We started seeing enough coyotes to hunt in Iowa back in the mid 70s. I have been chasing the buggers ever since. I am nearing the 500 coyote mark and have killed most of them with a 243. Back in my early coyote hunting days I wasn't a reloader so I shot 80 grain Core Lockts. They accounted for a lot of dead song dogs. Then I got into reloading and loaded Hornady 70 grain SX bullets and they worked well. About the mid 80s they coyote population exploded. My 4 buddies and I killed 138 coyotes in 1987 and never got more than 20 miles from home. I switched to Hornady 58 grain VMax when they first came out and have been using them ever since. They are running 3800 fps and really make a whop when they land on the big part of a yote.
The last few years the coyotes have adapted well. You either have to kick them in the butt to make them get up and run or they hang out around 4-500 yards watching you. I have three 243 rifles but my main one is a cheap, ugly Remington 783 that has been spray painted white. It has a straight 6x Stith Kollmorgen scope that has been around as long as I have been flinging lead at critters. It lives behind the seat of the truck like an old hammer lives in a tractor toolbox. It's beat up but still shoots 3/4 inch groups at 100 yards and that's good enough for shooting running coyotes.
Last Friday afternoon I was out sitting in the breeze overwatching one of the local coyote haunts hoping one would wander by at dusk. Sure enough with 15 minutes of shooting light left a nice male coyote crossed the big ditch in front of me at 700 yards and started trotting along the ditch. I have an old bellows squirrel call with a hole cut in the bellows so that I can blow into it with my mouth. I can make it sound more like a dying rabbit than an actual dying rabbit and with more volume. I gave a loud whaaaaa on that call and that big coyote looked right at me and headed my way. I was all dressed in camo and trying real hard not to move but I had to turn the shooting sticks just a bit to get on him. Well dang, he saw me at about 400 yards and did an about face. He stopped at 450 yards for another look. I know where to hold for elevation but the darned 20 mph crosswind messed me up and I blew a hole in the dirt right under his chin. He got educated and I got nothing. This was the third coyote that I have missed this winter standing still at around the 500 yard mark. It's getting kind of old so I already had a plan in place before this last hole in the dirt saga.
James Wayne Firearms has Howa 243s with the tan Hogue stock on sale for $329 on gunbroker so I bought one. I also am going to take some advice from Whidden on long range shooting with the 243. I figure if he can win The Presidents Cup with a 243 shooting those long slippery high ballistic coefficient bullets at a 1000 yards then maybe I can land one on a fat coyote at half that distance. I am going to set this gun up to shoot 105 grain Hornady Amax bullets at around 2900 fps. I am also going to put a 3x9x50 Leupold scope on this gun. I have killed almost all of my coyotes with straight 6x scopes but most of them have been under 300 yards. The extra 3x of power will be welcomed. The gun is supposed to show up today and I already have the scope. I have several powders to try so will get some test rounds loaded up and hopefully get to the range this weekend or first of next week.
The thing that bothers me the most is that I'm pretty certain that I saw that coyote flip me the bird as he dove off into the big ditch as he made his hiatus so I have a score to settle with that song dog!
