Got him but so did the coyotes

Foragefarmer

Active Member
Been hunting a 10 pt. and a pinto 8 pt.. Well yesterday evening the pinto showed up on a hot doe. It is ML season in Va.. I shot him at about 130 yards. He jumped and stood humped up on the edge of the field. By the time I reloaded he was out of the field. Got him in the guts. It had rained all day and there was a heavy mist. So I followed up right away. Eased down to the edge and into the woods and I could smell guts. crossed the creek and saw a doe in the field opposite looking south. thought maybe he was dead in that section of field she was looking. eased to my right looking up in the field and he jumped 10 feet from me and crossed the field into the main thicket.

Backed out and came back this morning with a friend and I found him in the main thicket about 120 yards from where I had jumped him. On the initial sweep up the creek my friend had jumped a coyote and sure enough they had been on him and he was ruined.

IMG_3394.jpg
 
It never ceases to amaze me when I am watching one of the many hunting shows on TV - they almost always wait until the next morning to recover the deer. If I did that at my place, I wouldnt ever get any deer meat because the coyotes would eat every one. Probably also why our doe:fawn ratio is .5 fawns per doe. We have had coyotes eat a ham off a deer many times within 45 minutes of the shot. Hate that for you - been there many times. Nice deer.
 
Given our coyote pop and the complete mast failure the last two years. I think we may be even lower on does to fawns.
 
Had that happen to the nicest whitetail I ever shot, it sucks, those sneaky bastards are amazingly quick at finding those dead bucks. Its always good motivation to get trapping and shooting them though.
 
An even bigger motivation is they got a new born calf last week. First one I have lost on this my home place. Calve out heifers here. Can’t prove the calf was born alive just know I found it in pieces.
 
Amazes me that some packs will bother cattle and others won't. We have been blessed on our farm also in central Va. to have the latter. Have one at home now, that my father saw feeding cows that he mistook for a deer. By far the biggest coyote I've ever seen, just out amongst the cows & calves as young as 3 weeks just hunting for mice. Sorry about the buck, big part of the reason that I refuse to hunt with a muzzleloader anymore.
 
Cattleman next to my property says he never loses calves to yotes. Said black vultures are far worse than yotes.
 
Just a little on his face, shoulders, and a double throat patch. I was probably going to skin him out and get the hide tanned for a rug.
 
Back
Top