17hmr..good for coyotes?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Anothermiller

Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
19
Location
Ohio
Had my savage mako out and took a groundhog..bout 125 yards off,give or take 10 yards..I sat and waited awhile to see if anymore would come out.A coyote started sniffing around that dead woodchuck and I wasnt sure if 17 hmr wouldve done the job cleanly,so I didnt shoot.It grabbed the dead 'chuck and ran off.Coyotes are becoming a real problem here with the farmers..Will a 17hmr do the job?
 
Well, if you get on YouTube, you'll see people dropping hogs with,a 17HMR, personally i shoot squirrel with mine and have to be careful, ripped one in half and found parts all over the place from, another one
 
.17 HMR works very well on 'yotes. They're thin skinned and not heavily boned.
 
Amen to predators are predators. They are what they are and anything can be food.
 
I don’t know much about the .17. I just shot one for the first time the other week. The owner of the rifle told me a little about the cartridge and ammo types. He said different brands performed drastically different, so I would seek out info on which brands/bullet types to try. He’s used this rifle successfully on yotes. Typically I’m a ‘get whatever shot you can’ on a coyote, but since you’re hunting and not protecting stock, you made an admirable choice in holding off on the shot.
 
Not to mention a wounded predator is still a dangerous predator, i got a 22magnum revolver to help me take a few this year, hopefully my first year going after them will produce a few dead coyotes
 
The 17 HMR is a little light for coyotes if you are looking to retrieve them or to make clean kills. If you are reasonably close, say 100 yds or closer, a well placed shot will put them down. It is very likely that the coyote will run off and die somewhere else. I prefer my .223 or .204. The 17HMR is great for squirrels (head shots) and p-dogs. It is my favorite p-dog round; quiet, no recoil, good range out to 125 yards, not too expensive.
 
Even if you just wound the coyote, don't feel bad for it. Coyotes tear apart fawns and eat 'em while they're still alive. No mercy or compassion within these vicious predators.

TR
What an absolutely horrific, twisted, and depraved comment.
 
Last edited:
the .17HMR is NOT a coyote round. Just like any other pip squeak underpowered round that gets batted about on this sight in the context of using it on something that is WAY out of it's design capabilities.

If you get close enough and if you can really pick your shots then yes it can be pressed into service on coyotes but that does NOT make it a coyote round. The way we hunt them out here primarily is by calling them, your shot may be close, it may be 300 yards it may be fast, you may have lots of time. In other words you'd be severely hamstringing yourself with limited little play toy round like the .17 HMR.

I've shot a couple of possum with a .17HMR, it kills them but it's definitely not too much gun on a possum. Last I checked coyotes are bit bigger than possums and a bit tougher to get real close to as well.
 
For those of us who have actually used the cartridge on coyotes, it works very well. Definitely use the 20gr XTP over the 17gr V-max loadings. Out to 150yds, it does an admirable job. I've never had one run more than 20yds after being hit. The 17gr loads will not even exit on a feral cat so I switched to XTP's for everything. It works well.
 
The only good coyote is a DEAD coyote. Will the 17 do the job? Heck yes. The drop dead now factor depends on the range. As the range gets up there it will still be a dead coyote but not an immediate kill.
 
For those of us who have actually used the cartridge on coyotes, it works very well.

At least it does where I use it. If I hunted 'Yotes out west where there was 10000 acres between me and the next farm, I'd probably use something else. If I couldn't call 'yotes closer than 300 yards, I'd probably use something else. But here where I hunt them, you'd never see one @ 300 yards. If you did, that meant it was open enough and flat enough that the next farm would be in your sights right behind it. Most of our shots are from right on top of us to out to maybe 150 yards. After that the little .17 runs outta gas real quick and we like it that way. It also works well that the little bullet hitting frozen ground either from a miss or a pass thru basically disintegrates instead of ricocheting for another mile and a half. The .17 also works well on the red and grey foxes that tend to come in while calling. The other gun I carry when calling coyotes is my 12 ga. That gets used about twice as much as the .17. Many don't consider that a coyote round either...........
 
If I couldn't call 'yotes closer than 300 yards, I'd probably use something else.

Out west you are welcome to bring your best calls/howlers and decoys or warblers or anything else you've got and we'll just see how often you can get a hung up long range coyote to go ahead and commit! If a coyote hangs up at 200 or 300 or 400 yards he's generally either seen or smelled something or he's just well educated but once they hang up they seldom continue into a call. The difference being that out here is that you can see those hesitant dogs that hang up at long range. In thick country you never do get to see the dogs that don't come charging in on your call. I promise you however you've got dogs that are interested but for some reason hang up.

Using a .17HMR for calling out here severely limits your shot opportunities. Just like using a .22 Hornet sure they'll kill yotes but you are range limited as compared to a .223 or some such.
 
Out west you are welcome to bring your best calls/howlers and decoys or warblers or anything else you've got and we'll just see how often you can get a hung up long range coyote to go ahead and commit! If a coyote hangs up at 200 or 300 or 400 yards he's generally either seen or smelled something or he's just well educated but once they hang up they seldom continue into a call. The difference being that out here is that you can see those hesitant dogs that hang up at long range. In thick country you never do get to see the dogs that don't come charging in on your call. I promise you however you've got dogs that are interested but for some reason hang up.

Using a .17HMR for calling out here severely limits your shot opportunities. Just like using a .22 Hornet sure they'll kill yotes but you are range limited as compared to a .223 or some such.

H&H...did you read the post you quoted me from? If you did, you should have noticed in the first line, that I stated if I hunted 'Yotes out west, I'd probably use something else. Again, where I hunt them, a .17HRM and a 12 ga. shotgun work well. Over the years, I have used .223s and other calibers as well, but in my old age, am uncomfortable with the thought of anything bigger and more powerful than a .17 or .22mag ricocheting off a frozen plowed field with humans and livestock within a mile or two radius. Just me I guess. A coyote outta range is just that. I ain't gonna starve to death if I don't get it. Tomorrow will be another day and another hunt. I believe in the OP, Anothermiller asked if his .17 would kill a coyote sniffin' a dead woodchuck at 125 yards. I'm still thinkin' it would have done just fine.
 
Last edited:
I hunt the groundhogs to rid the farm of them, they are a nuisance.Coyotes, They would also be a nuisance, if not dangerous pest.Those coyotes are coming up to the farm house and the dogs have to be brought in every time. 2 of those coyotes had a collie cornered.1 coyote was shot and it ran about 50 yards and dropped over dead,but shot was with a 357 mag at about 20 yards.They dont seem to scared of anything except now, if a gun is fired, they run off and come back a few days later,at dark.
Theyve killed all the barn cats that were keeping the small rodent population down and all the wild rabbits that used to run around.Only thing they dont bother seems to be groundhogs of all things.
I will look further into 17 hmr and see whats out there, I normally use the vmax.thx
 
Over the years I have found that of I take the used cat litter and dump it around my property they don't come into the yard so much if at all. If theymake it into the yard its whatever I grab first since 100 yards would be a long shot with buildings and livestock around. My longest would be 400 yds and I'm not so god past 300. I have an old Arisaka 6.5mm that works for that.
 
Amish kid in my area used a .17HMR. He limits himself to head shots only and kills an awful lot of coyotes every year. Skulls are a little squishy to the touch after getting mashed by that little bullet zipping through them. Said he shot one through the lungs a few yeears ago and it took off, found it several hundred yards away. I don't know at what range he shot that one.
 
Iv used my 17HMR on coyotes but limit my self to 150 with the 20gr bullets and 100 and under if I have 17gr vmax. Iv never had one run more then 5ft I usually go for head, base of the head neck area or center mass depending on range as with ANY caliber its about shot placement. I usually use my .243 but if I know a lot of fox are in the area I grab the 17hmr the 243 is WAY to much gun for a fox. Right now I'm in the works of getting a .17 Rem and pushing 25gr bergers now that is a coyote, fox, bobcat pelt saving killing machine!
 
I have killed them with .22 LR around the barn. I have killed them with a .30-06 and a .243 in the cow pasture. I have killed them with just about every gun I own. I throw lead at every coyote i see within 2-300 yards. It is the only animal I know of where a "clean kill" is not an objective. Is a drop dead shot preferred? Absolutely. I don't want any animal to suffer but a coyote that runs off and dies a day later or has a broken leg is a coyote that will not kill any of my livestock.
 
If I already had the rifle, I'd use the 17 HMR for coyotes with careful shot placement. I think a 22 WMR would be a little better if you want a rimfire round. I wouldn't go out and buy a 17 HMR rifle as my choice for coyote hunting.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top