I finally was able to get out for a night hunt last night. My son is home on leave for a while more so he came with me. On our first stand we get a pair coming dead down wind in behind us and the hang up about 125 yards and are starting to get antsy in the corn stubble. They were far enough apart I could not keep both of them in the light. I told the LT to get on the one on the right and I hit the bright light on it and the Marine issued a single bang flop shot of a 55gr. Hornady V-max from the WOA Varmint AR in .223 to start the season for us. I love the V-max bullets. great performance and rarely an exit wound.

Here is John and the decent sized male we got last night.



It was so nice to have a shooter with me on a night hunt. The partner who has been going with me while John is deployed ( My best friend for the last 35 years) has killed only one out of of a couple of dozen coyotes I put in his face the past few years. He will not hear the end of this anytime soon.

That looks like a big woof woof..

Congrats, Dawgdad in your abilities to attract yotes! Can't wait for my son to return in May. I've a 6.8 waiting for him.

He was a nice three year old male Gelan. That is s pretty typical adult from my parts.

The V max follow up from the skinning shack - Entrails were completely jellied and made a sloshing sound when you moved the carcass. .22 entrance wound between the ribs quartering back down to the off side. No exit wound but multiple fragments under the skin on the off side. - I never cease To be amazed at how that bullet performs.

Good stuff DD, and well done LT

great stuff
now this other fella you shoot with ...is the issue a delay in trying to find animal you are pointing out or just crap shooting????
if its a delay problem, go and get a lazer pointer...any old one will do..mine cost $2 the guy with light puts red dot on target,if shooter cant see it, flicks light off, shooter finds it, light goes on, bang. a waved red beam is easy to see, and if they cant see animal but can see dot..well Ive been know to instruct "just shoot the f%&$#n dot then" bang flop

I will have to try that Elvis.

I am not real sure what his problem is. He is a decent target shooter and takes deer easily enough. He just can't finish the deal on a stinky old coyote.

Dawgdad,

Are these shots your partner is missing essentially snap shots that need to be made "right now?" If so, would practicing trap and skeet shooting help his snap shooting skills?

A few were - One was in his face too close where he had the scope dialed up to high and could not find the yote in the sights... one he exhaled as he was taking up the trigger and fogged his scope. Many he says he did not see until I shot it as it started getting away. Others were flat broadside 100 yard or less misses with plenty of time to get ready as they yotes approached.

I really think he just grabs the trigger too hard in all of the rush that comes from having a predator coming in looking for a meal. It is not like deer hunting where you have a couple of seconds to settle yourself. Most predator encounters happen pretty quickly. I am sure his success rate would go up with a few successful hunts close together so he can "feel" the right way to do it. He has himself all screwed up trying to hard now. I try real hard not to say anything about how often he misses before the hunt but I guess I ride him pretty hard after a layup is missed. He educates the pack and makes it harder for me to be successful. I actually witnessed a female running circles around her pups and biting them so they would not investigate the rabbit squeals I was making. In other places I have to spot and stalk the coyotes as they are now so call shy they actually run away from a distress call. I love him dearly as I would a brother and I invited him to go again next week but he makes my life harder.

try the magic beam...nothing to loose.
maybe try shooting a few rabbits n hares with him using centrefire so he gets used to running shots etc.
keep us posted
cant be as bad as a fella I hunt with who is red/green color blind...now that is plurry hard work.

Good job! You are lucky to be able to night hunt where you are. Here in Kansas, we have been lobbying to be able to ‘shine’ to hunt coyotes—too many people use that illegal method to shoot deer at night.

Maybe someday we will convince the powers that be not everyone that wants to hunt at night with a light is out for nefarious purposes.