coyote hunting newbie

[minnowdangler71]

I am looking to get into hunting yotes. I live in bloomington, don't have any equipment. would anyone close by wanna let me tag along and see what i would need and do? thanks in advance

[TheAsian]

I am kind of a newbie when it comes to hunting Coyotes too. However, this winter i have called in a fair share of these sly creatures. My grandfather owns a sheep ranch in St. Croix Falls, Wi. He has a major problem with the coyotes killing his lambs. If you would be interested in traveling to Wisconsin. I would be happy to share my knowledge with you.

[minnowdangler71]

sounds great, but I don't have a gun yet, what caliber is best?

[Dave S]

that depends on if you want a multi use gun that will double as a deer gun.

A 12 ga. combo will work if you use the Dead Coyote rounds in the bird barrell. Then you'll have the slug barrell for deer.

For rifles, I would recommend a 22-250, .223 or a .243 all of which will be legal in MN for deer in the rifle zone. Of the 3 I would ONLY recommend the .243 for deer.

This is just me, but what I would do is opt for a smaller caliber for the 'yotes. Something along the lines of the 22-250 or .223. Then if you deer hunt as well, you have another reason to buy another gun. That is if you have a wife like mine who doesn't understand much about the things we do

As far as ammo for the rifles, I usually shoot Hornady rounds or the Black Hills ammo in the blue box. Moly coated V-Max bullets will be the way to go.

I've shot them with ballistic tips and.....well......let's just say they make a bit of a mess.

Top the rifle off with a good quality scope. Nothing smaller than a 3x9-40.

If you are satisfied with one shot, look into some of the quality guns made from T/C. Either the Encore or the G2 Contender. You'll have a gun that you can put different barrells on. NEA and H&R are a couple others worth looking at.

If you want follow up shots, Savage, Tikka, Howa, Remington, Winchester and Browning all have quality guns in bolt actions.

If you want follow up shots but no bolt action, look into any of the AR style guns like DPMS, Bushmaster or I think Rock River is another. Each of these will have their own set of quirks. Some other members may chime in who aren't as ballistically challenged as I am.

[Dave S]

Here is a pic of my T/C G2 Contender. It's a smaller gun so you'll definitely want to shop around for something that fits.

[Bulldoggr]

I'm actually gonna start using my .270. Reloads using the Hornady 100 grain bullet. Have not tried it yet, but looking forward to it.

[TheAsian]

I use a 25-06 That way it doubles as a deer rifle. Alot of my buddies that hunt use .17 HMR I personally wish i had a 17 however the bullets are not cheap. Drop me an e-mail minnowdangler71 at [email protected] and we can set something up!

[minnowdangler71]

would a guy be able to use a .410 with a slug??

[Tom7227]

You can use a shotgun if you go out and hunt at night. I'm sure a 410 would get the job done but I wonder about your ability to get it on target past 50 yards. I've been told a 410 & slug is excellent for deer. Simply put if that's what you have give it a try and see what happens - nothing to lose.

[minnowdangler71]

tom- great looking dogs, are either of them male? I have a black and white springer I'm looking to breed.

[Tom7227]

They're Brits - old one is an it but the young one is still got swimmers

[Scott M]

Saw a young man took a nice 'yote over by Henderson in February under new snow in the latest issue of Outdoor News. I think I was out that weekend and not too far away. Congrats to him, I just need to go out a few more times next year and pay my dues.

On a side note, was in FF and came across some really nice G.I. surplus white Swedish army coveralls for like 25 bucks a set....hard to go wrong with those prices!

[Dave S]

da_chise31,

I saw that pic too. Wonder if it was the same weekend.

[derek5]

Your more then welcome to join me in the west metro. I use a .243 with 58gr. I love that combo personally I think the .17 is to small for yotes. A guy I work with had one and we called 2 in one night and he wounded both of them. Both were with in 75yds broadside.

[nik]

I have a quick question about banging on some coyotes. Hopefully someone can help. I have never hunted coyotes, but I have noticed them alot lately around two pieces of public land. One is a WMA and the other is a waterfowl production area. Can these public lands be hunted on for coyotes during off seasons? I know that the coyotes can be hunted year round, I am just unsure of the public land portion of it. Thanks!

[picksbigwagon]

check the dnr HSOforum or the hunting regs, some wma's are closed at certain times of the year. I know a couple outside of PL that are closed right now until the last weekend in August

[nate larson]

I have been thinking about getting into coyote hunting also. I am thinking about buying a .223 or a 22-250. Are ammo prices for the .223 still cheaper than for the 22-250? How much would I need to spend to get a decent setup with a scope? I would prefer to buy something new. Maybe I could wait until Cabelas has the spend 500 get 150 deal going again. My in-laws have land in ND and there are usually quite a few yotes running around. I figure it would be a good activity for me to get out of the house for a while when I am up there.

[waskawood]

Hey Nate. That is a tough question to answer. The .223 is more common but the 22-250 has longer range. I bought a Savage 12VLP last year and like the gun. Stop by some time and look at it. We can talk guns if you want. Be good!!

[nate larson]

Hey Waska!

How has the walleye fishing been? Do you do some coyote hunting around Starbuck? I definately need to stop by and say hi sometime. Make sure my dad stays out of trouble up there.

[waskawood]

You won't believe this but my lifts are empty. We just got back from a 2 week trip to Disney. Took the grand daughter to Florida. It is now time to get ready for summer!!! Haven't wet a line. I used to do a lot of varmint hunting but gave it up many years ago. Just started to get back into shooting and reloading last year. I have a 223, 204, and a 6mmBR that I had built this winter. They have a 600 yard range in Elbow Lake so I am going to try some longer range shooting with it. The gun will do it but not sure I can

[nate larson]

Hey Waska,

What's your email address?

[waskawood]

waska at hcinet dot net