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Coyotes at 200 yards


rhino
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Coyotes are fun to watch ... they stalk and watch ... then swoop down and try to run off with your small dog, and have before. I've seen the cows all watch them when they have their little calves ... not sure they get many calves though.

I'm not saying I'd ever shoot one of God's cute little predators ... just wondering what would bring one down from 200 yards, if I could even hit it.

I saw a nice rifle with a 30 round clip and Farm & Home for a grand ... not sure how much extra the scope was. I think maybe it was a .22 magnum .. but I was just breezin' by. Are there some good online sites that can sell rifles, or is that banned?

I'm thinking RonG is the expert, but please .. any hunters or curious folks ... please join in. With the dollar falling, maybe a good gun and some bullets is a good investment, maybe better than gold. You can't shoot anything with an American Eagle. Bullets might be more valuable.

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We have coyotes in the woods behind our house, which belong to our next door neighbor. We don't see them much but hear them especially on spring nights, yodeling to each other. An eerie sound. The neighbors are concerned they might bring down the spring fawns. I am concerned that if I get a cocker spaniel puppy, s/he might be lunch.

One night a couple years ago, coming home late at night after a work-related dinner, I saw one dash across the road right in front of my car. My daughter-in-law was with us and she was half scared by the little critter. They look like a mini-wolf here in Ohio. They have become quite suburban and my brother-in-law, who lives in a very nice subdivision, even saw one slinking through his shrubbery one summer. We have tons of deer in Ohio, probably around 500,000, and I would imagine the over-population of deer attracts them, along with all the bunnies, possums, groundhogs, and other creatures who populate our little bit of heaven.

WG

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We have coyotes in the woods behind our house, which belong to our next door neighbor. We don't see them much but hear them especially on spring nights, yodeling to each other. An eerie sound.

I kinda like that chorus of 10 or 15 little yippers ... sometimes they are just in the woods real close by. But I prefer deer and turkeys to the coyotes ... and if I get chickens, I don't want Wiley Coyote stalking them ...

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I saw one just yesterday morning as I looked out the back door at work.

It was dawn and at the height of rush hour.

He was leisurely trotting along the rail road tracks that run right beside a major highway.

(St. Rt. 33 in Fairfield County, for those who are familiar with this stretch of road.)

Every so often, he paused to look at the long line of stopped traffic that was only a few feet away from him.

They don't usually get very big around here. Forty pounds would be a very large one.

That in itself greatly limits the size of their potential prey.

Mostly they are content to feed on mice and rabbits and feral cats and even grasshoppers and various insects.

They usually chase out any foxes in the area so that they won't have to compete for food.

So, if you observe the presence of foxes, there probably aren't many coyotes nearby or there is plenty of food for both to share.

I've never heard of them taking down deer or anything large; but they are wild and they are crafty so you never know.

Also, they tend to hunt more as individuals than in packs like wolves do.

But again, they are wild and crafty.

Your local wildlife control authorities would be your best source of information regarding their control.

Edited by waysider
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Also, they tend to hunt more as individuals than in packs like wolves do.

But again, they are wild and crafty.

Your local wildlife control authorities would be your best source of information regarding their control.

I've frequently seen a pair of good size ones working together. But I don't know if they ever are in packs ... except at night it sounds like a pack of them yipping away ...

the local wildlife authorities may remind me of the season ... though I think it may be pretty open now ... generally the farmers want to get rid of them, they may just shoot em and maybe throw some dirt over them ... probably that would offend some big city sensitive types ... :o

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First of all, I'm not a fan of killing coyotes. We have them in our backyard and I've not seen anything like aggressive behavior from them.

That said, it sounds like what you really want is a survival weapon. First choice, IMHO, is a .22LF rifle and a couple bricks of ammo. Very cheap insurance. On the other hand, if you really want to shoot coyotes, a 22 caliber rifle is not a humane way to do it. Look at a centerfire rifle something like a .223 Remington at the minimum.

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I don't know that I'm any kind of expert as I've never had many problems with coyotes. I hear them from time to time, and about 6 or 7 years ago, had to shoot some, but they've never been a common nuisance.

The old timers tell me that if you keep an eye on the squirrels and rabbits, and you notice there aren't any, then you might have a coyote problem. If it happens or you start hearing them at night, build a small fire near the livestock and keep it going at night, they won't come near.

I've always had problems with racoons, bobcats and domestic dogs that people have released to turn feral. A big coon will carry a 45 lb. full grown turkey off into the woods quickly and efficiently, leaving no blood, feathers or trail. One year, I lost 5 turkeys, one each night until I got a chicken breast at the store and hung it on a string with the other end tied to a bell inside the chicken house where I waited until about 4am when the coon finally showed. A 12 ga. solved that problem.

Most of the hunting I do is at distances I can (and do) use a .50 cal. muzzle loader (usually w/ 90 grains powder) as it's a heavy bullet that will hit at close ranges with a lot of concussion so as to ensure a clean kill...I hate to see anything wounded and suffer.

I can't really make any suggestions not knowing what kind of terrain or forestation you have. It would depend on that. The Ozarks, where I live, are very densely forested, so shooting ANYTHING at a distance of 200 yards is moot. I would use my 30.06 for anything like that as it would go thru the brush pretty easily without a lot of deflection.

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Coyotes are fun to watch ... they stalk and watch ... then swoop down and try to run off with your small dog, and have before. I've seen the cows all watch them when they have their little calves ... not sure they get many calves though.

I'm not saying I'd ever shoot one of God's cute little predators ... just wondering what would bring one down from 200 yards, if I could even hit it.

I saw a nice rifle with a 30 round clip and Farm & Home for a grand ... not sure how much extra the scope was. I think maybe it was a .22 magnum .. but I was just breezin' by. Are there some good online sites that can sell rifles, or is that banned?

I'm thinking RonG is the expert, but please .. any hunters or curious folks ... please join in. With the dollar falling, maybe a good gun and some bullets is a good investment, maybe better than gold. You can't shoot anything with an American Eagle. Bullets might be more valuable.

I few years back this guy was jogging down around the Crane Naval Warfare Depot in Southern Indiana and a coyote attacked him. He screamed and kicked and it finally ran off. My son-in-law had two coyotes follow him into his tree stand. They disappeared for a moment only to return. He shot one of them with a bow.

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A very popular round for varmints such as coyotes is the Remington 17. There are many good 22 caliber rounds, 223, 220 Swift, 22-250 just to name a few. For a grand a Ruger Mini14 is a great semi-auto rifle that you can easily control 2 legged and 4 legged varmints with ease at 200 yards plus. I am not a big 22 mag fan, but for fun maybe consider a Thompson Contender single shot pistol, you can get different barrels with various calibers.

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Thanks Jim & RonG ... I also would like to be able to get rid of some coons and groundhogs ... general varmints ... and maybe some practice shooting without spending a quarter or more per shot. My .22 generally works on the little stuff, though I try to get a quick kill on a groundhog or something that doesn't drop with one shot. The groundhogs are right in my back yard again ...

There are still a couple squirrels and rabbits around ... but I want to be able to get the coyote if need be. I never related a coon would carrying off a big turkey ... interesting. 45 pounds .. wow, that's a nice turkey dinner. I always heard of weasels or fox getting at the chickens ... but I guess that makes sense ... we have tons of coons, just can't recall them getting chickens.

The .223 Remington rounds are $1.25 each or so. Yikes ... no way I'll be doing target practice with those rounds. I can think of better ways to spend a hundred bucks. My cheap .22 rounds are closer to three cents ... don't remember exactly. Looks like the 30.06 rounds are $1.50 or so.

I'll keep checking I guess ... thanks ...

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Thanks Jim & RonG ... I also would like to be able to get rid of some coons and groundhogs ... general varmints ... and maybe some practice shooting without spending a quarter or more per shot. My .22 generally works on the little stuff, though I try to get a quick kill on a groundhog or something that doesn't drop with one shot. The groundhogs are right in my back yard again ...

There are still a couple squirrels and rabbits around ... but I want to be able to get the coyote if need be. I never related a coon would carrying off a big turkey ... interesting. 45 pounds .. wow, that's a nice turkey dinner. I always heard of weasels or fox getting at the chickens ... but I guess that makes sense ... we have tons of coons, just can't recall them getting chickens.

The .223 Remington rounds are $1.25 each or so. Yikes ... no way I'll be doing target practice with those rounds. I can think of better ways to spend a hundred bucks. My cheap .22 rounds are closer to three cents ... don't remember exactly. Looks like the 30.06 rounds are $1.50 or so.

I'll keep checking I guess ... thanks ...

I shoot some cheaper 22 loads regularly for target practice but have some great high powered 22 hollow points for small game. There are many sources for surplus 223 rounds for a lot cheaper than what you quoted. But if you want to try expensive shooting buy rounds for my 41 mag pistol. To feed my habit of burning up lead I am going to start reloading and bring the cost down to pennies a round.

Be warned coyotes are damn tough and will escape wounded if the shot isn't well placed or doesn't have hard impact……

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Wild dogs, either feral or those that run in packs during their time away from home base, have always been a much greater, and more real threat than coyotes. A friend of mine shot and killed a dozen of them in one night as they set up a circle around him at dusk and gradually kept tightening the circle. Yeah, I know, he was foolish to be out there alone.

He made it back to his truck and got away. When he returned the next day to see what he had been shooting, he discovered they were dogs from nearby farms.

Another thing that happens here is that the coyotes cross breed with the farm dogs.

They look just like coyotes until measurements are taken postmortem.

A guy I work with bagged one that had become a pest on his farm.

It weighed in at 85 pounds!! It looked for all the world just like a coyote except for it's mammoth size.

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Be warned coyotes are damn tough and will escape wounded if the shot isn't well placed or doesn't have hard impact……

That was my recent experience from about 20 yards ... I had him dead to rights (allegedly) from my porch with my little .22 and he ran off merrily on his way ... I could hit a sparrow from that distance. Of course this was 5 year old ammo that has been out, and some go pop rather than bang.

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Concerning what to use? What Ductape said. My brother used to shoot woodchucks at 2 and 300 yards with a 25-06, which would also be a fine choice. I would never use my Ruger .338 Winchester magnum on a coyote though. It's my bear and moose gun. I usually use a 210 grain Nosler partition bullet when out for the big fellas. I did shoot a fat spruce grouse with it though, when I had tired of looking for moose in this one area.

I spied a nice fat grouse moving along the ground, feeding and fattening up for winter on low bush cranberries, and so, just for kicks and to get a better view of him, I put him in the cross hairs of my scope. And then I thought, well, if I could make a head shot as in shooting a turkey, we'd have a fat grouse to go along with the evening's chicken dinner! But if I hit him in the body, there might literally be nothing left of him and it would be a sin (in my book anyway). And so, off hand at about forty yards I shot him. A perfect head shot. Head simply gone, rest of bird in perfect shape. The funny thing was though, I had been hunting within 300 yards of the log cabin we lived in, and my wife and kids hearing the booming shot, thought surely that I had bagged a moose! And when I walked up the the cabin, she and the kids came running out yelling; "Did you hit him?! Did you hit him?! Are we having moose for dinner tonight?" But, my answer was a downcast; "No, only this grouse to go along with the chicken" as I held it up. And when I held it up, they all smiled, kids giggled. Yeah "Papa the big bread winner, Mighty Hunter, shoots a grouse with dang near an elephant gun..." What a Nimrod! Hah!! But the grouse was fine. Usually we shoot 'em with .22s in the spring when they "hoot". They are nick named "hooters" up here because of the sound they make.

Oh yeah, coyotees. What Ductape said fer sher...

Edited by Jonny Lingo
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I'm not much of a fan of any rimfrie cartridge for hunting, except maybe for mice or rats.

It's just too easy to cripple but not kill a larger animal with one. Not a good way to hunt.

I've always felt that it was only reasonable to use a round that will put an animal down quick and clean and with a minimum of pain to the critter.

Like others have already suggested, most any of the .22 centerfire rounds are a great choice. The 220 swift, .22/250, .25/06, .243 all will put down a coyote quite handily. Unless you plan to roll your own, you might wanta check the price of the ammo for those, as some of 'em can get a little spendy.

Another thought would be to just get a good .30/06 and use a sabot round with a .22 caliber bullet for coyotes, and then you'd have a good hunting caliber for big game as well. Coyotes aren't really too hard to kill, so any centerfire rifle round would be adequate...

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There is a lovely suburb called Powell, Ohio where a couple years ago, a lady heard a ruckus in her nicely fenced backyard and looked out to see three coyotes which had backed her Labrador retriever into a corner and were about to make lunch of it!

Those coyote-dog crosses are called in some parts "coy-dogs." They are as Waysider mentioned larger than the average coyote.

Haven't seen any foxes in the area since the first winter we lived here. The next spring, the yodeling started.

WG

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Coyotes are like the Ultimate Survivors. The wolf was hunted and trapped out over the years, and only has made a comeback with the help of humans. The coyote, however, just never was wiped out at all. They just kept on keeping on. They now live in most if not all eastern states. I read of a survivalist group called "The Coyote Club" named for this wild canine because of his ability to endure and proliferate. I too love to hear their wild and maniacal yipping at night. Oh, and we have them here too, in Southeast Alaska. They are everywhere it seems.

Here is a link on coyote attacks on people. If you scroll down the list there is a photo of a little girl who had been attacked and her little face is perfectly ruined! Yeah, shoot the sumb it ches...

http://www.varmintal.com/attac.htm

Edited by Jonny Lingo
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The coyotes here don`t bother anything. The horses and cows are too big. A dog will run them off, they are very shy.

As I understand it, they mainly eat rats and mice. If you thin them out, you then have a rodent problem.

I like them, I like hearing their beautiful chorus in the evenings> There has never been an attack in living memory in our community.

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I like them, I like hearing their beautiful chorus in the evenings> There has never been an attack in living memory in our community.

It sounds a little bit like you are not happy with the idea of considering them dangerous, and that you don't like the idea of people shooting them. Your wording seems to sound a bit "animal rights-ish", but maybe I am wrong on that. But if you'll click the link I provided and scroll to the destroyed face of the little four year old girl, I think that shooting the bold ones is a very good idea, and maybe you would too.

I like them too, actually. Love to hear their yipping. But they are wild animals, and when they become fearless of Humans, this earth's most effective predator, then they need to be shown who is "Alpha", and shooting those who have lost their fear of Man will do that. And at the very least, those who have lost their fear of Man, will then be dead, and assuredly will harm no one. And ya know, coyote fur makes for awesome coats and hood ruffs.

Edited by Jonny Lingo
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Now we are talking my topic. The limiting factor you mentioned is 200 Yards.

I love .223 ammo and guns. A mini 14 will only run $600. The trick is that for 200 yrds you need $400 in optics. A .223 is kind of punny at this range.

Realistically you need more of a medium caliber. My favorite is a 257 Roberts. A 243 or 25-06 would also be great. They all offer the velocity you need with enough of a slug for knock down.

If you are a great shoot a 22-250 would be great.

Forget all the .22lr and 22 magnums. The 17 Remington is hot but at 200 yrds it just isnt enough for a dog size animal.

Around here dogs are the danger not coyotes.

A bolt action rifle new with optics will cost from $600 to $2000.

I buy just cheap ammo. I shoot probably 200 to 500 shoots a month. I buy most of my ammo and many of my guns on gunbroker.com.

Right now I am waiting on a cap and ball revolver to come in. O the anticipation.

If you are not really wanting to spend a great amount of money check local sporting goods that sell used guns. Pawn shops are great also.

If you only want to shoot buy the plain rifles. The beautiful ones with walnut stocks will really set you back. Figure on spending money on optic. A cheap rifle will hit a milk jug at 200 yrds all day long. A cheap scope will not.

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Geeze jonny, why in the WORLD would you decide what it *sounds like I am saying*????

I meerly reported what the coyotes are like HERE. That if they get thinned out we have a rodent problem HERE. That despite large multiple packs in the area HERE, we have never had an attack in living memory HERE. Also that *I* like to hear them in the evenings HERE.

That does not have to be viewed as an attempt to negate your point. I wish that you would stop attempting to redefine my position...Thank you.

I would also add that we have a large deer population, so it doesn`t appear that coyotes don`t bother them much either. All of us in the valley have cats and small dogs and have not suffered loss. Truth be known, it is the owls that are the most dangerous predators to domestic animals and livestock here :)

I am sure that there are isolated instances...shrug...I just thought that the consequences of thinning them out are something to be considered, and possibly more troublesome than their continued presence.

Edited by rascal
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The "living memory" thing sounded a bit dramatic, that's all. Sounds much like the many greenies here who, as anti-wolf hunting advocates erroneously say that there are no recorded wolf attacks on humans, or in living memory, that would justify thinning the packs. However, that is not true. There was a kid just a couple of years ago up near Yakutat in a logging camp who was dragged down by a healthy wolf who was later shot and tested negatively for rabies. But anyway, glad to hear that you are not amongst that crowd. If I hadn't brought it up, you wouldn't have responded and corrected me, right? Sorry. Forgive me? :)

Here is a video about a couple of wolf attacks this winter up near Anchorage

Edited by Jonny Lingo
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