Coyote update

 This is the condition of the horse when I first visited the area, at 3 PM of the 9th. The easy part had been consumed, and the only part left is that part lying on the ground.

 Since I am hunting the Coyotes with the intent of selling the hides, not eradicating the gene pool, There is a lot of work to do, and since the spot that the bullet hit this Coyote,caused a lot of damage, I worked until 9:30 PM repairing the damage. I went back the next morning at daybreak and killed a really big male. Since he had seen me approach, he ran a ways before he made the mistake of looking back, I didn't go near the carcass. I could see however that the ribs had been chewed off. Again it took most of the day to get his processing all done. Plus it is about a half mile one way to get to the ambush site, and a 35 lb male Coyote is a chore to pack. I felt the need for a rest. I also mistakenly thought that taking out five other Coyotes on the ranch might have reduced the population a bit.

 This is what I found when I went back on the 10th. As you can see they have dragged the carcass several feet around, ate all the meat that had been lying on the ground plus all the hide. Quite frankly I was more than a bit surprised. That horse had to weigh between 8 and 900 lbs. Figure a Coyote can hold about 10 lbs at a sitting, maybe 15 lbs a day. That is math that I am not qualified to do.

After I shot this one on the morning of the 11th, and carried it back home. I left it cooling for a couple of hours, while I had breakfast and stalled a bit. When I did go out to skin it, to my pleasure I found it a bit easier to process. Plus it was not quite as fat as the others had been, so the fleshing process was a bit easier. Karen and Sharron from next door were going into town, so I was left with most of the rest of the day to myself. Lets see, TV, or hunting? So I went back over there. I was pretty sure that there would not be enough left to draw a Coyote back in there after another day.

When I arrived at my ambush point, I was surprised to find another Coyote chewing on the bones, and added her to my bag. Being a female she was not quite as heavy as the males that I had taken. When I go in to hunt, I carry a fold up seat, electronic Varmint call, coats, and camo "gille suit". Its all bulky and a bit heavy too, especially if you are carrying a Coyote over your shoulder. I decided to carry her out, come back and sit on the carcass for the rest of the evening. I left every thing there and hiked the half mile back to the truck.

I had a nice quite evening sitting there looking at the landscape, but saw nothing else. Eventually my butt got numb enough to cause me to go home, and go to work on the last victim.

The weather has been unusually warm during the day. Mornings are 20 degrees, but afternoons have been in the high 50's. The interesting part is that the horse never got that "rotten" smell. It never had a chance to spoil.

If you remember this spring the Savage rifle in 22-250 cal that I had bought to varmint hunt with, blew up after about 80 shots. They eventually sent me another one after a lot of hassle. I had just about decided to steer clear of Savage, but the rifle that I wanted cost twice as much, was a lot heavier and much too pretty for what I had in mind for it. So I decided to keep the gun that they sent me and take my chances. So far the gun is working well and shoots like it should. My longest shot to date was 325 paces.

I have always hand loaded my own ammo. The first one blew up with a reduced load that should have never caused any damage. I found a load that does well with the bullet that I have chosen. I ended up with a load of 38.4 grains of Hodgden H380 behind a 40 grain Hornady VMax bullet.  Since my shooting eye has had laser surgery to repair a leak in my pupil, my vision in my right eye is not all that it should be, so I do my sighting in at 50 yards. I decided to check it at 200 yards since a minor variation at that distance becomes much larger the further from the end of the barrel. I shot a four shot group at 200 yards and ended up with a group of one inch 1/16. Not all that many years ago, a rifle that would shoot a one inch group at 100 yards was the industry standard. If the gun holds together I will be a happy camper.