coyote hunting with a .38 Special

My in-laws have a fairly large farm and coyotes are becoming very abundant on the back part of it. They said the coyotes are actually not shying away from humans as they usually do, so I offered to thin them out a little. I have an SKS that I'm going to take with me, but I want to try using my 6" Model 14. What do you all think would be the maximum effective range with some +P ammo, or should I just leave it in the holster?

I'm fairly certain that it is illegal to hunt coyotes in Kentucky with any centerfire handgun. See: KY: Kentucky Dept Fish and Wildlife -

You've got a have a license, and it is illegal to shoot them at night, but the season is all year 'round, and there is no limit. I just bought an S&W M&P 15 largely to deal with the 'yote issue here on the farm.


Bullseye

Try the revolver out before you take it hunting and establish the range your able to shoot accurately.
From the place your going to hunt from, your "hide", use a range finder to get the distance your good at with the Mod 14. Mark the yardage with a rock or bush at that maximum yardage.
If a 'yote comes to your call in that range you ought to be able to put a round in him. Use ammo that shoots the best group in your revolver, if you hit him he'll get the "feel bads" and lay down.

It'll be fun to hunt with your revolver. Just take shooting sticks or some kind of rest to fire off of and you'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen, you might miss?

Do it. Take pictures. Post pics of dead coyotes.

GF

A very well known hunting writer, now retired, once told me that the .38 and 9mm, when correct ammo is used, will deck a coyote. A .357 would be preferable, but the .38 will usually suffice. He specialized in hunting varmints and trophy-class deer, and I feel sure that he knows whereof he spoke.

Be careful that a coyote or a bobcat doesn't sneak up behind you in the blind, thinking that your calls are from a wounded animal.

I don't know your laws. I do know that bold coyotes do sometimes attack humans. A couple killed a girl in Canada last year. Children are at special risk, and pets.

T-Star

I used to hunt coyotes with a Burnham Bros mouth call. The few that I shot were close enough that I could have used a .38 but I had a .22-250, not a pistol.

Your range is whatever distance you can reliably hit a 6" diameter circle. If you get one in this range, by the time you can get aligned and into action, he will probably have seen you and will be departing, post haste. So don't expect a close, stationary target. You'll see close targets, and you'll see stationary targets but you'll rarely see a close, stationary target.

Many times they will circle you and unless you have somebody facing the other direction, you'll never know they were there. I've almost reached the conclusion that if you're alone, you're better off to face away from the wind when you call. Only a dumb predatory animal is going to approach you from upwind.

I ain't got much use for yodel dogs, but I got more respect for them than to risk a bad shot with a minimal gun.

Bullseye 2620 said:

I'm fairly certain that it is illegal to hunt coyotes in Kentucky with any centerfire handgun. See: KY: Kentucky Dept Fish and Wildlife -

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Nope; it's perfectly legal. Coyotes are "furbearers," not "small game," and as such may be taken with any of the following:

- Muzzle-loading or modern rifles or handguns of any caliber

- Shotguns no larger than 10-gauge

- Archery or crossbow equipment

- Dogs

- Falconry

If memory serves, there used to be a restriction on hunting coyotes using any firearm that is legal for deer during gun deer seasons unless you were in possession of a deer tag, but I'd have to look it up to see if that's still the case.

38 sp with 158 WCs are what works for me from a tractor. When cutting hay or bush hogging, the yotes just sit on the edge of the woods and watch. Shots under 50 yds work best in my situation.

.38 Sharpshooter said:

My in-laws have a fairly large farm and coyotes are becoming very abundant on the back part of it. They said the coyotes are actually not shying away from humans as they usually do, so I offered to thin them out a little. I have an SKS that I'm going to take with me, but I want to try using my 6" Model 14. What do you all think would be the maximum effective range with some +P ammo, or should I just leave it in the holster?

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please dont take this as rude but, you want to hunt coyotes with a what!!!!!!!!!!!!.

now having said that i'll say i have been hunting and trapping yodel dogs for over 30 years in 11 states. and yotes may be hunted all year (in your state) but they may have a season where they must be taken "fair chase" usually in the winter. i did not see in your post anything about calls or a blind and i dont know your plans for hunting them, but in a place that i can only guess has "hills and hollers" and a bunch of trees i would sugest you trap them.

you may get one close enough to shot with a handgun but that will be few and far between, 1 in a 100, these guys are almost clairvoiant when it comes to senceing when somthing is not on the up and up.

if you think you want to give it a try, keep in mind once you shot in a place (spot, blind) they will not be back to that place again for a few generations of there kin. your best bet after trapping is to use a few friends in trucks with cb radios and a slow tracking dog and get ahead of the yote on a fence line or a fire road and use shot guns have the standers in place waiteing for the dog to push the yote to them you can keep track of the dog and move useing the radios.

another method that works in heavy terain is set up on culverts or ditches (where they cross a road) with a caller and a flat shooting rifle, call loud for a few then wait. the animals will use the ditches as a hi-way (thats where the food is and that is where they will be hunting, that is where they are already) after a shot is made wait a few then if no others expose themselves move to the next crossing. of course set up- up wind of the expected cover they are in good camo is a must. no - none at all noise or movement, more still and more quite than deer hunting.

good luck hope to see some dead yotes soon.

by the by, myself and 4 friends got 101 yotes in 90 days last season useing the truck and dog method, but we are in flat and treeless country, the roads are all in square blocks and few fence rows. and we can hunt at night.

Thanks, Frailer. I'm not a Kentuckian, and it was hard to determine from the info posted on the Kentucky DFW website which set of rules applies. From what I've observed of 'yotes here and in South Dakota, it would be rare to get one within handgun range.


Bullseye

Frailer said:

Nope; it's perfectly legal. Coyotes are "furbearers," not "small game," and as such may be taken with any of the following:

- Muzzle-loading or modern rifles or handguns of any caliber

- Shotguns no larger than 10-gauge

- Archery or crossbow equipment

- Dogs

- Falconry

If memory serves, there used to be a restriction on hunting coyotes using any firearm that is legal for deer during gun deer seasons unless you were in possession of a deer tag, but I'd have to look it up to see if that's still the case.

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m1gunner said:

38 sp with 158 WCs are what works for me from a tractor. When cutting hay or bush hogging, the yotes just sit on the edge of the woods and watch. Shots under 50 yds work best in my situation.

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That's exactly what they are doing on their farm. They have even ventured out of the woods into an open field when kids are playing in the same field, and that's what is starting to worry my mother-in-law. One of her nephews went back there to look for a camping spot and he said a couple of them circled his truck, so he got spooked and left.

I shoot IHMSA with my Model 14, so I know I can hit out to 100 yds with it. Well, at least at a stationary steel ram lol. I just didn't know if the .38 would have enough knockdown power. I definitely wouldn't take a shot beyond 100 yds with the it. Like I said, I'll also have an SKS with me too, not just the revolver.

And thanks guys for the input! I'll take some pics if I have any luck.

Coyotes are not tough, and most of them, at least in this part of the world, don't go over a skinny 35-40 pounds or so. So, knockdown power isn't as important as being able to get a solid hit. As a kid I hunted them in Oklahoma with a 22 RFM, there was a $25.00 bounty on the scalp and ears in our county. I made enought to buy a nice new pump 20 ga, and S&W Mdl 27. I still have the shotgun and wish I had of kept the Mdl 27.

Iggy said:

I ain't got much use for yodel dogs, but I got more respect for them than to risk a bad shot with a minimal gun.

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Or any other game you intend to harvest--fair chase.

We used to hunt ground squirrels ("picket pins"). For close shots, I often used a K-38 with a handload of a Sierra 110 gr. jhp over a stiff dose of Unique. One day, we spotted a coyote sitting in sagebrush off to the side of where we were shooting, probably waiting for a free meal when we left. I had a solid rest, the range was between 75-80 yards, and it just wasn't that coyote's lucky day.

Coyotes in the state of Georgia are considered non-game animal.

Which means you can use just about anything on your own land, but limited to any legal firearm for any other game that happens to be in season on public land.

A .38 will work just fine, if you can hit him with it. #2 or #BB lead shot from a 10, 12 or 16 gauge works too. #4Buck is used by a couple of fellers around here, but I think it has too many holes in the pattern.

I've shot 3 with a 22 mag. and killed over 40 that were in foot traps with my 22 pistol. 38 will work fine if your close enough for the pistol.

Rick

Yodel Dogs

I don't hunt the rascals...

I do however shoot at 'em on every opportunity, with whatever I'm packin' at the time.

The ones I kill out-right I hang on the fence, so the livestock world I live in can see I'm trying to do my part...
To keep the price of you all's hamburgers down.

Your welcome,

Su Amigo,
Dave

Andy Griffith said:

Coyotes in the state of Georgia are considered non-game animal.

Which means you can use just about anything on your own land, but limited to any legal firearm for any other game that happens to be in season on public land.

A .38 will work just fine, if you can hit him with it. #2 or #BB lead shot from a 10, 12 or 16 gauge works too. #4Buck is used by a couple of fellers around here, but I think it has too many holes in the pattern.

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Animal control in my county told me they won't respond to coyote reports any longer. They also said the best thing to do is shoot them, shoot all of them. They made no mention of any caliber choice.

BTW, 45 ACP also works.

If you do try calling and don't have any come in to the more traditional varmint calls, try a turkey call. They seem to work better in the area I usually hunt. I was turkey hunting last spring and was using a plunger type call, not really paying attention (yeah, dumb, I know) when I look up and there's a yote staring at me six feet away. By the time I got my shotgun up he was gone (I suspect my verbalized surprise at being caught off-guard didn't help).

yaktamer said:

If you do try calling and don't have any come in to the more traditional varmint calls, try a turkey call. They seem to work better in the area I usually hunt. I was turkey hunting last spring and was using a plunger type call, not really paying attention (yeah, dumb, I know) when I look up and there's a yote staring at me six feet away. By the time I got my shotgun up he was gone (I suspect my verbalized surprise at being caught off-guard didn't help).

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umm- what did you say exactly???????????