Two Coyotes Killed With a .17 HMR Today

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Picher

Picher

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Went down to the blueberry fields about a quarter mile behind the house, carrying my .17 HMR, CZ 455. I was really not expecting to see much, being a warm, sunny afternoon. I have an old concrete sitting bench down there, so sat down and looked around.

I saw two turkeys at the left end of the field, about a hundred yards away, then practiced aiming at various rocks to help practicing steady, un-rested holds.

Suddenly, a coyote that may have been lying among the low blueberry bushes stood up and seemed to be interested in the turkeys. It was about 70 yards away, so I held dead-on the lungs and fired. It went down immediately, but kicked a bit, so I got up and started walking toward it to finish it off.

I got about 15 yards, when another coyote got up, about 100 yards and started heading toward where the turkeys were. I stopped walking, raised the rifle and shot. The coyote started running away from me, so I fired again and it ran another hundred yards and dropped, not moving at all, ending up about 170 yards away.

After finishing the first one, I walked to the second one, which had run about 100 yards after the shot. It was dead when I got to it. Both coyotes were about 25 lbs. and had been killing various small animals, judging from the fresh droppings in the access road. (They tend to show off, marking their territory along the dirt roads.)

The .17 HMR did its job, was a bit light for the critters and circumstances, but I was still impressed with its performance and will continue to carry it, because it's so much fun to plink at some flat-faced boulders in the blueberry fields for practice. CZ3.JPG
 
Nice.
I am pretty much limited to 17hmr and 22lr around my house.
I wish I could use an ax on them but they don't let me get anywhere near them so bullets it is.
 
We have a vocal-as-hell pack that have been keeping the wife and I up at night the past two weeks, we think a downhill neighbor clearing out some low growing acacia on his hillside has disturbed them so they’re looking for a new place to den up on the hillside below our house.

I wish I could shoot a few, last Tues two of the cretins were flanking our pointer when we let her out in the morning. Luckily my wife saw them and ran them off. I live in the middle of town (large lots tho) so the neighbors would probably rat me out to the authorities if they heard me firing a gun at the varmints.

Nice shooting!

Stay safe.,
 
Outstanding! I have to admit that, if asked, I would have said " no way" to .17 HMR for coyote. Can't argue with results though.
 
Riomouse911 said:
We have a vocal-as-hell pack that have been keeping the wife and I up at night the past two weeks, we think a downhill neighbor clearing out some low growing acacia on his hillside has disturbed them so they’re looking for a new place to den up on the hillside below our house.

I wish I could shoot a few, last Tues two of the cretins were flanking our pointer when we let her out in the morning. Luckily my wife saw them and ran them off. I live in the middle of town (large lots tho) so the neighbors would probably rat me out to the authorities if they heard me firing a gun at the varmints.

Nice shooting!

Stay safe.,
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Why not get yourself a good .22 or .25 air rifle, or use a .22 rifle with subsonic loads. They are pretty quiet, and if shot from inside the house, the neighbors would not know.
 
Yeah a .25 air rifle can be pretty serious.
Mine can match a 22CB in velocity and exceed it units of mass.
Easy very deadly to anything cat and bunny sized.
Will definitely give something coyote sized at least a punctured lung.
 
<*(((>< said:
What ammo did you use? 17gr poly tip?
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Yes! The 17 gr. works well, both Winchester and Hornady. The rifle seems to like Hornady better, but Winchester works okay.

NOTE 9/17/2019: Some lots of Hornady shoot MOA in my rifle at 100 yards. Winchester lots that I've tried seem to have more flyers at that distance, but still deadly.

Any rimfire ammo lots vary in accuracy, much like .22LR ammo, but the Hornady .17 grain rounds seem to have been the most consistent I've used, from Lot to Lot. If anyone else has tested more at 100 yards than I have, I'd like some feedback.
 
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DocRock said:
Outstanding! I have to admit that, if asked, I would have said " no way" to .17 HMR for coyote. Can't argue with results though.
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If I thought I'd run across coyotes, I'd have carried my .223 Rem 700, but just wanted to check out the fields and maybe pop a red squirrel, woodchuck or something. I was really just getting some exercise for the upcoming bird season, now that the hordes of mosquitoes and other biting/nuisance swarms are pretty much gone for the year.

The .17 HMR is really inexpensive to shoot and doesn't make a lot of noise. I bought it to shoot pests close to the houses, but it's really great to shoot out to about 150 yards without much drop.
 
Picher said:
If I thought I'd run across coyotes, I'd have carried my .223 Rem 700, but just wanted to check out the fields and maybe pop a red squirrel, woodchuck or something. I was really just getting some exercise for the upcoming bird season, now that the hordes of mosquitoes and other biting/nuisance swarms are pretty much gone for the year.

The .17 HMR is really inexpensive to shoot and doesn't make a lot of noise. I bought it to shoot pests close to the houses, but it's really great to shoot out to about 150 yards without much drop.
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We've had a 17 for years now, and if you know what you're doing and being responsible, it will ABSOLUTELY down a coyote, my general recommendation is "don't try this at home" but when you've got it, you've got it, well done!!!!
 
Fyrstyk said:
Why not get yourself a good .22 or .25 air rifle, or use a .22 rifle with subsonic loads. They are pretty quiet, and if shot from inside the house, the neighbors would not know.
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Been there, done that several times, but I shot a coyote within 50 feet of the house during the day and didn't appreciate what the .22 LR did. The neighbors all shoot, so it's not too much of a problem, but I don't want it to be a regular thing. I'm not impressed with the subsonic .22LRs, though I did use them on skunks that were tearing up the lawn in the Spring. The .17 seems to be quieter than the .22 Mag and seems to kill more quickly, yet they are nearly equal in energy.
 
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You guys are tempting me to try my .17HMR on Coyotes (under 100 yards). I've had my rifle for a bit over four years now...but haven't used it on anything larger than raccoons. Because I've had a number of 'crawl offs' with coons hit squarely in the heart/lung area...I've been of the opinion that the 17 would not be suitable for something the size of a Coyote (ours tend to run on the large size). But accounts such as this one seem to refute that notion.

My rifle is also a CZ455 and is quite accurate out to 100 yds. (I've not shot it further than that). I would not feel comfortable shooting a Coyote beyond 100 yds.,not for concerns of accuracy...but I just don't think the energy is there, maybe I am wrong.

Some animals are less tenacious of life than others. Bobcats for instance are not hard to kill...I think Raccoons are hardier than them. Anyway, you guys have got me thinking about it now. Thanks for sharing your experiences and congratulations to @Picher.
 
Nice shooting sir, thanks for sharing! I’ve taken my suppressed 17 HMR out for coyotes a couple times, but haven’t been fortunate enough to get a shot off as yet....
 
horsey300 said:
We've had a 17 for years now, and if you know what you're doing and being responsible, it will ABSOLUTELY down a coyote, my general recommendation is "don't try this at home" but when you've got it, you've got it, well done!!!!
Click to expand...
friend of mine uses one for hogs, according to him those 17gr poly's will penetrate the skull from angles a .22lr won't work at.
Guy I sold my .17 to uses it for the same with fmjs or the heavier 20gr....or did last I talked to him.

My experience with pretty much ALL standard subs, is that you have to hit CNS. I've never used any of the newer sub-X style bullets.
Honestly, I think a crossbow or vertical bow, with a good broad head is usually a better option.
 
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Flintknapper said:
You guys are tempting me to try my .17HMR on Coyotes (under 100 yards). I've had my rifle for a bit over four years now...but haven't used it on anything larger than raccoons. Because I've had a number of 'crawl offs' with coons hit squarely in the heart/lung area...I've been of the opinion that the 17 would not be suitable for something the size of a Coyote (ours tend to run on the large size). But accounts such as this one seem to refute that notion.

My rifle is also a CZ455 and is quite accurate out to 100 yds. (I've not shot it further than that). I would not feel comfortable shooting a Coyote beyond 100 yds.,not for concerns of accuracy...but I just don't think the energy is there, maybe I am wrong.

Some animals are less tenacious of life than others. Bobcats for instance are not hard to kill...I think Raccoons are hardier than them. Anyway, you guys have got me thinking about it now. Thanks for sharing your experiences and congratulations to @Picher.
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Thanks for the kind sentiment. If you decide to shoot coyotes with the .17 HMR, lung shots are probably best. Those pills open fast and can do their best work on soft tissue.
 
A .17 HMR is my preferred rifle for 'yotes in the Ag areas I hunt around here. Song dogs are not hard to kill, I actually take one or two a year with my shotgun during turkey season. The little .17 is more than enough out to 125 yards or so on 'em. I like the 20 gr XTPs. Nice thing as opposed to centerfire rounds is thwey tend to not go nearly as far in open flat country and most of the time they self destruct when hitting frozen farm fields, instead of ricochets. Farms and rec land around here are mostly small parcels of 120 acres or so, with a farmhouse/cabin on every one. Nice to know I don't have to worry about those I can't see. If a 'yote won't come any closer than 125 yards to my calling, it ain't the gun's fault.
 
The .17 HMR fluted barrel for my CZ 455 is the second one. I bought the rifle slightly-used at Kittery, (ME) Trading Post as a .22 MAG, but wasn't happy with the accuracy of those rounds. The .17 HMR barrel was bought as an experiment and I fell in love with both the cartridge and the great heavier, fluted barrel. The rifle "hangs" just right for both carrying and offhand shooting.

If anyone would like the .22 mag CZ barrel, I'd happily part with it for a reasonable price. I also have several boxes of ammo, but haven't checked about whether it can be shipped without problems.
 
Story behind the CZ's scope:

The 3-9X scope is a Bushnell 3-9X scope that used to be on my son's bolt-action .30-06, until one day when he was getting ready to hunt deer and left it leaning against a counter and left the room to get something. When he got back, the rifle was on the floor, but he didn't think much about it.

He then went hunting and sat on his stool in the field access road when a nice buck walked out from the right side and he shot five times but the deer just walked off across the road. It came back into the road about 40 yards farther, so he shot again and couldn't believe he missed that many times. Finally, he figured out that his dog knocked the rifle over, landing on the scope's objective end, bending it.

He came to my house, after firing at a target, finding it hitting more than a couple of feet high at 100 yards. I looked at the scope and noticed that it was bent downward at an angle from the front mount. I took it off and installed an extra scope that I had and we sighted the rifle in. After a while, I wondered whether the scope could be straightened, so placed it on a bench pad and whacked it with my rubber hammer until it was straight when I rolled it on the counter.

Years later, I bought the CZ and decided to try the scope. It installed it and it seemed okay and it proved to be when I shot the rifle. Who'd think it would be fine? The CZ shoots 1 MOA at 100 yards and I like the balance.
 
Wow.... That's amazing. I probably would have given up on that scope. I've considered getting a 17 HMR barrel for my CZ-455 .22LR, thumbhole varmint, but haven't got serious about it yet. Sounds like yours is pretty accurate. Just think; with two barrels for my CZ it would be like having two rifles yet only take up one space in the safe. It currently has a 2-7x Vortex scope on it that would probably still suit my needs in either chambering.
 
Picher said:
The .17 HMR fluted barrel for my CZ 455 is the second one. I bought the rifle slightly-used at Kittery, (ME) Trading Post as a .22 MAG, but wasn't happy with the accuracy of those rounds. The .17 HMR barrel was bought as an experiment and I fell in love with both the cartridge and the great heavier, fluted barrel. The rifle "hangs" just right for both carrying and offhand shooting.

If anyone would like the .22 mag CZ barrel, I'd happily part with it for a reasonable price. I also have several boxes of ammo, but haven't checked about whether it can be shipped without problems.
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^^^^^
I can vouch also for the CZ heavy fluted barrel. I was ready to spring for a custom barrel...but decided to give the CZ version a try first. It has been quite accurate to 100 yds. typically shooting 5/8" to 3/4" five shot groups with CCI (TNT, Gamepoint and A-17). Very happy with it.
 

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Flintknapper said:
^^^^^
I can vouch also for the CZ heavy fluted barrel. I was ready to spring for a custom barrel...but decided to give the CZ version a try first. It has been quite accurate to 100 yds. typically shooting 5/8" to 3/4" five shot groups with CCI (TNT, Gamepoint and A-17). Very happy with it.
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Very nice outfit! Mine consistently shoots under 1 MOA, but only with Hornaday 17 grain.

I don't have a strong enough scope to do much better, but out in the field, shoot either offhand or sitting with my left elbow on my knee. (Shot prone a couple of years ago, when in a grandfather/grandson local gallery match and thought we'd need a crane to get me up. Otherwise, never in over the last 40 years of hunting!)

Yesterday, because my local club range was rented-out, went out back to my blueberry field range to shoot at my bench, but the wind and mirage weren't great. Wind varied both downwind and upwind, up to about 8 mph and the target was dancing around in mirage when it subsided a bit. It was obviously NOT the day to be shooting either .223 or .17 HMR for groups. On one 5-shot target, there were three shots of .17 HMR in 5/8" with two touching, then another two touching, but nearly an inch out from the group.

(The good thing is that any shot fired yesterday would have been accurate enough to kill a woodchuck or other varmint, even beyond 100 yards. In over 60 years of hunting, I've yet to encounter any critters with scoring rings on them.)
 
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