Don't try this at home......

[coyotewhacker]

After moving an enclosed box stand to the front of a tree line in one of our pastures, I decided to sit in it and call until dark a couple of evenings ago. I was sitting comfortably in a plastic garden chair with the speaker putting out sounds like a child being ripped apart...perfect for calling in a coyote. I was watching the southwest corner of the pasture, figuring that if one shows, that's where it would come from. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I picked up movement coming in from the southeast corner less than fifty yards from the box blind. It was a year old songdog, looking for the source of the appetizing rabbit sounds. I was scrambling around in the blind trying to get the rifle out a port...making enough noise to scare off all but the hungriest of coyotes. This must have been one of the really hungry ones because it kept trotting on past the stand without any sign of hearing me. The rifle was a Model 11 Savage in .223...nice little gun for varmint hunting, but it has a short bipod on the stock for prone shooting....not intended to be used inside a blind with a shooting port. The rifle was literally rolling on the bipod legs, and as I got a pretty good sight picture, I squeezed off a shot. Naturally it missed! However, the miss was just an inch or so, and the coyote got a big educational lesson. It probably won't come to a call for a long while now. Lesson learned: a bipod may look real sexy, but take it off if hunting from a blind or elevated stand. It cost me one coyote at 75 yards.

[GoGop]

Did he jump, or just hunker down and run? The only good thing about a miss is watching a critter try to turn inside-out while gettin' outta there.

[coyotewhacker]

To tell you the truth, I didn't really see, other than one second it was facing one way, and the next second, its tail was where the dust cloud from the bullet impact under its chest had been. There was no chance for a followup shot.