Shot my first coyote double this morning

[Westcliffe01]

Things have gone better the last year on the sheep farm. Just 4 sheep lost the entire year to predation. Like before, the coyotes live on neighboring property and stray onto the property intermittently. I have been after them since fall and have not even seen one. I got exactly 1 picture on my trailcams out of many thousands of images in time lapse mode.

This morning it was down in the teens, there was a south westerly wind blowing and light snow falling. Wind direction less than ideal because my scent is blown towards a known concentration of coyotes on the neighboring land. Shortly after 8:30 the female (lower of the 2) showed up right at the edge of the woods to my west, moving into the wind along the tree line, nose to the ground. She was moving with that regular trot that is so typical of coyotes at a range of about 130 yards. She paused just long enough for me to let off the shot, I was using my Savage 12 in 243 Win with 95gr SST bullet.

Right after the female went down, the male came flying out the woods in my direction. I had not even seen him previously. I think he spooked from the round that passed through the female striking brush near him. He stopped and looked back at the female, he had his back to me, so I took a less than sporting shot through the butt (Texas heartshot ?). He went down immediately. Looking at the pattern in the snow, he must have spun around at least 1 time.

I have to say that the 243 Win is doing a fine job, compared to the previous so-so performance out of my 223. The final 75gr loads in my 223 have been deadly too, but for any situation with wind or distance greater than 300 yards, I prefer the 243. The BC of the 95gr bullet is 0.486 so the ballistics are impressive at longer distances.

The owner made a chicken coop for his wife for Xmas and maybe that along with the bit of colder weather was what attracted them.


Below is the lay of the land where this took place. Of course it was all totally white since we were in the midst of a snowstorm... The photo doesn't convey the topography, the pond area is about 60 feet deeper than the surrounding land and there are some pretty steep slopes, but from the pund it is basically uphill all the way to the west.