Damn things don't even wait until night to start calling. They use the creek next to the house as a super highway, and so they're basically a nightly presence. Now, I don't mind wildlife, but I have a philosophical objection to wildlife that has forgotten their place on the food chain.
So - hypothetically speaking, of course - if someone wanted to scare off the beasts, what would work? Suppressed .22 (to avoid scaring the White Folks)? Crossbow (arguably not illegal hereabouts)? Game cam with built-in flash attachment?
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
30 comments:
Just saying...
A friend of mine may or may not have a suppressed Ruger 10/22 with a 25 round clip and scope that may or may not gather light during low light periods...semi rural area...
Works well....All hearsay mind you as suppressors and such things are illegal here in Nannysota...
One might look at subsonic .22 but what would I know. . .
A Gamo suppressed air gun is non lethal, but ought to work as aversion therapy.
In his podcast, Michael Bane says he chases them off with a .17 pellet gun.
Of course, Rick Perry proved that a .380 Ruger LCP works, too.
Crossbow only if you're channelling your inner Daryl Dixon. Wirecutter over at Knuckledraggin' My Life Away and Bob Langham at Blackfork could probably both give you coyote advice.
I would think poison in hamburger meat.
Yes on the air gun, no on the poisoned meat, because you have no control over what will eat it — possibly your neighbor's perfectly good dog.
Re-introduce Wolves and other competing predators to the area?... What could possibly go wrong :/..
Their absence is the main reason for the Coyote Population boom, though. That and people leaving food, trash, small tasty pets and the like out unintentionally feeding them.
Don't poison them. In even lightly populated areas that's irresponsible. Kids and lost domestic pets can come across it too easily. Deserts of west Texas is one thing. Atlanta is another all together. If it's legal to do so in the area, you can call them up and shoot them pretty easily. If not, private trappers have good luck snaring/trapping them and removing them (but it's expensive). What ever you do, though, they will be replaced in time. Whatever draws them to a particular area will remain attractive to other coyotes eventually and you'll have them again.
Goood luck scaring them off, though. There are coyotes in Central Park in New York City off and on now.
One was spotted in the North End last night or this am.
If all you want is to give them an annoying "don't come 'round here no more", a full-auto Airsoft rifle would likely be the ticket.
If you want something a bit more permanent, a suppressed .22 (LR or Mag) will work with proper shot placement. In these parts where the songdogs get big, .204Ruger and .223Rem are the standard solution.
+1 on the .223. We've got an avid coyote hunter on our local shooting forum who's most impressed with the AR-15 another member built for him. This guy takes them for the pelts. He made his own call by mixing the sound of a distressed rabbit with that of a baby crying.
Dude's hardcore, man.
Nuke them from orbit it's the only way to be sure.
Hunting coyotes isn't as easy as all that. When you're on foot they see you first. Before you go to the trouble of gunning up, find out if you're even ever going to see them.
Coyote hunters (around here, at least) generally use calls. They also generally get at most one shot, then they need to move to a new hide.
.223 is a very popular caliber for coyotes. A bit loud, of course...
And BTW, you're never going to run out of coyotes. My solution has been to learn to live with them.
.22-250 and a good call. but i live where this is a viable option.
SB 301 hasn't passed yet, so I would hold off on the suppressor. As for subsonic 22s, that requires an eye or heart shot for a guaranteed kill.
Hmm, a couple of spanish mastiffs might work well though.
I love to go to sleep at night listening to the coyotes yipping and yapping out in the desert behind our house. My neighbors - not so much. But then they have little doggies and kitties that seem to end up on the pack's entree list.
One neighbor rented (for about $30 a week) a large live-trap from the local animal control. He put the trap out, baited it and for four straight nights in a row caught another neighbor's cocker spaniel. They finally got the neighbor to keep the dog in the house and started catching coyotes. They would then call animal control who would pick them up and take them away. My neighbor asked them where they took them. Animal control said "We drive them a few miles out of town and let them go."
My neighbor gave up trying to significantly reduce the coyote population after that. They tried to get me to help since I had a better arsenal to select from. But I refused, like I said, I like the coyotes...
30 years ago I antelope hunted on a ranch in WY that the land owners conditions for letting us hunt was that we kill every coyote we see. 30-06 from a sporterized 03A3 at 100-300 yards did a pretty good job on them. I dropped off about 12 of them over three years at his place. My reward was always the same - a happy handshake, a cold beer, a sample of whatever the wife was cooking and an invitation back to hunt again next year.
I had a friend that had an Irish Wolf hound. Huge dog. Scared to death of people. Biggest sissy I had ever seen, as long as you were walking on two legs. If you were on four legs and covered with fur - he thought you were a chew toy.
They had some coyotes getting after the neighbors pets. He got all the neighbors to keep their pets in the house for a few days and turned the wolf hound loose. He thinned out the pack really well. Unfortunately he also thinned out a couple cats that had been let out. Kind of like poisoned meat - you can't aim a dog as accurately as a 223.
Claymores. Just sayin'.
RabidAlien has a point. Maybe instead just some Tannerite wrapped in meat. But seriously, .223 is perfect. A scoped AR is what I would use.
David,
You sure the wolfhound got the cats? If there were coyotes already, it would be hard to prove. That being said, cats near dawn or dusk get to play with owls here in North Georgia, bobcats at night, and hawks during the day. Unless you have a fishing cat, Felix is a few steps down the food chain for his bag of tricks to help him outside of shelter.
You are correct though, a dog is no guided missile,
Thirty-some years ago there was an article in Gun Digest; The Magnum That Works. The author hunted coyotes with a Winchester 9422 Magnum and was regularly making good kills at 100 yards. I've shot feral dogs with the .22 Magnum, and they don't go far.
One of my loads for varmint control around the farm is a 45 gr hornet bullet loaded in .223. I can shoot a coon in the barn or garage, and have an instant kill with no exit wound. It doesn't work on possums, though, because they sort of explode. I think it would be good on coyotes, but I haven't had a chance to try it. When the coyotes start singing in our yard in the middle of the night, I open the door, yell a few times at them, and they leave until tomorrow night.
Once in a while, one will show his face at daybreak. They don't ever do that again. The bullet that I have used on them from the Ruger #3 is the Sierra 52gr bthp. It drops them on the spot with a ribcage hit. I hope you can find a combination that works for you. You'll never get them all, so keep your kitties in at night.
Brumbelow,
No idea if the Wolf hound took out the cats. But everyone assumed so. The owners were chagrined because they forgot that the wolf hound was roaming the area in the evenings.
As much as he loved chasing, chewing and shaking anything on four legs everyone assumed he got the cats.
But since the coyotes population practically disappeared after a few nights, no one complained.
It wasn't the perfect solution. The dog did take a beating, it took a lot of stitches to fix him up after a couple nights.
Claymores FTW!
My Henry .22 does a great job with CB Caps of all various makes and lengths. The only noise you hear is the fall of the hammer and the thump as the bullet hits the target. More oomph than a pellet gun (penetrates 3/8 inch plywood at 25 yards), enough to give a coyote somewhere else to be, anyway.
.50 BMG out of a short barrel.
If you're in a neighborhood, the safest option might be a shotgun, but you'll have to get in close.
If you can't get in close, then .223 or 22-250 with a good backdrop.
Either way, if you want to put the hurt on them, the only way to reliably get them within range when you're actually ready to shoot them is to learn how to call. it is fun as hell, and really tunes up the shooting skills.
If you're in a neighborhood, the safest option might be a shotgun, but you'll have to get in close.
If you can't get in close, then .223 or 22-250 with a good backdrop.
Either way, if you want to put the hurt on them, the only way to reliably get them within range when you're actually ready to shoot them is to learn how to call. it is fun as hell, and really tunes up the shooting skills.
http://www.airgundepot.com/benjamin-rogue-bpe3571.html
.357 caliber air gun. Quieter even than a suppressed .22.
No law breaking.
Check your state game laws. It's illegal in Illinois to shoot any "game" species with an air rifle. Ridiculous I know but the law was originally intended to prevent having wounded animals from getting shot with an underpowered airgun.
My experience is that a shotgun with buckshot will get them out to about 50 yds. A .22 magnum should probably be sufficient to 100 yds if the shot is well placed. I personally use a .220 Swift to pop them at 200-300 yds across our farm fields but you have a different situation.
I'd also caution against the subsonic .22. Not enough energy to reliably kill. Might not even penetrate far enough to reach their heart.
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