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What is your accuracy requirement for shooting Coyotes?

What is your accuracy requirement in shooting Yotes.
I feel like I need all the help I can get. My gun shoots a couple of loads half MOA. The nut behind the bolt, needs improvement which I intend to practice in the off-season.
I have a couple of ambush spots that are in the 3-450 yard range that are out in the wind that I need to practice on. just wondering what everyone else's requirements are. In my area, calling does not work. Getting set up like a deer hunter on the ground, and waiting for the Yotes to show up on established trails does.
 
.As you will hear from a lmost everyone, practice, practice, practice. But the way I learned a little about reading the wind was to shoot a target set at 50 yards with a .22 lr rifleon a windy day. Takes a good amount of ammo and practice but it's worth it.
 
I like to have my coyote guns shoot at 5/8" average or better I guess. More so just because they are varmint guns, and it's fun to get tiny little groups with them rather than that I think I need it to kill a coyote.

For the distances you are shooting a gun that shoots consistently at 1 MOA or even a hair over would be just fine.
 
Key for me is to train how I'll hunt! For the most part, that means, shooting while seated off of stixs.
A solid 1/2moa rifle don't mean squat if you can't hold better than 2-3moa from whatever position you're shooting from! And from akward/improvised positions, maintaining 2-3moa on target can become pretty dang challenging...

These last couple years, been shooting some badazz hotrods that extend point blank distance capability. Along with the evolution toward more capable rifles, been searching for more capable field rests to shoot them from. Of late, been trying, testing, and have gravitated toward using a carbon tripod & cradle mount on stand. Beyond 300yds, the tripod really comes into its own as a steady platform to shoot from. And it makes the ones inside that range almost a 'gimme'. Traditional stix are no doubt more simple & easy, but a good tripod setup can be killer! Least I think so...

Far as practice goes...
About 10-12 yrs ago, I cut a coyote silhouette target out of 1" road plate, and fab-ed a swinging 'vital' section to it. Have pounded that thing from all manner of positions & distances, with all manner of rifles & load combos. Nothing like a life sized target to shoot at, which offers instant gratification of a good hit! And you can just as easily 'dry-fire' on it, to insure your breathing & fundamentals are sound and the x-hairs ain't bouncin' all over the place during trigger press & follow thru...

If you're wanting to practice on the cheap, use a rimfire. I'll often shoot clay birds @75-100 yds, seated w/ stix using my .22LR or .17HMR. Focus is on acquiring sight picture & engaging quickly without fudging on the basics. That muscle memory & coordination helps when adrenaline & heart rate get to pumping when coyotes are running toward you in real life!

IF you're not calling, you're afforded the luxury of building a position to shoot from and knowing the range, beforehand. In that regard, hitting a coyote while prone, or from another fixed position @ 450yds shouldn't present much difficultly?

Have fun!!!
 
Might try putting some wind flags up along the shooting lanes so you would have a better idea of what is going on and then practice for those ranges. Seems like you would have the time to set up with a solid rest, and then wait for the 'yotes to show up.
 
What is your accuracy requirement in shooting Yotes.
I feel like I need all the help I can get. My gun shoots a couple of loads half MOA. The nut behind the bolt, needs improvement which I intend to practice in the off-season.
I have a couple of ambush spots that are in the 3-450 yard range that are out in the wind that I need to practice on. just wondering what everyone else's requirements are. In my area, calling does not work. Getting set up like a deer hunter on the ground, and waiting for the Yotes to show up on established trails does.

Just my opinion, based on experience, but if you want a good clean kill on a coyote, you MUST hit the boiler room which I believe is roughly 4X4 inches..... at least that is what I practice on. So no matter what the distance you practice at, use a 4"x4" square or 4" diameter circle and if you can hit it every shot, you're good to go. Anything less and all you do is educate or wound a coyote. Again, jmho. WD
 
For my varmint and predators rifles I strive for 1/2 moa off the bench. But this is only half of the story. Once I know that the equipment is capable I practice shooting under field conditions which mean for me shooting off my shooting sticks at various ranges that I anticipate to hunt at. My standard is a 1 1/2" at 100 yards and 3" inches at my targeted maximum effective range which I'm looking for 90%+ hits at that range.

Also a lot depends of field conditions, wind, profile of the shot, mirage. I try to discipline myself to take shoots that I'm fairly confident of so as to avoid wounding the animal.
 
I just use whatever is closest to me when the coyote appears and it's almost always minute of coyote. :-)
 
Most of my shots are 100 yards < just the last time I went out they were easy shots in 2-3' sage brush. The pipe dream of prone, bipod shots to 600 yards is non-existant for me.
If I can hit a clay target every time @ 300 yards (on the ground) I call that good enough for accuracy. Practice with various distances and real targets that give visable results, (clay targets).
Calling is all I do in the off season, hand calls, 10-20$ at Cabellas. Good luck, Clays are 3" and at 300 yards that should be all you need also.
 
A coyote has a big surface area, when you compare it to lets say a squirrel or a ground hog, so even if your rifle is a 1 moa you should be fine. I like the clay target idea scattered around at different distances.

Dean
 
What is your accuracy requirement in shooting Yotes.
I feel like I need all the help I can get. My gun shoots a couple of loads half MOA. The nut behind the bolt, needs improvement which I intend to practice in the off-season.
I have a couple of ambush spots that are in the 3-450 yard range that are out in the wind that I need to practice on. just wondering what everyone else's requirements are. In my area, calling does not work. Getting set up like a deer hunter on the ground, and waiting for the Yotes to show up on established trails does.

Call them in closer. Ambush?

What caliber are you shooting?
 
What Wyle said,,,,,,,,,,,,,Just my opinion, based on experience, but if you want a good clean kill on a coyote, you MUST hit the boiler room which I believe is roughly 4X4 inches..... at least that is what I practice on. So no matter what the distance you practice at, use a 4"x4" square or 4" diameter circle and if you can hit it every shot, you're good to go. Anything less and all you do is educate or wound a coyote. ,,,,,,,,,Just have enough energy to do the job there.
 
Just cause a gun shoots 1/2 MOA at 100 yards does not mean it can do it at 300, 400, or 450 yards. You need to check the accuracy capabilities at those ranges as well. I agree that the quick "kill zone" of a coyote is around 4" so you should be able to consistently be able to hold your groups BELOW that to be able to confidently shoot that far. I have had some great groups at 100 yards only to find out that they fell apart beyond 300 yards. A good chronograph can help you identify a bad load by excessive extreme velocity spreads.
 
I started hunting coyotes with a friend in 1980. My friend had been calling coyotes since the early 60's. His old Remington 700 Varmint had so much wear, you could drop a 55g Sierra spt down the barrel over an inch from the chamber. I checked his velocity prior to the barrel being removed and the load of 38g of H380 was only doing 3450 fps, and grouped 1 1/4". We shot over a hundred coyotes that year with his rifle that grouped 1 1/4", he won the State Championship Predator Calling the year before with 56 animals turned in for a 48 hr hunt.
 
I started hunting coyotes with a friend in 1980. My friend had been calling coyotes since the early 60's. His old Remington 700 Varmint had so much wear, you could drop a 55g Sierra spt down the barrel over an inch from the chamber. I checked his velocity prior to the barrel being removed and the load of 38g of H380 was only doing 3450 fps, and grouped 1 1/4". We shot over a hundred coyotes that year with his rifle that grouped 1 1/4", he won the State Championship Predator Calling the year before with 56 animals turned in for a 48 hr hunt.
That about sums it.up! Hit what you are aiming at!
I talked to Randy Anderson back in the day. He took some yote hunters out that had 1/4'' grouping rifles. None of them hit a yote he called in to them. Guess that's where I'm at. I need to practice the basics more.
 

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