Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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NickNielsen
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Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

Post by NickNielsen »

1st- 7 coyotes
2nd- 4 coyotes
3rd- 4 coyotes
4th- 4 coyotes

Big dog was 37lbs. Small dog was 20lbs. We had 17 teams and the day couldn't have been better. We had super thick fog until about 10:30am with only 100 yd visibilty most of the time. Shot 7 seen 30 and one of my partners also won the gun. Pretty lucky day for us. I will post a story and pics later when I have more time. Thanks to everyone who came out. They served free chili and plenty of beverages after the hunt. Cost was $20 a person, 3 man teams, $5 each for big/lil dog. I'm hoping we can have it a different weekend next year as there were 5+ tournaments Feb. 5th in the eastern part of the state.
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lyonch
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Looking forward to the pics and story :D
Chris Lyon


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My heart belongs to my family,
BUT MY SOUL BELONGS TO THE COYOTES!!!
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NickNielsen
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Week prior to the tournament I had been doing some scouting on the way home from work each day and saw at least a couple pairs a day. I figured I located 25 coyotes in a fairly small area not far from town. I knew the area has been pounded but also know things change in Feb. so I decided we would hunt this area regardless and at least be on dogs all day. 3 to a team so first stand Kosse (short guy) dropped me (fat guy) off then Klabo (tall guy). I watched 3 the night before on the slough I walked out to in the dark. Put the FoxPro along the shoreline upwind and started with some howling and the dogs lit up about 2 miles away. I thought shit, they're across the gravel road. Tried for awhile to see if one was hiding out in the willows or what cattails are left uncovered by all the snow. No takers and the fog rolled in thick. Great, no signs of the fog lifting. Kosse picked me up and had a road dog in the truck. Klabo had no takers either. Kosse watched a pair along a one liner so he dropped me off and I walked about 3/4 mile out (fog helped me get out there without being seen). Cut their tracks and set out the FoxPro about 50 yards upwind. I started with a soft and short lightning jack, waited 5 minutes and howled twice with some time in between them. Nothing. I was 24 minutes into the stand and turned on a springhare distress. Talk about one annoying distress but here one came. I could only see about 150 yds because of the fog. The dog was coming right in to the FoxPro and had no clue I was there. I waited as he moused hoping the female would come in too but never showed. I barked and the 3rd time he stopped at 120 and put him down. Sweet, 830 and 2 dogs down. Considering the fog, I thought 2 was pretty fair by 830. Got back to the truck and drove about 4 miles to drop Klabo off. Kosse and I had another dog run in front of the truck. I shot him twice, tracked him for 3 miles spraying blood the whole way. Didn't know a coyote had that much blood. It did a big circle on me and I said F it as I was dying. Meantime Klabo got to his honey hole 45 minutes after we dropped him off. I guess the slough snow wasn't hard he fell through to his waist each step (he's 6'7" by the way too). He put on that springhare that worked for me on the previous stand and had 2 coming immediately. They got to 150 downwind and wouldn't stop as he barked several times. He tried a trottting shot and missed, another running, and another running and missed. At this point he's pretty unhappy with himself. He decided to keep calling and threw on KiYi's. He had 3 coming hard and 2 more 400 yds behind the 3 coming hard also. Since he just missed and doesn't miss often, he was gonna wait till the lead one was in his lap and dump it. He stopped the lead one at 40 yds and whammy, dead dog. He kept playing the KiYi's and the second one got to 60 yds and saw his love piled up. Whammy, dog 2 dead. The 3rd one was hauling ass outta there and Klabo missed at 175, then at 225 whammy rolled it. I think I could hear him yelling from my stand 2 miles away :lol: His first Triple. Image

This pic is after he drug them out with his hand drag :shock: It took him 2 hrs on the dot to get them drug out through the slough.

Meanwhile, we saw a big big dog and 2 others close to where I lost the one I wounded. We sent Kosse over the hill to cut them off. He got out there and got busted by 2 of them so he decided to try some long range shooting. Missed the one he was shooting at at decided to shoot at the big bastard running for his life. On his 5th shot at 500 he dumped the 37lber. For our area this is a huge dog. Sweet dog 6 in the truck. We headed to another area that we had seen some dogs and another one ran in front of the truck that we dumped. Dog 7 at 5pm. 5 calling 2 road dogs. We decided to check in and belly up. Had a blast that night as I don't remember much after 9pm :roll:

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NickNielsen
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Sorry about the book.
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bucksnbears
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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great job guys :D . holy shit, that coyote in the middle looks like a walrus laying there :shock:
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
"Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone that they have not first taken away from someone else."
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lyonch
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Awesome story Nick and great pics!!! It sounds like you guys came close to a double digit dog day!! A guy has to love it when a plan comes together and fur is getting piled in the back of the truck :D
Chris Lyon


My mind belongs to my work,
My heart belongs to my family,
BUT MY SOUL BELONGS TO THE COYOTES!!!
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NickNielsen
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Thanks guys! Woulda shoulda coulda had 10 for sure but everyone knows how that goes. Could have went the other way too if Kosse and Klabo wouldn't have made a couple ridiculous shots. All in all our best day to date. Definitely nice to see a pile of fur in the truck heading to check in. I did a bunch of tournaments this year and some were definitely frusterating. Way too many mental mistakes and flat out missing when so much was invested. I'll be at the range this summer alot and run many scenarios through my head to minimize mental errors. So if anyone does some shooting in the summer let me know, like to tag along.
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bucksnbears
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

Post by bucksnbears »

Nick. what were guys shooting??
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
"Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone that they have not first taken away from someone else."
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NickNielsen
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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I shot a Savage BVSS 25-06, Klabo shot a Tikka T3 Varmint 22-250, and Koss shot a Browning Eclipse 7mm short mag.
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lyonch
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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[quote="NickNielsen"]I shot a Savage BVSS 25-06, Klabo shot a Tikka T3 Varmint 22-250, and Koss shot a Browning Eclipse 7mm short mag.[/quot]

A couple of them are some serious hard hitters :D

NIck as far as shooting in the summer goes, try to get your hands on several railroad tie plates and make some things to hang them from. Make sure you don't use standard link chain to hang them or they will really twist on you (I use a roller chain or something that dont allow twisting much). Then place several of them out at random distances (you have a great area to do this). Then set up like you would coyote hunting and start plinking away at the gongs. You will know when you hit one. There is a serious smack and you will get a good report. If you dont get that smack sound, it helps to spray paint the gong so that you can see the large splat mark left on the steel. This is where you will see which bullets penetrate and which ones just leave a splat mark :wink: Another hint is to lay the tie plate sideways and they are real close to the kill zone of a coyote. I have always used 9" wide by 6" tall for the kill zone of a coyote, or a 6" circle and if you hit it, it will be a dead coyote. I would love to join you in a few shooting sessions, but that is a long ways for me to drive just to shoot my gun. If i were to come that far i would hunt some summer coyotes in the mornings, then practice in the afternoons :D
Chris Lyon


My mind belongs to my work,
My heart belongs to my family,
BUT MY SOUL BELONGS TO THE COYOTES!!!
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LeviM
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

Post by LeviM »

good work nick, nice pics
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NickNielsen
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Thanks for the tips Chris! Kosse won a 22-250 at the hunt so now he won't have to use his deer rifle :) That sounds like a great idea with the steel plates and would be much funner than shooting paper. I think I'm going to have to try to make some of them this weekend. If you're ever out this way give me a shout.
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lyonch
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

Post by lyonch »

I might be making several trips to Leeds and Dickinson this summer for work, so i might be able to make an afternoon or evening work and get out to shoot gongs and critters :D I will let you know nick when it gets closer to that time 8)
Chris Lyon


My mind belongs to my work,
My heart belongs to my family,
BUT MY SOUL BELONGS TO THE COYOTES!!!
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Re: Barnes County Wildlife Tournament Results

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Nice work boys!!
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