A hunt gone awry...

[S.Kenton]

Well it was a crisp winter morning just this last Saturday, my brother and I decided to brave the near negative temps to take advantage of Ohios muzzleloader season. My family and I own a woods outside of Roundhead Ohio and had a built a hunting shanty in it some years ago, so armed with historically accurate Buddy Heaters and Hot Hands body heating pads away we went...
We got their just before sunrise..unfroze the Windows to our shanty and opened them ever so slightly.We then proceeded to fire up our heaters, of course one worked... One didn't, I was warm anyhow even with just one heater working. As the sun came up and birds and squirrels started moving about, I Didn't see any deer sign from the evening before ( we had a about an inch of snow on the ground) so my hopes stated to diminish. Finally about 830 am we heard some crunching through the snow and leaves, after looking around for a second, my eyes zeroed in on the noisemaker.... A coyote! These critters are fair game around here, year around. So I instantly grabbed my rifle and waited patiently for a shot, the dog must have sensed us, smelled us or saw us cause it wouldn't come in any closer that 60 yards... And through the brush that's a tough shot. Anyhow I picked my shooting lane, although it was a poor lane at best, I decided that was the best I had. The yote, after looking around for a bit, decided to walk into my shooting lane... I took a deep breath, let it out and about half way through... Squeezed the trigger, taking my only shot. I looked through the smoke and seen the yote fall to the ground, only to clamber back to his feet and run away with his tail between his legs. I'm sure I killed him.. Well it was reloading time, when it came time to start the ball down the barrel, it seemed a little hard... but it went, then grabbing my wooden ramrod and choking up on it, I applied the normal amount of pressure that it took to push the ball down the barrel... Well it wouldn't budge. It seems my patch lube, which was homemade by the way, didn't like sub zero temps..after struggling trying to load it for a bit, I took a much needed breather. 10 minutes later I was back at it, this time determined to seat the ball. Well not sure how it happen, but I broke my ram rod with the ball about 3/4 from the muzzle end of the barrel.. My hunt, for that day, was done. I went home and made another ram rod and am now ready for Monday to come... Oh and I also changed up my lube, for cold temps I am now using bore butter. One last thing, I will be making or buying a composite ram rod in the near future, as I dodged a rather sharp bullet and quite possibly a trip to the E.R. Wooden ram rods make for some nice medical bills for sure.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to share this with you fellas.

 

[Silky921]

At least it was an exciting day in the woods. Arrowed a coyote once and his howl is something I'll never forget.

Been through Roundhead many times in my life. Alot less traffic this time of year I bet.

 

[hanshi]

Ever find the yote?

 

[Spikebuck]

Bore Butter gets a bit stiff at those temps as well. Something like Mink oil is good at pretty much any low temp.

I'm also interested in whether or not the Yote was found.

 

[rushlake1]

I will be making or buying a composite ram rod in the near future, as I dodged a rather sharp bullet and quite possibly a trip to the E.R. Wooden ram rods make for some nice medical bills for sure.

________________________________________________

hollow brass..solid brass,steel, or "Period correct"
which has a steel core wood rod.

 

[hrchotaw]

Cains Outdoors in WV sells a good composite rod .They had them in sizes to fit different makes of rifles,and universal cut to fit .I have several that I use only when I am hunting :grin:

 

[BrownBear]

Man, glad it turned out "okay," as it were.

I'm curious to know more about the lube that failed you and the temp at which it failed.

 

[don hepler]

I went through an ordeal almost like the one you describe, except I was shooting at a Turkey. I broke the ram rod while the turkey was flopping, all over the place. I did, however, get the turkey.

I went to the range and took some different size patches. My shooting patch is .022. It gives me the best accuracy, but is tight to load. I follow with a pillow tick patch, which is easily identified by the blue strips. It is .015 and loads much easier, and still gives me acceptable accuracy.

My white patch is loaded for the first shot, and if I need a follow-up, I use the blue strip patch. Work's for me.

I've has a couple wooden rods break and the one I mentioned, was hollow aluminum. I broke it while standing on a log, trying to get some leverage. I slipped off the log, and broke the rod off in the bore.

 

[S.Kenton]

I never really looked for the yote, I did find a good amount of blood. My woods is so thick in areas that it's impossible to squirrel hunt and hard to deer hunt, i figured it wasn't worth it crunching through a wall of briars and getting all cut up.
My lube was a mixture of bees wax and olive oil...I think I would have been alright with pure olive oil....but I had been experimenting with prelubing my patches and had quite a few already done. I had done some shooting with them and found the accuracy was more than acceptable. I done all my testing of my new patch lube when the temps were well above freezing...the patch lube failed at 0 degrees or right close to it..according to my trucks thermometer..

 

[BrownBear]

My lube was a mixture of bees wax and olive oil...I think I would have been alright with pure olive oil....but I had been experimenting with prelubing my patches and had quite a few already done. I had done some shooting with them and found the accuracy was more than acceptable. I done all my testing of my new patch lube when the temps were well above freezing...the patch lube failed at 0 degrees or right close to it..according to my trucks thermometer..

Thanks for the detail. I keep coming back to using TOW's mink tallow, but that doesn't stop me from messing around with my own lubes. Problem I find with most that I concoct, they behave differently as the temperature rises and falls. Latest shows the most promise of all, deer tallow with a little bear oil (Kodiak brown bear, naturally!) to soften it in colder weather. Kinda runny-sloppy in the heat, but dandy in the cold. Pure deer tallow is fine in warm weather, but stiffer than a cob in the cold.

 

[azmntman]

I went through an ordeal almost like the one you describe, except I was shooting at a Turkey. I broke the ram rod while the turkey was flopping, all over the place. I did, however, get the turkey.

Once I got one down n flopping I jump on him n wring the neck. Works for me.

 

[stikshooter]

Mink oil works 0-90 degrees and can be found in boot/shoe supplies .Saturate your patch material it will slide easier than any lube I"ve used !

 

[armymedic.2]

Really?

I shoot yotes i dont eat all the time. I farm. They kill my animals. But i do follow up on the bloodtrail to find them and finish if needed. They deserve that

In my opinion, if you werent willing to follow up, you should have never shot.

Thats by far the most polite way i can say that.

 

[azmntman]

Really?

I shoot yotes i dont eat all the time. I farm. They kill my animals. But i do follow up on the bloodtrail to find them and finish if needed. They deserve that

In my opinion, if you werent willing to follow up, you should have never shot.

Thats by far the most polite way i can say that.

I used to shoot em for eating antelope fawns. Its HARD to get a tag here (I have never been drawn). I gave up on antelope and never shoot em any more. If I did I would wanna know I made a clean kill so I agree. A gut shot anything make me sick to think about.

HOWEVER! Its GREAt FUN to sit water and blast the water about 1 afoot to the side of an ol wise coyote while he's drinking! :rotf: They are very acrobatic at times :grin:

 

[S.Kenton]

Really?

I shoot yotes i dont eat all the time. I farm. They kill my animals. But i do follow up on the bloodtrail to find them and finish if needed. They deserve that

In my opinion, if you werent willing to follow up, you should have never shot.

Thats by far the most polite way i can say that.

Yes really! IMO yotes don't deserve anything, they kill our fawns, rabbits, pheasants and the occasional squirrel..ill pretty much shoot them and leave them lay..or shoot em and don't care if they die a painful long agonizing death..They killed my favorite dog a while back... If I see em, I shoot to kill. Last year I stuck one with an arrow.. Guess what? Didn't follow that one up either.. Sorry if I offend you or others with this post.. But I simply don't care.

 

[S.Kenton]

Also if you care to reread my post, no way I'm getting all cut up walking through the briars in a thick woods for a mangey coyote...it's dead, that's all I care about.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

I have read your posts and totally disagree with your hunting ethics.Perhaps you are unaware of the different factions whom may visit our site and look especially for posts such as yours.This is a difficult time to be a sportsman of the field with all the negative lime light from anti hunting groups.Even a lowly coyote as you have expressed deserves a quick death. Perhaps the animal eats rabbits ect. to survive,as I am sorry for the death of your dog,you fail to mention the circumstances in the dogs demise.I attempt to be a ethical hunter the animal I pursue either a mouse or a elephant or anything in between deserves respect in life as well as death. AN ETHICAL APPALACHIAN HUNTER

 

[S.Kenton]

To each his own I guess....

 

[S.Kenton]

One other thing then I'm done with this thread,... So a couple guys on this thread wanted me to look for the wounded yote... What would I do when I found him? My ramrod broke on my rifle, no way I could reload. So should I kick him to death? Choke him out? I stated earlier in the first post... " I was sure he was dead"..then I found evidence of quite a bit of blood...

 

[hrchotaw]

Living any way they can. :hmm: