What kind of sights at night

[Burbslayer]

I want to start hunting coyotes here soon, and i am looking into the gun set-ups out there and a couple questions come to mind. 1. i'm looking at buying a .17 Hmr because there are a couple houses including mine by where i will be hunting and i dont want to wake the neighborhood when shooting at night. Is a .17 a good, fairly quiet gun for starters? 2. What does everyone use for sights, can you see through a scope at night with no full moon or snow? or do you hit them with a flood light when they get into range. Or do you just stick with open sights? I'd appreciate any feed back, keeping in mind I have few hundred dollars to get started. thanks in advance

[Grayfox]

Burbslayer,

17 HMR, in my opinion is going to be too small for coyote sized animals, especially at night. For fox it would be perfect but you can't use a light while in possesion of a rifle either for taking them. You won't be able to see them in the scope without the moon and some snow either. I've tried hunting over picked bean fields with a full moon and no snow and could see them with binoculars but had a heck of a time picking them up in the scope. They'd have to be real close I think and then you might as well use a shotgun and buckshot at that range.

Rob

[Burbslayer]

Thanks Rob,

Didnt know that about the light while in possesion of a rifle. Sounds like either a shotgun or a slighly larger rifle with open sights. what kind of decoy do you suggest? or arent they worth using at night.