My mother had a P.E.O. meeting last night so my father and I "had" to go coyote hunting. Moonlight, 8 inches of powder snow, -25 degree windchill, ect. ect. so nice night for hunting. About 7 P.M. we layer up, put on our "snowman" suites and load up the truck.

First stand- We are set up on a hedge row, Dad North and I South with about 200 yards between us. Turned on the locator call and cripes they are right on top of me. Start fishing in my call bag for my housecat distress tape (cussing the fact that I didn't take out all the crow tapes I own) find it, stick it in and turn it on real soft. Only its not the cat, its Death Cry of a Crow, curse the crow tapes again, let it play for about 15 seconds and turn it off. Here they come, three of them all coming as a group. At about 30 yards they stop and I whack one with my H&K 630. The other two run north west but under the terrace channel so dad can't see them. Play the challenge tape twice and the male circled back to the north to get down wind. Bad new for him as he ran into dad and his mini 14. Collect the coyotes and head back to the truck, we are both pretty excited, me for watching three coyotes charge in on the moonlit snow, both of us because we have never gotten two coyotes on one stand before.
Next two stands we saw and heard nothing.
The last stand was one the home farm at 11:00 P.M. Once again they would answer to the locator but not come in. This pack is giving me fits. We've tried everything, different sounds, calling locationg, time of day, nothing seems to work. Every time we have used the locator they respond but they never come in. I don't know whats wrong, we haven't shot at them, they aren't timid as they run right up to you one the tractor, show up in the front yard from time to time, etc, ect, but won't respond to calls. Advise here would be apreciated.

Today we skinned them out. I was shooting Winchester White Box 45 grain hollow points, which are very accurate in both my .223s. This is the first coyote I have shot with these bullets and I am shot what less than impressed. Bullet hit about the middle of the ribs cage, no exit but the entrance wound was a good three inches across. So much for the blow up inside school of thought. What are your experiences with these bullets on coyotes? I am thinking I am going switch to something a little tougher for yotes, as I don't think a should hit would be fatal.
Sorry about the long post, but thanks for reading.
Matt

As far as bullets go, what are you interested in as far as hides? Are you wanting to save them?? Its not as important in a 223 although every once and a while they will blow up a hide too, but not like a 22-250 will. I like the Hornady V-maxes, what weight depends on your twist rate. My 223 is a 1-9 twist which really like the heavier bullets but it shoot the 50ger's just as well for some reason, so thats what I use. The Nosler balistic tips are also very good, if your worried about the hides you probably need to go to some sort of soft point, but I don't have any experience with those and varmints.

We have the same problem with the "farm dogs" they all seem to be very call shy. No problem getting them to respond to a howler they just won't come in to anything. Only chance is at night and thats not a real good chance. So when you get that one figured out let me know. By the way congrats on the sucessfull hunt.

I've tried the white box 45's in my 223. I shot about a dozen coyotes inside 200 yds. I quit using them because of blowups on impact. I couldn't get enough penetration. They do not kill consistently enough for me. I had two run off, after being hit twice and three times. Solid hits at about 100 yds. If i use commercial ammo, I use American Eagle 55 grainers. Kills them dead. no exit.

Has anyone tried the 50 gr Speer TNT HPs on coyotes in a .223? That is what I have loaded up and I'm heading out tonight for a hunt this weekend.

Calif,
I killed one about 2 years ago up in Redding with the 50 grain TNT from a 223. Shot entered the lower right of the chest as the dog was facing me at 90 yards. There was no exit. Entrance was a tiny pinhole. The dog flipped over on his back and kicked his leg a couple times. There was much sloshing around inside but I didn't skin/gut to judge performance. That is the only one I've got with that bullet but couldn't have asked for more from it.

NoCAL

The best bullet I have found for coyotes is the SinterFire bullet reduced penatrator: 42gr loaded by International Cartridge .223 REM Reduced Penatrator: 42gr. This is frangible lead-free ammunition. My Dad has shot two coyotes with this ammo, the first one was a 50lbs male one shot at 100yrd right behind the front shoulder and down he went, no exit, entrance was a pin hole. The second was a female he hit her running, pin hole in her ribs just behind the diaphragm no exit, she did one flip in the air and that was about it. Both had large bloody area under the hid and the internals were mush with a large amount of blood in the body cavity. That is the best way I know of stopping something is massive blood lose if you can take out the central nervous system. This bullet is designed not to over penetrate and to come apart inside of it target. I will post the web sites since I know this is a new product and not well known out side of the Military and Law Enforcement markets. www.Sinterfire.com and www.internationalcartridge.com

As for the calling, I am in the east and I have not had as much luck with the eastern coyotes as I have with the western ones. The two I talk about above were both shot out of his house as the coyotes can in to get his dog that he left out to pee. Must be I need to use bait!

New to coyotes as my post will indicate. Talked to Hornady about their 52grHPBT (#2249) in my 22-250. Bob said it was a match bullet (even though its listed as hunting in their catalog) and would not blow up on varmints. He also said it would not open reliably on small varmits, but would do better on coyotes and lions. My gunsmith uses FMJ's for pelt conservation, but I would think you want 'some' expansion for a chest cavity shot. Anybody have experience with these two bullets?

BTW, has anybody eaten and still eat these critters? It seems a shame to dump the meat if it is both edible and palatable.

Deke.

Eat coyote? Maybe if you're Chinese, I think they like dog meat.

As far as dog goes, american indians and the Corps of Discovery found them to be very tasty. Question was in regards to coyotes.

Deke.

Man, I've eaten some weird stuff, traveling a lot in China, Pakistan and Brazil among other places, but I have never even thought about eating Coyote.