Coyotes compete with we humans for venison, a simple fact.  If you leave the Coyotes alone, these pesky critters will eat your downed deer if you don’t retrieve your game right away, and they will eat all the whitetail deer spring fawn crop leaving nothing for you to hunt. (NH Coyote Photo by Mark Nangeroni and enhanced by the Author) So many hunters are spending time after deer season to hunt them. The truth be known, I am a novice at coyote hunting but am a pretty good NH deer hunter when time allows. So I am going to pursue these critters. Rifles that are good at killing a Coyote may not be the best to leave the skin intact for a fur pelt. Varmint calibers like the 22-250 are great long distance calibers but be careful of bullet heads that blow up on contact. They are not the best, in my opinion. Use a solid or expanding hunting bullet. Cartridges that I would recommend are those that leave a clean hole on entrance and exit.  The 22 long rifle cartridge, used in a rifle, is a gun that can kill cleanly when the proper round is chosen and the distance is less than 100 yards. I watched a video of a frozen lamb shoulder fully penetrated at 300 yards with a 22 LR but the bullet must have fallen a number of feet before hitting the target. I like the Velocitor by CCI because it is very fast 1435 fps with a 40 grain head and has sufficient energy and bullet momentum to kill at distances of out to 100 yards, so some experts say. Check the web out. See photo below.

I would prefer shots within 100 yards and 50 yards or less being ideal for this round. Below is a Ammo chart I created of .22 rounds and energies offered.

There are many other calibers in the .22 category that will do the job even better than the 22 Long Rifle at longer distances such as the 22 magnum or a big step up to the 22-250, .222 or .223 for example.  AR platforms are terrific in .223 for shooting multiple Coyotes as in the U-tube below.

Deer calibers like 30-06 and .270 and 6mm or 6.5mm rounds are fine for yote hunting during the day.

I am interested first in ridding the woods of the excess of these predators that compete with  my venison and will not worry about the pelt till the Coyote is on the ground. So grab your deer rifle if that is all you have and your hunting license and follow the hunting rules and get some of these predators. Night time hunting is allowed in New Hampshire with land owner written permission, baiting is possible as well if you go on to the NH F&G website you can see the rules and locate the forms you need for F&G and for the landowner.

Yotes do have a place in the scheme of things, just not enough to destroy the deer herds.  They must be managed.

If you want to see some great Coyote hunts just look them up on U-TUBE Coyote Hunting. Great video. A friend has loaned me his .257 Roberts for yote hunting and it will take-em out to 300 yards in daytime without changing the aim-point when zeroed at 250 yards (max point blank range). A hunting friend and I have a .22 LR too that shoots the Velocitor’s out of semi-auto’s very well. Good Hunting! Ed ©