Dual purpose day/night long/short range varmint rig?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff, CA
  • Start date Start date
J

Jeff, CA

Guest
A colleague of mine is looking for a rig to deal with a coyote problem. During the day, the coyotes keep their distance, and can be as far away as his property line, 600 yards away (he and his neighbors are all on the same page on this, and they don't ask/don't tell). At night, they get as close as 50 yards from the house. He's out in the boondocks, so it's really dark.

So far, he's been using a .22 and a spotlight at night, and nothing during the day. He wants something better, but his budget is limited to one rifle and a moderately-priced scope. Any suggestons?
 
Most any brand of 6mm Rem or .243 will do just fine on Ol' Wiley. Sight in for 2" high at 100 yards; that's dead on at 200 or so, and roughly six inches low at 300.

There are a fair number of inexpensive scopes out there, including 3X9 variables. No flies on 4X, for that matter.

You can fool a coyote once, but rarely twice with the same trick. I like to put a chair in the back of a pickup, if I'm gonna sit some where and just watch for them in the late afternoon. Put some bait out, at 75 or 100 yards and park crosswind from it. Coyotes will come in from downwind.

Calling can work, any time of day, but that's an art in itself.

At night, I set the scope on its lowest power, and hold a flashlight and the rifle's forearm together with my left hand. With the light out front, there's no "flashback" into the scope. (I've heard this works on deer, but I wouldn't know about that.)

FWIW,

Art
 
Where are you at Jeff?

I am a fairly proficient coyote caller (my dad is the expert) and I live near Bakersfield. I have a .308 and just miss squirrels from 400-600 yards (my longest squirrel shot is 325 yards so far). If this guy has squirrels on his land and wants them eliminated, I will gladly eliminate some coyotes in exchange for some squirrel shots too. Or heck, I like shooting yotes too. Let me know.

By the way, isn't spot lighting illegal in the PRK? ;)
 
Everything's illegal in PRK; don't you know that (see my remark about the neighbors who see no evil/hear no evil)?

I'm near Bakersfield, too. Do you shoot at 5 Dogs?

As far as you helping control the coyotes, 'preciate it, but HELL, NO!! :D I'm trying to convince my pal to let me take a whack at them :D

But who knows? Maybe we can throw something together.
 
The 6mm will get you a wee bit more distance- from a shorter barrel- than the .243. To get even more distance, you could move up to a .25-06, with accompanying blast and more recoil. I don't believe you want the extra audio impulse, and you won't be able to utilize the gain at night.

Making shots at night holding lights is difficult. If you're making a little further shot on a smaller target, good luck- whereas, you may be able to throw enough light w/ a SureFire to light 'em up out to 100 yards or so. A mounted light will let you shoot further at night. If you're "handy", I believe one could improvise a quick-detachable mounted light- one method could be to use a bayonet mounting system. Pinch and slide.

Fortunately, in MOST areas, varmint hunting with lights is okay. In GA, for instance, one can hunt wild hog with lights up to 6 volt. Coicidentally, the SureFire 6 is perhaps the most popular mounted light there is. :D
 
5 dogs? Of course, only when I have to though.

TFL is the greatest place on earth. Let me tell you why. I met a guy named uglygun on here and we were talking about shooting coyotes and squirrels and what not. Turns out he lives 30 minutes away. We met up at 5 Dogs a few Friday's ago and we were there for 10 hours! That is where I was taking those long squirrel shots.

Now I meet Jeff. I say we get together and do some shooting too. I will e-mail you when I get off work.

I don't shoot at 5 Dogs very much because over here in the Taft area there are way too many spots to shoot for free.

I would imagine that your friend would need some guys to hold that spot light while he takes the shots. It would be a good start!
 
Ahh, Taft

The best thing about Taft is that it's not Maricopa. ;)
 
Did I hear somebody say "squirrel", oh wait, I thought I heard somebody say "coyote."


Am I gonna have to pack up my gear and head to 5dogs again guys? I'm more than willing to try to nail some of those 500 yard squirrels that were flipping me "the tail" and mocking me. I really need a 500yard chaulk mark for the pistol grip of my AR15 squirrel gun from hell.


As for coyote shooting, I haven't been yet but I'm willing to help out a guy in trouble. If I'm just barely missing squirrels at 500yards(literally, ask El Rojo) then a coyote is gonna have some serious problems. As for night time, hehe, I've got that problem addressed as well.


All my buddies that got me out onto the prime squirrel and coyote land are gone until later this spring or til early this summer as they are all away at college. I'm chompin at the bit to go out and bag some squirrels again.




[Edited by uglygun on 05-08-2001 at 12:14 PM]
 
you might want to use a spotlight with a red filter. we use em here in upstate ny during the fur bearer season and it works real well, mine is 1 million candle power 12 volt that shoots a beam almost half a mile. I've spotted foxes and yotes for a long time and they never saw the light. works on deer too but thats not legal !!!! I use a 223 or a 264 or a 22-250 for the doggie types at ranges up to 500 yards. have to be real careful if there is a crosswind cuz it throws the 22's around but the 264 dosen't drift unless the crosswind is a hurricane
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top