Coyote hunters, lend me your ears and experience

[entropy]

armoredman, what you want to do is go play and maybe get a coyote while your at it. I've never shot one over 100 yards, but I still use rifles, whether a .30-06 on opportunity shots while deer or bear hunting, or my .223 Axis, which I bought specifically for coyotes. (Even though I used it deer hunting this year. Ironically, all I got was a coyote!) I got that coyote at only 25 yards, but it dropped DRT, from a run.
Go ahead and bring that Evo S1 with, maybe you'll get a good opportunity to get a coyote with it at appropriate ranges, but have a rifle with, too; you'll have more opportunities, and more ethical kills. (not that that's usually on most coyote hunters' minds.... )

 

[desidog]

My coyotes & 9mm experience wasn't good.

Some years ago, I saw three yotes out in our field in the tall grass, and grabbed my Beretta CX4 with Federal Hydroshocks in the mag... I got to about 75 yards and put a good round into the first dog. He went down so I then shifted to the second, and put 3-4 rounds into him quickly. Knowing i got him, i shifted to looking for the third yote, who had by then gotten out of dodge. Ok. Job's done, time to go retrieve the two i hit.... well, surprisingly, and reminiscent of the Viet Cong, their bodies were gone! There was some blood splatter on the grass, but no dead yotes...

Needless to say, a 9mm out of a 16" barrel has more juice than out of a pistol barrel, and it didn't get the job done. Hopefully your experience will vary.

 

[armoredman]

macgrumpy, that was the first time with that setup, and I can reliably hit that same 9"x14" target at 100 yards from the standing position now. Not bragging by any means, because I know there are people out there who can do much better, but I do put up the evidence of what I CAN actually do. That seems rare nowadays. I'll do a 100 yard video soon.
It's OK, if that wasn't a great idea, no worries, just trying to come up with something useful with this nifty little gun, but that's OK. I can use the CZ 527 CSR with no problem, (100 yard shots and farther aren't really an issue with that, with iron sights), but i don't have but one old Chinese 4 power fixed scope laying about. Not fond of scopes. Just me.
Perhaps I'll wait and see if I can get that BREN 805 in a few months. .223 SHOULD have enough to do the job, right?

 

[entropy]

.223 is an excellent coyote round.

 

[AnselHazen]

For an AR, what power scope do you recommend for coyote?

I use an AR with a Trijicon RX06 and an aftermarket trigger. I have livestock and my encounters are at less than 80 yards because they are coming in to shop at the poultry buffet. Being able to follow them with both eyes open while running gets them DRT.

 

[macgrumpy]

I'm not trying to criticize your skill I'm just saying that regardless of how well you shoot that's just not the kind of weapon I'd recommend using.

 

[armoredman]

I can respect that, and that's the kind of feedback I was looking for thanks.

 

[Win73]

I have killed two coyotes. The first was several years ago while deer hunting. I had gotten into my shooting house before daylight. It was about 10:00 am and I hadn't seen anything. I had leaned my rifle against the wall and was preparing to leave. I glanced out the front window of the shooting house and saw a coyote standing about 25 yards broadside to me. He was looking straight ahead, not at me. I slowly reached for my rifle and tried to quietly lift it. However I bumped the wall with it. Not very loud but the coyote looked my way and started walking. I was afraid he would bolt so as soon as I had the crosshairs on his body good, I fired. I figured I wouldn't need to be very precise with a .30-06 on a coyote. It dropped in its tracks. When I walked up to the coyote I saw that I had hit it just behind its rib cage. The 150 grain Remington CoreLokt had nearly cut it in two. The amazing thing was that it was still alive even though most of the back half of it body was blown away. It started snapping its jaws at me as I walked up to it. I finished it with a pistol shot to the head.
The second was two years ago. I have a cheap electronic caller. I went to one of my shooting houses and turned on the caller using a squealing rabbit. I called for about five minutes or so. A coyote walked out of the brush at 75 yards. I put the crosshairs on his front shoulder and fired. He dropped in his tracks. When I walked up to him he was DRT. That was also my .30-06 using the 150 grain Remington CoreLokt.
That is also my deer bullet. I have fired it 16 times at deer and coyotes and have put down 14 deer and two coyotes with those 16 shots. Some of the deer have run and some dropped in their tracks. None ran more than 100 yards and those that did run left a good blood trail. Both coyotes dropped where shot even though one was still alive. It couldn't move and I am sure it would have died pretty quickly with that much of its body blown away.

 

[Officers'Wife]

Around here we have a peace treaty with the coyotes, if they don't get into range we don't shoot them. Our circumstance here is pest control and I've seen them shot with everything from 22 rimfire to 50 BMG. My brother's "coyote killer" is a Remington bolt action in .243 that is more than adequate for job.

He has gone so far as to move road kill off the highway to the pasture just outside one of the woods then settle down in a second brushy "knoll" about 100 yards distant.

Using a handgun for one??? No, maybe if one were in my chickens and nothing else were available but not for general hunting the creatures. Keep in mind if one survives being shot at he starts thinking about methods to avoid being shot at in the future while he and his friends continue to pull down calves, compete with us for the tasty little bunny rabbits and in general commit acts that have a negative effect on my morale. There is a saying in this part of cattle country- When Selena ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

 

[macgrumpy]

I don't want to derail the conversation but until you've seen a lot animals that have been injured you really don't understand how resilient they can be. It's nothing to find a cow that's had it's rear end and stomach ripped out by wolves and the cow will be standing two days later bawling in pain. I've seen deer with legs completely blown off from poor shots, coyotes that chewed their own leg off to escape a trap, horses with their backs laid open to the spine, and all of them still running faster than you or could and fully functional - except for the missing parts of course.

Any time you go hunting you owe it to the animal to make as clean a kill as possible and choosing a caliber should be based on what will give you the best chance of killing the animal cleanly under the worst circumstances, not what the lightest caliber is that might work according to the opinions of people that don't really hunt that animal.

 

[buck460XVR]

Any time you go hunting you owe it to the animal to make as clean a kill as possible and choosing a caliber should be based on what will give you the best chance of killing the animal cleanly under the worst circumstances, not what the lightest caliber is that might work according to the opinions of people that don't really hunt that animal.

Many folks will never be "handgun hunters" because they cannot fathom the idea that a handgun can be just as effective as a rifle when used in appropriate applications. They also do not have the patience to wait for an animal to get close....real close, before they pop off a shot. They generally also aren't good enough handgun shots to hit a "yote sized target @ 30-40 yards. They want to be able to kill an animal under the "worst case scenario" instead of waiting for the right scenario. As if killing a standing 'yote at 30-40 yards with a 9mm is less realistic and less humane than throwing .223s at one running full bore @ 150yards. I sit here and have to laugh at folks that claim a caliber that is probably one of the most popular SD calibers, used by the most LEOs and most of the worlds Armies for stopping man sized threats, intent on killing you, will not effectively kill a 40# coyote. In the last decade, I have killed more 'yotes with #5s outta a scattergun than with anything else. All have been within 40 yards and all could have been easily killed with a 9mm.

 

[macgrumpy]

Don't assume things pal, I happen to have hunted deer and javelina with a .44mag for years so I have no illusions about what a pistol can do and I doubt that you can out shoot me with a pistol anyways.

Where do you live that you can get all kinds of coyotes to walk to within 30 yards on a regular basis? It wasn't common for me in Yuma, north of Phoenix, or west of Salt Lake City where I did most of my hunting.

Regardless, my experience in Arizona has been that you hardly ever get coyotes in any closer than 100 yards, it happens but you'll wait a long time and miss a lot of yotes between shots. You guys from the Midwest and back east seem to mention having a dog walk within a few yards of you before you took your shot, if I had one that close I wouldn't have a problem with using a 9mm either, hell, I'd use my Marlin .22 out to 30 yards (it's accurate enough that I can just about guarantee a hit to the spine at that range). The point is that that's not reality in Arizona where most coyote hunting is done in the desert which has wide open spaces between the mesquite and other brush and there are no trees to make a stand from. You can't build a blind because there are no resources (trees and heavy brush) unless you carry a portable in and most of the time a man made blind doesn't work well anyways because they recognize them as being out of place so they avoid them. The typical stand I made was a pile of rocks next to some brush, that gave me good field of view and I blended in better with the shadows and broken features. There are lots of little arroyos and cuts and winds that shift all over the place so the animal can maneuver himself in to a good spot to wind you more often than not, they have wide open spaces to see you from, and they can sneak in and out pretty easily in that terrain.

 

[buck460XVR]

Don't assume things pal, I happen to have hunted deer and javelina with a .44mag for years so I have no illusions about what a pistol can do and I doubt that you can out shoot me with a pistol anyways.

Where do you live that you can get all kinds of coyotes to walk to within 30 yards on a regular basis? It wasn't common for me in Yuma, north of Phoenix, or west of Salt Lake City where I did most of my hunting.

Regardless, my experience in Arizona has been that you hardly ever get coyotes in any closer than 100 yards, it happens but you'll wait a long time and miss a lot of yotes between shots.

First off, since I don't know you from Adam, you ain't my "Pal", altho we probably could be. Secondly I think it's hilarious that you tell me not to assume anything, yet in the same sentence, you immediately assume you can outshoot me with a handgun. Even if you can, it don't make you a handgun hunter and one does not have to assume this.

If you do hunt with a handgun, then you know that with a rifle, odds are you would have taken that shot long before the animal got into handgun range. No different than hunting Turkeys with a bow. Folks that have only hunted them with rifles think 75 yards is a close shot. Folks that hunt them with shotguns like them within 30 yards. With a bow, I like them to be within 15. I never knew how easy it was to get and keep a turkey within 10 yards of you until I started to hunt them with a bow. Until then, They were dead and on the ground before they reached the 20 yard marker. Very similar to bow hunting deer. Folks that never bow hunted probably are not used to shooting many deer under 15 yards away. The trigger is pulled long before they get that close. I think the same is true for 'yotes. Folks don't think they come within 50 yards because they've already taken their shot @ 100.

My point of this thread is not what is common shooting distances for you or for me. The point is that coyotes are not armor plated, nor are they hard to kill. Within it's limitations, a 9mm will do just fine. The problem that is very obvious here is that most folks are not comfortable with the limitations of a 9mm or even the use of any handgun for coyotes and it basically comes down to shot opportunities. Some folks want the most shot opportunities possible, even if they are low percentage and at long distances. To some folks fewer shot opportunities, even no shot opportunities are worth the effort, skill and patience it takes to get an animal into handgun or bow range. To them, it ain't about the kill but the hunt. To many, a hunt is not successful unless there is something dead in the back of the truck. To others the mere thrill of having an animal within 15-20 yards makes the hunt, regardless if a shot opportunity presents itself.

Ever fish Muskies? They say it is the fish of 10,000 casts. This is why only a few hardcores fish exclusively for them. To them, a single "follow" in a day's worth of casting 2 OZ plugs is a good day. For many tho, the thrill of catching twenty 2' Northerns in the same day, or a dozen 2# bass is what determines success. Neither are right or wrong, nor is one better than the other. They just have different priorities and different goals. Same could be said for shooting a 'yote with a handgun. Not every hunter can or will ever do it. For those that do and can it is an accomplishment to be proud of. That's what makes a handgun hunter.

 

[macgrumpy]

Many folks will never be "handgun hunters" because they cannot fathom the idea that a handgun can be just as effective as a rifle when used in appropriate applications. They also do not have the patience to wait for an animal to get close....real close, before they pop off a shot. They generally also aren't good enough handgun shots to hit a "yote sized target @ 30-40 yards. They want to be able to kill an animal under the "worst case scenario" instead of waiting for the right scenario. As if killing a standing 'yote at 30-40 yards with a 9mm is less realistic and less humane than throwing .223s at one running full bore @ 150yards. I sit here and have to laugh at folks that claim a caliber that is probably one of the most popular SD calibers, used by the most LEOs and most of the worlds Armies for stopping man sized threats, intent on killing you, will not effectively kill a 40# coyote. In the last decade, I have killed more 'yotes with #5s outta a scattergun than with anything else. All have been within 40 yards and all could have been easily killed with a 9mm.

I guess you're not familiar with how the term pal can be used sarcastically because I had no intention of assuming that you were a friend. You were sarcastic and condescending so I was responding in kind. You make accusations about my ability to shoot a handgun without knowing anything about me and then get butt hurt when I treat you the same way, hilarious.

Thanks for the lecture on how you assume I hunt and all the tips on fishing but I was focusing on the original poster's question about using a 9mm in an Arizona coyote hunt which you clearly have no experience doing yourself. Nobody is arguing that the animal itself can't be killed with a 9mm, that wasn't the topic of the conversation, it was whether a 9mm handgun cartridge would be a good choice for an Arizona coyote hunt -and it isn't.

 

[buck460XVR]

Nobody is arguing that the animal itself can't be killed with a 9mm, that wasn't the topic of the conversation, it was whether a 9mm handgun cartridge would be a good choice for an Arizona coyote hunt -and it isn't.

I don't know what thread you've been reading. This was the question in the OP's opening post.....

Question - will a 9mm 124 gr cast slug moving at roughly 1100 FPS be sufficient to bring down a coyote, or would do I need to amp up the load/bullet?

The OP's question was fairly objective, while the question you and others have read into the tread is highly subjective. 'Yotes coming in to calls are generally coming for a easy meal, since most folks use prey distress type calls. They cannot eat that meal from 100 yards, even if they are in Arizona.

Just sayin'.

 

[doubleh]

Yep, the load in the OP will definately do the trick if put in the right spot. The trick is getting the coyote close enough to hit the right spot with it. Around here our coyotes are educated. You will NOT get one in that close. Maybe his coyotes haven't been hunted and can still be suckered in for what they think is a free meal.

 

[armoredman]

First off, I apologize as it seems I have started a row here, wasn't my intent.
Also, I do have one guy I know who has recently hunted coyote out here, and he tells me, ( which I take at face value), that he can get them 60-100 yards out, and takes them with a shotgun. Seen the pics, not the actual hunt. Another, experienced hunter I know also swears he can call them in reasonably close, and since he's also my gunsmith, I usually believe him...unless the tale get's TOO tall!
I do appreciate everyone's feedback, thank you very much.