to study its escape route ahead, I could see front legs and ribs through my 12-power Redfield riflescope. That’s when I also pulled back on the shooting sticks, locked them into a steady position, and shot. The big red coyote made one twist around before dropping in a heap and sliding down the snow-covered hillside. No other song dogs appeared at that location and about
15 minutes later my friend came over with his gear and asked if I had shot. He thought he had heard a shot but was not sure because of the loud electronic call. When I told him where the dead coyote was, he exclaimed, “No way.” Even after I had him sit and look through the small hole in the timber, he still thought “no way,” and that I was bluffing. We walked into the valley and I crossed the creek and found the very dead coyote. Then my hunting partner was a believer. It pays to go to ranges or places where you can shoot long distances. GEAR UP
To span the distance and make the kill on coyotes, foxes
or bobcats with a degree in hunter avoidance, you need to better understand your rifle, your cartridge, and your bullets and ballistics. Flat-liner cartridges and bullets help overcome common operator errors to a degree. Your rifle also needs to be a good fit to your body and your head and shoulders when you sit on the ground. Try different stocks, and possibly the rifles of friends, to explore your options. A good fitting rifle should feel like – and become – an extension of your body. While the 3-9x riflescopes are popular with deer hunt-
ers, they are not the best long-range coyote killing riflescopes. Look at 12x or better with the thinner crosshairs so you can
see and pinpoint a place on the coyote for the bullet to impact. Rangefinders and binoculars also can aid in shot place-
ment and spotting coyotes, bobcats and other critters that lurk about at great distances. Don’t limit your optics to only a riflescope for finding those way-out-there critters or you greatly reduce the amount of terrain you can cover and the coyotes and other targets you can spot. One other top tier piece of hunting gear to always
pack along is a comfortable seat, cushion or vest with a seat. Those made for turkey hunters work well and I often use the Hunter’s Specialties folding chair that raises you about 8 inches above ground. That seat keeps you up off the cold or wet – or both – ground, and those extra inches in elevation sure can help you see over more brush. Comfort can be the key to waiting out some far away coyotes that take their sweet time at coming anywhere near to a call setup. If you are like most hunters, you could be seeing more
coyotes these days when hunting, but you can bet they are farther away. You simply have to increase your skills and improve your gear to get those educated, long-range coy- otes. Shooting and missing, or calling them in and failing to connect, only adds to their education – and your future frustration. Thanks to the big boombox speakers found on today’s
electronic coyote calls, the sound can travel the distance and attract the attention – or signal an alert – in cautious and educated coyotes. The question becomes, “Can you make a bullet fly the great distance and hit the coyote?”
Wolf Precision Custom rifles and precision gunsmithing Topics covered: Reloading
Range Safety and safety equipment Proper Equipment to get started Rifle Maintenance
Basic Shooting Fundamentals Setting Goals
Provide Data Chart The Cold Bore Shot
Understanding MOA and Mils Reading the Wind
Attention Hunters, Shooters and Law Enforcement Officers: Wolf Precision 2013 class dates are now available on our website!
Spotting (what to look for) Group Therapy
Ranging Using Mils
Shooting Up and Down Hill Advanced Use of Your Mil Dot
Reticle for Shooting -
Holding for Elevation and Wind Shooting Moving Targets Judging Distance Helpful Field Tips
www.WolfPrecision.net In long range accuracy, everything matters!
Page 70 Winter 2013
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