Effective coyote range for .223?

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I have only 3 nothches on my gunstock, but all three were 125 yards or less, closest being 40 yards.



Very true, most will be 150 or closer in my experience. I would say 95+ % will be that close. They are few and far between when you take a 200+ yard shot. Usually the only reason you have to shoot one that far away is if they busted you before you bust them and they are not going to come any closer.



I guess they have some stupid azz coyotes in Georgia, you boys need to spend some time out in the sage brush. Take a look at where DaveD is from... have any of y'all ever hunted in WY? I have, a lot (I grew up in northern CO)... and I can tell you this: a .223 is marginal at best for a coyote rifle in Wyoming. Not because it lacks punch (which it does) but because the wind is ALWAYS a factor. It's open country, not Carolina swamps or something like that. ~qb



Not sure how much it is different in Wy (although I have been there many times) but where I hunt in southern Idaho we have no lack of sage brush or wind and is considered by many to be pretty open. Even here I have not seen a called in coyote further than 150 yds in 3 years with the majority within 50yds making the .223 more than capable.

Saying the .223 is marginal on western coyotes is close to saying the .243 is a marginal deer caliber in my opinion.
 
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I have only 3 nothches on my gunstock, but all three were 125 yards or less, closest being 40 yards.



Very true, most will be 150 or closer in my experience. I would say 95+ % will be that close. They are few and far between when you take a 200+ yard shot. Usually the only reason you have to shoot one that far away is if they busted you before you bust them and they are not going to come any closer.



I guess they have some stupid azz coyotes in Georgia, you boys need to spend some time out in the sage brush. Take a look at where DaveD is from... have any of y'all ever hunted in WY? I have, a lot (I grew up in northern CO)... and I can tell you this: a .223 is marginal at best for a coyote rifle in Wyoming. Not because it lacks punch (which it does) but because the wind is ALWAYS a factor. It's open country, not Carolina swamps or something like that. ~qb



I laugh in your general direction. I grew up and have hunted exclusively in Southeast Idaho, Nothern Utah and Wyoming in the sage you are talking about. I have also hunted many many times in Wyoming in the sage cause the grandparents live in Wyoming. The only gun I go to is a .223 which I load for it is more than enough for yotes in wide open country. In the years that I have called there have only been a handfull of yotes that I had to shoot past 200 yards cause they would not come any closer. Even in the great wide open sage flats in Wyoming Utah and Idaho 95+ % of shots are inside of 150 yards so the wind has little to no bearing on the shot.

In fact the country in which you specify in Wyoming I have killed several within 50 yards./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif As a predator hunter if I do the job right when calling and use the wind in my favor there are very few yotes that you can't call in closer to you than 100 yards. I will use the disclaimer that I have a foxpro so I always set it up wind 30-75 yards so when they try to circle downwind they are much closer to me than they ever would be if I was hand calling. But the .223 is more than enough gun for the area he is talking about. In fact the four months I hunted in the Idaho sage this year before moving to Colorado I and those hunting with me killed 18 yotes 17 of them were taken with a .223 and the farthest shot was at 210 yards. We got busted while the yote was on his way in cause he saw my brother in law move to try to get in position for a shot. Otherwise this dog would have never stopped until I barked to stop it in hte 50 yards range.
 
Where I hunt here in west central Indiana we have large open corn and soybean fields dotted with small wooded thickets and wooded drainage ditches or creek bottoms. I set up in fencerows downwind of these pockets of cover. I try to get open ground between my stand and the cover. Ideally I can get within 100 yards of the cover but there are some spots that I can only get within 2 or 3 hundred yards of the cover. Often times coyotes will appear along the edges of the thickets and just stand there looking. They will either commit to the call and come into the open fields or they will turn and leave. When I see one offering a standing shot I'll take it. I don't have the time to be adjusting scopes and such, I have to shoot now or risk the coyote leaving. Though most of the time I'm getting shots of just over 100 yards, I often get shots of over 200 yards. Because of that I hunt with a .22-250 or a .243 most of the time.
It's also common for me to see a coyote coming across open fields from a thicket or fencerow I'm not even calling toward. In those cases I'll have shot oppurtunities out to over 500 yards. Seldom do these coyotes hang up way out there so I just let them come. They'll usually come to the edge of the cover I'm targeting and stop and look. I'll try to kill them there rather than wait on them to commit to the call. When they stop way out there and act disinterested though I'll take that long poke. Again I don't want to be screwing around with target knobs on a scope or be adjusting my holdover. A .223 rifle is just too marginal powerwise to depend on for these longrange oppurtunities. I've tried them, and they just produce spinners and run offs. I enjoy punching groundhogs and paper with my .223's but give me a .22-250 or a .243 for coyotes..

Coyote 6974

Coyote 6974
 
Funny how mileage may vary, huh CWeeks? I've killed well over 300 coyotes in my life, and seen another couple of hundred shot. I'd say the average shot is in the 200 yard range with 90% of them between 150-250 yards... even at night. Maybe I shoot a lot of educated coyotes, maybe they're just naturally a little more wary... who knows. Maybe I could call them in closer, but I'll never know... because when they show themselves they're getting shot, and they're going down. Like Joe Rogan says: "They're hurt very badly". ~qb
 
Hmm, I'd think the coyotes must get awfully hungry, if they only come to 200 yards of the screaming rabbit, then turn and scoot:)
You guys are too funny sometimes:)
 
You must not hunt in the wind much, or hunt stupid coyotes. Can't imagine a dog would live too long if they just throw caution to the wind and charged everything that sounded like a potential meal. I don't try to get'em close... I just shoot'em! ~qb
 
Try calling the next few in close. Get some still charging you hard at 15yds and you'll see all of the fun you are missing.

From:
Idaho - The land of no wind and stupid coyotes.
 
My reload for the 223 Rem is a Hornady 52 Gr Match HP BT with a MV of 3225 FPS. At 300 yards the bullet has about 490 ft/lb energy. When sited in at one inch high at 100 yards the bullet will be nine inches low at 300 yards. A 10 MPH cross wind the bullet will drift about six inches. At 350 yards the bullet will drop about 16 inches.. I ll keep my shots within 300 yards.
 
Not trying to call them close... trying to kill them, isn't that the point? Dead dog is a dead dog, at 15 yds or 500 yds. When the wind is howling and that dog shows up at 300 on the edge of cover, a .223 ain't cutting it. You can try and work him closer for a shot with your mini-gun... I'll hammer his azz with the 6mm, or a 120 out of the 280AI. Dog Down, enough said. ~qb
 
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Funny how mileage may vary, huh CWeeks? I've killed well over 300 coyotes in my life, and seen another couple of hundred shot. I'd say the average shot is in the 200 yard range with 90% of them between 150-250 yards... even at night. Maybe I shoot a lot of educated coyotes, maybe they're just naturally a little more wary... who knows. Maybe I could call them in closer, but I'll never know... because when they show themselves they're getting shot, and they're going down. Like Joe Rogan says: "They're hurt very badly". ~qb



Ya know I would agree slightly with you in that I would say most of my dogs are right at the 100-150 yard range. But most that I have called I can squeek them in closer. The thing is all that it takes is a couple of lip squeeks or a low volume call from the foxpro and within a few seconds you know if they are going to come or not. If you are lip squeeking you can have them in your scope at the same time and if they look as if they are going to leave put them down. But if they will come a little closer why not take a higher percentage shot, plus it is less work retreiving the kill in the snow if they are closer. To each his own is what I say. And I would agree even though I love the .223's I have that past 300 yards there are some better calibers out there like the 2 you stated 250 and .243 would be a better choice. But 300 yards and in I would put up the .223 round against anything else. My .223's are sighted in at 200 yards so at 300 yards the hold over is little to none. Top of the back will get them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

By the way what part of Wyoming are you talking about, that you hunted? I have hunted the South East and Central Wyo. with great success.
 
Hunted pretty much everything in the south 1/3rd of the state. We used to drive from Ft. Collins to SLC on I-80 all the time. There's about 50 places to pull off and head either south or north into the middle of nowhere... and there's lots of coyotes out there. Last time I drove it I counted 8 dead dogs on the freeway between Rawlins and Rock Springs, and that was just the westbound side! Shot a couple of pronghorn up near Gellette back in the early 90's too, that's beautiful country up there. The stuff I hunt in Eastern WA is very similar to WY... high country desert with lots of coulies and rock bluffs, and a pretty consistent 10-20mph wind. ~qb
 
quarterbored,
Did you hunt right off the freeway and just walk out into the sage and grass a 1/4 mile or so? Or did you actually take exits and get out off the road several miles.

How much of that is private?
 
I have no idea how much of it is private... but hell, we just drove half-a-mile off the freeway and found a place to set up and call. Sometimes we'd go for a ways on the roads... and sometimes we'd just put the speaker on top of the truck, turn the volume up to full blast, and drive down the road at 5mph. That worked as well as anything. ~qb
 
Wow....300 coyotes in a life time? Man, you've really rang the bell haven't you:)
With your brief discription, I can now see why your coyotes are out there past fort mudge...carry on, sounds like you have a super caling strategy!
 
Not a life time, just a decade... we're still counting. They were way out there... now they're way dead. If you're looking for them at 50 yards you only see maybe 1 in 4 that you actually call in.

I recon some take pride in their 'calling abilities': "I can call coyotes in to 12 yards!!!"... I take pride in my ability to kill coyotes, all coyotes, called in or otherwise, 50 yards to 5 bills baby.

You go play with your calls... I'll keep on killing dogs. ~qb
 
If you 'have' to have a gun capable of 500 yard shots at called coyotes,then your doing something wrong.If you just like to,that's a horse of another color.
 
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If you're looking for them at 50 yards you only see maybe 1 in 4 that you actually call in.



I'd say the opposite is probably more likely than most would admit if you are calling from a stand. If your looking for them at 500 yds you only see 1 in 4 that you actually called in. I'd say that a least half of the coyotes that I called to within 50yds were never spotted coming in, they just appeared in front of me, usually using the little gulleys and dry washes that cannot be seen into from the stand as a means of travel.

They're sneaky little buggers and will disappear and not always by running away. Have had too many come in close and just vanish. Just a month ago I had one disappear on me at about 40 yds with no way of trotting off without being seen. I walked down to flush it out with my brother-in-law standing on the hillside watching. He watch as the coyote snuck through the brush staying just out of my eyesight but never running. But I digress.....

Bottom line is this and to stay with the point of the thread - If your hunting from a stand and doing your job as a caller then the .223 is more than satisfactory. If you are long range sniping in gale force wind conditions then it is probably not.
 
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