I live in the flat land of central Illinois. We have a lot of coyotes and a lot of coyote hunters. I have a friend that uses a 30-06 to hunt them and he uses 150 gr. bullets. We have to be very careful around here with a high powered rifle due to the flat land and proximity of rural houses. My question is: is it safer to use a heavier bullet or a lighter bullet when you have the potential for a ricochet? My feeling is the lighter bullet should lose its velocity much quicker than the heavier bullet after a ricochet thereby reducing the range of the projectile and making the lighter bullet safer to use in this area.

My rule is the much lighter bullet and more frangible. Use varmit type bullets, like blitz. They should fall apart pretty easy. If you use a heavy bonded bullet, well, it has momentum.