Shot a yote 3 times with the 17 and didn't find him...
11-16-2009, 03:51 PM
#12
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location:
Posts: 79
I share your greif. I hunt state ran public ground. the restrictions are .22 rimfire or smaller. Its really rediculous how many are wounded. I learned real fast that the shotgun was the way to go out there. Therefore I have to weigh in on the .17 being too light loaded.
11-16-2009, 04:04 PM
#13
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: East TN
Posts: 763
Its just a dang yote,it'll die,just think of all the fawns, turkys,and rabbits you saved! But what bullet was you useing? The V-max is not a very good bullet for yotes or any other fragmenting type bullet in the 17hmr..I have been hunting yotes with the 17hmr for 2 years now and have been useing the Hornady 20gr XTP bullet and have killed yotes at 175 yds with a center chest hit..They do run and you have to trail them a bit,but the bullet really does get alot of penetration,it doesn't fragment,holds together real well..I'd recommend changing bullets and getting back after them..
11-17-2009, 03:44 PM
#14
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location:
Posts: 647
I'd like to clear two things up that seem to have been missunderstood.
1. The shot what not from 400 yds, it was from somewhere between 165-155 yds away
2. Although it has become one of my favorites, part of the reason that I feel somewhat bad is because I knew I didn't have enough gun. I took the 17 with me that day because I was looking for crows and ground hogs, I did not expect the coyote otherwise I would not have taken that gun so I don't need any lectures on whether you think a larger caliber would have been better.
1. The shot what not from 400 yds, it was from somewhere between 165-155 yds away
2. Although it has become one of my favorites, part of the reason that I feel somewhat bad is because I knew I didn't have enough gun. I took the 17 with me that day because I was looking for crows and ground hogs, I did not expect the coyote otherwise I would not have taken that gun so I don't need any lectures on whether you think a larger caliber would have been better.
11-18-2009, 10:29 AM
#17
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: WC FL
Posts: 26,323
I'd like to clear two things up that seem to have been missunderstood.
1. The shot what not from 400 yds, it was from somewhere between 165-155 yds away
2. Although it has become one of my favorites, part of the reason that I feel somewhat bad is because I knew I didn't have enough gun. I took the 17 with me that day because I was looking for crows and ground hogs, I did not expect the coyote otherwise I would not have taken that gun so I don't need any lectures on whether you think a larger caliber would have been better.
1. The shot what not from 400 yds, it was from somewhere between 165-155 yds away
2. Although it has become one of my favorites, part of the reason that I feel somewhat bad is because I knew I didn't have enough gun. I took the 17 with me that day because I was looking for crows and ground hogs, I did not expect the coyote otherwise I would not have taken that gun so I don't need any lectures on whether you think a larger caliber would have been better.
11-18-2009, 11:12 AM
#18
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
First off, Don't feel bad that you didn't recover your quarry. It happens sometimes, we all have our share of flukes and unexplainable run aways. I shot a bobcat through the head with a .22-250 from 200yrds once and he ran over a mile. I was checking calves in college and spotted a good sized cat drinking from the creek, so I pulled out my rifle and took the shot. He dropped and flopped for a sec, so I let my jack russel terriers out of the truck (greatest fur-dogs I've ever hunted!). Before the dogs could run down to him, he was up and running. It took over a mile before they got him cornered up and took him down. I hit him between the eyes and it exited behind one ear, then lacerated his shoulder after it exited his head. I really can't explain why he made it that far. He hadn't left much of a blood trail after the first 100yrds or so, so if I didn't have the dogs, I'd have never found him.
That said, 150yrds for a .17hmr is pretty long, even for a head shot. I've used the 17 quite a bit for coyotes in the past, it's very effective for head shots to 150, maybe even 200 on good days (that lil bullet sure don't buck the wind!), but it's really marginal on penetration for body shots. Like others have mentioned, the poly tipped bullets pop like balloons when they hit bone, that's ok for hitting the brain box, but if you hit a rib or shoulder bone, that little bullet just shatters, you get a cracked shoulder or a broken rib (not immediately crippling), then a couple tiny little razor slices into the body. They don't bleed much and even if some of your frags reach the heart or lungs, it's a miracle if it downs them fast enough for you to recover them. I've had a few coyotes take one to the neck (missed head shot) then the rest of a mag (Ruger 10/17) to the torso before my jack russels could catch up to them. Skinning them out showed a bunch of scattered lead against the ribs, and a few that snuck in between to do the damage that brought them down.
So, in the end, don't feel bad about losing one, and don't feel bad about taking that shot. A 17HMR at 150yrds on a coyote is an ethical shot. Try tightening up your shots and only take head shots from now on. Even if the .17 splats against the brain box and doesn't penetrate the skull (I've seen plenty!), it still usually drops them in their tracks with head shots.
That said, 150yrds for a .17hmr is pretty long, even for a head shot. I've used the 17 quite a bit for coyotes in the past, it's very effective for head shots to 150, maybe even 200 on good days (that lil bullet sure don't buck the wind!), but it's really marginal on penetration for body shots. Like others have mentioned, the poly tipped bullets pop like balloons when they hit bone, that's ok for hitting the brain box, but if you hit a rib or shoulder bone, that little bullet just shatters, you get a cracked shoulder or a broken rib (not immediately crippling), then a couple tiny little razor slices into the body. They don't bleed much and even if some of your frags reach the heart or lungs, it's a miracle if it downs them fast enough for you to recover them. I've had a few coyotes take one to the neck (missed head shot) then the rest of a mag (Ruger 10/17) to the torso before my jack russels could catch up to them. Skinning them out showed a bunch of scattered lead against the ribs, and a few that snuck in between to do the damage that brought them down.
So, in the end, don't feel bad about losing one, and don't feel bad about taking that shot. A 17HMR at 150yrds on a coyote is an ethical shot. Try tightening up your shots and only take head shots from now on. Even if the .17 splats against the brain box and doesn't penetrate the skull (I've seen plenty!), it still usually drops them in their tracks with head shots.
11-18-2009, 04:55 PM
#19
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: East TN
Posts: 763
First off, Don't feel bad that you didn't recover your quarry. It happens sometimes, we all have our share of flukes and unexplainable run aways. I shot a bobcat through the head with a .22-250 from 200yrds once and he ran over a mile. I was checking calves in college and spotted a good sized cat drinking from the creek, so I pulled out my rifle and took the shot. He dropped and flopped for a sec, so I let my jack russel terriers out of the truck (greatest fur-dogs I've ever hunted!). Before the dogs could run down to him, he was up and running. It took over a mile before they got him cornered up and took him down. I hit him between the eyes and it exited behind one ear, then lacerated his shoulder after it exited his head. I really can't explain why he made it that far. He hadn't left much of a blood trail after the first 100yrds or so, so if I didn't have the dogs, I'd have never found him.
11-19-2009, 02:05 PM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Elizabeth Colo. USA
Posts: 4,413
The "head shot" is a dang little target, we are talking "brain" the size of a golf ball, and that's one that most on here would be hard pressed to hit from a bench rest 10 out of 10 times at 100 yards, let alone do it under field conditions any where past 75 yards! Add a little wind, a little heart rate jump from adreniline, and you've got missed or wounded coyotes!!