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400 yard called coyote a failed stand

I made this statement on another thread related to fixed power scope. I bit of a discussion ensued so I thought I’d bring it here. If you have to shoot a called coyote at 400 plus yards I contend that it is a failed stand. I contend that you can come back another day and call him into a decent range. 400+ yards is a very long shot on a coyote, considering it is a first cold bore shot from field positions. Some can make the shot but the odds are in the coyotes favor for most shooters when you figuer in drop, wind and shooting position and the odds go up as the closer you get to the coyote, with most good coyote cartridges you can hold on fur to 300 yards.

Comments were that these were educated coyotes and they will not come in so you have to take the shot or they will get away. They aren’t that educated, they responded to the call. You will notice that most of these educated coyotes that respond to the call, stop on a hill over looking the call sight and study the whole area, they are looking for something that isn’t right. Movement from using binoculars, a black barrel sticking out of the brush, the roof of your truck. If you hunt separated from your partner the best way to find him is to look for his barrel sticking out of the brush, there is nothing straight and black in nature, if I can spot a hunter so can mister coyote. Just anything that isn’t right will spook a coyote. But how spooked is he if nothing happens to reinforce his fear.

I hunt a lot of heavily called public land and have seen coyotes stick there head out of a bush and study a whole hillside and I was easily spotted although I was motionless the whole time. But here’s the trick, I came back a couple days later, set the call in the same area and set up so I could see behind the brush and not on the hillside. Result a standing fairly short range shot on an educated coyote. It is fairly common to call in one of these educated coyotes, not spook him and come back and call him again from a different position/stand placement, maybe a different sound and call him into reasonable range. This time the coyote educated you. You can beat them at there own game




In the picture above is a picture of a stand from last month, we killed the coyote but it was a failed stand, the coyote came from the only place he could see the truck on the far left at the top of the hill. Instead of comeing down into the valley to the call he saw the truck and headed up wind at the top of the hill moving to the right. My nephew to the shot and killed the coyote, it was 275 yards, add another 200 yards to that and it would have been extremely dicey shoot. We killed the coyote but it was still a failed stand

On the same trip my nephew blew a shot on a coyote that came up a small valley, he wanted to redeem himself so we went back a couple days later and set the caller in the same place but we set up to see the hilltops around the little valley. This time the coyote came in like an educated coyote to the hilltop and was studying the little valley when my nephew made just a 200 yard shot and ended mister coyotes education