Coyotes…

[Nebraska]

Night before last we were setting up a new bed in what used to be the office in our house. When all of a sudden a bunch of coyotes lit up real close to the house. Closer than I can remember ever hearing them my first thought was they had gotten into the goat pasture below the house. I handed a shotgun and goose loads to my son who was helping and a head lamp to run down there and check. I tried to find a working spot light...,(fail)
grabbed a big flashlight and my boots and went down below the barn where my son was. They weren't in with the goats but must've been just across the fence. We just don't hear them while we are inside very often.  So I need to up my game spot light wise and what's the experience of the group with infrared/night vision scopes?  Getting tired of seeing no deer but lots of coyotes on my trail camera below the house. I don't think i want a rechargeable type had them before and wasn't impressed.

[Walnut Beast]

A guy down in Kansas told me a story they got his chickens and he was sneaking up on them to get a shot and his wife took two out that were sneaking up on him. That sound of a few different packs close around howling is pretty intense. I've had them in the CRP howling and cackling very close many times. Howling and yelling back didn't make a difference. They responded back until we started to move towards them fairly close then Diesel kicked it in high gear till I called him to cool down

[B.C.C. Lapp]

See and hear yotes often at my place.   I've raised sheep, goats, chickens, calves, you name it we have had plenty of them.
In all those years I never lost any livestock to a yote.  I don't give them a thought.   There are so many deer and turkeys and whatnot here there is lots for yotes to eat.

Now, dogs, different story.  dogs running loose is a problem.

[Magicman]

We never knowingly lost any livestock to coyotes, but we absolutely did to wild dogs.  We established rules concerning any dog that did not have a collar.

I was personally attacked twice by dogs while turkey hunting.  One had a collar and one did not.  One came head on and did not and never knew what I was.  The other came in from behind as I was walking down my woods road and it knew full well what I was.  It was collared and I knew the owner who lived a full 2 miles away.  All that I had time to do was swing around and shoot point blank from the hip.

[Southside]

Yotes are only a problem with my birds, and yes they will come out during the day.  I have whacked a few as a result and that seems to keep them nocturnal. They are a tough critter for sure.  Couple of years back one was quite close so I grabbed an AR and by the time I got back to the knoll it was 250 yards off in the field.  Laid down in front of my FIL and squeezed a shot off, the thing flipped up into the air and hit the ground so I got up all proud and then watched it begin to run west, took another shot standing up and it spun like a duck at one of those shooting booths at the fair (do they even exist now?), on three legs.  Just as it hit the woods at 300+ yards I took a hail Mary which I am pretty sure missed.  My FIL was giving me crap saying I missed it all together but we found it in an adjacent field and it had run 300 yards to get to that point. 

If you are going to purchase an optic, get a thermal.  I have watched a cow that was in late pregnancy drop a stream of discharge through mine and you could see it on the ground as she walked away from 75 yards.  They work day or night, the best option is to get a clip on this way you can use your regular optic and when you want thermal capacity you just clip the thermal onto the scope and your point of aim and recital stay the same.   

Now dogs - that's another story. They are a major issue here and it's to the point where we can't go into our own pastures with our own dogs as the cattle will stampede and will kill any dog that enters.  Sadly that's really a people problem at the core.

[trapper]

Southside Any names or links to the clip on thermal optics?

[Southside]

The technology probably changes monthly.  I have an AGM Rattler that I am very happy with. Will get try to get a through the scope picture for you to post here. I know it will take photos and video itself, I have just never played with that function. 

[YellowHammer]

I was looking at various night vision scopes this week, and was kind of surprised by the lack of resolution of the less expensive ones.  However, the good ones are very impressive, have both day and night mode, record video, and have one shot sight in capability.  A couple different brands seem good, Pulsar and ATN/Thor seem to be common around here.  Lots of videos on them and range from under $800 to $4K.  I'm thinking best paired with an AR style or repeating rifle, rapid follow ups would be important, and coyotes don't stand still much. 

I've not looked a that clip ons, so maybe SS could discuss them?

I've shot quite a few coyotes, and they are not easy to shoot on their terms, especially packed up.  Too many ears and eyes.  I was looking at night vision for coyotes and armadillos.  Kind of two different ends of the pest spectrum. 

I use a predator call to bring them to me and give me the advantage, and have shot most of mine at daylight and dusk, when they are responding to the call and I can see them approach.  Even then, hunting coyotes is extremely challenging. 

We had cows and chickens, and coyotes were a significant problem.

[Southside]

Not really any different than any other thermal.  On mine there is a quick detach lever that locks the scope onto the Picatinny rail just ahead of the optic with a ring that it slides into so the light from the thermal goes directly into the optic.  It makes it nice so you can pop off the thermal and use it as a handheld, and the advantage of not having a $4K thermal hanging on a utility weapon.  The rifle I mount mine on is a multi purpose one in that it rides around on the wheeler when necessary and never sees a safe, so I really don't want that thermal on it unless I am out with it at night.  I can pop it on in less time than it takes for the unit to wake up, which isn't long at all, so it gives me the best of both worlds.

[Jeff]

You don't need a scope, you need Tammy and a Buick.

Down to my  24 year old vehicle again. She was on the way back home Thursday evening from a bus trip,  and put this dude into the radiator right through the spoiler.  Merry Christmas eh.



 

[beenthere]

Sorry to hear that Jeff.

[thecfarm]

That's too bad.
That is an expensive kill.  :(
I've seen very few of them. I can hear them just about every night.
They get a few deer here each year.
I have really only heard them close to the house a few times.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I know what a 110, a 150 and a 180 grain bullet look like but I'm having trouble converting a Buick into grains. ;)

   Sorry to hear about the damage to the spoiler.

   BTW - my first car was a '69 Buick LeSabre. If I had not gotten assigned overseas I'd probably still be driving it.

[sawguy21]

You could kill a lot of 'yotes with that tank!

[Jeff]

A guy can live with a busted spoiler, but the coyote head shaped destruction of the radiator was depressing.

[SawyerTed]

Typically I kill several coyotes every deer season.  More are killed during early parts of the season.  They also come to our turkey calls in the spring. I've probably killed 5 or 6 coyotes from a turkey blind. 

Here's the first one I killed with a bow at 15 yards.  Many subsequent ones have been half again larger.



 

[beenthere]

How did the coyote take out the spoiler? Flip up over the car?

[Walnut Beast]

For the most part coyotes play a big part in the ecosystem  taking out the sick, population control and the weak to prevent disease. It's a shame to a degree the pelts are not worth anything to keep them in check better. The bad influencing radicals wouldn't wear a beautiful fur coat but would wear some garbage product made by slave labor that's harmful to the environment.

[Nebraska]

Yep, how right you are. Can't wear fur but we sure can wear that other stuff.
(Comments fully toned down to prevent causing unnecessary admin heartburn. )

[YellowHammer]

My wife says we had the ultimate marriage "trust test" many years ago. One Saturday morning, just about daybreak, I'm still laying in the sack, and I wake up to the unmistakable sound of the bolt on my rifle being cycled and a round being chambered as my wife is walking into the bedroom.  She's locked and loaded and ready to shoot.  I remember thinking to myself, "Hmm, this is odd" then "I wonder which rifle she got?"

She's quickly walking toward me, and I say "what's going on?" and she says "A coyote is trying to get into the back yard to the chickens" and heads to the window with the screens removed for just this reason, shooting through the window and not putting a hole in the screen.  For those that don't know Martha, she is a very good shot, she won the skeet shooting competition on our honeymoon cruise ship, I came in second.  Anyway, I say, "Ok, do a head shot" and roll back over.  Then I figure I'm awake anyway, so I get up, go to the window, she's hands me the rifle, and I go pick the stiff coyote up after breakfast.

 

   

[doc henderson]

A match made in heaven.   

[Jeff]

Coyote in a Buick= $4172.33

[newoodguy78]

Ouch. That makes the price of ammo seem cheap.

[hardtailjohn]

Not a whole lot of coyote problems (although we have lost a calf or two in the past), but we did have a group of 4 wolves come down through the horse corrals just before Christmas....and again yesterday. Trapping season starts at midnight tonight.  8)
John

[beenthere]

hardtailjohn
Is the sleigh out on the snow yet this year? Any recent pics?

[Rhodemont]

We have a couple packs around.  When they get yipping it can be quite a loud  show.  There is/was one big dude, seemed to be a loner.  As long as I was in the Gator or on the tractor he would stand me down.  As soon as I stepped out he would trot off.  Well, we can not use center fire here so mine sit idle most of the time.  But, on occasion I will put them to use.  That big dude was getting bold so the Winchester Model 70 Deer Slayer put an end to the situation. 

[Magicman]

I found Coyote droppings in my back yard yesterday, and I live in town.  Of course, they do too.

[KEC]

Some years ago they did a study on urban coyotes in Cook County, Illinois (Chicago area). They caught coyotes and fitted them with tracking collars. The ones that got GPS units could be located at any time just by going to the computer. Several times they found coyotes that were spending their days sleeping under house porches. One was in tall grass between a busy road and a walkway with people walking by (IIRC) about 40' away.

[trapper]

neighbor had a calf born in pasture last night and when he got to it this morning coyotes had killed it,

[chet]

With the wolf population growing around here it is getting pretty rare to see or hear a coyote.

[SwampDonkey]

Been 3 recently hanging around near my brother's. Down the end of a long narrow field is thick softwood plantation with rabbits everywhere. I suspect the coyotes know where lunch is. I think it is coyote breading season now to.