Went down to the blueberry fields about a quarter mile behind the house, carrying my .17 HMR, CZ 455. I was really not expecting to see much, being a warm, sunny afternoon. I have an old concrete sitting bench down there, so sat down and looked around.
I saw two turkeys at the left end of the field, about a hundred yards away, then practiced aiming at various rocks to help practicing steady, un-rested holds.
Suddenly, a coyote that may have been lying among the low blueberry bushes stood up and seemed to be interested in the turkeys. It was about 70 yards away, so I held dead-on the lungs and fired. It went down immediately, but kicked a bit, so I got up and started walking toward it to finish it off.
I got about 15 yards, when another coyote got up, about 100 yards and started heading toward where the turkeys were. I stopped walking, raised the rifle and shot. The coyote started running away from me, so I fired again and it ran another hundred yards and dropped, not moving at all, ending up about 170 yards away.
After finishing the first one, I walked to the second one, which had run about 100 yards after the shot. It was dead when I got to it. Both coyotes were about 25 lbs. and had been killing various small animals, judging from the fresh droppings in the access road. (They tend to show off, marking their territory along the dirt roads.)
The .17 HMR did its job, was a bit light for the critters and circumstances, but I was still impressed with its performance and will continue to carry it, because it's so much fun to plink at some flat-faced boulders in the blueberry fields for practice.
I saw two turkeys at the left end of the field, about a hundred yards away, then practiced aiming at various rocks to help practicing steady, un-rested holds.
Suddenly, a coyote that may have been lying among the low blueberry bushes stood up and seemed to be interested in the turkeys. It was about 70 yards away, so I held dead-on the lungs and fired. It went down immediately, but kicked a bit, so I got up and started walking toward it to finish it off.
I got about 15 yards, when another coyote got up, about 100 yards and started heading toward where the turkeys were. I stopped walking, raised the rifle and shot. The coyote started running away from me, so I fired again and it ran another hundred yards and dropped, not moving at all, ending up about 170 yards away.
After finishing the first one, I walked to the second one, which had run about 100 yards after the shot. It was dead when I got to it. Both coyotes were about 25 lbs. and had been killing various small animals, judging from the fresh droppings in the access road. (They tend to show off, marking their territory along the dirt roads.)
The .17 HMR did its job, was a bit light for the critters and circumstances, but I was still impressed with its performance and will continue to carry it, because it's so much fun to plink at some flat-faced boulders in the blueberry fields for practice.