10 minute read
SUPPRESSING WEST VIRGINIA’S PLENTIFUL PREDATOR POPULATION
A dead red fox and coyote lie on a truck tailgate beside a SilencerCo Omega 300 Suppressor, one of several tools that help a pair of West Virginia hunters more quietly thin the predators’ numbers around local farms at night.
With their SilencerCo suppressors, AR-15s, night optics and calls, a pair of local hunters help keep the Mountain State's game-gobbling, farm-raiding coyotes and foxes a little more in check.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LARRY CASE
“Are you on him, Ty?” Connor Boothe is whispering in the darkness and I am leaning forward and straining to hear. Connor and his cousin, Tyler Samms, are murmuring about an approaching coyote. They are stationed on tripodmounted AR-15 sporting rifles with thermal imaging scopes. What sounds like a nasty coyote domestic dispute is being blared out from the predator caller in front of us. Howls, barks and snarls echo into the cold night air and I grin to myself, thinking it sounds like my dog Callie when she is not having a good day. I’m watching and shivering on this beautiful Monroe County, West Virginia, night. A DOG OF A DIFFERENT COLOR The eastern coyote is one tough customer. He has to be to survive, which he has been doing very well, thank you, for over 50 years east of the Big Muddy. There is much discussion and disagreement as to the origin and ancestry of this canine, and while we won’t go deep into a taxonomy lesson
Tyler Samms (left) and his cousin Connor Boothe pose with one of many songdogs they’ve removed. Boothe shoots a Savage MSR 15 Recon model chambered in .224 Valkyrie, while Samms runs an Aero Precision, also in .224 Valkyrie. Both rifles are mounted with Pulsar Thermion thermal imaging scopes and sit on top of BOG DeathGrip Carbon Fiber Tripods.
here, most wildlife biologists seem to think the eastern coyote has a varied DNA. Many scientists agree that the coyote that is now found throughout much of the east is a coyote and wolf mixture with maybe a touch of domestic dog mixed in. In truth, I have always been skeptical of the part-wolf theories, but DNA testing doesn’t lie.
There is no doubt the eastern dog is much bigger than his relatives in the west and has a more varied fur color scheme. You may see coyotes here with the traditional brownish-gray with touches of red pelt, or a coat with dark patches all the way to an almost coalblack fur. The size thing is important as well; coyotes here in the east tend to run bigger – much bigger – than their western cousins. Why? Probably their mixed ancestry and the availability of more food.
Wherever they came from, and whatever they are related to, the fact is that the eastern coyote is here and probably always will be. Predator hunters like my friends Connor and Tyler love to hunt them and they figure whatever coyotes they can take helps out with the deer and turkey population, not to mention aiding farmers with raids on domestic animals like cattle, sheep, chickens and other livestock. Also, in case you didn’t know, coyotes love to prey on housecats and small dogs, and they are not bashful about coming close to your house to do so.
It could be said that the eastern dog is smarter or more wary than those in the west and he is harder to call. Expert coyote hunters may tell you that the eastern version is simply not as plentiful in most areas and has a better food supply than his hungry cousins out west. Regardless of all this, the fact remains that the coyote in the east is an intelligent, highly adaptable predator that will do whatever it takes to survive. He has incredibly developed senses of smell, hearing and eyesight. To score regularly on these canines you need to have your act together; this goes for your hunting skills and equipment.
Because they are so destructive to deer and other game animals, hunters in these parts may talk about “getting rid” of the coyote population. Connor and Tyler do not think that
will ever happen. “You won’t ever wipe out the coyotes,” Connor said. “If you eliminate some in a certain area, others will quickly fill in the void, and studies have shown if the population is reduced, coyotes will breed more and have larger litters to bring the numbers up.”
LOCAL BOYS KNOW THEIR STUFF Connor Boothe bagged his first coyote when he was 7 years old, and he and his cousin Tyler Samms have been hunting and trapping them ever since. They both live in Monroe County, in southeastern West Virginia, which has a lot of farms and livestock. This area also has deer, turkeys and other wildlife, so Connor and Tyler figure they are helping out with predator control.
“With coyote hunting growing in popularity and the easy access to an electronic caller, it’s hard to find a coyote that has not heard some sort of call in their life,” Connor said. “Coyotes react instinctively; even if you have some ‘educated’ dogs around, there is some type of sound that will trigger something to pull them in. Time of the year plays a factor, whether it’s spring time when the pups are out, or late January and February during breeding season.”
Connor and Tyler will typically hunt around pasture fields where cattle, sheep and other livestock are found. While there is some debate on coyotes attacking grown cattle, there is no doubt they are likely to be a problem during calving time. Coyotes are bad news with sheep, and more than one farmer has been put out of the sheep business by coyotes.
Boothe and Samms hunt around pastures and use a mix of coyote vocalizations and prey-in-distress calls, depending on time of year. “If there is no response after about 30 minutes, we move to the next location,” Boothe says. THE RIGHT GEAR FOR THE JOB “I’m currently running a Savage MSR 15 Recon model in .224 Valkyrie caliber,” Connor said. “Tyler is shooting an Aero Precision rifle in the same caliber, and we have Pulsar Thermion thermal imaging scopes on both. The thermal imaging riflescope allows us to hunt at night when, in my opinion, we can be much more successful. You can call some coyotes in the daytime, but coyotes are nocturnal, and that is when you will see more coyotes.”
These hunters use standing tripods that lock onto the rifles, as this allows them to walk into a field, open the tripod, and start calling.
Connor has told me for some
Author Larry Case describes Boothe’s and Samms’ BOG tripods as an “integral part” of their approach. “The DeathGrip tripod stayed attached to the rifles and upon arrival at the next spot, the rifle was extracted from the vehicle, the legs of the tripod were extended, and they were back to scanning the area within seconds,” Case writes.
Omega 300 suppressors from SilencerCo are another mission-critical piece of equipment, not only muffling shots around farms but disguising the hunters’ location to any more coyotes that might be coming in, as well as reducing their muzzle flashes.
GEAR INFO
The SilencerCo Omega 300 Suppressor (silencerco.com) is the lightest, shortest, quietest, full-auto-rated, titanium .300-caliber (7.62mm) centerfire rifle silencer on the market. It’s also the bestselling rifle silencer in history. It comes complete with direct thread and fast-attach mounts, as well as a removable Anchor Brake to reduce recoil, which can be replaced with a flat front cap.
The BOG DeathGrip Carbon Fiber Tripod (boghunt.com) is engineered to be the most stable precision tripod on the market. The carbon fiber legs reduce its overall weight, making it highly portable without sacrificing stability. The strength of the carbon fiber legs decreases the amount of flex, making this precision tripod extremely accurate for even the beginning hunter. Its patented clamp securely locks down any weapon for a hands-free, rock-solid rest. time how much of an advantage a suppressor is for coyote hunting. “First, we often hunt around farms where we could be near the farming family’s house,” he said. “This, along with there is usually cattle and other livestock close by, makes the SilencerCo suppressor a huge advantage. We could show up on a farm in the middle of the night and we don’t want to be disturbing the farmer and his family or the livestock.” Another point here is that the suppressor saves the shooters’ hearing, as they often set up close together, and if there are multiple shots involved, this can leave your ears ringing. Also, the suppressor really helps with recoil.
“The suppressor is a big advantage in the actual hunting of the coyote as well,” Connor explained. “I was surprised how much the actual noise of the rifle was reduced with the Omega suppressor from SilencerCo; these rifles are loud. Besides the actual noise reduction, we believe the suppressor also directs the noise of the shot away from the coyote and this really helps. In a calling session it is not unusual to call in multiple coyotes, and the noise reduction can be very helpful in getting shots off at more than one coyote. We find if you call a coyote in, we want to take it out. If you call a coyote in and miss it or spook him, he is educated and may be very hard to call in again.”
The suppressor does something else most hunters may not know about. It greatly reduces muzzle flash at night, much more so than with a flash hider. Much of what the suppressor does for noise reduction when a rifle is fired goes along with diminishing the flash in low light or darkness. The gases that are released when a round is fired are captured in the baffles, the internal workings of the suppressor. These gases are cooled through turbulence and heat exchange within the suppressor. The lower the temperature of these expended gases, the less glow you will see when the rifle is fired. On this night with Connor and Tyler, we shot a suppressed rifle beside an unsuppressed rifle of the same caliber
and saw a great difference between the two. The two experienced coyote hunters saw the suppressor as a great advantage for this type of hunting.
An accurate rifle, thermal optics and suppressors are an advantage no doubt, but they are almost useless if you do not have a steady rest for your rifle. The BOG DeathGrip Carbon Fiber Tripod is used by both of these coyote hunters, and I witnessed how important it was to their success. Many times during the evening, Connor and Tyler would change locations, move to a new area, and quickly set up. The DeathGrip tripod stayed attached to the rifles and upon arrival at the next spot, the rifle was extracted from the vehicle, the legs of the tripod were extended, and they were back to scanning the area within seconds. It became obvious that the DeathGrip tripod was an integral part of their operation.
The eastern coyote is a survival expert that hunters, game managers and farmers will always have to deal with. The random shooting of a coyote by the occasional deer hunter will not be enough to keep their numbers down to make it a little easier for the deer, turkeys and the livestock. Dedicated coyote hunters like Connor Boothe and Tyler Samms may even the odds a little.
Members of Boothe’s and Samms’ team pose with coyotes taken during a contest last year.
Editor’s note: Larry Case has been a devoted outdoorsman since he was a child. He will admit to an addiction to turkey hunting (spring and fall), but refuses any treatment. He enjoys the company of gobblers and cur dogs that are loud and people who speak the truth softly. Case served 36 years as a game warden in West Virginia and retired with the rank of district captain. You can check out his podcast and other stories at gunsandcornbred.com.
