Your thoughts on using 22lr on coyote hunting,20 yards or less.

Will they kill a coyote? Yes Would I use one for hunting them NO. Not unless they were in a trap or snare so I could pick my shot. I am not a professional but have killed quite a few. I use a 222 or a 6mm remington for my coyote hunting.

I'd do it like what Okie said, If I could walk up to it in a foothold and do it just to dispatch.


I shot a grey fox in the front chest with a .22LR at about 15 yards once and I never found it. Don't trust it for much more then rabbits and squirrels

First off, you ask about a 20 yard or less shot. After many years of hunting and trapping coyotes, I can tell you that point-blank encounters (other than trapped animals) are few and far between.

But if you have the patience to take ONLY close range shots and have the necessary skill to put the bullet through the brain, then yes, it will work.

But I would not use it. That's because hunting situations are seldom perfect, and rarely is a shot opportunity so optimum.

There are a few spots I call in which the range will never exceed 75 yards, and most shots are 50-60. For that, a .22 Magnum to the chest of a coyote works well. For anything else, a centerfire is in order.

I have to agree with the rest on this one.

20 yds. or less ...very rare,unless trapped or snared. A 22lr in a hunting / calling situation in my opinion is just inadequate. Coy's are tough critters , and it takes a well placed shot with either an explosive(rapid expansion)bullet or one with more knockdown than a plain 22 to kill them cleanly.
I use a 12ga. up close say 40yds or less.Past that out to 200yds I favor my 6mm rem.
just my 2 cents.



"Big bullets, For those who like to eat right up to the hole."

Shoot them in the head and you should be good out to 100 yards. At 100 you can use usually use the bottom of the fine crosshairs in a standard plex reticle. Sight in at 50 and you are around 10" low at 100. The bottom of the standard plex reticle is 9 moa, so you would place it right in the head out the 100. Shorter distance than 60 and you can hold dead on.

I have shot several coyotes with LR HP's. I can't see why the coyote has such a rep for toughness. A solid chest hit will get them every time. They are also a real problem if you have chickens. Actually shoot them wether or not you get to pose for the camera with the varmint. My favorite round is the winchester Expert HP.

My dad and uncle used to fur trap extensively and used the 22lr to dispatch coyotes from traps..Rarely was it a one shot kill , even with an apparent hit to the vitals. 22lr is not adequate for coyotes beyond a trapping situation. I have seen them run over 200 yds after being hit behind the shoulder with 3 inch ag buck at 30 yds and never did find the one that ran by my friend with his entrails hanging out from a 30 ft low shot with an '06. have many more stories..never seen a will to live in any animal..

I recommend that you don't try with a 22 LR unless they are trapped. Use something with enough power to put them down every time, without question, otherwise you may create a stock killer.

Coyotes can take a lot of misplaced lead. I would not go looking for coyote with a 22LR. However, if I was out squirrel hunting and crossed paths with a yote, I would only shoot if I could make an easy headshot. Lou

Believe it or not, up untill mid '07 here on the east side of P.R.O.M. [Peoples Republic of Massachusetts] you could use no larger than .22 long rifle rimfire for rifle and no larger than .38 cal. family for pistol and there is a coyote season. Finally they just changed it. The '08 hunting abstract just was put out recently showing the change to be able to use larger rounds. I am overrun with the damn things. I personally refused to try to kill a coyote with a .22 lr. I live 1/4 mile in the woods and nowhere near any dwellings so the 1st one I shot I used .303 britt. the second a bow. The same morons telling you you cant use larger than .22 lr are the same ones telling you leghold traps are inhumane. Tell it to my chickens!!!

I shot dozens of yotes in traps with 22 always a 1 shot kill. Most of the time I would just hit them in the head and stun them then kill them my stepping on its chest.

A 22 well kill them with a well place shot, gut shoot them they'll run a long ways. In some place that might be good when you don't want them found near your place.

How do you consistently get within 20 yds of a coyote? I've been deer hunting for years and its extremely rare to have one to come within 20 yds. But, to answer your question, the 22LR will dispatch a coyote out past 20 yds with the correctly placed shot. There have been a number of documented cases of deer being killed with the 22 LR. When I was growing up on the farm and we butchered our own hogs and calves, we always killed the animals with a 22LR to the head. Instant kills every time.

In my younger days we shot several deer/yotes(illegal) with .22LR at over 20 yds. For whatever reason, we found out that a yote was harder to kill than a deer. One time i shot a half grown coyote in the chest and he dropped like a brick. But i walked out there w/o my gun, thinking he was dead, and he got up and stumbled around a bit, then took off kinda slow. I had nothing to kill him with so i just ran behind him for a while because he was really slow. I think the .22LR is the best round for taking trapped animals. One shot to the brain is fatal. I shot two bobcats this year in the head with a .22LR at about 60 yds. You can just shoot them in the mouth and expect them to die. My friend checked my traps one day and said he shot a opossum 3 times in the head and it didn't kill it. So he hit it over the neck with a broken tree limb. when i looked at the opossum, it had two holes in the mouth and one barely grazed the top of the head. my friend was from the city, and he didn't realize that a lethal head shot is typically to the Brain, not just anywhere on the head. If you can't kill an animal in your traps, with a .22LR, than you are probably trapping a furbearer bigger than we have here in the lower 48!
A brain shot at anywhere under 150 yards is lethal from a .22lr. But a shotgun would be more productive at less than 40 yards. and a centerfire at longer distances.

I have probably shot 200 of them with a .22LR while running them with hounds. I think it would be quite a trick to get close enough to hard hunted coyotes without dogs however. It will kill coyotes pretty well up to 75 yards or so. Voice of experience says don't use hollowpoints to kill animals too large for the rifle. Same principle as using solids for elephants. Use 40 grain solids when shooting coyotes or deer with a .22, or when shooting a butcher hog. When using a very small rifle, you have to have penetration first and foremost.

It has been said one can kill an elephant with a 22LR when the barrel is placed in the ear.

But, that doesn't mean I would do it.

My soap box, but I am a firm believer that I owe my quarry as quick and as painless a dispatch as I can deliver. No rimfires on yotes for me.

I just sold my furs this morning to a friend of mine that is a fur buyer from Ore.
I've been trapping for 50 years and I dispatch my coyotes in traps with a 22 short heart shot it only takes seconds for them to die.. head shots are way too bloody and I sell the sculls without holes in them ...If they are not in a trap and you can make head shot out to 35 yards you can kill them. a 22 mag out to a 100 yards in the head will drop them like a stone.....
For ghostdogs I prefer my 220 swift A.I.

I've killed a couple yotes with a .22 cruising through pastures with a rancher while checking cows. He loaded all of his ride-all guns with CCI Stinger ammo.

While calling in river bottoms,etc I like a backup 12 gauge loaded with 00 buckshot or smaller. I like Fiocchi because of the price. It doesn't work too well if you have to drag a second gun all over the place, though.

quote:

Originally posted by West:
It has been said one can kill an elephant with a 22LR when the barrel is placed in the ear.

But, that doesn't mean I would do it.

My soap box, but I am a firm believer that I owe my quarry as quick and as painless a dispatch as I can deliver. No rimfires on yotes for me.

capebuf I Think it is a challenging way to hunt them.I have killed several of them with a 22lr. I have also passed up several shots because I was under gunned carring the rimfire. The last yote I shot with the 22lr took off running but he was way to close to even have a fair chance at escape, I was using my 10-22 and I just started beating him up with it I hit him 4 times and then he started spinning and biting his rear the 5th shot was just next to the eye. I was using Lapua Subsonic Hollow points. they are probably not the best bullets for that job but thats what was in the gun at the moment.

quote:

Originally posted by killahog:
capebuf I Think it is a challenging way to hunt them.I have killed several of them with a 22lr. I have also passed up several shots because I was under gunned carring the rimfire. The last yote I shot with the 22lr took off running but he was way to close to even have a fair chance at escape, I was using my 10-22 and I just started beating him up with it I hit him 4 times and then he started spinning and biting his rear the 5th shot was just next to the eye. I was using Lapua Subsonic Hollow points. they are probably not the best bullets for that job but thats what was in the gun at the moment.

You could down a moose if you pluged it with enough rounds from a 22lr but it just isn't really ethical.......
Just my .02

oopswasthatyourdog I usually carry my 220 swift for coyote hunting but when One takes off running at 15 yards and is in a wide open field that is pistol range. My brother had his hands on my swift and was bringing it to bear on the coyote The animal was not going to get away and suffer. I don't want to give the Impression that I would just start blasting at any coyote this situation was ideal for the rimfire.

I guess I understood your post differently, no harm done, I used to own a 220 swift... loved that rifle.
Have a good one!

This is the damage I prefer to Inflect on them I shot this one with mty swift in january this year. [/IMG]

I wouldn't say I have shot a lot of coyotes with the 22lr. Maybe a dozen or so since they allowed night hunting of them here in NH. I gave generally found inside of 50 yards its pretty uneventful. Place crosshairs on head. Pull trigger. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Never had a problem with the round not working. Use a solid bullet, stay away from the hypervelocity stuff. That said the 22wmr is a huge step up. If you have the choice I'd much rather use that as you can extend the range to likely 100 yards IMHO.

NHbwana

I grew up on and still live on a large cattle ranch in Az and as a kid roaming around I shot dozens with a 22long rifle single shot.
I shot most from the back of my horse and a solid hit tight behind the front leg out to 100 yards will put them down with no problem.
Generally they will run a hundred yards or so and then it is tits up.

When I was trapping I used a long barreled Dan Wesson 22 with shorts, I would cut the lead off even with the end of the brass with horseshoe nippers and pop them in the head.
Usually not too much bloodshot area, a couple inches was common.

The first coyote I ever trapped I had been told to just whack them with a stick, yeah right.. I walked up to this big male coyote with justa couple toes in the trap and when he growled and lunged at me I turned around and grabbed my 270 off the bike.
That is why the very first coyote I put on a stretcher had no head.

bucko I have wacked dozens of yote in the head with a stick as they were stuck in a trap.

About 30 inchs of hickory shovel handle seems to do a very good job on them. Plenty of knock down power.

Well about all that I can say in my defense is that I was 12 and my powder just got damp..
No actually he scared the piss out of me when he lunged at me..
I had shot a lot of them by that time but had never walked up to a live mad one.
95% I have seen since just seem to kind of give up, this guy was on the freeking fight.

I do have to say though that I have two friends that have been bitten through the hand using a stick.
No worries though, I gave up trying to get rich skinning stinking coyotes long ago,

Will 22rf work, yes, is it a good idea, NO. Any centerfire is a much better choice. A 22 Hornet or any of the 17 centerfires on up are a much better choice. Traplines would be my only exception.

You are right of course, there are far better choices, I completely agree.
It is funny though how often I hear about how a 22 is not effective on anything bigger than a squirrel.
And yet nothing is farther from the truth.
If anything I have found it to be probably the most effective killer of all calibers.
For its size it is very deadly.
Not going too fast, bullets hang together, penetrates enough usually, and so easy to shoot.

The 30-30 and the common 22 together have killed more critters than all the others combined.

quote:

Originally posted by capebuf:
Your thoughts on using 22lr on coyote hunting,20 yards or less.

I think many people tend to under rate the killing power of a 22 L.R. particularly in HP persuasion..I have killed many coyotes and bobcats at ranges of up to 50 yards and a few even further.

I also killed a lot of deer in Mexico in my youth for my dad to feed a fencing crew and the local game dept with a Win. M-63 22 LR auto..two quick shots in the lungs and they made few tracks. Spine and brain shots were instant kills or put downs. Heart shots were not to good, they killed but they would make a mad dash and cover a lot of ground, but it was fairly open desert country that contained an enormous herd of both Coues and Mule Deer.

I would approach these rather gentle deer and give them two quick shots in the lungs at about 25 yards and never get off my horse on most ocasions...

Interrestingly enough these Mule deer were very inbred and had pencil size horns and 12 inch spreds. After several years of constant culling they bred back into very healthy deer and now produce some real monster bucks I am told..Before we left some 10 years later, we shot a couple of 3o plus inch desert muleys with a lot of mass. We had fewer and better deer. That ranch is now owned by or was owned by Gen. Guspar Pena if he is still alive.

The secret of the 22 is shot placement at fairly close range and knowing the anatomy of the animal.

I am not saying the 22 is ideal or even a proper caliber for large animals, but it can be made to work if your careful and your not a trophy hunter.

22 mag is better in my opinion,tho prefer my 280 rem,7wsm,or my 338 win mag.stops fuzzies like that dead.

quote:

Originally posted by bucko:
I grew up on and still live on a large cattle ranch in Az and as a kid roaming around I shot dozens with a 22long rifle single shot.
I shot most from the back of my horse and a solid hit tight behind the front leg out to 100 yards will put them down with no problem.
Generally they will run a hundred yards or so and then it is tits up.

When I was trapping I used a long barreled Dan Wesson 22 with shorts, I would cut the lead off even with the end of the brass with horseshoe nippers and pop them in the head.
Usually not too much bloodshot area, a couple inches was common.

The first coyote I ever trapped I had been told to just whack them with a stick, yeah right.. I walked up to this big male coyote with justa couple toes in the trap and when he growled and lunged at me I turned around and grabbed my 270 off the bike.
That is why the very first coyote I put on a stretcher had no head.

I am guessing that your Coyote is similar in build /weight to our Dog Foxes, I would be wrong to argue with many generations of gamekeepers who have done lots in with 22LR's, but our Police types frown on it over here, I stick to 22LR or .410 for humane kills in traps, personal experience has shown a good sized Dog Fox can carry a brain shot from 70 yards for 100+ yards before going ankles up.

I have done it on many occasions....but I would rather use my .22mag for coyote. It is always a
good challenge. If you want to reach out on the
longer shots, then go for the .223 or your favorite .243...that is what I use.

I saw my uncle Chuck drop a 1100lb steer with 1 shot and I mean he droped it! BUT that steer was in a trailer. I would use nothing smaller than a 22 Hornet or my 221 fireball

I do not think I would hunt a coyote with a 22LR on purpose.

I have killed several with a 308, a few with a 9,3x74R double rifle, and a couple with my 450 No2 double rifle.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by paul montgomery:
I have to agree with the rest on this one.

20 yds. or less ...very rare,unless trapped or snared. A 22lr in a hunting / calling situation in my opinion is just inadequate. Coy's are tough critters , and it takes a well placed shot with either an explosive(rapid expansion)bullet or one with more knockdown than a plain 22 to kill them cleanly.
I use a 12ga. up close say 40yds or less.Past that out to 200yds I favor my 6mm rem.
just my 2 cents.


+1

My Dad used a Marlin in 17mach 2, for shots under 50 yds