I consider myself a good shot. And I practice shooting a lot - I practice on moving targets, close targets and far away targets. It keeps me fine-tuned for shooting in the field when every round counts, and where you may only get one chance. Tuesday morning found me looking through the scope at a nice adult coyote, and just as I pulled the trigger the coyote turned to run, and the bullet made him stumble. I quickly shot again, and I heard the bullet hit but I was worried the dog would get away so I hurried over to where he was. From what I could tell the first bullet hit him in the spine above his shoulders, and the second bullet hit him too far back, shattering one rear leg and breaking the other. He was crippled from the spine shot at any rate, and as I approached he was dragging himself away on his front legs. I really do not like wounding an animal, and I pulled out my pistol to shoot the dog in the head. At first I missed the moving coyote, but I hit him with a subsequent round and he went down.
As I stood near the coyote and thought about the stand, it suddenly raised its head and looked around! I quickly shot it again with the pistol, and this time it was down for good. My point to this story is that when you wound an animal, then you are responsible for giving it a clean and quick death. I took more shots at this coyote than I usually have to, and things got a little bloodier than normal, and maybe it was just one tough dog, but either way I wish I
would've killed it quicker. A coyote down is a coyote down, but just remember that amidst all the adrenaline and excitement of hunting, we all need to be as ethical as possible.
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