The harder the bullet, the less the damage. Use a bullet constructed for deer hunting and it'll produce limited damage on deer and coyotes. When I was hunting back home in college, I had about a 5mile drive out through our property roads out to my favorite deer hunting spot, so I'd often stop along the way home and pick off a squirrel or two with my .30-06 with ballistic silvertips. In general, my .223rem with hollow points does MORE damage to a squirrel, rabbit, or coyote than my .30-06 ever did. Harder bullets like a pointed soft point out of my .30-06 did LESS damage even than a .223 with hollow points. A .22lr or .22mag is definitely the least damaging, but hard bullets out of big bore rifles will also limit the damage.

One of my good friends and coworkers wanted to sight in his new Winchester SX-AR this spring, and had brought out a few boxes of surplus ball ammo (Full Metal Jacket), and after sighting in, we had an opportunity to shoot some Prairie Dogs... My .223 with hollow points was making pink mist, and his .308win with FMJ's was making 30caliber holes through them... Moral of the story, it's all about the bullet...

I wish I owned a .17, it would be the perfect solution no doubt. Eh Ive decided to just run around with the .22 and do it the old fashioned way of treeing them, that never gets old.

That is the best advice ive heard yet. Thankyou for sharing that knowledge.

Shot 3 today with the .243 and it was A LOT of FUN! I said the heck with it in purchasing rounds simply for squirrels, so I just used my deer rounds lol(100 grain softpoints) Granted as expected one of them had mass meat loss because the shot fell a little low and blew apart the sholders. However the other two were headshots and the meat was untouched. I would never hunt squirrel with my .243 but shooting them like targets for an hour or two was well worth the time. Ide do it again but im not going to plan on doing it much because like I said I like to eat squirrels. Plus nothing beats sitting at the base of trees and just plinking them off with the .22 or chasing them up the tree....too much fun in that too.

I did forget to mention before, the ONLY disadvantage I really felt I experienced when shooting a "big bore" for small game like squirrels or rabbits is that every "bang" cost $1 a piece, while a .22lr or .22mag is more like a nickel or dime per shot. Granted, it's great to get the practice with your deer rifle, but doing it it very often adds up against the pocketbook.

These days, I have a custom Ruger 10/22 .22lr and custom built Bushmaster Varminter AR-15 .223 for small game, and I reserve my bigger bores for bigger game. Although I do have a .243 WSSM that I use for coyotes that I like popping cottontails with occasionally...

Spend a day or two on the prairie in a pasture full of prairie dogs. You get 300-400 shots a day....thats when it'll cost ya a buck or two.

Ide die too...

May be fun but ultimately have respect for the animal. Kill only what you intend to eat!

17 hmr is the most perfect gun for them. 150 is an easy shot and 200 is not too hard either anything over 200 is pushin it. the bullet is snall enough not to blow off all the meat.

It's not that good an idea. I'd save up for a 17HMR or a .204. Either is capable of what you are talking about.