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Dog down

LYON

LYON

PMA Member
As we are approaching the cold months here, I am getting more and more excited to start hunting coyotes. Deer hunting comes first, but over the last few years of learning the game of calling yotes it is something that makes me really excited for snow and full moons nights! We have pretty much stuck to going out during 3/4 - full moon nights when there is snow on the ground. The coyotes are much more active at night and it's just awesome out there hunting under the moon!

So in preparation for the season, Saturday the 28th, I decided to quickly shoot a few long range shots with my .22-250 to see where it was hitting. I was going to shoot my muzzleloader anyway so I grabbed the 250 as well. I had a good idea of what to expect, but have never shot it past 300 yards. I'm sighted in about 1.5" high at 100 yards. I shot 2 shots at 300 and 2 shots at 400. The 300 yard shots hit about 1.5" low and made about a 2" group but I know I moved slightly on one of them. The two 400 yard shots hit about 5" low and were right around a 2" group as well.

Feeling pretty good about a 2" group at 400, I obviously had to take a picture and send to some guys just to pat myself on the back. :D

The next morning, I'm standing in my kitchen looking out the window towards the pond and wouldn't you know a coyote is skirting the edge of the pond. I take off and run downstairs, grab my gun and a couple of bullets and sneak out the basement door (pond side of the house). I sneak about 10 yards from the house were I can see over the edge of the hill down to the pond and there she was, probably 130 yards away, looking right at me. Actually she was probably looking at the kids right above me who were all watching out of the patio door. I was on one knee with nothing to rest on and holding a heavy bull barrel steady is tough to do. She put her head back straight and began walking again so I gave a quick bark, she stopped and I let her have it. I'm not completely sure why, but I hit her high. Took out her spine, she dropped but soon had herself up on her front legs and dragging herself along. I racked the second round in, grabbed a plastic chair from behind me for a rest and shot again. I either hit her in the same spot or missed. Crap, out of bullets. I ran back inside, grabbed two more, came back out and by that time she was right on the pond edge facing away. First shot, missed again...no idea why or what happened, but she was still sitting there. She turned towards me and I smoked her in the chest. Game over. So I went from all high and mighty, look what my gun will do, and the very next day it takes me 4 shots to kill a dog at 130 yards.:rolleyes: Pride comes before a fall I guess. Either way, it's a dead coyote.



She wasn't huge, but had a really nice, light colored coat on her. It would have made a cool tanned hide to hang in the basement. But......those 50 gr. soft points can really cause some unreal damage when they hit something hard.

 
You sure you didn't have the 50 cal? Those soft tips really put a hole. Good for killng, horrible if trying to sell. One less fawn killer.
 
If those 22 cal soft points hit bone they can sure wreck a nice looking yote. I've shot them with 95 grain ballistic tips out of the .243 and 115 grain ballistic tips from the 25-06 and I've never had damage like that on a yote!
The 1/4 bore is usually a bang/flop though as apposed to alot of runners and spinners with the .223-22-250.
 
Out of the ones that I've shot with the 22-250, all of them except for 2 have dropped on the spot. One of those was about 250 yards away and I'm not completely sure where I hit it, we finished it off but didn't look very hard for the initial hole. I've had a couple that have hit bone and the hole coming out is about the size of my fist. Unreal damage! A coworker was hunting with me last year and he brought along a .300 win mag just because. As you may expect, it did less damage than the 22-250. Bullet didn't expand at all, just poked through.
 
AIRASSAULT said:
Great color on that one. Without the hole I would guess $30-40? Congrats!
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I have no clue what they are bringing this year. That one would have done decent. Full coat and light color is what they want. Last year they weren't worth crap. I got $5 for a few unskinned. After bringing in about 4 of them, the local fur buyer just told me to leave them lay. Said they weren't worth his time.
 
gundog870 said:
what rifle are you shooting?

Good shootin!
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I was looking for a decent rifle a few years ago just for coyotes and landed on the Marlin X7VH. I don't believe they are made anymore. At the time it was basically Marlin's budget rifle, but much better made than the other budget rifles out there in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the savage axis or ruger American to name a couple. I'm extremely happy with it. The gun just flat out shoots, way better than me. Topped it with a 6-24x44 konus pro (again, budget minded) and I couldn't be happier. The scope has held its zero since day one. I chose the 22-250 over a 223 just because I like the speed of it. I'll likely not take very many shots beyond 300 yards, but the 250 allows for poking out to 500-600 quite a bit better than a 223.
 
Nice job on the coyote. Check around with some other fur buyers as coyotes are the only fur holding its value this year. They should be worth 10 -15 carcass for good colors. Your buyer must not like messing with them.
 
This is my first year hunting them. I shot mine the other day with a .17 HMR. Double lunged her and she ran 50 yards. What is everyone's favorite call to use?
 
I don't have a .17 HMR and have never shot a coyote with one, but of the reading I've done, people don't like it for coyotes. It will kill them, but you will likely lose some due to not having any knockdown power and its so small it likely won't leave much of a bloodtrail. There is no set energy needed to kill a coyote, but as a rule of thumb it seems anywhere from 200 - 400 Ft-lbs is where people land with needed energy to efficiently kill a dog (200 being pretty low). The 17 HMR delivers around 220-250 at the muzzle and is all the way down to 120-150 at 100 yards.
 
Last year, we had a couple with a lot of red in them and the buyer only offered $10 for. I had one similar to yours a couple years bring $40. My uncle also got $30 for one similar this year. Coyote are a North American market, so that Chinese bull crap doesn't affect the market for them. At least that is what I was told by a buyer.
 
I shoot an AR platform chambered in .204 Ruger, 32g Hornady V-Max bullets, there is hardly ever an exit wound, and they don't make it far. Never had one that was hit anywhere in the vitals make it further than 20-30 yards.

Last year after I had skinned one and couldn't find the exit wound, I gutted her as well trying to find my bullet. All I found was little brass flakes in the chest cavity. She dropped dead in her tracks when I shot her.

Hard to beat the .204 Ruger, especially in an AR platform.
 
deuces said:
I shoot an AR platform chambered in .204 Ruger, 32g Hornady V-Max bullets, there is hardly ever an exit wound, and they don't make it far. Never had one that was hit anywhere in the vitals make it further than 20-30 yards.

Last year after I had skinned one and couldn't find the exit wound, I gutted her as well trying to find my bullet. All I found was little brass flakes in the chest cavity. She dropped dead in her tracks when I shot her.

Hard to beat the .204 Ruger, especially in an AR platform.
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I've gone back and forth about getting an AR for coyotes. I do really like the repeat-ability, but very rarely would i be in a situation where more than a few shots are necessary. I'm kind of the mindset that I'll take slower shots that are dead nuts accurate over quick shots that may not be so much. And that's not to say an AR isn't accurate, but I feel the knowledge of having lots of quick backup rounds, for me, could produce less accurate shots from the shooters standpoint. More lead downrange means more coyotes killed right? :D
 
LYON said:
I've gone back and forth about getting an AR for coyotes. I do really like the repeat-ability, but very rarely would i be in a situation where more than a few shots are necessary. I'm kind of the mindset that I'll take slower shots that are dead nuts accurate over quick shots that may not be so much. And that's not to say an AR isn't accurate, but I feel the knowledge of having lots of quick backup rounds, for me, could produce less accurate shots from the shooters standpoint. More lead downrange means more coyotes killed right? :D
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Well... 10 down in the days following that big snow we had. Had a couple slip away. Hoping we get to 100 this year.
 
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