The Best Coyote Hunting Cartridges

The best coyote hunting cartridges, in our opinion, are small, fast rounds built on platforms that are easy to carry and handle.

After the sun of another deer season finally sets, we set our sights on predator hunting. Here are what we consider the best coyote hunting cartridges.

Coyote hunting is tough, which is probably why it’s a pursuit we set our sights on after deer season is done. It’s the challenge, the chance to hone our hunting skills, that makes chasing coyotes such an obsession. There is a reason they’re rightfully called “nature’s toughest target.” Coyotes certainly don’t thrive on every part of the continent because they’re dumb.

There is a reason they’re rightfully called “nature’s toughest target.

Think back to the Looney Tunes cartoons of yesteryear that many of us grew up watching. Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, among others. The creators of the characters were nature observers. So it’s not really a surprise that the hapless antagonist, a coyote, got the name, Wile E.

The Best Coyote Hunting Cartridges

The best coyote hunting cartridges, in our opinion, are small, fast rounds built on platforms that are easy to carry and handle. You’re moving often, so your gear should be lightweight. Depending on where you live or hunt, the types of shots you’d take could range from short to long with a combination of both. So you need a cartridge with knockdown power and a flat trajectory in case you get a song dog that locks up at a long distance. 

.223 Remington

The .223 is a super versatile small caliber. Not only is it capable of getting out to moderate ranges (it tops out at just over 3,000 feet per second), the .223 is a popular round built into the AR platform. 

The best coyote hunting cartridges, in our opinion, are small, fast rounds built on platforms that are easy to carry and handle.

The .223, as far as centerfire cartridges go, is not an overly loud round, so as not to send every animal in the valley running for the hills. It’s light recoil allows the shooter to quickly engage multiple targets, especially on a semi-automatic AR platform.

.22-250 Remington

Many youngsters have taken a first deer with the .22-250. Many seasoned hunters are turning back to smaller cartridges, like the .22-250, .243, or 6.5 Creedmoor. While you probably wouldn’t want to shoot a deer at 400 yards with the .22-250, coyotes are a different story. A coyote’s lighter hide allows smaller rounds to penetrate at longer distances. At around 4,450 feet per second, the .22-250 is a flat-shooting tack driver that you can’t go wrong with in the pursuit of coyotes.

.243 Winchester

The .243 Winchester may be the best crossover (from big game to coyotes) round of the bunch. With enough knockdown power to take down an elk, the flat-flying bullet (3,375 fps) off a .243 can kill coyotes at extreme long ranges. And it has little recoil. Lastly, just about every rifle manufacturer makes the .243 Winchester.  

.17 Winchester Super Magnum

The newish .17 Winchester Super Magnum is an incredible little round, especially for a rimfire cartridge. A 20-grain bullet, which moves around 3,000 fps, is really accurate out to about 200 yards. There is virtually no recoil and it’s relatively quiet. You could call in and kill multiple coyotes at one setup when using this round. 

The only downside to the .17 WSM is finding a rifle chambered in this cartridge. If you’re in the market, check out the Tikka T1x. Or, if you have a bigger budget, Volquartsen Firearms, a small family run gun manufacturer, sells a semi-automatic rifle chambered in .17 WSM. 

.22 Magnum

While a small rimfire cartridge, the .22 Magnum is deadly on coyotes. If you’re looking to minimize pelt damage, this is a very optimal cartridge. However, with such a small bullet, your shot placement will need to be extremely accurate to make a clean kill.

We wouldn’t recommend shooting more than 75 yards, which makes it a good round for the eastern hardwoods rather than the western plains. As a bonus, if the coyotes are not moving but the squirrels are, you could make a change of target on the fly. Just be sure to shoot for the head.

If you’re eager to hunt coyotes, but don’t own one a rifle chambered in the cartridges we’ve mentioned, that’s okay! Because just about any centerfire rifle round can kill a coyote. Whatever you use to deer hunt with will work just fine. So if you’re looking for a reason to hunt after deer season, consider setting your sites on the wiley coyote.