new to predator hunting, need advice on coyote gun

[A2lockdown]

so after what was by far the worst deer season of my life (biggest buck chased off by a car, dogs, coyotes & black cats spooking deer, people walking in the feild, and a hundred other things that went wrong every trip for 3 months; it was just un-freakin-beliveable) i ended up shooting a small buck with my bow at last light, perfect placement but not a pass through so no blood trail, didnt want to push him off the property so i came back in the morning, and guess what?? the same stupid song dogs that i let pass at 10 yards countless times cause i didnt want to mess up the deer hunt ate every scrap of meat on my buck. to add insult to injury, i just learned their pelts averaged 40 bucks each last year. :banghead: so its payback time. the question is, im on a very limited budget so what should i do?

i have an old savage .22lr/410 o/u, open sights only, no way to mount a scope. super accurate (one hole) @ 25 yards, good to 50, but thats about the limit.

looking at a savage 93 in 22 wmr. ive got a 3-9X32 bushnell that i could put on it. not ideal glass but would it survive, and allow me to make hits at 100?

im not looking to make a 300 yd shot, considering there was a couple times i could have literally kicked the darn things. but ive never done any predator calling or hunting so i dont know what to expect.

what i would like to know from anyone who hunts coyotes regularly, will the 22mag be worth the investment, or will the 22lr deal with em? (it has to be rimfire cause im not paying $1 per shot for centerfire ammo!) not bragging, but shot placement wont be an issue, i know how to do that. effective range/terminal performance combination is what i need to know.

ive looked a little on the varmit/coyote forums and found nothing useful. i really cant see why anyone spends thousands to shoot varmits hundreds of yards away. if thats your game, i respect it (and yeah, i wish i could afford it), but dont bother telling me to get a 223. this is not going to be a full time thing for me, just something to do in winter and help out a few rancher friends losing cattle and whitetails.

 

[wankerjake]

If your so confident in your shot placement you might as well use your 22lr. Pick your shots carefully is my advice. There are a fair number of predator hunters who use 22 mag successfully out to about 100 yards, most of them recommend not shooting past that distance. You still have to pick your shots. If you have a 12 gauge I'd recommend using that, ammo isn't as cheap as a 22lr but it works better and if you can get $40 a pelt you'll be able to afford ammo for it. As far as calling tips, I'd look at predatormasters.com, lots of good info there, more than what you'll get here. Have fun.
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

 

[Jefferson Herb]

song dog gun

I've used a .22wmr on a few coyotes,and it will work if shot placed well.I like the pmc 40gr sp not as hot but kills good.If you don't reload and want to keep shots under 150 yds ,or .223 is a 300 yd gun..22 Hornet is 200yd,as is .218bee,but expensive for factory ammo.
If you want the pelts,.22wmr and snipe them,w/min pelt damage.In my area ,they arn't worth skinning ,just kill the sheep eating things.

 

[Art Eatman]

If you've been bow-hunting from a tree stand and coyotes are around close, you could use bait piles of food/meat scraps and sit and wait.

I use a mouth-blown call; sitting at the edge of a tree line with either a cross wind or with the wind blowing generally toward me. Coyotes tend to come in straight toward a call, and then circle downwind for the final approach. The trees tend to make them work crosswind and not smell me. If you spot a coyote coming in, cut back on how often you call, and lower the volume...

Just sitting in the truck has been known to work quite well, though.

As far as a .22 or .22 Mag, I'd probably figure on head shots out to not much over 50 yards, but that's just me.

 

[Owen]

If they are walking 10 yards away from you, why not use your bow?

 

[shaggy430]

If you have them coming in that close, I'd use any shotgun with #4 buck if you've got one. A head shot with a shotgun will make a bad day for a coyote.

 

[627PCFan]

+1 Shotgun with buckshot, keep it simple

 

[sourdough44]

The cheapest way to get a predator gun is to use what you have. While deer hunting & if I see a coyote I shoot it, UNLESS a big buck is in sight at the same time, unlikely. Last Fall I shot a coyote at about 90 yrds & stayed in the stand while it lay there. I continued to see deer within 15-20mins of the shot. I ended up taking a deer that was sniffing nervously just downwind of the dead coyote.

 

[RippinSVT]

I've taken two in the last week. One with a basic AR in .223, another with my 12ga. If they are close, use a shotgun with #4 shot. I've found that they are easy to call in with a basic jackrabbit squeeler, damn things will run right up on you, thus the shotgun is nice to have. I think the best coyote gun would be like a Stevens O/U in 20ga/.22mag with a nice 3-9x on it.

 

[A2lockdown]

thanks for the advice, i have a 12g so that is something ill consider taking.

i said the average price was reported as $40, ive never skinned one so i probably wont get that (at the start at least)

arrow/broadhead combo costs $25 ea and shatters when it hits frozen ground, bad choice as a primary weapon for this.

sounds like i should try it before i buy a new gun, i wonder would #4 in the 410 barrel get it done at less than 30 (if he's moving fast)?

anything else?

 

[shaggy430]

I read an article in a predator hunting magazine that coyote skins are only bringing $10-$15 in the lower 48, if you can sell them. Where are you located? It mentioned that Canadian 'yotes are bringing $25, but that the market is very soft.

To me they are a nuissance and I care more about ridding the world (particularly my hunting areas) of them than trying to salvage any pelts.

 

[A2lockdown]

im in alberta, so thats $40 CDN. got it off the alberta trapping regs website.
from what ive read the market is soft because of the world wide economic situation. most fur goes to china or russia (usually through china) cause they dont have the stupid hippie sympathies that we put up with in north america. china will recover the fastest so if the winter is cold the fur market should improve rather quick. the only thing the buyers want right now is western heavy winter prime pelts, lower quality stuff is worthless. it should pay for ammo and gas for me.

 

[UpTheIrons]

In some parts of Texas, you can get $15 for each pair of ears you bring in. Easier to 'harvest', carry and keep with you in quantity. If I'd have known that before last weekend, I would have had $30 with 10 minutes of work on the side of the highway - there were two roadkill yotes within 10 miles of each other. From now on, I'm stopping!

 

[baldeagle93]

Targets of Opportunity!!!

In my hunting club we call yotes target of opportunity, kill them anytime you see them! I took 3 this year from my deer stand.

My hunting club (http://www.amesplantation.org, there may be some references or studies on the site) does fair amounts of research on all wildlife and anyone who knows anything about yotes will tell you there is NOTHING you can do to get rid of them. To be quite frankly you can't really even control them! You'd be surprised what their true boundaries are, I know of one report that showed a GPS tagged coyote traveling over 75 miles within 48 hours! Does that mean it is a waste of time to shoot them...absolutely not!

The best time to kill them is spring, they tend to become more territorial then...good luck and smoke em' if you got em'!!!

As far as what to use, I wanted to build a good squirrel gun this year so I sought out for a good 22LR, ended up with a Savage 93R17F 17HMR because I can reach out and touch a yote with enough energy at 200 yards (maybe even further). I also wanted a good plinking gun and although the 17HMR is not as cheap as 22LR, it is a heck of a lot cheaper than anything else. I since have built a Ruger 10/22 and would not be afraid to take a yote at any reasonable distance (range the gong at 250 with it a few weeks ago).

One great thing about yotes is you can try things that you wouldn't try on big bucky, because you're not going to eat him or put him on the wall. I have used yotes as a live testing object, testing different bullets and how well they take down game. Once you cut them open and see the damage, it doesn't matter if it's a deer or a yote, it's going to do the same thing to the vitals either way. It also helps you realize if you can take that long shot with your deer rifle because although the yote may not bring as much excitement as buck fever, it will kick start the heart a lot more than a piece of paper.

Use what you have or make it an excuse to build another rifle...either way, happy hunting!

 

[patsygarret]

depending on the cover that you are hunting i would go with the 22 mag. i use the 22 mag for coon hunting and have taken many coyotes over the years with it while i was out after coon. i have found in my experience the 33 grain remington accu tip have been the best. go for head neck shots and your good to go. that said i have taken quite a few with behind the shoulder shots and all were dead within 20 yards of the hit at ranges of up to about 75 yards. get some good camo, a mouth call and have fun. thats how i started and now its electic calls, decoys and all kinds of crap, funny thing is i usually opt for a mouth call as they are much lighter. Good Luck.

 

[Cpt. America]

22-250. Its a good all around preditor gun and it comes in bolt and single.

 

[Savage99]

You already have a .22 with that OU.

Consider getting a big game rifle. We don't get that many shots at coyotes anyway.

For instance a 30-06 or a 308 would do it all.

Good luck.

 

[wankerjake]

#4 buckshot is probably the most popular predator ammo and is regarded as one of the best loads by most shotgun predator hunters. Hevi-Shot makes a load called "dead coyote" which is T shot, but it's like $3 a shot. 3" #4 buck (41 pellet load) out of a full-extra full choke gives you a range out to around 50-60 yards (depending on how your gun patterns, although under 50 is always best), and it runs around $6 per 5 shells. Remington and Federal both make it, probably others. At 30 yards though, any larger shot will work. Some guys have good luck with 3" lead BB. It's kinda pricey (compared to birdshot) but it's still cheaper than buying a new rifle plus ammo, and it looks like you'll be able to get at least something for your pelts so that will help too. Even if you can break even the fun will make up for it!

You'll also need some calls, this is what I recommend. It got me started, I called a dog in thursday with the green mouthpiece. This package comes with an instructional DVD which is very helpful. Like I said these calls work, I called in a pile of coyotes my first year with it. Even with shipping, for $50 you'll be all set to kill a few song dogs and have a blast doing it:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20712-cat602047&id=0013582227076a&navCount=2&podId=0013582&parentId=cat602047&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IA&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat602047&hasJS=true

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602007-cat20841_TGP&id=0069661217163a&navCount=4&podId=0069661&parentId=cat20841&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=9IS&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602007-cat20726-cat20841&id=0076629214150a&navCount=5&podId=0076629&parentId=cat20841&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IA&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true

Spend some time on predatormasters.com there is a lot of good info there from people who predator hunt A LOT. My other advice; don't be afraid to call the thick stuff, especailly with a shotgun. They can't see you either until they're close.