# Hunting with a Shotgun



## indianacoyotehunter (Jan 6, 2010)

All i have to hunt with is a Remington 870 and I was wondering if you can hunt coyotes shooting slugs to give it a little more range than buck shot..new to coyote hunting mostly just have bird hunted..thanks for any help


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## Snowgooser (Mar 28, 2008)

I use and 870 for coyotes and I use 3" 00 with an extra full turkey choke. Seems to have plenty of range. Never tried to shoot a coyote with a slug though. I hear that Dead Coyote load kills them way down range. There is a thread going right now about that shot shell.


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

I use my full choke and 00Buck for yotes. I have flattened them out to 80 yards. The 12 gauge is a devastating weapon on dogs. It is not my first choice of weapon but when i am still hunting/stalking in willows it'll mow the trees down on the way to the target.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

If your rifles set up for slugs (rifled barrel, etc) than id go ahead and use em.

If not, youd be better off going with a tight choke, 3" #4 buck, or lead BB if you can find it and a couple hours of patterning different combos to see what works best. (Sorry 00 guys, but I always opt for more pellets vs bigger pellets, whether its doves or coyotes).


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## Snowgooser (Mar 28, 2008)

Bareback;

when it comes to feathered critters I completely agree about more pellets. IMO at long range I can hit a coyote with one or two 00 and he is toast. Just an opinion, I have no doubt you crush them with #4's and BB's. I think it is a confidence thing. You can't kill a dang thing if you aren't confident when you pull the trigger!!


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

I will tell you this, federal truball rifled slugs are designed for in a smoothbore, they have impressive accuracy for a slug, just under a dollar a shot when bought at cabelas, the low recoil ones kick less than pheasant shot and are good to 50 yards if you have rifle sights, standard are good to 100 yards with rifle sights, i got my first deer with the low recoil ones with just the bead but i dont reccomend it, i dropped a 30+ pound coyote at 110 yards with it, luck it was, and one at 40, they leave a big hole going in, bout 1 inch wide but they havent exited for me yet and it will be bang flop, except the deer, if you sell the fur on the carcass i would reccomend them, use an open choke or skeet though


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## coyotekiller3006 (Jan 3, 2006)

I shot a coyote at 30 yards and dropped it dead with 3in STEEL BB 1 1/8oz


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## JuvyPimp (Mar 1, 2005)

Smooth bore slugs might be a great idea for the 3rd shot


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

both deer and the coyotes have all been one shot deaths, did some tracking with the deer but it was easy becuase they bleed fast with that big hole, they do just fine, one slug going in is better than one or two bb's in my opinion, if the slug hits em, they are done for


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## RBuker (Dec 11, 2009)

00 buck is generally a poor long range choice. Too few pellets to do more than just get lucky with. They are only about the size of a .22 and carry less energy then a .22 lr. Would you be happy to shoot and hope to get two .22lr rounds into a coyote SOMEWHERE? Because that's what happens with a shotgun. You may hit a coyote with one pellet in the butt and one in the gut and that's not going to stop a coyote. Or, youmay get lucky and hit one pellet into the melon. Drop them on the spot. But, luck just isn't enough. Even coyotes deserve more respect than that.

Dead coyote, 4 buck, lead BB's, etc are all better choices. And, they perform better too.

I don't mean to sound like I'm coming down on you, just trying to shine some light on the subject from another angle.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

:withstupid: thats my take on pellets to, no i dont think slugs are the best but they are nice becuase if i hit them, it either dropps em, or when i check the spot i see blood if i did hit them, you might hit them with a couple pellets but the holes are small enough that they won't bleed very much, the slug it is like a river, so it is pretty easy to tell if you hit him, just shoot at them like you would a rifle, and in my opinion half a dozen pellets across the body isn't going to do as much damage as a slug hiting em in the boiler,


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

coyote_buster said:


> :withstupid: thats my take on pellets to, no i dont think slugs are the best but they are nice becuase if i hit them, it either dropps em, or when i check the spot i see blood if i did hit them, you might hit them with a couple pellets but the holes are small enough that they won't bleed very much, the slug it is like a river, so it is pretty easy to tell if you hit him, just shoot at them like you would a rifle, and in my opinion half a dozen pellets across the body isn't going to do as much damage as a slug hiting em in the boiler,


If you've done your homework, i.e. found a choke/load combo that works well, your gonna have a hell of a lot more pellets than a half dozen on a coyote, and with the smaller shot, like #4 buck or BB, you have A LOT of pellets hitting the target with less holes in the pattern like 00, and is still a better option at the moderate, un-scoped slug gun ranges.

Think about it, OO is packing 15-18 pellets (depending on 3" or 3 1/2".... or roughly the number of #4 buck pellets hitting just my 8 inch circle at 50 yards). #4 buck in 3" is packing roughly 40 pellets, and 3" BB is packing around 80! Not much room for "dead space" with the smaller shot like there is with 00, or 000. The point being, OO buck isnt anywhere near the top of the list when it comes to shotgun fare for coyotes.

The loads ive experimented with are deadly. The #4 buck load I last patterned put 11 pellets in an 8 inch circle at 50 yards. Now, ill take that at the point of aim plus a number of extra pellets across the body over a slug to a coyotes guts ANY day of the week!

Slugs will work, if placed in the right spot, but to imply that "all you have to do is hit em" is pretty naive. Ive hit enough coyotes with a rifle in less than desirable spots to know their tough enough to go a looooong ways with a pretty big hole in em and quite a bit of blood coming out of them. A big hole with enough blood to track doesn't mean jack squat if you cant catch up with the animal. Id MUCH rather have my half dozen "tiny" pellets in his head, with another dozen spread over his neck/shoulder region. Thats a LIGHTS OUT coyote!


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