Happy new year all you fellow varmint hunters.

Drew first blood with my .204 ruger m77 on christmas eve morning. it was about -5, calm and clear here in illinois, and a perfect morning to be dog hunting. Got a pair on the first setup of the morning, a nice male and a small female. I was a little suprised at the size of the exit wound of those little 32 grn pills with 28.1 grns. of varget. but not a big concern for me, as i'm not fur hunting, just trying to keep the population down for the farmers.

my hunting partner also broke in his 204 a few days after me as he also pulled off a double with his, again a nice looking pair. They are defenitely responding to howling right now, as they are pretty much paired up for the most part, and not too thrilled with other dogs invading their territory right now.

hope everyone else is fairing good this new year as well.

Slopjock: I had a Big Game Hunting friend over last night and he has expressed an interest in trading his Ruger Mini-14 in 223 off for a Rifle in 204 caliber. He has seen my bolt action 204 Rugers in action on Coyotes and wants to "change his ways" so to speak!
I can't say enough good things about the pair of Varmint Rifles I have in caliber 204 Ruger! The wonderful accuracy, amazingly flat trajectory and the mild recoil really help out while "Doggin" here in the Rockies! The lethality of the round also impress's me! I have only killed Coyotes with the factory ammo so far and now that I have enough brass and an accurate load I will be using it on Coyotes. I will be using the Berger 35 gr. bullets from now on!
What kind of yardages are you makin big holes in the Yotes at?
Thanks for the tip on the Howler at this time of year! I had not thought of the Coyotes responding for the sensible reason you surmise!
I have a day Hunt planned for tomorrow and I will take my howler along!
Good work on the Coyotes and keep after them!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy