Just wondering what you guys thought about the effectiveness of a .22 LR on coyotes? I have the opportunity to do some coyote hunting this year but that's my rifle and I don't want to spend my time just wounding them.

Hi Ekoch -

Great question - and I would be entirely reluctant to hunt coyotes with a 22LR. Most yotes are taken no closer than 200 yards, before they smell, hear or see you. And that's on a good day. Even though they only weight ~40#, the chances of you getting a clean, dropping hit at 200-400 yards with a 22LR is low; it just does not have the game weight potential. I simply think the chances of wounding with a 22LR over that distance is too great, and it's a major pain to track down a yote.

I suggest you borrow a rifle if you can, or if you plan to do it year to year, or maybe hunt deer too, invest in one. Even a .223 Rem makes a great yote round. I use a .223 Rem or .243 Win and varmint, CX1-type bullets. If you think you could hunt deer too then the .243 would be the better choice.

Hope that helps and I look forward to what others have to suggest.

I guess it would depend on where you are hunting and how long your shots are. My .22 has taken them out to 75 yards, but I would not push it past that. Like acrsaved said, something like a .222 or .223, or the new .204 would be good 200 yard guns for coyotes.

A .204 would be excellent, thanks Gismo. While slimmer than a 22 or 223, it has the velocity when coupled with a CX1 bullet to do the deed.

Just wondering what you guys thought about the effectiveness of a .22 LR on coyotes? I have the opportunity to do some coyote hunting this year but that's my rifle and I don't want to spend my time just wounding them.

Well lets get a little history by us first so it'll help you understand where I'm coming from. I'm 60 now and have been hunting yotes out here in Idaho since I was fifteen.

I usually call them and that seems to work well. My best year was around 53 coyotes.

I would not use a 22 lr. for yotes. I have no doubt that at close ranges the little rimfire would kill them, but at any range past 25 yards it's just to small and does not carry enough energy.

When I first got into the yote bustin thing I used a 22-250 then a 220 swift and also a nice little 223 bolt action Sako.

Today I use a 26 inch bbl 243 and load 55 grain bullets to just over 3900 fps.

My suggestion is use a centerfire rifle. Any caliber that will work on deer will work on yotes. The 17's, 204's, 224's and 243's all offer light recoil loads and lots of accuracy, but don't count out the 25's, 6.5's, 270's and the 06, they all can be used in a pinch.

You will need a rifle that will keep all your shots within a six inch circle at the ranges you want to shoot at. A scope and a pair of homemade shooting sticks that allow you to set down to shoot are a real help. Yotes are not a big animal and they can be hard to hit.

Good to know this now. I hadn't really planned on using my rifle for it but at least I know now it's not a good idea. Makes me want to get another gun.

Good to know this now. I hadn't really planned on using my rifle for it but at least I know now it's not a good idea. Makes me want to get another gun.

Go for it Ekoch, lots of deer up there in Minnisota and every yote you bust helps them out. Something like a 243, 257 Roberts or a 25-06 would work well both on yotes and deer.

I was kind of thinking of what caliber rifle could serve as an a deer/varmint flattener and the .243 and .25/06 came up. Who knows. It would only be a dream to own a centerfire rifle now (but that was the same deal with both buying my .22 and as well restocking it). When I get my own house and have enough money and coyotes to hunt I'll own both rifles (and then some!)

Bob! You're the man- I am happy when I get a half-dozen a year

Ekoch - both the 243 or .25-06 would be excellent choices for all around capacity.

A .22lr is to slow to do damage. Here in Southern NH A shotgun or .22RF is the only choice. I use a .22 mag w/ CCI Maxi mags out to 100 yards. I use head, or neck shots. If i get a good clear body shot I will take it. As M1894 says, get closer! My Rifle is a Browning A-Bolt .22 mag W/ see trough mounts(Has open sights) and a Burris 3x9x42mm AO Scope. 1/2" is the norm at 100 yards. JP
For further north I use a Bushmaster DCM in 5.56x45 (.223).

Never did enough coyote hunting to warrent a specific gun for the task. Seemed to me that (1) there aen't a lot of shots in a day (2) the shots are usually welll out there in range and (3) lthe dern things tend to be moving all the time.

Becasue of that, tended to use an accurate bolt gun, sporter weight, and most often in a deer type round (.243, 25-06, even .308). Yep...a varmint rifle wuld work just fine...but considering you never know where the critter is going to show up when called and that your shots are usually at moving game, a lighter weight rifle just served me better. If i were to buy ne just for coyotes, would proably buy a sporter weight large case .22 centerfire.

Further thinking lead me to the idea that it's the BULLET that makes a rifle a varmint round, not just the caliber...so with the right (easy to expand) bullet, even big bores can play....over kill, but we weren't eating them.

I'd nt use the .22RF. For sure, the .22 COULD kill one just fine with preciese placement...but the dern things are in perpetual motion.

I did kill a coyote about 16 years ago with a 22 RF. It was a good clean one-shot behind-the-shoulder kill from about 50 yards with a friends Ruger 10/22. It ran about 50 yards and tipped over. I'd certainly do it again if given the chance, but I can't think of another such chance in the 16 years since. As others have alluded to, you won't be shooting much at all at coyotes if carrying a 22 RF.

I've never hunted a coyote with a 22LR. However, I have killed a Coyote with a Ruger Mark II, a Marlin model 75-20 (short Marlin 60, 20th Anniversary for some company) and a Ruger Single Six (which I forgot my 22 Mag cylinder, so used the 22 LR). All 3 kills were not during hunting, but either coming accross one while driving or snowmachining (Ruger Mark II rides well in the windshield bag, but I wont go into that).

I did shoot at another one with my Marlin at a range of 70-90 yards. He was walking away from me at a 45 degree angle after feeding on an old road kill moose dumped on the side of the small gravel road I was on. I aimed, shot and watched. He spun around 1 and a quarter times clockwise as if he was hit good, then proceeded to run to the trees perpindicular to me left to right. I blasted round after round at him not causing any damage. I later found out my scope was sighted off. He got away. I reloaded some more stingers and went to find his tracks (to see if he was a bleeder). Trudging through 4 feet of untouched snow, I found the point which I had shot him, and he spun around. All around the area that he spun was sprayed yellow. I believe I scared the piss out of him. I followed his trail for a hundred yards or so, but found no blood, so I quit. I think I hit him in the butt as he was walking from me (since my scope was sighted to the left, it makes sense) and it bounced right off his hide. At that point, I decided 22LR was not enough gun for a coyote if you want to actually hunt them.

What the heck is a .22RF? Rimfire? Aren't they Longs, Long rifles. shorts and magnums? Never heard of RF.

What the heck is a .22RF? Rimfire? Aren't they Longs, Long rifles. shorts and magnums? Never heard of RF.


Yes... it should have said .22LR, but he is talking about rimfire.

I agree with all these other gentlemen about it not being "enough gun" to coyote hunt. BUT, if it was all I had and all I could borrow, and I wanted to go coyote hunting, I'd go coyote hunting.

I can think of a whole lot worse things for a young man to be doing than trying to get close enough (25-40 yards) to pop a coyote with a .22LR. Maybe you won't get one, so what?

Often when calling a coyote will come on the run. I use a little bulb type mouse squeaker as a "stopper". when a yote comes to a call the squeaker will usually bring them to a dead stop. Emphisis on the dead part. I usually use the squeaker when they get within a hundred and fifty yards.

Once in a while you'll get a yote that comes in from behind. or will use as much cover as is available and pop up anywhere from 25 to a hundred yards. This can be exciting and often leads to a low percentage running shot. You'll tag a few like this, but often as not these are low percentage shots.

When you do get a single come in, keep calling for ten to fifteen minutes after downing him. one out of five or ten times you'll get another one come in.

I like calling in the winter the best, seems the snow works to make everything hungrier and it sure makes it easier to see yotes coming in.

I like what ribbonstone had to say about varmit bullets. The gun doesn't make a varmiter it's the bullet. Most calibers from 30 caliber on down offer bullets that are designed with thin jackets and high speed. That's what works well on coyotes.

If you ever start calling and start having some success with this method you've got to be extremly careful and resist going out several times a week and on weekends. I don't know if methadone will cure this addiction, perhaps a good dose of hoppe's perhaps.

I grew up in farm ranch country and as a kid I had a Remington pump 22 LR rifle.-A 22 LR is not a coyote rifle.

Yes... it should have said .22LR, but he is talking about rimfire.


Not in my case, NH is very specific, .22 RF (RimFire, Short, long,long rifle, or Mag!) or Shotgun. No center fire rifles aloud in the Southern part of the state!