howler, calm down. i'm not trying to stir up a revolt against the larger calibers. goodness no. when you do your poll, everyone will probably say 223 or 243. i understand. this mole hill has sprung into a moutain.

i think there is a difference between aiming at the head of a ground hog (baseball sized or smaller) and aiming at the head of a coyote (between a softball and a kid size basketball, cantelope, two grapefruits). take the coyote head and lay it next to the lungs of that same coyote. how much smaller is the head vs the lung area? look at the inside of the coyote skull. what fills up the largest area of that skull. soft tissue. a key part of the CNS. controls the involuntary actions of the body such as breathing and heartbeat. a car with a mortally damaged motor won't go too far. (if ya really want to see a good shot do a head shot with a jhp 243. . . . head? what head?)

i don't want you to think that a head shot is a MUST. i have found FOR ME that it is a quick response when hit. i simply rotate the gun on the tripod and when the crosshairs touch the head. .. . pop.

everyone has their own methods, and just because one guy holds his nose while fishing doesn't mean everyone should hold their nose while fishing.

what i do may not make sense to you, but it somehow works for me. its not that the coyote doesn't give me time to shoot. . . . i use the mentality that i don't want to give the coyote time to run. it's hard to run with no head or brain.

howler, you've made some good points. lets stop beating this dead horse and move on. i'm done.