In my neck of the woods a 223 with 55 grain bullets is plenty to drop coyotes and does minimal pelt damage, while a 22-250 will tear a huge hole in the pelt. actually the best gun, for me so dont critize me for it, is the 17 HMR the shots are rarly over 75 yards, and as i said the coyotes aren't very big round these parts. It does minimal dameage to the pelt and anchors them very effecitanly. the biggest advantage to this cartridge is the low noise leval and nonexistant recoil.like i said i know the 17 HMR isn't the best cartridge for yotes but it will do the job as long as the coyotes in your area aren't too big.