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Heavy Varmint Class
#8071512
12/01/20 03:34 PM
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Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 870
218 Bee
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 870 |
This certainly isn't what the benchrest boys meant by "Heavy Varmint", but it seems appropriate this morning... After killing a young shoat the other night, I'd moved the hog carcass out into an open flat where I could use it for coyote bait. The recent cool weather had slowed the "ripening" of that carcass and I'd found no sign around it. It's just as well: we had company over the weekend and I couldn't get out to provide overwatch without neglecting my "host" duties. I slipped away from the house early yesterday morning and was in position above the hog carcass a full hour before sunrise...and the bright moon and my Swarovskis showed a dim coyote form tugging away at the dead pig. Decent shooting light was at least twenty minutes away; nothing to do about it but wait. With maybe five more minutes needed, the 'yote suddenly got nervous. He backed away from the carcass, made a half-circle around it...and ran. Hmmphf. Vampire...scared of daylight. Daylight can mean gunfire. I can't argue with him there. This morning found me back in position: same Bat-time, same Bat-channel (you'll get the reference if there's enough gray in what's left of your thinning hair). The black lump of my hog carcass looks awfully lonely out there. Crud, I thought I might get another chance at him. Minutes crawl by; the country gets marginally brighter. I glance back and discover that my hog lump has doubled in size...he's back!. And a bit more comfortable this time, too...he's really getting stuck into that carcass. C'mon, Mr.Sun...get a little closer. A few more minutes pass. I check through the scope. Maybe. Hang on Mr. Coyote...just another couple of minutes. He's starting to get antsy; he's spending more time looking and listening than feeding. He backs away from the carcass, head up...broadside. If I'm gonna do it, it better be now. The big rifle roars and recoil shoves me out of view. As I reach for the bolt to cycle another round into the chamber, I hear a yelp from the coyote and see him jump, swap ends and run behind cover and out of view. I don't see him reappear anywhere. Still, this morning I'm toting my old warhorse Sako Safari Grade .375 H&H...and I know where the crosshairs were when the trigger broke. I let it get a bit lighter before walking the 150-ish yards to the now pretty-well-chewed hog carcass. Forty-three steps away lies Mr. Coyote, the 300 grain Hornady solid having taken him cleanly through the engine room. Greed. Gets us every time. Mark
"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8071610
12/01/20 04:32 PM
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 33,946
Buzzsaw
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 33,946 |
LOVE IT !!! good to see you shooting your "thumper" no matter what the target
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8071667
12/01/20 05:18 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,495
der Teufel
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,495 |
Well, that certainly made an impression!
I have two unwritten rules: 1. 2.
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8071715
12/01/20 06:05 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 15,693
603Country
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 15,693 |
Excellent! A visiting nephew recently shot a coyote that was munching on a dead bait hog. Dropped the coyote who still had his fangs stuck in the hog. I had never seen that before.
Not my monkeys, not my circus...
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: Buzzsaw]
#8071737
12/01/20 06:23 PM
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Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 870
218 Bee
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 870 |
LOVE IT !!! good to see you shooting your "thumper" no matter what the target Thanks Buzz! This old campaigner and I have more than 30 years together in the field. I've got plenty of others that shoot faster or further and still others that hit harder...but I can always depend on this 'un! Mark
"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8071867
12/01/20 07:58 PM
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 11,657
colt45-90
Texas colt45
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Texas colt45
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 11,657 |
get a bigger gun
hold on Newt, we got a runaway
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8071887
12/01/20 08:17 PM
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 4,240
Erny
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 4,240 |
That’s a fine looking rifle.
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: Erny]
#8071898
12/01/20 08:27 PM
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Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 870
218 Bee
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 870 |
That’s a fine looking rifle. Thanks Erny! If I'd whittled a notch into the stock for every head of game that rifle has taken, it'd look like it had been attacked by a rabid beaver. I refinished her stock last year...I owed her that!
Last edited by 218 Bee; 12/01/20 08:27 PM.
"I always take care to fire into the nearest hillside and, lacking that, into darkness". - the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8072307
12/02/20 12:58 AM
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 19,241
Biscuit
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 19,241 |
Always a great narrative sir
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8072599
12/02/20 11:58 AM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 3,458
redhaze
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 3,458 |
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8074104
12/03/20 01:23 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 5,158
flintknapper
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 5,158 |
Nice looking rifle. Nothing smoother than a Sako action.
Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: flintknapper]
#8074528
12/03/20 05:44 PM
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 19,241
Biscuit
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 19,241 |
Nice looking rifle. Nothing smoother than a Sako action.
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Re: Heavy Varmint Class
[Re: 218 Bee]
#8083792
12/10/20 04:23 PM
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 291
TXhogkilr
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 291 |
Cool story. I used to use a .375 for squirrel hunting but it destroyed too much meat.
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