Anyone here hunt coyotes?

I normally use a pair of adjustable shooting sticks so I can shoot sitting, kneeling, or standing depending on the stand. That scope isn't too heavy. Overall the rifle is lighter than others I have. I'll weigh it when I get home now because I'm curious.

 

That rig weighs in just under 9 1/2 lbs. with a fully loaded ten round magazine. It has an 18" barrel chambered in 6.5 Grendel. It has a carbon fiber handguard.

 

Here's one from the other night. Suppressed 6.5 Grendel. Pulsar Trail XP50 thermal scope. 90gr TNT HP. 175 yard head shot. Called and killed another at 120 yards. Pics are too messy to post.
Hosted on Fotki

 

I don't Coyote hunt yet, but it is popular in my state (Commonwealth) of PA. We have lots of Coyotes, and the Wolf/Coyote mixes which are typically larger. Night/Thermal/Suppressed would be my focus when I get off my ass, and start.

Good shooting, and nice rigs you have there!

 

Thanks @Pilot, I really enjoy calling coyotes day and night. So much I've quit hunting everything else (upland game, turkey, deer). It all seems boring to me now. None of it compares to hard charging coyotes coming to my call! I've been calling a long time and it still gets my heart pounding every time they respond. Im going out tonight as I have some fresh snow. Hopefully they're hungry!

 

What kind of calls do you use? What do you do with the pelts if anything? I know the deer hunters here HATE Coyotes, and are glad there are guys like you thinning their ranks.

 

That's some awesome rifle setups!!!!


I've killed a few by chance while deer and squirrel hunting, but never made any intentional hunts for them. I really do need to start. Targeting hogs at night with an IR optic has been fun so I can only imagine yote calling at night being a blast.

Any suggestions on hand calls for newbies? I'm pretty good with duck calls so I'm not sure how well they compare.

 

Here’s a little one my brother took a few weeks ago.

 

@Pilot, I use a combination of hand calls and electronic calls depending on the stand. There's a lot of other hunters in my area that don't know what they're doing and educate lots of coyotes. They all seem to blast rabbit distress from their electronic calls so I mostly use coyote vocals. It works well for me but you need to know what howls work and when to use them. That comes with experience. Coyotes do need to eat so rabbit distress does work too. @Zeitgeist, Verminator calls like the psycho tweety are reasonably priced and work well for me. Also FoxPro hand calls bring em in. I use some customs too but certainly not necessary. Start with rabbit distress and expand from there as needed. I dont keep much for fur as I'm using larger calibers that aren't so fur friendly. I can't post very many of my kills because the pics are too graphic.

 

Nice coyote! Not very furred up like they are here in Nebraska. I suppose you don't get a lot of sub zero temps in Texas! Our coyotes are tough!

 

Thanks. Great info. Now to start working on my set up! I will probably stick to my Colt AR-15 in 5.56, and I reload, so can use some good bullet combos.

 

That will do just fine. I've killed more coyotes with my 5.56 than any other caliber. The 53gr Vmax has performed very well for me.

 

I love coyote hunting! So much fun!
I use a Foxpro caller and also record and use some of my own sounds on it.

It's finally cold enough to start knocking them down again!
Usually use an AR with cheap wolf hollow points, sometimes the shotty, sometimes a 243.

 

I'd love to call some AZ coyotes! Those two look good!

 

Not familiar with that bullet. Does it fragment upon impact? I would think you'd want something that didn't just go straight through. I have a 1x7 twist, so would probably go with something 62 grain, or over, although it does shoot the standard 55 grain M193 ball very well.

 

The Hornady Vmax bullets have explosive fragmentation and rarely exit for me. It destoys them on the inside. I've used 53gr, 55gr, and 60gr. They all seem to do the job but the 53gr. loaded hot is pretty fast, flat , and very deadly. Im running the 53's in a 9 twist. I've also had good results with heavier Nosler ballistic tips.

 

I have some Speer 70 grain, soft point varmint bullets I've never tried yet. Also Sierra makes a 63 grain varmint bullet. I'll give them a try, and get some of the 60 grain Vmax to experiment with. I enjoy trying different bullets, and loads to see what my rifle likes. Its kind of a hobby of mine.

 

You'll have to let me know how those work for you. Hopefully you can find something that drives tacks and hammer some coyotes with em!

 

Thanks for the info!!! I've got the guns covered, just need to up my call game.

I'm also using a few 5.56 AR's from 16-20", a 20" AP LR308 and soon to be a 10.5" .300blk pistol. The LR308 was built for deer hunting and chasing hogs, but honestly for under 200yds the 5.56 hasn't let me down on deer or hogs using 62gr Federal Fusion and 55gr PPU soft points.

Posting that red wolf here too huh Bro!? That thing is a stud! We killed a few that looked like that in Cat Island river bottoms north of Baton Rouge. One weighed over 60lbs.

 

I will post when I am able to make some bullets, and get out to the range. I need to think about some new optics though.