coyotes...

[nodakhorseman]

I had a pretty frustrating encounter last night and this morning. I was in the woods last night trying to fill a muzzleloader only buck tag. With about 20 minutes left in legal shooting, a pretty decent buck came walking. I'm using a Lyman GPR in .50 cal. I took the broadside shot he gave me and squeezed a shot off. The impact knocked him immediately to the ground. He then got up and wobbled a good 50 yds and just stood there for a few minutes. Boy, was I getting confused! He then walked another 20 yards and then laid down. About 5 minutes later, he got up and laid down again 2 feet later. I couldn't see him real well, but could make out his outline through the trees and brush.

At this point, I know he's hurt bad, but I'm now not sure where I hit him. So, I stayed in my stand 'til dark and made it out w/out kicking him up. Now what to do? Go back in the dark and risk him being alive? Or, go back at first light in case I need to take another shot?

I chose to go back this morning. Much to my chagrin, he was laying where I last saw him, but a pack of coyotes feasted like kings overnight. They ate pretty much everything--you'd have thought the carcass had been sitting there for a couple of weeks.

I pulled the carcass out of the woods, since I still have a couple of tags remaining. Trust me, there wasn't anything left to eat.

I shot a nice doe with the GPR 2 nights ago and she tipped over after 60 yards--just as it's supposed to go.

 

[rabjr]

Sorry to hear and unfortunately I've heard this to many times up here. You pretty much cannot let an animal lay out there all night here. It has happened to friends and they have gotten lucky and nothing touched it but more times than not coyotes will find em. I know you wish you had poked over there now after getting out of your stand so I won't say it. But even if you go home get something to eat and get a friend, you really should get back out there in an hour and try a search. If you kick the animal up then, ok let it alone but an hour wait usually lets you recover most animals unless they aren't hit very good.

 

[laufer]

i was told to take a piss arround the kill, and leave a swetty shirt or something with a strong humans scent on it. during the hunting season coyotes know what that means.

 

[XXX]

Tough one. Sorry to hear how it turned out. I would have taken the chance on seeing if he was dead before I left the woods. If he bolted, you could still track in the morning and it couldn't have turned out any worse. Never an easy call to make when you get a shot late in the day.

 

[J.D.]

That is a tough way to end a day's hunt, but on the bright side, nothing in nature is wasted. Your statement that "the coyotes feasted like kings" is an example of that, and you merely facilitated that feast.

IMHO, I would have left the deer where it was and went on with my hunt, since the coyotes, not to mention the other critters that now have their feast.

God Bless,
J.D.

 

[Protrucker]

I had the same thing happen three years ago in Pennsylvania. By the time I found the doe the next morning the coyotes had devoured so much that I couldn't have dragged it out in one piece. :shake:
I left it there & went on hunting.

 

[PreglerD]

First congrats to the buck. You did not wrong too wait for so long especially why you saw him stood up from the wound bed twice. The thing with the coyotes is evil. Had the same case 5 years ago. It was 26th of dec 2003. I got two roe fawns and one escaped to the neighbourhood hunting ground into a thicket, but I couldn't see it anymore because it got dark. So I first had to inform the owner of this area and could went there the next morning. During the night the fawn was completely ate by redfoxes which had their holes in the thicket. Only the carcass and a few hairs were left.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[jbg]

Too bad you lost the deer, but don't blame the coyotes for doing what coyotes do.

If you left a pizza in an area frequented by the homeless, the same thing would happen to the pizza.

 

[bucktales]

If you left a pizza in an area frequented by the homeless, the same thing would happen to the pizza.

Now that makes sense. :shocked2:

 

[jtmattison]

Coyotes are fast eaters. New a guy once who hunted on the AF Base where I'm stationed. He shot a real nice buck one evening right before dark. The buck only went about 50 yards and piled up. The rules on the base were to stay in your stand and the lease managers (me and a couple others) were to do any tracking/finishing off of game. As he sat he could hear the coyotes having a feast on his deer in the dark. When we showed up to get him we went after it and they had already gutted him and were basically eating him from the inside out. Luckily not a lot of meat was wasted. All of this occurred in about 30 minutes.

HD

 

[Little Wattsy]

Sorry to hear and unfortunately I've heard this to many times up here. You pretty much cannot let an animal lay out there all night here. It has happened to friends and they have gotten lucky and nothing touched it but more times than not coyotes will find em. I know you wish you had poked over there now after getting out of your stand so I won't say it. But even if you go home get something to eat and get a friend, you really should get back out there in an hour and try a search. If you kick the animal up then, ok let it alone but an hour wait usually lets you recover most animals unless they aren't hit very good.

Sorry Friend. :shake: :shake: :shake:

 

[nodakhorseman]

Only because I know the outcome would I have done it differently.

I have several different areas near my home where I bow hunt and ML hunt. The spot where I shot this buck is along a creek system--to the west of this creek system is a small housing development (still in the country). In the evening, the deer come out of the housing area into the nearby farm/pasture country.

I didn't approach him right away because I was hoping he would expire before my eyes. Since he didn't, I was concerned that kicking him up would send him back to where he came from--the rural housing area where he'd have plenty of places to hide, but I couldn't shoot any longer. This made me decide to wait until I could see to shoot--thus waiting until morning.

The impact of my shot knocked him to the ground. The way he tipped over, I assumed I must have hit something solid like breast bone below the heart. I wasn't sure if it was a mortal wound or just an extremely painful wound. That's also why I waited 'til morning.

As it turns out, I hit about 6 inches back from my aim point--right behind the diaphram. So, he was definitely a goner and hindsight is 20/20.

The housing area was my wild card and I didn't guess correctly. Next time, I'll shoot a little straighter. The whole experience was a bit demoralizing. In any other situation, I'd have given him an hour or so to stiffen up and then had tender loins for breakfast.

 

[Mad Professor]

When I'm in big woods where I might not be able to get a carcass out , I carry 50 ft of 550 cord and two small aluminum pulleys. Setup is less than 1 lb.

I can get a 200 lb deer up into a tree and then I only have to worry about cats, fishers and bears not denned up yet.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Reload and put a finisher into him.. :hmm:
That would have taken,,,,,,,,,???30 seconds?? You would still have had 4 and a half minutes left to watch him. I shot one 2 days ago, and he just stood there looking at me, so I quickly reloaded and shot him again. When I dressed him I found that both shots hit him, the first one did and he just didnt know he was dead yet. Because the neighbor locked the gate, I ended up dragging the carcass a half a mile to get to my truck. I left with the headlights on.

If the situation happens again, think reload, reload, reload...... :thumbsup: 1. Pill bottle with premeasured powder charge, 2. Pre cut/lubed patch, 3. Carry with extra balls in handy pocket.

Pop the top, dump the powder, drop the bottle, ram the ball, cap and shoot. You can pick up the bottle later. You had plenty of time to reload it appears. On close in shots like that, often times i DONT even patch, just dump powder, drop ball and ram tight, cap and shoot. It is still minute of deer at 50 yards.

Maybe you oughta go into the coyote hunting business. Good money in furs this winter. Sounds like there is a lot of them in that area. Figure a buck to weigh at least 250. A coyote will gorge on up to 3 pounds of meat, then go off to the side, dig a hole and disgorge it into that hole to eat later, then come back and do it over again. They will usually do that twice before the third and final eating then leave to go rest and digest. So figuring that each coyote is capable of eating about 9# of meat, that indicates for that deer to be totally consumed over night that at least 25 or 30 coyotes had to visit that kill. I suspect that the ground around was packed down like a freeway?

 

[playfarmers]

I had the same thing happen about 15 years ago, and now carry some plastic speed loaders. It takes just a few seconds to reload and finish the job.

 

[kevthebassman]

Sounds to me like you ought to get yourself a .40 cal flinter and an open reed call and set to work. If N. Dakota was a little closer to home I'd be happy to come up and help. :v

 

[nodakhorseman]

I know I gave you guys a quick version of my story, so I left much to speculation.

I did reload (took me about 30 seconds with a speed loader :grin: ), but I didn't have another shot and was up in a tree stand (brush and trees in the way). So, I made the choice to take a few minutes to see if he'd die before getting out of the tree.

No dice--and by that time, it was too dark to get another shot if he jumped up. So, I snuck out of there.

I definitely wasn't worried about getting him out in the dark. I have a couple of pack horses that I use mule deer and elk hunting. Also a pack frame which I used to pack out 2 mule deer earlier this fall in the Badlands of western North Dakota.

The only real question left was to come back in the dark or come back in the morning. I was worried that he'd still be alive so I came back in the morning. Better luck next time... :v

Both the rancher whose land I hunt on and I were real surprised by the number of coyotes that were down there. During calving, he'll have a calf die here and there and the coyotes aren't on them nearly that quick. I do trap, so I'll be hanging some snares come January when I'm done deer hunting.

 

[Mort Scott]

A bear got my buddys son's first buck this season. The young boy left the buck for only 15 min. To get his dad and I . When we got to the buck the front shoulder was eaten and half of a ham was missing. If we would have left the buck untill morning there would be nothing left. We than started bear hunting.

 

[greyghost]

Around here they're killing off the fawns, both deer and pronghorn. I shoot every one I can and suggest all of you do the same! :thumbsup:

 

[Mulebrain]

I don't believe tree stands are real hunting, but if you get a shot, and the animal is down?

I would have got my butt outta that stand and pursued on foot asap!

I bet you will next time :grin:

There is a reason them dogs got him instead of you.

Better hunting next time! :thumbsup: