The night is dark and full of terrors

[ChellieWiles]

First kill with new Grendel! What was learned? 100gr Barnes ttsx does in fact, cause major damage to pelts.
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[Drifter]

Well done.

What was the shot distance?

[ChellieWiles]

thanks, my first yote too. i was only about 85 yards away watching some deer at 150yds. when suddenly every deer looked up and I noticed a pack of 7 adults run out into the field where the deer were at. i don't know too much about how coyotes hunt but the female in the lead that I took was staring at the deer salivating. it looked like if I hadn't of taken the shot that they were about to begin a chase. very unusual from what i've seen out in wyoming of coyote behavior. i had believed that they were solitary hunters but i guess every animal adapts to it's environment. the really weird thing was that none of the deer took off after the shot. they watched me (and I them) walk up to the dog before running away. i was only about 50 yards from the deer then, in the middle of a field. very cool experience

[Drifter]

Bullet definitely did some damage.

Just noticed that you're in NC. What general area?

I'm in eastern NC. Just started noticing coyotes in the last two years. They haven't been easy to call in (for me anyway), but maybe things will improve with the expectation of night hunting becoming legal effective August 1.

[ChellieWiles]

i'm just west of winston-salem in yadkin county. i don't know if calling works on them here. i spent two months earlier this year using a powerdogg call with every animal i could think of that they might go after...cottontail, distressed baby deer...you name it with absolutely no success. my brothers have taken coyotes just by going out an hour before sundown and sitting and waiting or just happening upon them so i did just that. a friend of mine took one earlier this year by doing the same thing except about 45 minutes before sun-up. I'm already preparing for the night season to open later this year. this will definitely improve our chances i would think. i've heard carcasses work really well for getting them out in the open from a guy on this forum. supposedly coyotes will eat anything from roadkill to watermelons and i'm willing to try them all.

[donthiturhead]

Carcasses at night have worked well. Use a long stake driven into the ground and tie the carcass down or several coyotes will come at one time, drag it into thick stuff and you won't get a shot. I tie it around a hog's head, leave several feet of slack. If you can, put it just several yards out in an open field and don't leave enough rope so they can get it into the woods. Night vision works much better than lights.

[Shivesy]

Carcasses at night have worked well. Use a long stake driven into the ground and tie the carcass down or several coyotes will come at one time, drag it into thick stuff and you won't get a shot. I tie it around a hog's head, leave several feet of slack. If you can, put it just several yards out in an open field and don't leave enough rope so they can get it into the woods. Night vision works much better than lights.

By your statement above you mentioned tie a rope around the hogs head.....I was told yotes wont touch a dead hog. I dont know for sure. Just askin?

[ChellieWiles]

everything I've seen about coyotes is that they will eat almost anything deceased no matter if it's decaying or not. they are scavengers and some people even say that they follow the buzzards around too.

[LRRPF52]

I know that in the high desert out here in the West, they work in packs at night. When I was a kid, doing my physical fitness preparation with ruckmarches into the mountains at night in the Sierra Nevadas, I heard packs of them howling and yelping like rabid jackals. They preyed upon jack rabbits in the Antelope Valley a lot in Southern California...people's cats, and such.

Nice kill. Is that the entrance or exit with the bloody hole? What barrel length are you using? Great post.

[ChellieWiles]

exit, about the size of a half dollar

[txgunner00]

By your statement above you mentioned tie a rope around the hogs head.....I was told yotes wont touch a dead hog. I dont know for sure. Just askin?

They certainly will. My Dad shot a big boar hog a few months ago on his place and left it lay. Over the next 2 weeks he shot 3 coyotes off of the carcass. That's how long it took for that big hog to break down enough for them to tear it apart and haul it off.

[Shivesy]

I have 2 nice size hogs layin in a field right now. I shot them 5 days ago. Just might have to go check them hogs and see if ol Wiley is having a free din din.

[donthiturhead]

I was trying to add some photos but wasn't able to and wasn't even able to delete previous posts. I have a photo of a dead hog at night and I had a big bag of dogfood that was infested with bugs, so I through it in the field next the the dead hog. There are about 10-12 hogs eating right next to the dead one and one hog was even sniffing him.

Second photo shows a dead coyote that showed later. The last photo shows two bald eagles sitting on the carcass as the sun is coming up. Coyotes will eat hogs. When I butcher a hog, I don't cut off the head and some huge boars piss all over themselves. I don't butcher them. If you've smelled the stench, you know why. Tie their leg and coyotes will chew off the leg in no time and drag it away. Not easily done when around their head and many times more will show up to help drag it.

[Drifter]

Y'all must not have bears if your carcasses are staying put very long.

[ChellieWiles]

no bears in this area drifter, but we do have the occassional "drifter bear" pass through.
I went back to the field were I took the yote at and what do you think I found glittering in the sun 40 yards from where he dropped?
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100ttsx, max expansion at over twice original diameter. mv - 2850fps