Coyote Questions?

[CatDaddy]

Okay, Im wanting to really get serious about yote hunting! Heres a couple of questions.

Can coyotes see a red spot light?

.223 or .25-06?

[M.Magis]

Yes, they can see a red light. They're pretty light shy, so it may or may not spook one. It depends on the individual. Early morning is a better time to call than night. The .223 would be my choice of the two you listed. Not the ideal caliber as far as fur damage goes, but a good shooter and ammo is very easy to find.

[Minker]

not sure about the light , i used a red lensed light for years calling foxes at night with no problems , but never have tried night calling for yotes . i've used both the .223 and .25/06 , i prefer the .25 , i may have to sew up a slightly bigger hole in the hide but the .25 anchors them solid and at a lot farther distance than a .223 will . i mostly use my rem.sp10ga. semi-auto with copper plated bb's or # 4 buckshot. best times are first 2 hours of light and the last 2 hours of light. i use mouth calls and the kiss of death . mark

[CatDaddy]

See I dont really want to tear the hide up too much but I want to drop them where they stand. Ive never shot a .223. Does it do a good job on yotes? Im thinking Id better go with the .223. The ammo is alot cheaper!

[Minker]

the only coyote's i've ever seen dropped where they stood with a .223 , were head shot . if your worried about stopping them , and don't want a .25 cal hole, try a 22/250 or a .220 swift . a .243 isnt a bad choice either . the "cheap " .223 ammo isnt good varmit ammo anyway , atleast i've never found any that was . a good shot can make a .223 work on them , out to 150 yards . i prefer to call them in close , and use my 10 ga. theres more holes in the pelt , but there small enough i usually dont have much sewing up to do .

[M.Magis]

In my opinion, (and many others much more knowledgeable them me), the perfect coyote rifle is the .17 Rem. Dependable out to 300 yards on coyote and very little sewing to do. However, there are some downsides. First, they aren't cheap. The cheapest I've seen for a new one would be the Rem. 700, around $550 I think, but I've read that most need to be rebarreled to get good accuracy. Tika and Sako make good guns, but are quite a bit more. If you have a T/C Encore, you can get a custom barrel for around $230.
The other downside is that factory ammo is limited, so it's better suited to the handloader. Hopefully that changes as more gun manufacturers add this caliber to their line up.

There are lots of guns that will do the job, but fur damage is hit or miss with them. I use a 6mm Rem. because that's what I already had. Almost all coyotes have dropped immediately. A couple I've shot broadside have had almost zero damage. The exit on the one I shot a couple weeks ago was the size of a nickle. One coyote I shot faceing me ended up with a hole the size of a volleyball.:eek: With any caliber, if you hit bone, your going to be sewing.

[CatDaddy]

Well, thanks for the input guys. I think I will go with the .223
See I have a H&R single shot .308 and you can send them back to the factory and have them fit it with another barrel that way I can still hunt deer with the .308 and I can varmit hunt with the .223 I had to pick between the .223 and the .25-06 because that is the only barrels they have available for my model.
Thanks.