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.17 for yotes

beararchery

beararchery

Member
Just curious on what your guys thoughts are on using a .17 for yotes. I heard of people doing it but im not sure How far Is to far with it.
 
flat shooting round just not much there for knock down. ballistic tip bullet would help but still think would get job done inside 200
 
The yotes I have shot with it have all made it a ways before expiring. (150 yards)They were chest shot. I have used ballistic and hollow points. I'm sure a head shot would drop them where they stood but chest shots won't. Heck a feral cat went 30 yards with a heart shot. I stopped using the 17 for dogs unless it is all I got handy.
 
Be patient. Savage and Hornady are coming out with a .17 WSM in...April??? This round has 3000 fps at muzzle, 2x the energy at 200 yds that the .17HMR has and only 10 inches (if I remember correctly) of drift in a 10mph crosswind at 200 yds. Bullet weights will be 20 and 25 grains. All this in a rimfire!
50 rnds are supposed to be around $15 a box.
 
Yea i feel like a 17 is to small. I have to say that i am yet to drop one cold with my .223 shooting hollow points or ballistics. They never make it far but they always run. Last month i was hunting with my buddy and watched him drop 2 of them with his .243, the both never flinched. I would go for a .243 if i had to do it again.
 
The couple I shot with my .223 this year both dropped like rocks. One shoulder shot and one right up through the back and out the front of the neck running away.
 
Here is my experience using a .17HMR the first time I ever went moonlight calling several yrs ago.. keep in mind I have this gun zero'd at 100yds with very small groups. On this outing I was using the 20gr hollowpoint. First sit, didnt call for a minute and had two yotes come running in on a sprint. They both stopped at 50 yards or less in a wide open field and i was using shooting sticks. Pulled the trigger and watchex him run across the field for several hundred yards before disappearing into the night and over a hill. The snow was hard from a melt and freeze so I couldnt track him and the bullet hole was too small for blold.. never found him. we went to another spot, called one into 30 yards. Put it behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger and the yote took off. Bolted another round in and shot him on the run at 50 yards and dropped in his tracks. When we went to get him he was laying there still and we went to ck for blood for the heck of it in the first spot ibshot. We looked over and the yote jumped up and ran off! Never found him either. Went to some other spots and didnt see any and then the last spot we went, two came running in to about 50 yds or so and same thing, shot and they ran off... thats the last time iver used that for yotes. I dont know if it would work better to shoot them in the head or not. I think maybe if it was a fresh snow we could track in then we would have found them. I have no doubts thatvthey died but they are a tough animal to kill. I now have a .204, .22-250 and .223
 
.17 HMR I would trust up to about 75 yards and it woukd have to offer a good shot. Shoulder or head. For me the hmr has been awesome on coons. When calling coons out of den trees its important to anchor them so they cant get back to the tree and the hmr does that well. But i would never consider it as a coyote gun.
 
I have only shot one yote with my 17hmr. I shot him in directly in the throat when he was starring at me at about 80 yrds and he dropped and didnt even kick. Although with that said I dont think I would want to chest shoot one and hope to find him.
 
I shot one that my grandpa caught in a coon trap I used a solid point 7.62x39 in the head and it never moved a touch, I think with a 7.62x39 you could shoot them about anywhere and still kill them, just don't plan on saving the pelt :D
 
I've shot seems like hundreds of critters of a .22 magnum, and have shot quite a few with a .17. I would pick the .22 magnum over a .17 any day. Your giving up some yardage and speed, but I have killed quite a few yotes at or over 100 yards with the magnum.

If your wanting to get serious about coyotes and predators in general, really hard to beat a .223.
 
Hope I'm not too late to chime in. Only shot one Yote with my 17 and it was a 175 yd chest shot; hit him as he was disappearing over a hill. Found him 35yds away on the downhill side. I paced it off at 168 yds but my buddy ranged it at 175. I thought I would count it using the more technical method. Great for coons , cats, groundhogs and foxes. Not so good on skunks; shot one at sunset after checking wind direction but only wounded it and as it walked back upwind I saw the spray in the setting sun heading directly for my nice clean hunting clothes....had free cover scent for the next few days.
 
I will be checking out a few guns this weekend. After hearing of the good and bad excperiences I am deciding to go with a higher caliber.
 
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