A rundown below of what I’ve used. All have proven capable. Probably my favorite type of hunting. Curious to see what other people have used and like.
.17 hornet. - great up close round and for saving the pelt. Sold as it’s just to open and windy for lots of my sets I let coyotes walk cause I didn’t have confidence in the shot and they didn’t come closer.
.223 REM - probably the best round I’ve owned for 250 yards and in. Cheap ammo, plethora of guns, see your misses in some rifles, cool semi auto options before the recent bannings. Sold as Iam a sucker for new things and .223 is boring
22-250 - nothing needs to be posted. Everyone knows how good it is. Sold again cause boring
22 creedmoor - this years rifle, I am hoping it combines the best features of what I’ve tried so far. Only reason I went this route over other cartridges was found a barreled action in the EE that caught me in a moment of weakness.
220 swift AI - this combo shooting the 75gr a-max was the most lethal combo of bullet/cardridge I’ve shot to date. The coyotes just slumped like the soul was ripped out of there body’s. Zero runners or spinners. Surprisingly fur friendly. Sold as it was a neck turn chamber and life got busy back when I had it so i went back to factory rifle with factory ammo options.
.243 win - really good cartridge if fur isn’t a concern. Especially if you need to hide the purchase as “I need a backup deer rifle”. I found that the 55gr killed marginally better than a 55gr out of a .22-250 but a dead dog is a dead dog and either is fine. Also my sample size with these two cartridges isn’t huge to draw a line in the sand. Sold when I built the 220
.25-05 REM - Fun and puts the smack down hard. However with the cost/recoil/fur damage I just can’t recommend it as a dedicated coyote rifle. Sold as it was my pronghorn rifle that I used for double duty between owning coyote rifles. Once they pulled the pronghorn season I ended up moving on from the rifle as I have a hard time holding onto things I don’t use. Sadly been 10 years since I’ve hunted antelope
Assorted “big game rifles” taken coyotes of opportunity and they oviously work and if it’s your only rifle have ater but I can’t consider them a dedicated coyote rifle. That being said if you have trouble getting shooting time to practice and fur isn’t a concern it’s a great way to get proficient with your big game rifle.
The only cartridge left that’s always had me curious is the .204 Ruger, just never found myself a rifle that I couldn’t resist when I was shopping. With the cost of everything going steadily up Iam hoping this .22 creedmoor will be the one and I’ll upgrade the stock and send it away for a ceracote camo job and enjoy however much longer I get to do this.
This is based on my experiences, oviously you may have had different ones and I look forward to anyone sharing. Also talking to cattle farmers and helping take care of there coyote problem is a great way to build relationships for hunting access for other animals.
Jay
.17 hornet. - great up close round and for saving the pelt. Sold as it’s just to open and windy for lots of my sets I let coyotes walk cause I didn’t have confidence in the shot and they didn’t come closer.
.223 REM - probably the best round I’ve owned for 250 yards and in. Cheap ammo, plethora of guns, see your misses in some rifles, cool semi auto options before the recent bannings. Sold as Iam a sucker for new things and .223 is boring
22-250 - nothing needs to be posted. Everyone knows how good it is. Sold again cause boring
22 creedmoor - this years rifle, I am hoping it combines the best features of what I’ve tried so far. Only reason I went this route over other cartridges was found a barreled action in the EE that caught me in a moment of weakness.
220 swift AI - this combo shooting the 75gr a-max was the most lethal combo of bullet/cardridge I’ve shot to date. The coyotes just slumped like the soul was ripped out of there body’s. Zero runners or spinners. Surprisingly fur friendly. Sold as it was a neck turn chamber and life got busy back when I had it so i went back to factory rifle with factory ammo options.
.243 win - really good cartridge if fur isn’t a concern. Especially if you need to hide the purchase as “I need a backup deer rifle”. I found that the 55gr killed marginally better than a 55gr out of a .22-250 but a dead dog is a dead dog and either is fine. Also my sample size with these two cartridges isn’t huge to draw a line in the sand. Sold when I built the 220
.25-05 REM - Fun and puts the smack down hard. However with the cost/recoil/fur damage I just can’t recommend it as a dedicated coyote rifle. Sold as it was my pronghorn rifle that I used for double duty between owning coyote rifles. Once they pulled the pronghorn season I ended up moving on from the rifle as I have a hard time holding onto things I don’t use. Sadly been 10 years since I’ve hunted antelope
Assorted “big game rifles” taken coyotes of opportunity and they oviously work and if it’s your only rifle have ater but I can’t consider them a dedicated coyote rifle. That being said if you have trouble getting shooting time to practice and fur isn’t a concern it’s a great way to get proficient with your big game rifle.
The only cartridge left that’s always had me curious is the .204 Ruger, just never found myself a rifle that I couldn’t resist when I was shopping. With the cost of everything going steadily up Iam hoping this .22 creedmoor will be the one and I’ll upgrade the stock and send it away for a ceracote camo job and enjoy however much longer I get to do this.
This is based on my experiences, oviously you may have had different ones and I look forward to anyone sharing. Also talking to cattle farmers and helping take care of there coyote problem is a great way to build relationships for hunting access for other animals.
Jay
