Im heading out with my cross bow for the first time this year. I've always gun hunted so any advice that would seem a no brainer to experienced bow hunters would be nice. I would think trying to get deers close enough for a good shot would be paramount.
This lady I know lost her prosthetic leg in a lake a few years ago. Some other lady recently caught the fucking thing while fishing: http://ksax.com/article/stories/s2252212.shtml
We ended up hunting on the Minnesota River on Saturday and got on the water at 5:30. I spent most of the day sitting here. We saw hundreds of birds and only one goose came in. It's a sleeper decoy in the photo. I marinated the breasts in olive oil, sea salt, and fresh rosemary, and grilled them until they were just pink in the center. Very good. Has anyone used the nontoxic shot loads? Are they worth the added cost? We were very conservative with shots because we didn't have a dog and were sitting on the edge of a willow grove that would be very easy to lose a bird in, not to mention the river too. I'd consider them if they had a considerable amount more power than steel shot.
My little brother got all excited after watching "Swamp People", so he went out and applied, and got 3 lottery gator tags. They got two that were 8ft and one that was 7ft. *Does a little dance* I'm gettin' some meeee-eeeaaat!
Just found out I might be going coyote hunting for the first time on private land in the near future. Didn't know it was possible in this part of CT, but apparently the town I'll be hunting in allows 1 per man, per day. I've got a .22WMR that should do the trick. Failing that, I've always got the 12 ga. slugs.
Pretty much- they hung some lines from a couple of cypress trees and they used chicken quarters for bait. Now I just got to see if I can get some boots out of this.
You're going to want more than a .22wmr. Most common caliber for yotes right now is a .223, but you can get by with anything comparable. If you're going to use a shotgun, I'd opt for 00 Buck rather than slugs. 00 buck has more than enough to drop them cold at 40 yards.
I'm not saying you can't take them down with a .22 or .17. Hell, you can take down a deer with a well placed .17 hmr. Shot placement is a different story when it's 30 degrees out, you're wearing gloves, shivering a little bit, and have the steam from your breath drifting across your sights. Can you take them with smaller calibers? Sure. It's not ethical or responsible though unless you're certain you're going to get a perfect kill shot every time. I'm not saying he has to have anything in the 30 caliber range, but a .223, .243, or 22-250 gives you margin for error in your shot placement while still having an extremely high probability of a kill.
Re: caliber choice. I've got access to a .243 and an AR if I want it, and I may, depending on how far my shots are probably going to be (I'm going over this weekend to check out the property). If most of the shots are going to be 50 yards or farther, I'll probably opt for something else. At 50, though, my Marlin is stupid accurate.
I wouldn't depend on a coyote sitting still for very long if it's 50 yards away from what it's curious about. What the hell is this you say about having a bag limit on coyotes?
Or you're jumping out of your truck at full sprint while the fucking thing just ran across the road and is booking it into a field at what seems like 50 mph. That's why I keep a shotgun with me. The .223 is for everything else.
I've got a Savage 93FV in .22WM that shoots lights out even at 100 yards but I still wouldn't choose it to take yotes if that's what I had planned, that being said if that was all I had on hand and the range / wind was reasonable yes I would take the shot. Like katokoch said, if you get them that close they won't be sitting still. Without knowing the specifics of each setup between the .243 and the AR I would probably take the .243, my 25-06 has been perfect medicine but don't expect to save any of the pelts. In short yes a .22WM will kill them dead but you might be tracking for a bit, shoot the .243 and the AR which is most likely .223 and take which ever one you shoot best. They won't be able to tell the difference.
You could always just haul out the Barrett to knock down some yotes. Brock Lesnar uses it for prairie dogs so it's gotta work on coyotes.
Who could be a better authority on ammunition than a sniper rifle weilding FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WOOOOOORLD!!!
Question regarding buckshot through a full choke. I've got an older 870 Wingmaster with a fixed full choke. If, when I do go coyote hunting, I decide to go with #4 buck (a rep recommendation), is that too much constriction, or is it ok since I'll be using lead shot that's made to compress and deform when passing through the choke? I've shot lead slugs through it before (and my dad before me for about 20 years), but I'm just curious if there would be any cause for concern.
Nope, #4 buck should be fine. Lead shot will do exactly what you say it will. Steel absolutely will not. If you have the opportunity to do some pattern testing prior to hunting, it may be worthwhile as the patterns with buck can vary considerably from brand to brand.
Box o Truth has already done it. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot44.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot44.htm</a> Results for your gun and available ammo will vary.
My cousin, brother and I hunted waterfowl on a small, shallow, muddy lake in southern Minnesota today and had some success. It was the open for regular duck season so it was busy, but if it flew in our spread it was fair game. Spoiler We were shocked to see that we had the 12th truck in the lot and were 5th in like at the landing (fuck!!!) but got to a great spot parked in the edge of a reedy channel and saw lots of birds. We missed a hell of an opportunity when my cousin called in a flock of 20 geese, but he was doing it while moving decoys. They hit the brakes pretty early. However, there were lots of birds in the air for everyone to shoot at so we got some. Two canada geese and a hen blue winged teal. This will be my desktop background at work come Monday. Much, much more enjoyable view than my cubicle. I haven't done too much waterfowl hunting until this year. I'm probably headed back to hunt a similar lake next weekend when there will be much less pressure. If I keep it up and end up hunting a lot more this year and lined up for next year, I might have to invest in a cheap used Remington 870 with a synthetic stock and get the metal coated so I'm not concerned about it banging against shit in the boat and some waders. Waders that will work up here. Until then I stay in the boat and hope I don't get wet.