I live in southeastern Kansas and we have a bad problem with yotes here. I hunt on 800 acres on the Kansas/Oklahoma border. No one here likes to trap or hunt the yotes or bobcats here. We have way too many of both. My questions are as follows:


No one here has tried to hunt them using calls. Is this a good idea or not? if so, what call to use? Is my .243 ok to hun them both? If so, at what yardage and with what grain bullet? I have been looking at the 55 grain BT. I am totally new to this and think that it will be a whole lot of fun. I hunt deer with a 7 mag and just have a .243 laying around collecting dust. Please help, thanks.

Rhett,



Use the .243 if it fits you and shoots well.The 55g BT Bullets are great,but really any good varmint bullet from 55-80g in a .243 works well.I tend to go with what the gun shoots most acurately as I think at least a rifle that shoots consistley at 1" or under three shoit groups at 100 yards is required(predators ARE smaller than deer).



Some .243s can be pretty picky in terms of the bullet weights they like.If you don't reload,I have had good luck with the 75g HP Hornady Factory ammo ,it shoots flat and accurate in every rifle I have tried it in.



As to calling, both mouth and electronic callers work well.The best thing to do is get hooked up with someone with a bit of calling experience,take them along and let them "show you the ropes"(if the land owners will let you hunt with a "guest along").



I called in Coyotes for most of the 1980's(while I should have been studying in college ) A former US Govt.ADC (animal damage control) trapper tought me whenb I was a teenager.Like most hunting ,it's simply best for someone to SHOW you.Once you learn/see how you should aproach it,your success rate goes up quite a bit.



My folks have a ranch in N.E. OKlahoma (North of Vinita).Is the land you can hunt anywhere close to Coffeyville,Ark city??Anyway,I am starting to call again,just got my .22-250 all tuned up and I have a valid KS Hunting license( I live in Dodge City).Even though I have plenty of territory to hunt around here,I would be glad to show you how it's done.It been a while since I called new country ..

I can't add much to Sharpsman's post, I use a 243 for coyotes and my gun loves the Hornady Vmax 58 grain bullets at around 3750 fps and every one I've hit has been a one shot stop from 60 yards to 300 yards.
Until you get real confident with your calling I wouldn't use it alot as yotes are smart and get call shy really quickly.
Look on the internet for varmint calling sites, alot of them have WAV files of how the calls should sound.

I'm using a 6mm rem right now, very similar, maybe 100 fps more I'd guess. I'm using 70 BT's and they work great. Don't get too hung up on the brand of call, pay more attention to your set up and not educating any yotes. Especially be careful about getting into the area and set up without being seen. I spend quite a bit of time glassing on my way in and I find myself practically stalking into my calling area. If you are spotted and then start calling you have just given that yote a very important lesson.

I call them in, and my load in a 243 is with a 55 grain Ballistic Tip. I also use a light load by a lot of people's standards, but the velocity is low, the recoil is low and the boom is lower than standard. In open areas it makes a real difference in noise and scaring animals in the vicinity off.

I use 22.5 grains of Blue Dot, for an MV of 2850 fps.
MY main reason for using this load tho was the accuracy.
Only 50 grains of H 380 matched the accuracy, with an MV of 4000+ and quite a bit more recoil and BOOM. I don't think that is worthwhile when calling coyotes.

A pound of powder also lasts a good long time with the 22.5 grain load.
If you try it good luck. The accuracy will impress you and it also extends the throat life on a 243 dramatically over loads using more powder.

Cheers and Happy Holidays
seafire