Long time hunter (50+ years). Nada experience hunting coyotes. Any advice appreciated.

Smallest bore center fire that I own is a 6.5x55 SE. I hand load and do have die sets for 222 Rem. and 234 Win. I have a couple of nice scopes that could use a home. Night hunting not legal where I will be hunting. Lots of woods with about 34 acres of open food plots scattrered around 3100 acres.

Shots will not exceed 250 yards.
Are the electronic calls worth the $$$?
How aobut those 'wiggly" rabbit decoys ?
When is better times of day/year (etc.) to try to bring one into range?

Thanks

Any of those rifles will do the job.

I recommend a fragmenting bullet; IE: Hornady V-max


Scout for "sign" - set up down wind of an open area where you expect them to travel or have a decoy to distract them.

Lastly look for a good vantage point;IE: good cover / elevated ground.


Kill'em whenever you can and try not to educate them.


Electronics help until you learn to call.


I like to hunt in the daylight - best times are dawn and dusk !

Mojotex....sounds like Your in Missouri like me....No lights allowed to hunt at night!


If You have existing ladder stands,box blinds or elevated shooting houses sit in one of them and do some calling,mouth calls or as You mentioned and Electronic Caller if it fits into Your budget?

I usually use a simple Feather Distractor (feather on a stick) to draw the attention of any Coyotes,or You can hang a feather on a string from an over hanging tree branch,do some light rabbit in distress sounds from a mouth call or even a Fawn in Distess will work great now that the Doe's are having their babies....just be in a safe spot and very careful because it can be very dangerous this time of year when You have a protective Doe running/charging in.

Another great place to hunt since the weeds and grasses are so darn tall is to sit over looking a fresh cut Hay Field.....I can't stress enough how much easier it is to do some Calling in fresh cut hay fields or even mowed CRP Fields,the Coyotes are looking for an easy meal and thats where its at this time of year and the ticks aren't as bad and its easier to access and hunt over!

There's another Section here that discuss several different Electronic Callers,prices,quality and how well they work that You can check out.

I would say that the 6.5,the .222 or .243 would be fine for putting down the Coyotes....is the 6.5 a .223?

I'm using a CZ model 527 "Varmint" Rifle in .204 with Federal Loaded Sierra Blitz Kings in 39 grains and I'm also using a Savage Axis XP Camo .223 with Hornady 55 grain V-max bullets as Sheridan mentioned in His reply!