The one (coyote) that got away!

42MTD

42MTD

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So anyway, I'm out this morning,get to my stand about an hour before sunrise, get all set up and dialed in for a 400 yard shot.
I hunt a friends farm who is having a problem with coyotes and just with his setup of barns and outbuildings i have a shooting lane about 200 yards wide by 600 yards long. The coyotes have a den at the south end of the field and they make a habit of walking from the north end of the field into my shooting area.

I picked this coyote up at about 400 yards and he was at a good clip and the wind was gusting pretty high so I let him get into about 200 yards barked and he gave me a perfect broadside shot.

hit him just behind the front shoulder, he stiffened right up and fell to his left, his legs were stiff and somewhat elevated and his tail was doing the old spin like he was holding a skipping rope in a double dutch competition. I have seen this type of reaction before and I figured he was done.

25 seconds later to my amazement he got up and hobbled into the bush on 3 legs stumbing a few times along the way. I think I was so dumbfounded by the time i got my rifle up to shoot, it was into the scrub....so I went for a walk figuring it would be just inside the bushline.An hour of searching and never found it. Even had a friend come out with no luck.

I was shooting 6.5x47L 123 grain scenars. I had read that these are typically not for hunting but guys have used them withhout an issue. I'm just wondering what happened here.

It seemed like a perfect hit. He went stiff and displayed the same characteristics I have seen on past hunts, I just cant figure out what happened.

Just curious if anyone else has ever had a similar experience.
 
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42MTD said:
It seemed like a perfect hit. He went stiff and displayed the same characteristics I have seen on past hunts, I just cant figure out what happened.
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He changed his mind about wanting to die. Coyotes are natural survivors, and remarkably resilient. Your bullet choice might be suspect, but even so, sometimes you can hit them with some serious firepower and they will run off anyway. I'd say he crawled into a hole somewhere not too far away and expired there.
 
In July I hit one broadside 175 yards with .243 Rem Core Lokt 100 grain. He bolted and went 70 yards easy. Fell into long grass patch and if I didn't have my dog with me likely wouldn't have found it.

Hit one this am while on deer stand with Win 1 ounce slug. 40 yards. Didn't take another step but thrashed himself over a knoll so I couldnt give him another . For a 40 pound critter they are tough!
 
I've lost only lost 2. One was a cross bow bolt thru the chest. 3 blade mechanical broadhead at 12 yards. It was a lil high and I tracked it for aalmost a mile after giving it 3 hours to lay down. I saw it run away with another yote across an open field and into a corn field. I gave up on that. The second was a bad situation of a coyote and my pup. I was taking him for a walk with my 22 mag the coyote rushed my pup twice. I fired 4 shots at about 300yards to scare it off and another 3 at 200 or so. I hit it. It spun and ran. I took the pup home got my hound and a 2506 to return. It had run bout 600 yards and jumped into a flooded creek. Lots of blood. He drifted about 20 yards down the creek before coming up the other side. I had no way of crossing as it was over 10' feet deep at the time.

You may have hit right on the leg bone and not penetrated the vitals. They are tough animals
 
Bowled one over with a .30-06 while I was still using 165 grain Nosler Partitions and litteraly blew his left shoulder off.
The next thing was watching him hobbling on three legs with his leg in his mouth.
But he did not get away and only went about 10 feet. Tough little ba$tard$!!!
 
From your desciption of events my guess would be a very high shoulder shot just missing the spine. Lots of shock to initially dump him and get the stiff look with tail wheeling and then the miraculous recovery. I had that happen on 2 impala, minus the tail wheeling of course, recovered one lost the second.
 
c-fbmi said:
From your desciption of events my guess would be a very high shoulder shot just missing the spine. Lots of shock to initially dump him and get the stiff look with tail wheeling and then the miraculous recovery. I had that happen on 2 impala, minus the tail wheeling of course, recovered one lost the second.
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Yeah, that makes alot of sense. I think bullet choice may make a difference as well. Frustrating when you lose one!
 
I hit one this fall in a corn field about 70 yards in, down the row, musta grazed his stomach. Followed a heavy heavy 200 yard blood trail which was splattered on the corn with chunks of meat, with another 100 yards of blood that eventually went to no blood. I never found the yote on the field nore anywhere else around the area. Theres no way he would have survived with the amount of blood he lost, just amazed i never found him
 
Coyotes are tough and have a very strong will to live. I made a poor shot on one with my crossbow and saw it first hand. Even though i will shoot one any time i can i couldnt help feeling really sorry for that one. Probibally the worst kill ive ever made.
 
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