Coyotes Tore Up My 480 Ruger Kill

[Ranch Dog]

I shot a large boar hog last night just as legal deer hunting time was finishing, 30 minutes after sunset. I could see this fellow coming like a freight train through the brush, on a mission only he knew, and when he crossed the narrow two track I was on I shot him at 50 yards. He kept going the through the brush but then I heard a "crack" like he had run into something. I was already freezing so I thought I would just leave him until the morning as the brush was very tight and it was very dark and he was very big.

I hunted the same spot and then 2 hours after sunrise moved in to find him. He had run head long into a dead mesquite tree. He was dead at the shot, the 375-grain bullet had knocked a huge hole through him right behind the shoulder but they do have some energy even when dead on the hoof and he had a pretty good head of steam up when he crossed the road.



He looks a little light in the tail end and that is because the coyotes have deflated him. Here is what he looked like when I found him.



The entry wound is on the "upper" rib cage where the ribs are missing. The 480 Ruger knocked a BIG hole through him. I often have though about what a struggle it might be to be hurt and spend the night in the South Texas brush. This isn't the big bear country but I suspect that our coyotes would buzz saw their way right through you.

[akuser47]

Still shocking to think that there are scavengers like this still out there those rascals made light work of your boar.

[Rooster59]

Must have been a bunch of them. Wow!

Jeff

[Ranch Dog]

This one is #128 for the year on my ranch and #66 for me if my memory serves me correctly.

The area of the county I am in has a very low fawn survival, 35%, yet the survival rate on my place is above 95%. We coyote hunt, no more than the other places, but I attribute the high survival to the fact that I don't have a problem leaving a hog in the field. Much easier to catch a coyote to catch a dead hog and get full enough to last three days than snack on a young deer. I did have a hunter shoot a coyote last week that was hot on the tail of a young deer. Really a good shot at 100 yards with both moving flat out across a sendero.

I hunt coyotes quite a bit in the spring with my Marlin 1894CLs. Of the three; 218 Bee, 25-20 Win, and 32-20 Win. I prefer the 32. Our coyotes are not large with males at an average of 35# and females about 42# but pound for pound they can hold there own plus as South Texas is hard country. I would hate to live on a place that has cleaned them out as their howl in the evening tells me that I live where I want to. The area north and west of Del Rio is pretty much coyote free because it is sheep country. Looks like good country for them but they are few and far between. I was hunting on 25K acre ranch out there and the fellow was bragging about zero coyotes but I had seen one where I was hunting and told him so. He jumped in his helicopter and off he went with a shotgun and buckshot. Durn if he didn't kill that coyote without much trouble. Oh, a lot of the fellows that own big acreage down here have helicopters. The Bell 47 used to be the machine of choice but now it is the R22.

[pricedo]

Still shocking to think that there are scavengers like this still out there those rascals made light work of your boar.

I'll bet that the coyotes actively hunt wild boar too........the piglets & smaller hogs especially.

[akuser47]

Still shocking to think that there are scavengers like this still out there those rascals made light work of your boar.

I'll bet that the coyotes actively hunt wild boar too........the piglets & smaller hogs especially.

No doubt about that anything they can get ahold of I am sure.

[Quinc]

Oh, a lot of the fellows that own big acreage down here have helicopters. The Bell 47 used to be the machine of choice but now it is the R22.

I wish I had to much money..

[Ranch Dog]

I wish I had to much money..

You would need it to fund that helicopter!

Posted via Tapatalk while hunting!

[Ranch Dog]

I'll bet that the coyotes actively hunt wild boar too........the piglets & smaller hogs especially.

The strangest thing I have ever seen was after killing a large sow. She had a litter of piglets that just started milling around in an acre food plot. I called my dad and told him to load my Mossberg with Express BBs and bring it to me. About the time he showed up a Caracara (Mexican Eagle) swooped down and grabbed a white piglet. The bird was having a tough time trying to clear the tree line but it made it!

We see coyotes chasing piglets a couple of times each year. We let them be.

Posted via Tapatalk while hunting!