Aerial gunning

[5 SHOTS]

Some of you have shown an interest in my experience shooting coyotes from a plane. I worked for a sheep farmer with about 2,500 head and a pasture of between 17 and 18 sections, or about 11,000 acres. Surrounding this pasture was a lot of badlands rough enough to limit travel in a pickup.               

       He had a Piper, Super Cub that he had added to the wings, installed turn down wing tips and put the big motor in, along with a heavy duty landing gear. He would fly about twice a week to check the sheep and kill coyotes, depending on the weather. Nobody wanted to hang out the door in the prop blast when it was below zero.                                                                                                           

       I wouldn't call it "hunting" but there was a challenge to spot them and a big challenge to hit them. The plane couldn't slow much under 60 mph and stay in the air, so the coyote running and the plane moving made a serious difference in how a person led the target. I think it took 2 boxes of shells to kill my first coyote. If the coyote was running across, the gunner had to shoot ahead and below to hit. If the coyote was running with the plane I aimed about the tip of the tail or just behind depending on our altitude. If the coyote wasn't running it was very hard to hit. The pilot was as much a part of getting a hit as the gunner because there is a small window to shoot through between the tire, the prop, and the wing struts. If the pilot didn't get the coyote in that little area there was no chance of a shot. The pilot had his hands full keeping the plane in the air and watching for hills, more coyotes, trees, power lines, etc. and getting the plane lined up so i could get a shot. When we would fly we almost always got a coyote and fairly often we would get as many as 14 in a few hours. He would take me up in the mornings and his son in the afternoon.                               

       We used T or F shot because the lead seemed to not penetrate nearly as good and we found some flattened out in the hair many times. I have mentioned this on other sites and got jumped on because they didn't have any trouble with lead, but I think the difference is because of the added speed and the shot angle. Our shots were from the top, down on the back and head. In the 2 years that i worked for him I shot somewhere around 200 coyotes a year and his son shot a little more than I did. (Can't let the hired hand make the son look bad.)                                                                                             

       In the winter months we would land if possible and tie them to the strut. He had 388 skins in the freezers after the first year I worked for him. If we flew on the neighbors place we would tie them with a long rope so we could pull the end to untie them. Then we would fly over his front yard and let them fall. Old Jack would spend the next week talking about it "raining coyotes again".                                       

        Looking back I sure do miss it but at the same time I also realize how easy it would have been to crash.


edit for punctuation and spelling.

[John_NY]

Not only a great story but educational. I never thought about that window you had to shoot through. They make it look so easy on tv, now I know the truth about the difficulties of it. I would love to have seen the raining coyotes though.    Great story.


John

[Yotehntr]

   Man that sounds like a blast!!!  I can't imagine getting that many coyotes in a year...  I can't imagine shooting from a plane either...

[WldWldWest]

One question??? Can I buy my ticket online

[Hawks Feather]

That is pretty interesting and I agree that I wouldn't want to be hanging out the door in below zero weather.  Heck, I wouldn't want to hang out the door PERIOD.

Old Jack would spend the next week talking about it "raining coyotes again".

  I love that comment.

Jerry

[FinsnFur]

Wow.
There's a totally different Art down inside that little beard then I ever knew.
Awesome read, veryyyyyy interesting and I'll agree, very educational.

I'm surprised the pilot stuck it out long enough for you to pick up on it. I woulda been afraid he would land and tell me to get out. 

And actually I would abide anyway...cause I HATE planes

[Yotehntr]

One question??? Can I buy my ticket online

  Now Doug...    every time we talk about going out west you say you're scared to fly... and wouldn't get in a plane for anything...      wait.... Don't let him go ARt!!! The sheep won't be safe!!!

[WldWldWest]

It aint that I'm scared Brad....Well, yea it is! But If I get to shoot stuff while I'm doing it maybe I wont pay it any attention besides that I'll take enough money to buy a few sheep till I get the hang of it:innocentwhistle:

Ole Mr Smith that lets us hunt his place in Wyoming has a great story about his son and grandson when they shot the prop off of their plane hunting coyotes and had to land in the driveway, he said he took the prop off  and cut the other blade down to match the shot up side and then they were good to go! Same story as Art, their numbers are staggering! Oh yea, they love it when the snow gets really deep then they run over them with Snowmachines. Not really my thing but If I had thousands of head of sheep I guess I would do it too....


Art, You ARE the Man!

Ticket please!

[5 SHOTS]

          Sometimes we would fly over to the local coffee shop and land on the county road. Then taxi off to the side to park. Everyone would come to the window to see how many coyotes were hanging from the struts.
       
          I forgot to mention that a strong stomach is important. When flying over looking for a coyote the pilot would be about 300 to 500 ft off the ground, but when he spotted a coyote, he would go into a steep dive and flare out so we were about 50 ft off the ground. As soon as he heard the shot, he would open the throttle wide open and climb enough to bank as hard as he dare. When ha got us turned for another run he would have to dive again if the coyote was still moving.

          He showed me an old tire with a one inch hole in it and two old props with pieces blown out of the tips. I am proud to say that I never came close to shooting the plane. I did have a little mishap that left me on the ground for two months or more. This one smart coyote would turn under the plane just as we were coming in on him. after about the fourth pass I hung way out the door and shot, straight down, killing him, but in the process the shotgun slipped off my shoulder. The gun didn't have a recoil pad and it caught my shoulder enough that it HURT. Looking back I wonder if I broke, or chipped the bone. It took months before i could even put the gun to my shoulder.

          As a rule the coyotes aren't in the sheep, but close by. When you come up on animals about 50 ft off the ground they run every direction and they don't follow the coyotes. Then you have a clear shot on the next pass.

[iahntr]

Cool stuff Art !

[shaddragger]

  Wow that sounds like a lot of fun once you get the hang of it!

[FinsnFur]

When you come up on animals about 50 ft off the ground they run every direction and they don't follow the coyotes.

Seriously?

I know I couldnt do it, but it sure does sound cool, I've heard about aerial hunting but never any detail of what all was entailed. This is interesting as "L"...keep it coming.

[5 SHOTS]

       The ADC flew last spring in that same general area and killed 109 coyotes in 7 hours. The government trappers have people on the ground with sirens and calls spotting for them. We often talked about getting some spotters but nobody wanted to drive around and look, they all wanted to be the gunner.

       Every time we landed to pick up a coyote the pilot would check the transponder to make sure it hadn't been set of by the landing. Those pastures are rough at that speed. I don't know how the transponder works but it must be set of by getting banged around too hard.

       The pilot was getting very tired of my missing on that first one. When I finally hit it he said " you hit it in the hind quarters didn't you?". I had to say yes, then he knew what the problem was and explained to me that I hadn't taken the planes speed into account. The next one, a few minutes later only took 6 or 8 shots. By the end of the morning I had killed 2 with a single shot each. I think we got 9 coyotes that day and landed early because we were almost out of shells.

[KySongDog]

       The ADC flew last spring in that same general area and killed 109 coyotes in 7 hours. .

All I can say is WOW!   That seems like a heck of a lot of coyotes in one area.   Is that a normal population out west?

I can sure see why everyone wanted to be the gunner.     That would be fun!

[5 SHOTS]

          I should have mentioned that the ADC covers a lot bigger area than we did. They will cover up to about 75 square miles when they fly. Have you ever heard the saying, for every one that you see, there is ten that you didn't see? When in the plane, they don't see or hear you as easy as you see them, so, for every ten that you see, there is one or two that you didn't see.

[Frogman]

That sure sounds like fun!!

Jim

[FinsnFur]

Art's got his wings and we didnt even know it