to fight the war against us and our guns. Bickering and arguing isn't going to help us get anywhere other than losing everything we all love and hold dear.

Ridge Runner · #14 02-02-2009, 06:56 PM

catfish, try the 35 gr bergers.
RR

scalerman · #15 02-04-2009, 09:11 AM

I shot a coyote with my 270 at about 75 yards. He dropped like a sack of hammers. I went and put the gun back in my truck. When I got back to where the coyote was there was a huge puddle of blood but no coyote. Is the 270 too light for coyotes? Coyotes are obvoiusly tough. I did follow up- he had gone about 100 yards and was dead as a wedge. The point is that while we do like stuff to die where we drop it it doesn't always happen.