[CalamityJane]

Hey everybody. I've used the shotgun and handgun forums mostly, but now I have a question for y'all. Is a .22 rifle enough to "manage" coyotes who might be interested in our new baby calves? I'm interested in any and all suggestions.

Thanks.

[colt.45]

a .22 long rifle will do the job. although i recomend something with a little more punch, .223 will surely do the job and there are tons of guns that you can buy for around 200 bucks that will surely do the job.

[CAPTAIN MIKE]

I concur re: 22LR. However, the .223 is the way to go in my opinion.

[R.W.Dale]

A 22lr will kill a coyote just as dead as a .223 the only diffrence is how long it takes, so if a dead coyote is the only goal I for one could care less how far the critter runs before expiring.

[chestnut ridge]

I have some cattle; many of my farms have roads and houses near.
I have used 22-250 and 223 rifles; but recently have started shooting the 17 HMR. It has a fragile bullet and I don't have to worry about where the
bullet may bounce off to. My rifle is the stainless Taurus 172. It is very
light and handy. The 17 has enough punch to kill a coyote.

[Lupinus]

.22lr will do it with a good round and good shot placement. I would go with more punch, .223 .22-250 .22 hornet etc.

Will do it, but there are others that can do it better and reasonably cheap if you use .223

[redneckrepairs]

while a .22 lr will deff. handle a coyote inside 100 yrds , and has for me on many occations while checking cows , i would step up to at least .22 mag or hornet , a .223 is hard to beat for them also and beats some others due to cheap ammo lol anyway good luck with the vermin no matter what you choose

[Roadkill]

Use CCI stinger hollowpoints. You might drop one dead but chances are he'll cruise on off. Try for a chest lung shot. I was deer hunting and hit one three times at 50 yds with a 150g round nose soft point 30-30 and he was still trying to get away. Shot him in the head twice with a .32 befor he died. They are tough.

tk

[kentucky_smith]

.223 NEF handi-rifle works well for me.

[Raygun]

My girlfriend's mother knocked over a coyote with a Ruger 77/22 last year. I'd have to ask her about the range, but I'm pretty sure it was well within 100 yards. I personally haven't had the opportunity to use a .22 LR for that job yet, but it appears to have worked okay. She used Federal Champion HPs.

I have a 20" HBAR AR-15 that has worked well so far (six and counting, all within 200 yards). I think all of them have been taken with either Ultramax 52 grain HPs or Barnaul 55 grain SPs.

[trickyasafox]

22 mag might give you a bit more humane kill, just a consideration. i use a 223 encore 15in pistol

[bowfin]

I would opt for either a .22-250 or .220 Swift if you wanted to kill every coyote you could see.

A .223 or .222 Remington will get 95% of the coyotes that the two bigger cartridges will, though. If you don't practice at long range, it would probably be closer to 99%...

If you don't have a rifle, but have a 12 gauge shotgun, you might want to consider a box or two of Hevi-shot "Dead Coyote" loads. This stuff is unbelievable with what little I have seen of it in the field so far.

[CB900F]

Calamity;

We got land, we got coyotes. I'll use whatever's at hand, but prefer either the .223 or 6mm Remington.

I have been talkin' to the neighbors & tryin' to see if they'll throw in with me & rent a coupla B-52's to carpet bomb the bassiches.

900F

[aufevermike]

You owe it to the animal to put it down quickly and humanely. if you are shooting with in 60 yards go with a .22 Mag or shotgun, if further use atleast a .223. You can also call upon a local trapper who might be interested.

[CalamityJane]

Thank you all for your replies. I appreciate all the suggestions and advice.

I too appreciate the comments about humane killing of these creatures; I am pretty much a live-and-let-live kind of person, but they cannot have our baby calves. They just can't. So, while it will not bother me to shoot a coyote, I would want to make it a quick kill. So I appreciate the suggestions.

Thanks again.

[RyanM]

From what I've heard, coyote packs don't care one bit if members just stop coming back from hunts, and then you'd eventually have to kill all of them. But when coyotes start coming back gut-shot and dying, the rest of the yotes know to avoid that place.

Just what I've heard.

[Cueball]

I've had good luck with my Savage .223 in thinning coyote populations. The 22 is just not enough to reliably do the job. With a 22 you have to have just the right shot placement and be assured that they will come close enough to make a kill shot, neither of these variables are sure things. The .223 has the additional power and range to make reliable kills.

[one-shot-one]

got to agree with those that said .22 mag or up, .22lr will do but is not the best tool for the job.

[CalamityJane]

Thanks again, everybody. I think, due to overwhelming suggestions, I'll take a look at some .223 rifles. Any specific recommendations?

Appreciate it.
CJ

[Art Eatman]

Lots of excellent bolt-actions. A 4X scope is plenty.

IMO, an older good-used Ruger Mini-14 is a good coyote gun; mine were.

The nice thing about .223 is that ammo is fairly cheap, and you can get "all married up" with your rifle.

Lots of threads here in this forum about calling coyotes. I've done okay in sitting over bait, using table scraps. Or, late afternoon, just sitting and watching over some commonly used travel path. Get behind a bit of brush; take a paperback book to read, learning to read a paragraph, look around, read a paragraph...:)

[CZguy]

I've had very good success with my CZ-527 (Varmint model) scoped with a Burris 4.5x14 in .223.

[retnav05]

No mention here of 204 Ruger? Dont have one yet, but Ive read good things about the ctg.

[oldhammy1]

I don't know your situation, but I know that all you would need to do is say the word, and you would have more than enough responsible coyote hunters there to help take care of your problem. I have done that for a friend who has a ranch north of where I am at, and he has always been appreciative. For what it's worth.

Hammy

[imas]

If budget is a concern a surplus rifle would serve you well. An SKS, Mosin Nagant, or a Mauser. You should be able to get these between $70 and $150. Ammo is cheap as well. If it were me I'd just use a 12ga slug.

[Clean97GTI]

You can probably find an inexpensive bolt rifle that will manage a coyote just fine.

In fact, a quick browse around ImpactGuns showed a Remington 710 in .270 (a wee bit more than you need) for $352 and it includes a premounted Bushnell scope. Probably not the greatest glass ever, but certainly adequate.
.270 is also enough for deer should you ever want to take it hunting.

Its not as pretty nor is it as "polished" as its 700 series brethren, but for ridding your land of excess 'yotes, it should be more than adequate.

Then again, my uncle got one last year when it tried to attack one of his foals. A good shot with a .357 magnum (S&W Model 19) took care of the critter in fine style.

[Buzztail]

I like my 14" Contender in .204 Ruger with a 4x Burris. Quick to shoot, quick to kill. I impressed a friend last weekend by destroying golf balls to 100 yds at a rapid pace. Using off the shelf ammo it'll shoot ~.75 on the days I can see.

[Matt G]

We discussed this at length at TheFiringLine (http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164271), and arrived at a majority consensus that, while it can be done, the .22 is not by any means the best method of killing coyotes. (It's an interesting thread there-- a challenge was made regarding ability to just "shoot 'em in the eye")

I'm fond of the .22 Hornet, and would consider it or the .22 WMRF as a minimum for humane coyote destruction, with considered near shots.