Average shot distance at night for coyotes

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varminter .223

Well-known member
How far are you guys shooting on average?
I'm contemplating how much mag is needed if I get away from optics with pip. Right now I shoot everything in pip at 12.8 mag. We seem to have a lot of 200 ish yards shot. It's rare to get one into 100 yards.
 
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I commented to this to another fellow PM member recently and thought it applied to your question.

My initial average shot is around 120-140 yards, It isn't that I couldn't get them closer, but weird things start to happen with close coyotes. Also, I position the call anywhere from 70-100 yards based on the setup, so coyotes typically can't wind me.

My closest kills this year was probably 40 yards, and longest around 425 yards but had lots of coyotes between 300-425. Most of these were multiples where the additional coyotes took after I killed the first or second, and I was patient and got more. However, I never once bumped up my base mag on Super Hogster which is 2.9x base and 5.8x PIP. For my country, 3x is about perfect to be able to still keep coyotes in my scope, find multiples, but with the included PIP take long shots.

For tighter terrain, 2,9x is going to be too much. I can tell you that last year I used the Flir PTS536 a lot. It was really nice on singles and when the coyotes stopped for confident shots, but I can tell you even for wide open country, I felt 4x was too much base mag at times especially on multiples.
 
We have a lot of varying situations with tight spots and big open ag. The trail xp50 seemed perfect but the poi shift with pulsar is costing us too many coyotes and taking too much ammo to chase every time out and now I'm told 1.5" of shift with the trail 2 is acceptable. We set the call out as far as it will communicate band would like to be able to set it out farther to play the wind. Early season it isn't so bad but later on it's tough. I've been contemplating the new halo x35 but the base mag with no pip worries me and I don't want to loose fov. Almost make the super hogster look like the way to go at half the money.
 
I shoot in open country. What is funny is that daytime calling I get lots of shots under 100, but not at night. Maybe because with my peripheral vision in daytime I am more comfortable letting them get close, or maybe because they can see good and come in faster. IDK. Anyways most of my shots at night are 125 to 225. I shoot a Thermion XQ50 with a base mag of 3.5x. Even though I keep PIP on at 7x, I rarely use it. Seems like I just default to the main screen even when PIP is open and usually shoot with that. Not sure if that helps any but it is what I do.
 
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I sent my trail back for poi issue and got a thermion in same x series. If you send the trail back they will send you thermion 2 xp50 instead of another trail. I think the thermion 2 xp50 has a pretty low base magnification. Or you could wait and see how that super yoter looks. I was using my cousins super hogster the other night and the image is fantastic. But I wouldn’t buy one because even that has too narrow of a field of view for the areas I hunt.
 
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They told me on two separate occasions that they will replace it with a trail 2 xp50lrf.
I considered not even opening the box and selling it to upgrade but I don't wanna get rid of it if it will hold zero. I'm afraid even opening the box will kill value.
 
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I've always been one to say that a mk3 60 was to much mag but after going from a xg50 to a 60mm trijicon. There is no going back for me
 
Toro.... I did a little bit of calculations that might help compare and understand how it would look with the Thermion 2 XP50. There should be a feature in this device that allows you to zoom continuously. If you set the magnification on the main window to 2.9X (as the minimum magnification of the SH) and to 5.8X in the PIP window, the horizontal angular FOV shrinks and goes from 12.4 ° to 8.57 °. If you compare this with the Super Hogster's horizontal angular FOV (7.5 °), you can observe that, at the same magnification (2.9X), the FOV of the Thermion XP50 is a little wider. If we then calculate the Horizontal Image Definition at a distance of 100 yards (HID), we find: HID = 29.46 pixel / yard, which corresponds to 1.22 inch / pixel against the almost equal values of the SH: HID = 29.29 pixel / yard - 1.23 inch/pixel.
We can summarize as follows: with the same magnification (2.9X) and Image Definition, the Thermion 2 XP50 has a slightly wider FOV than the Super Hogster.
So the Thermion 2 XP50 is more versatile than the Super Hogster. But now you American guys have to answer a question: is it worth paying nearly 2K more for this added versatility? Unfortunately we Europeans have no alternatives: here we can only buy the Pulsar Thermion ...
 
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Originally Posted By: varminter .223I considered not even opening the box and selling it to upgrade but I don't wanna get rid of it if it will hold zero. I'm afraid even opening the box will kill value.

That’s what I did... sold a Thermion XQ50, bought the Super Hogster and never looked back. I’m having my best season ever and have saved hours and plenty of cash by not having to run to the range to constantly check zero. I have checked it several times throughout the season, when convenient and in a variety of temps, and it has held zero flawlessly.
 
I just realized the thermion xp50 and trail 2 xp50lrf both have about half the fov of my trail xp50. I guess that is a product of the newer core.
 
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Originally Posted By: varminter .223I just realized the thermion xp50 and trail 2 xp50lrf both have about half the fov of my trail xp50. I guess that is a product of the newer core.

Isn't the base mag more on the Trail 2 and the Thermion XP50? I was thinking the Trail XP50 is 1.6x base and the Thermion and Trail 2 are both 2x base...this would account for some difference.
 
You guys are too much fun. We generally stop them in the 100-130 range. Only rarely do we take those half mile shots.
unsure.gif
 
just for giggles, do you guys that do a majority of your hunting with thermal feel you can really, really kill a coyote at a half mile. i mean without it being 99.999 percent luck.
 
400 yds. is about my limit when shooting my 243, and about 250 yds. with my AR-15, but I'm not set up for long range night shooting and don't have those $10,000 scopes or rifles to do it with.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotjust for giggles, do you guys that do a majority of your hunting with thermal feel you can really, really kill a coyote at a half mile. i mean without it being 99.999 percent luck.


To some it’s just a walk in the park, all skill!
 
I never really used the pip on the Pulsars I owned. Great in theory but just never got comfortable with it. I've shot nearly everyone of my coyotes from 100-350+ with my Halo LR on max (8×) which is 28 power if I'm not mistaken. I use the mil reticle and know drops for the max power so my sop is to leave the Halo on base mag and just before shooting go up to max power. Then it's just one click back to base mag after the squeeze and onto the next target. Works great for me ymmv!

OP I'd say my average first shot is right around 125 yards hunting wide open country.
 
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Ya base mag went from 1.6 to 2 but I didn't figure that jump would cut fov in half. Nvision halo x-35 has 2.5 base mag and the same basic 12x9 degree fov.
 
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