coyote calibers

[4t5]

Her in connecticut,you cannot hunt small game,on state land, with any rifle larger than .22 lr,.The 17 hmr rimfires are legal,question is can they cleanly take coyote size animals? Don't believe the 22 lr can do it ,even though shots can easily be under 50 yds.Never hunted coyotes before and never shot the 17"s.

[tman]

poachers have killed thousands of deer with the 22lr. either should work. shot placement is everything. if it was me, i'd use CCI VELIOCITORS, or stingers for lung shots, under 50 yards.

[dr walker]

Does your state allow 12 gauge? Many small game laws are listed as shotgun or rimfire only.
I prefer a 12 gauge for calling in coyotes everywhere except wide open prairie. Even there, prairies have plenty of river bottoms where it will work as well.

[.45]

Shot placement on coyotes, as with any other animals is key. The 22lr will do fine at 50 yards or less with proper shot placement. Don't know about the 17's. Have seen bad shots on coyotes with .223 and .22-250 at 50-75 yards, only to see these things run a mile or find the first hole, culvert or whatever cover they can find. Did I mention coyotes are tough.
SHOT PLACEMENT IS THE KEY!

[4t5]

dr walker , to answer your question regarding shotguns....nothing larger than #2 shot is allowed.

[TedH]

I think I'd go with a shotgun with the #2 or #4 shot over a 22LR. Coyotes are extremely tough for their size. My brother once blew the guts out of one, quite literally, with a 7 mag and that sucker still ran better than a 1/4 mile before we found it. Of course that shot placement was less than ideal, but still that's a lot of abuse for a 35 pound animal to absorb and keep on truckin'.

[salvo]

I have a new respect for Coyotes, they are one tough animal! I center punched one this weekend with a 55gr soft point .223, flipped it over on its back. He got up and left, never did find him.
I have a 17HMR, but if I was going for Coyote with a rimfire I would take a .22Mag and even then your shot will need to be perfect and close range.

[AJMD429]

When I was a kid, we shot dozens of feral dogs that travelled in packs and killed livestock, and used .22LR hollowpoints out to 100 yards with 90% one-shot kills, and the others which 'bolted' would get a backup shot or two just to be sure they were down quickly. We didn't like livestock-killers, but we didn't want them do die an unnecessarily slow death, either. We'd have likely used .223's if we'd had them, but the little .22LR did just fine, and we didn't have to wear hearing protectors, either!

[Griff]

Aye GAWD I luv TEXAS!!!

[JReed]

The 17 will do it along with the 22lr at closer ranges shot placement is the key. The heart on a yote is not where it is on a deer most folks dont realize this. Here is a great thread with lots of ecelent diagrams and having seen a few dogs minus their cloths they match up with my experiance. http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ub ... &vc=1&nt=4

[rangerider7]

They are one tough animal. Sure shot placement is everything, as always. If you are going to use 22LR or 17 cal. Be ready to follow up. The smallest caliber I use is 22 mag HP and that is under 100 yards. I have seen enough death spins and run offs to last a lifetime. You have to follow and finish while they try and crawl away. I don't like coyotes at all, but I love one shot kills. Pick your distance and caliber wisely.

[Rusty]

A lot of guys over on Graybeards have been using the 17 HMR with good results. It seems to pack quite a punch for it's size.

[txpete]

can't really help on the 17/22 cals.I just shoot em with my 45/70 and a 405 cast they do great back flips and lights out then hang them on the fence.y'all have some strange restrictions up there .
pete

[major]

I've had the opportunity to take half a dozen coyote's with the 17HMR, In all fairness I can say it will get the job done, even with heart/lung shots you can expect some coyote’s to cover a distance of 30 to 100 yards after a perfect shot maybe 1 out of 3 will cover some ground before expiring.....I learned to go for head and neck shots if at all possible...no tracking needed.

[Nath]

All I know is for it's size the little 22 is a good penertrator mainly due to soft lead bullets and modest speed.

Nath.

[L_Kilkenny]

There are 2 problems with using rimfires on coyotes:

First reason is they are tough. I've read where guys get decent results (i.e. some DRT's the rest short runners) using rimfires and others talking about consistant runners for distances of 1/4 mile and beyond. My experience has been the latter. I've shot or seen shot more than 1/2 doz coyotes with rimfires and everyone has been a runner. My 22/250 DRT's em 90% of the time.

#2 reason is their thick fur. When you get a runner with a rimfire they leave very little blood trail. Their fur does a real good job of soaking up blood and the rimfire just doesn't do enough damage to spit out much blood.

Between the 2 reasons I stated you'll get lots of lost yotes.

Would I shoot a coyote with a rimfire if I was hunting squirrels and one came along? Heck yes. Would I go coyote hunting with a rimfire? Not on your life. Take a shotgun or hunt private ground.

LK

[20cows]

7.7-06 (Yeah, I'm in Texas, too!)