Video Coyote Missed Shot, How?

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davidsng

davidsng

Member
Jul 11, 2017
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Rochester, MN, United States
Hey Guys,

I just went coyote hunting the other day and missed a shot that I lost a lot of sleep over. I am finally figuring out what went wrong. I'll go through it and see what you think had happened.

It was one of the first warm days (55f), so I went out with my winter-hunting gun. (I last used last it around 10f.) The gun was my. 308 Texan SS. I was in on a high elevated hilltop with a 3-5mph wind from my right to left. It was dark and cloudy.

I called for 45 minutes before a coyote appeared. I took it's sweet time to cross the field. It stopped over and over again to look around and sniffed the air. My nerves were going crazy. I never experienced that suspense in a long time.

After what seemed to be forever, I realized the coyote was circling the call. This was bad because he was heading straight for the wood-line that waked through an hour earlier. Seeing how wary this coyote was, I thought I had to take the shot before that happened.

I grabbed my 6x rangefinder with a built-in cosine range adaptor and got one range of 124 yards. I dialed my scope to 12 moa drop and lined up for a shot. My nerves where shaking, so I knew it was critical, to time it perfectly. I squeezed the trigger at what I though was nearly perfect pull, but the coyote ran off without any physical reaction to the shot.

I thought it was a good trigger pull. I thought it was a nice thud. (But the ground was also wet, which makes a nice thud that can be mistaken for the sound of flesh.) I looked at the video and thought the coyote should have been dead! I saw grass move in back of it, as if it went through. Searched everywhere and found no blood & no furr- NOTHING!









https://youtu.be/4Y69qnLCwy0









What do you think?
 
Sorry .308 Texan SS.

1. Yes the gun was shooting faster in warm weather. Then my shaky hands must have missed the coyotes range. I should have took two ranges, made sure it was at the range I dialed. 

2.Take two ranges. Make sure they are the same. I knew this but stress, nervousness, and suspense made me skip this. I must have ranged the ground in back of him. It was about 15 yards closer than I thought, it was about 110y (not 124).

3. Plus a right to left wind = a higher shot with slugs. I forgot that.

Don't let it happen to you!

At least I did not injure it!
 
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The way crosshair was dancing look like a not so good job of (brass) on your shot. With all the excitement going on, very easy to do.
Screenshot_20220306-100243_Chrome.1647779085.jpg

 
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Yea, I know the cross-hairs were not steady. I only had a flimsy branch to steady on. It did not help much. The adrenaline was pumping. I felt like I was shoot almost off hand. But, the timing was critical and I got it. Three factors got me, 1. the range with finder and my shaking must not got the coyote, 2. the warmer weather the gun was shooting faster, 3. Right to left wind will push the slug higher.

All of those, contributed to a shot too high.
 
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the muzzle was moving all over the place. Looks like the timing was good, but I've missed plenty of times while not completely steady... 

Look on the bright side. You now have an educated dog that you will never be able to miss again because he will never come to an "e" caller..
Click to expand...

Lol! the dog will have an batch of pups, they will come to e callers next year, although! LOL!
 
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@davidsng Don’t be too hard on yourself about it. You’ve got nothing to prove to us. All of us are going to miss at some point. You’ll get another shot some other day. It’s easy for us to watch and to say, “you rushed your shot, or you shoulda done (fill in the blank).” Once that adrenaline get’s going it changes the dynamics of the situation. 

I don’t know the circumstances leading up to this hunt. I’ve had a situation where I pulled in the driveway returning from the grocery store and as I sat in my truck scrolling AGN posts and I heard yotes starting to howl. My reaction was to run inside with the frozen food and start grabbing gear to call and shoot em. I didn’t check anything. As a result my scanner died as I scanned the treeline where I heard movement of a single animal. I’ll never know what it was. This kinda stuff happens.


Maybe this shot was taken on one of those days for you. BUT considering their behavior patterns from what you shared it seems that the yote was attempting to get down wind of the sound to identify the scent of the source. I’m still learning, but I think if it got down wind you would’ve been busted. If that occurred it probably would’ve run off. So you took your shot. I get it. Thanks for sharing with us because you certainly didn’t have to.


I do have a few of questions. What type of scope and camera setup were you running? What type of caller did you used? Was that your first stand of the day?
 
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One of the thinks we have learned is, once you are in your set, use the range finder to have many measured distances so you can make an idea of how to compensate depending of where the coyote appears and stop just for a second.

Then you can have "slightly" more chance to make a good shot.

It is never the same having all day long to make a shot in a bench rest, that a second to make an accurate and well placed shot on a clever and nervous coyote.
 
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Emu, Yea, that day I told myself I was only going to shoot within 90 yards. But since the coyote was going to bust me, I took the shot that I was not really expecting to take. I tested the rifle in my back yard and it does not seem to be a bumped scope issue. Its right on still. I'm going to take it to the range today or tomorrow just to verify everything and try again.

Ezana4CE, Yea I have a Athlon 3-15x by 50mm. Very good scope. I got is used for $450 on ebay. Very pleased with it. I have a a side shot with a phone recording everything. It was really cloudy and the sun was setting so the image was not as sharp as I wanted. I was shooting on 8x to try and gain a little light clarity in the last hour of sunlight. This spot was my first and only spot of the day. I knew in advance I was not going to move. The spot is not good in a normal west wind and in evening due to the sun in my face. Since, it was cloudy and a SouthEast wind, I thought it was a good time to try this spot.



The ONLY reason, I'm sharing all of this to help other air gunners bag their next coyote. 
 
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David,

thank you for sharing. 👍🏼

That was very transparent of you, not to say humble.

It was educational for me.

And you convinced me to get a second scopecam* so I don't miss recording all my shots for later analysis — both hits and misses. I find it a great tool to improve our shooting.

Thanks again. 😊

Matthias



*PS: I think I'll be going with a used EagleVision FireFly with the mounting rods....
 
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