Is the .22 LR a sufficient weapon to hunt Coyotes with under 50yd???

According to the Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2004-2005...

.22 rimfires are not restricted firearms for coyotes. That would include .22 LR
 
In Texas if you think you can take a coyote with a pellet gun? you can. They are nongame animals and it is legal.
 
I would like to point out that I have never shot a coyote with a .22 but merely wished to point out that if I were to attempt such a feat, it would be with the choosen ammunition. My post was more an approval of the ammunition than the caliber.
I think the debate here is not whether or not the .22 can kill a coyote but whether it can do it in a humane manner. I also discourage attempting any shot on the basis that you have more of them in the magazine. I try avoid taking any shot if I know I can't do it in one. That is not to say I don't appreciate magazine capacity, just that I don't use magazine capacity as an excuse to get myself into circumstances I shouldn't be in or take shots that I should pass.
I think if I could put a tight choke on the shotgun and find some good buckshot or slugs, I would use it instead.
 
Okay, now - - One last time

The general consensus is that the .22 rimfire cartridge is NOT a sporting OR humane choice for shooting a coyote at 50 yards. I don't know most of the posters here personally, but at least a couple are known to me as very experienced hunters. Their advice is not to try it.

Even if you could make a carnial cavity head shot, there is too little energy remaining to ensure penetration into the sloping surfaces of the skull at that range. And, please remember, just any "head shot" is not a rapidly killing shot. There's plenty of energy there to break a jaw, though. Do you want to watch an animal, ANY animal, dash into the brush with a dangling, bloody, mandible, knowing that if it doesn't bleed out in the next few minutes, you've just condemned it to a lingering, painful, demise by starvation or infection?

You want to get into the camo gear and varmint calling, fine. You can probably get some 10 or 15 yard shots. I submit that your 16-ga shotgun with some #2 or BB shot might do an even better job at that range. I'd use lead shot for bettter energy and penetration.

A .22 LR will indeed KILL a lot of animals. But it frequently won't stop the larger ones quickly. Now, if my family was hungry, I bet I could provide a lot of meat from deer, cattle, horses . . . . In a survival situation, I might ignore not only humane considerations, but the law as well. (And, I don't pretend to know the Vermont law pertaining to coyotes.) But in a sporting situation, I will be a responsible sportsman. We owe it to the animals, even varmints, to provide a quick, clean demise.

Has this thread pretty well run its course?

Best,
Johnny
 
Well I will take all of this into consideration!

I will more than likely not be shooting a coyote with anything but my 16 now thanks to you guys. I appreciate everyone's input.
 
I moved to a 22 magnum because the 22lr was not sufficient for one shot kills on dog size critters especially when they are running.
 
I wouldn't think using a .22LR would be considered sporting. Jump up to a .223, .243, 22-250, .220 Swift or something along those lines.
 
trackman32, Why ask for help if you already have your mind made up? Personally I wouldn't try it. I'd use my deer rifle before I use a 22 lr. It so happens that I have a 223 and that's what I'd use, but if I didn't have that, it would be my huntin rifle. You owe to the animal to give a quick humane kill. That's just my 2 cents worth.
 
You are going to hunt with a pistal or rifle not like it matters it doesn't do that much dammage. But i would get a rifle from new england fire arms or rossi in 223 or something bigger if i was gonna hunt something that could turn and run after being shot by such a small bullet.
 
Some context.

Perhaps some more context for my opinion would help. I did not mean to imply that a .22RF is what I would like to use as a coyote rifle.

It happens that I have young children, and every gun but one is locked up. The single exception is the 10-22 Ruger that my wife and I use for red squirrels and such. The mag, with mini-mag HPs, is kept hidden, gun unloaded. Still, it's the firearm most readily available to us.

We have lost more than 5 cats to coyotes over the past 10 years. Some years we have killing sprees where domestic cats disappear from the neighborhood over a month or so. Some of you may not like cats, but they keep the rat/red squirrel population down.

My wife has encountered brazen coyotes standing in the driveway by the road on at least two occasions. The rule here: see coyote, shoot coyote, don't sweat the details.

Thus, I'm not pursuing them as such....just protecting my turf. In other words, coyotes are targets of opportunity at our household.

There are much better weapons for coyotes than a .22LR. Having said that, I stand by my assertion that coyotes are not tenacious, and that the RF will work.

If asked for my opinion on an optimal round for short-range coyote work, I'd suggest something like a Hornet or .223. An acquaintance who has far more experience with coyotes than I (he takes well over a dozen each winter) uses a .270. He hunts them with dogs and often has to take a long shot at a running coyote.

Sam
 
Well, the .22 LR may be a bad choice for 'yotes, but the ones I shot with it died right there. Yes most were shot in the head. If I had more gun with me when I saw them, I would have used it. I have killed plenty of wild/problem dogs with a .22lr at 50yards and all the yotes I have shot are very much like dogs. Yes the .22mag is a better choice, and the .223 or 220 swift is even better, and the .308 is better yet. Hell, I guess the 45/70 would be the best choice. This guy doesn't have all these guns. He does have a .22LR. If he makes his shots well and hits the 'yote in the head at less than 50 yards he has done the job well. A lot of "hunters" sit and shoot animals at 300 yards and consider themselvs great hunters, but they are just good shooters. Getting withing 50 yards of a 'yote and getting a clean head shot is a good hunter.

NOTE: THIS IS MY OPINION! THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE YOUR OPINION. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT...IGNORE IT.
 
Getting withing 50 yards of a 'yote and getting a clean head shot is a good hunter.
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Whiskey....once again, the Devil's in the details. VERY easy to get within 50 yards.....use a Rabbit Call, crosswind....easy day. My hunting partner, in defilade, stuck his head up a week ago after calling and literally had a "yote" run over his left shoulder. I've been as close; I'm certain you have.

He managed to get one startled round off...."yote" died on the spot. Had he been carrying a 22LR....well, just another gutshot "yote" spending the next three days trying to understand why food won't stay down.

Hunting is not a contest about who can kill with the weakest caliber. It's a contest about who can do it most efficiently and with the greatest respect. Even then, we'll have more than our share of bad shoots....that's a guarantee.

First Timers: Use Enough Gun. If you get good enough that it becomes "Too Much Gun", by all means downsize. Do Not start from the opposite end of the scale.....it'll only brand you as an amateur, unworthy of hunting with your betters. Much like the first time pistolero with a trick rig and tactical harness at a defensive pistol class, there's nothing worse than looking like a fool to your peers.

And call things you're about to kill by their names: Elk, Deer, Hog, Turkey, Lion, Leopard, Cape Buff....they deserve better than "yote" in the moment of your triumph.
YMMV.
Rich
 
And call things you're about to kill by their names: Elk, Deer, Hog, Turkey, Lion, Leopard, Cape Buff....they deserve better than "yote" in the moment of your triumph.
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O please. I understand respect for the game you hunt and I have a great deal of it, but some people take it too far. Once on another forum a guy had the balls to criticize another hunter for taking a picture of a cleanly and legally harvested black bear in the back of his truck next to an empty Coke bottle. Most of us found this to be utterly rediculous. You abbreviating Cape Buffalo as "Cape Buff" is no different than abbreviating coyote as "yote," Rinocerous(sp) as "rino," Hippopotomous(sp) as "hippo," or Mule Deer as "muley" for that matter. Just, try to chill out.
 
Hi everybody! As you can see I'm absolutely new to this site...

and I'm not wanting to offend anyone with my first post, but seriously, lighten up a bit Rich.
 
Hunting is not a contest about who can kill with the weakest caliber. It's a contest about who can do it most efficiently and with the greatest respect. Even then, we'll have more than our share of bad shoots....that's a guarantee.
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You mean its not like fishing!?!? ;)
 
Yeah, I tend to agree with Rich. I ainno expert, but I'd want a .22 WMR minimum for head shots (50-75 yards or less), a .22 hornet minimum for vitals shots at this short range. For medium/long range (out to 200-225 or so), I'd want a .223 rem. For very long-range, a .243 Win.
 
If you can drop a .22 lr into the coyotes eye socket in the direction of the lower brain stem area (medulla oblongata) then it would drop dead on the spot with no unnecesary suffering. Are you that skilled at 50 yards. Police snipers have to do roughly the same in a hostage situation out to 100yds max with a .308. Dead on the spot.

If your aiming at the coyote's vital area in the chest there is no garantee of a quick kill with a .22 lr. I shot a rabid racoon three times through the mid chest over the sternum with a .357 sig at 5yds only to see the racoon
live another 10 minutes til he bled to unconsciousness. The racoon in question was attacking a neighbors daughter when she played in he backyard.

If your attempting to use a .22 lr on a coyote make sure it drops right there dead. Head shot. No suffering. Very humane.
 
werdman-
That WAS light. ;)

MT-
You are absolutely correct about the difference between respect and PC BS. If I need to prove my point, I'll upload the pic of my Baboon with cigarette still in it's mouth. ;) There's a time and place for everything, including off color humor.

I tend to respond based on the posts I see. When I read something like, "Well, the .22 LR may be a bad choice for 'yotes, but the ones I shot with it died right there." in an advice thread, I get a bit more serious in my response than I might otherwise be.
Rich
 
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