Emotional Rollercoaster...Autopsy update.

[Purgatory_Predator_Calls]

Ok so yesterday the day started the night before when I went to bed after midnight.  Tried to get in the sack early but things just didn't work out.  Then along around 1:30 the new puppy's feeling the urge to empty her bladder.  So it's up and out of bed to let her do her thing.  Make it back into bed around 1:32 still in he A.M. only to find my mind running a hundred miles per hour about where I would make my stands and what calls I would use.   Then BAM, like a fart in church it hits me, I forgot to set my alarm .  God bless that dog!  Had it not been for her, I would of slept in, right?  WRONG, I set it for 4:55 but forgot to hit the "alarm on" switch.     So the wife wakes me up around 6:30 and says,

"Sugar don't you need to check your traps before you go hunting" 

Dang it huh!

So I fling the covers off, take a quick sent free shower, and fire up the ole dodge.  Check the traps only to find that most of my bait has been eaten by mice.  I knew it was mice because of all the mouse turds he left behind.     What do you do at this point other than laugh?  So it's back to the dodge and down the highway.  When I get to the place I want to park the pickup I was thinking about an article in the latest predator extreme magazine called "Why the don't come in!"  In this article they talked about all the sounds a hunter makes, one being the closing of the bolt on a rifle.  So there I am all camo'd up and ready to head up the canyon side to where I wanted to make my first stand.  As I set off I chamber a shell on my AR extremely slowly and quietly.  So anyhow I get to the spot...  There is a pretty deep canyon just out of frame to the right.  And I was sitting very near the edge of an intersecting canyon so I didn't have to worry about anything approaching from my right.  and behind me. 

The sun was just starting to come up and is directly behind me.  I'm calling on and off for 7-10 minutes when I hear what sounds like snow crunching directly in front of me. I stop, look around, and nadda.  Hit the call again for only a couple seconds when a white mirror of a coyote appears directly infront of me.  There is a small ceder stump directly infront of the dead ceder in the center of the pic.  The coyote showed up just a few feet to the left of that stump and sat on his but just like I said "sit" to my lab.  In this picture the wind is blowing directly from left to right about 5-7mph, and the sun is directly behind me so I know I've got a little "slack" as far as being detected. 

So there I am all excited, heart pounding, duplex on his chest, slow steady pressure starting on the trigger............

CLICK  :shck: Son of a gun!!!!  SLOWLY open the bolt and see that the shell is still in the barrel and there's nay a dimple in the primer?!?!?!  So I close the bolt as slowly and quietly as I can. Steady pressure......

CLICK.......AGAIN!!!  Seriously, again???   So I remove the mag, remove the shell, replace the mag, and slowly chamber a second round. Apply constant pressure......

CLICK!  Ok, at this point the yote's starting to look around and acting very nervous.

I dump the mag, remove the second shell, replace the mag, and let the latch go.   WHAM!  the bolt slams closed, I square up on his chest and BOOM!  The gun recoils only to settle on a spinning coyote.     I got him! Talk about lucky to get him, as he sat there for probably 90-120 seconds. 

Anyhow I see him fall, or see what I thought was him fall.    Pick up my gear, and walk over to where he should have been laying.  And do you think he is?????  Negative.  This is what I see...

Followed by...

Followed by... How cool was that, a shed that the coyote led me to!
He then crossed this flat rocky area that was about 300 yards from where I plugged him,

Blood was getting pretty scarse by this point only finding very small drops separated by increasing distances.  At this point I'm starting to think I maybe blew a leg or shoulder off and he's now a super motivated 3 legged coyote.  I used my shooting sticks to mark the last known blood spot as I tracked. 
At this point it's been a good hour of crawling on my hands and knees across level ground looking for the smallest bits of blood. 
Finally I track him to a small finger canyon that's real thick with ceder.    As the terrain stats to decrease in elevation I start finding more blood. 

Being that near a thick canyone I tell myself,

"Self, just give him a break and maybe he'll laydown and bleed out." 

So I give it 15 minutes and start into the canyon the whole time finding more and more blood.  At about 30 yards into the draw from where I layed down, a nearly solid blood trail leads directly into a thick clump of ceders.  I look in and to my delight...  At first I thought he was still alive, but after a direct hit from a near by throwing stone, I know that he's dead dead deadski!!!



  Man talk about an emotional rollercoaster!!!
So I go for the camera, and hear a loud "THUD".   I look to my right to see my AR which I had placed on the ground on it's bipod laying on it's side.  Seems I had placed it on uneven ground in haste to take pictures and it had fallen.  So I pick up the gun only to find an 1/8" dent in the scope just infront of the front ring in my new $600 scope.     Looked like someone hit it with a hammer. Dad gum, back to an extreme low!   Anyhow, I called it quits because I didn't want to hunt with a rifle that was surely not going to be sighted anymore until I could put it on some paper to ensure it's accuracy.  So I drag my coyote back 1/4 mile to where I shot him, then another 1/2 mile to the pickup.  I hop in the pickup and drive to a family members house about a mile up the road.  I caught him in the middle of chorrin.  He stil had to pump water for his cows and feed his hawks.  I describe the mornings happenings, and he said,

"Hey if you wanna go water the cows with me we can shoot prairie dogs and take a few back for the hawks (He's a falconer, 1 Ferugenis hawk, 2 harris hawks, and a Prairie/Jear Falcon cross and they love prairie dogs).

Anyhow seeing as I now didn't have a functional rifle I would hang out with him for the rest of the day.  So as we're pumping water, we walk to a nearby prairie dog town 1/3 of a mile away.  We get there,, spot the dog we want to start with, and lay down prone.     Note to self, watch for cactus before you lay prone in the middle of the Comanche National Grasslands! :shck:  Anyhow after a good 5 minutes of pulling cactus out of my knee with my leatherman, we spot a little PD at 259 yards.  As I'm laying prone (away from the cactus) just putting pressure on the trigger his little buddy pokes his head up over the back of his friend.  Dave's got the binos saying...
"Shoot now and you'll get em both!" 

So I continue with the pressure and BOOM...WHAP!  LOL SWEET my scope's not ruined, looks a Little bad but it's still a shooter!!!   And sweet I just got a double. 

Anyhow my day went from the highest high to the lowest low a half a dozen times.  After skinning that coyote I found that the bullet with in his chest just inside his left shoulder and exited behind the right shoulder.  He was hit solid!  Just goes to show how dang tough these critters are.  When I pulled him out from under that tree every drop of blood he had left drained out of the exit hole.  He was dead on his feet just filling up.....

And at this point you're all probably tired of reading so I'll leave it at that. 

Thanks for reading everyone!

Joey Gacnik

[keekee]

Very cool! Thanks for the story! I enjoyed it very much! Oh, and great pic's!

I had that problem with the AR before, seems if you dont slam the bolt shut it will do that from time to time, even my 1187 shotgun will do that if I dont let the bolt fly free. It sucks when the gun dont go BANG!

Brent

[FinsnFur]

Wow dude 
I think you've traumatized us all reading that play by play. Nice write up 
Your perseverance paid off

Hey  someone lost a glove in that one picture.  :shck:

[Nelson]

Nice story and pictures. 
No matter what happens, if we keep plugging along
we'll usually get there!!      

Nelson

[Troy Walter]

Nice story, you could write for a magazine..

[Hawks Feather]

Joey,

That does read like it could be written for a predator hunting magazine.  But if they don't like it, submit it to Psychology Today with a follow up of your mental health since this happened.  :shck:   It really is well written and the pictures are great in helping tell the story.  I had some fears when you said AR and slowly and quietly.  I have always heard that it needs to "do it's own thing" when going closed.  Next time you are at the falconer's place you will need to take some pictures.  Around here, with the exception of Bowling Green State University (OH Jim, not KY) which has a falcon as a mascot, the only ones we see are either in the sky or sitting in a tree.

Jerry

[frshwtr]

just got to ask; where did you hit the coyote?

[Purgatory_Predator_Calls]

I hit him where his left shoulder meets his chest and the bullet exited behind his right shoulder leaving a 50 cent piece sized hole about 6 inches back from where the back of his shoulder meets his rib cage.  Make sense?    Maybe this will help...



Jim, if you look closely you'll see that someone left a PAIR of gloves in that country... 

Yer, I'll get some pictures next time I'm down there.  They really are the ultimate predator. 

[Todd Rahm]

Hey super write up and nice job on the coyote Joey, to include the tracking. 

[ohiobob]

PP
That was VERY good Write up, I followed it perfectly, I was worried,, like Jerry, when I saw where you said you let the Bolt on the AR go Closed softly and Silent  But Glad that All turned out in the End  did you hit the Forward Assist when you slowly let the Bolt close ? i Let mine slam shut AND Push on the Forward Assist, just to make sure
How far did the Coyote Travel in total yards from where you Shot him, to where you Found him ?
Good Story and Good Job
Bob

[Purgatory_Predator_Calls]

Bob,

I did not hit the forward assist when I initially chambered the round.  After the first click, I tried it but nothing, then again after the 2nd click I tried it several times makin sure. 

I figure he traveled around 400 +/- yards in nearly a straight line.  Dang critter was tough!  As much as I would hate to, his carcas is not rotten yet, if I can get western enough to cut him open I'll see what the bullet hit.  Heck might even take pics ifn it's ok with Jim.

Joey

[possumal]

Joey: As least it all turned out o.k., and your wife did call you "Sugar" when she woke you up.  :roflmao:

[Purgatory_Predator_Calls]

She did!  Usually it's "sugar britches"  But don't you be tellin no one!

Yoey

[Hawks Feather]

Yoey,

I sure hope you appreciate your wife as much as you should. 

Yerry

[FinsnFur]

I'll see what the bullet hit.  Heck might even take pics ifn it's ok with Jim.

You know I dont care Yoey. 

[Silencer]

Great read, thanks for sharing.  Did you pick up your shooting sticks where you left them for a blood mark ? 
Hope you dont have to go back for em 

[LBLDOG]

great story , I had that happen to me turkey hunting with my 11-87 REMINGTON I had to slam it on a jake coming in ,wouldnt fire till I slammed it. I was like you got the jake even after slamming it.

[newbomb]

I would like to see the autopsy pictures..........sugar britches.

[KySongDog]

Great story!! Even better pics!  Thanks! 

If its any help, ya gotta let the bolt fly on a Benelli SBE too. It has to have enough inertia to make that 1/4 turn when closing or it won't go bang for ya.  Don't ask me how I know this. 

[frshwtr]

wanted to say  this in my first post; really good job tracking. it just goes to show a good hit sometimes allows them to put down quite a few tracks. many a critter (animals of all kinds) are left to rot in the woods ecause people dont care or have the knoweldge and apptitude to tack like you did. congrats.  by the way one of my first questions to my hunting pardner ( locallyt known as THE BOY who actually is my son) whenever he says "i got one" is where did you hit it.