Fella,

I am an old retired guy ... who has too much time, and is really ticked off at the impact of coyotes on the deer population in WV where I live.

Can someone please give me a quick course in hunting these fellas.

I have a brutally accurate AR-15 to use for this task. It'll reliably shoot 1/2" groups at 100 with 55 to 69 gr bullets. OK for the task?

Thanks VERY much,

I am not retired but think about it daily, 11 more years. The AR will work great however a scoped AR will increase your kills unless you are skilled with peep sights under hunting conditions, which I'm not. 55 grain Nosler ballistic tips or Hornady V-Max's will drop coyotes in their tracks. Match bullets will kill coyotes but you may not get to stand over your kill and do the dance. A FoxPro will certainly help also. Good luck and good hunting.

Coyotes are not easy to hunt. Sometimes one gets lucky however.

www.predatormasters.com has some good advice on hunting them.

I tried the 69 gr MK on chucks from a big case and even then they don't expand much.

If you shoot a coyote shoot it again. Just my advice.

I've used my ISSI AR .223 AI on coyotes for several yrs. now, and LOVE it. I was using it to investigate it's long-range potential, and tried 75 A-Max, 70 JLK, and 69 Noslers, and found the Nosler to be the best killer, and in fact it worked well to long-range.

Here in Colorado if you get in a good area for coyttes they will really come to a call. I've had them almost land in my lap. Last one I got was at 20 yards in open grasslands. Try calling with a predator call, you should have some luck that way. Friends of my in-laws have trapped many coyotes in SW Pennsylvania so there are probably a bunch in your area too.

They aren't too hard to kill, I usually use 50 grain VMax bullets from a .223. If I want to terminate them with extreme prejudice I use a .243 ackley improved with 87 grain VMax. That one is a little hard on the pelts though.

The advice I have received from some very "productive" hunters was to call sparingly from a location and if you have the room, move a half a mile or so away and repeat every 20-30 minutes. The other advice was to switch the type of call you use each time you move.

The quick advice is to check out The Texas Predator posse web site. There is a welth of info there that would take a years worth of typing for me to put a dent in. My two fingers are pretty slow.

The easiest way is to use an electronic call. I think the funest way to get them is with a call you blow yourself. It's satisfying in some way to fool them I guess. Wind direction, concealment, and not being "made" while approaching the calling spot are the biggest points to study. Approach is probably the easiest to mess up.

The AR will work great. I wish I could get one myself but I'll move outta here before I do. Nate Texas Predator Posse