# .17 HMR Coyote Hunting Results



## utahheadgear

After reading the other current thread about the .17 HMR and coyote hunting it seems to me that most of the posts were based on opinion and not on actual in the field results. Has anyone atually shot a coyote with a .17 and if so what where the results?

I recently bought a Marlin 917VS an although I didn't buy it specifically to hunt coyotes, I have been very impressed with it's performance. It is deadly accurate and I think that it should pack enough killing power for a coyote out to $1.50 or so it shot placement is precise, but I have yet to test my theory.

I think this gun was underestimated in the previous post, and I'm going to give it a try on yotes and see for myself. I will be shooting the Hornady XTP 20 gr. bullets for better penetration and controlled expansion. It is being advertised as a hunting bullet and it should be better than the very fragile VMAX.


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## i_love_177

no body has had any expierence shooting coyotes with a 17 cal is becasue there not dumb enough its like going and sufficating ur self stupid dumb idea u should move up to a 22 mag or a 223 would be best and if long long range is requered show them whos boss with a 22-250 dont shoot them with a 17 thats just stupid


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## go4thegusto

Sorry no coyote, but I did sit by a breath hole last winter and shoot 2 big beavers with my 17. Shot them in the head at 30 yards. Completely lambbasted the suckers. They couldn't even try and make the hole. That was with the 17 grain fragmenting loads. I just switched to the new 20 grain XTP hunting loads which mushroom. 3/4 inch groups at 100 yards with these. Out to 100 yards or so with a head or double lung shot and the coyotes are in trouble. Don't listen to the "Ultra-mag" advise but be selective on your shots.


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## i_love_177

alright lets say u do hit it at close range what do u think is going to happen its going to die? no its going to attack your A$$ thats whats going to happen if ur hit ur going to be very furosios it would be so quik u wouldnt even know what hit u the 17 simply does not have enough power


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## utahheadgear

Hey Love,

Who was it that you said was stupid? Before you are so quick to point your finger you might want to check the grammar and spelling of your post. And by the way, we'll see who's stupid after I stack up a few yotes with my little .17 cal.

Gusto,

Thanks for the reply, sounds like that gun is hell on a beaver. Watch out for coyotes though, according to Love they might get mad after you shoot them and "Attack your a$$". HA! I don't know about you, but I'm scared!


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## mr.trooper

:shake:.....Read my signiture, go look in the mirror, and reapeat Those words.


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## i_love_177

mr trooper hopefully he does shoot one cause then there would be one less idiot in the world lol


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## utahheadgear

There you go again Love, calling names. uke:

Look, you can think what ever you want about the .17 HMR on coyotes. If you don't think it will work, that's fine. I don't know if it will either (which is why I started this thread) but don't call me, or anyone else stupid for asking a very ligitimate question. You're are the one that will end up looking stupid. :withstupid:

This thread is asking for those that have shot a coyote with a .17 HMR to sound off on what results they've had. Good or bad. You, Love, haven't shot one with that gun so thanks for playing.

So, how about the rest of you, any luck with the little .17 cal.?


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## i_love_177

look im just saying the reason y ur not getting responces is because no one wants to hurt the animal dont use a 17 im seroius unless ur tracking if that is the only legible gun to shoot it with go for right inbetween the eyes and carry a heavier .45 with u because it will attack if it sees u but dont hit the body


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## utahheadgear

Okay Love, explain this....

http://www.17hmr.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB. ... 1076418290

We could also ask everyone else looking at this thread if they have ever been attacked by a coyote that was wounded at close range?

Any takers out there?


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## i_love_177

the only reason y that man killed that yote was because of the secand shot in the head and that was a reletivly small yote. he was far away so attacking has nothing to do with it 100+ is far enough so u wont get attacked and anyways but he did say quote "this isnt the perfect coyote round" unquote


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## Militant_Tiger

The .17 hmr is simply too light for coyotes. Even with the 20 grain (ohh ahh) it does not have sufficent energy to kill said animal at anything past 75 yards with a headshot. I'm sure that OSOK is going to post that he killed a coyote with a spitwad at 500 leagues, but that is the exception and not the rule. If you do not want a hurt animal do not use that .17.


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## Yotehunter

I would like to say that I have shot a coyote with my Marlin .17VS. I hunt coyotes on a regular basis and used most everything to kill them. I wanted to see what the .17 would do to a coyote and I have to say that it suprised the heck out of me. To make a long story short, I dropped my now dead coyote at approx. 80 yards with one shot in the chest. By the time I got there he was just passing away. Now some people as we can see seem to be totally against the idea, I was a bit too but I had to try it. Lets just say that I proved my self wrong as well as the others. I will take my .17 out again soon to do it all over again. I wouldn't shoot one past 100 yards in the body though, if you are a good enough shot, a head shot will put one down at 150-175. Happy hunting to the person that asked the question about whether or not the .17 has the balls.


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## i_love_177

i never said that it couldnt be done the thing is the 22 mag has more balls and loses its energy less and the key words are RESPONCIBLE DISTANCES and thats y i said shoot it close and bring a big caliber handgun just in case


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## utahheadgear

Yotehunter,

Thanks for the input. I can't wait to get out and try my .17 on a yote. I'm sure that I will be pleased with the results.

Does anyone else have any actual in the field experience shooting yotes with their .17?

Oh, and how about that being attacked by a wounded coyote thing? Anyone ever had that happen?

Didn't think so!!


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## i_love_177

hey not every one has stated there opinion yet and the reason y i say that is because my friend was attack he was 50 yards away and he was using a 35 wheeling and shot it 5 times 2 in the heart 2 in the lungs and 1 in the leg it was comming straight for him


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## Militant_Tiger

http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

"I believe the 17 HMR is not powerful enough for coyotes. Using the 17 HMR for coyotes would be like going elephant hunting with a 243 Win loaded with 55 gr Nosler Ballistic tips."

Then again what does he know...


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## utahheadgear

Militant, That elephant comment is in the same category as your "spit wad at 500 leagues" comment. Just because he said it doesn't make it true.

Here's the truth, calculated mathmatically, instead of stated as someone's un-tested opinion.

A .243 is a very commonly used deer rifle, and most deer hunters would agree that it will effectively dispatch mule deer sized game at 300 yds. No, it won't hit them like Bubba's super-duper-blow-a-hole-the-size-of-china BFG would, but it will to the job and do it right. If you disagree you're calling alot of successful deer hunters a liar.

A .243 at 300 yds. generates 1173 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. On a 250 lb. mule deer buck that comes to 4.6 ft. lbs. of energy per lb. of animal weight. (Mature mule deer are that big, maybe bigger)

A .17 HMR at 125 yds. ganerates 117 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. On a 25 lb. coyote that comes to, you guessed it, 4.6 ft. lbs. of energy per lb. of animal weight. How about that??

That's hardly like shooting an elephant!!

This may not prove anything, but at least it is fact.


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## i_love_177

first of very nice homeowrk im impressed i really dont know what to say about the comment about the elephant but a 22 mag produces 125 kinetic energy at 125 yards believe it or not and if the coyote was 25 pounds then that goes to a full 5 lbs per square pound of the animal now if u were at 150 yards the kinetic energy of a 17 is 80 pounds per square inch and if the coyote was reletivily small say 20 pounds the answer is 4 pounds per squeare inch of the meat now at 150 the 22 mag has a kinetic energy of 115 and if the animal is 20 pounds then that means theres 5.75 pounds per square inch of the animal


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## utahheadgear

You are correct, a 22 mag does hold slightly more energy at longer distances that the .17.

Assuming the coyote is 25 lbs....

22 Mag. 150 yds. 115 ft. lbs. energy = 4.6 ft. lbs. per lb. of animal
17 HMR 150 yds. 100 ft. lbs. energy = 4 ft. lbs. per lb. of animal

However, we are not debating the 22 mag. The topic is whether or not the .17 is effective on coyotes. Above I have shown that according to KE it should do the job at least out to 125 yds.

Incidentally, the 22 mag has more energy at 150 yds, but it is not as accurate, which affects shot placement. Shot placement with either of the two guns will be essential to a clean kill. That is why my argument is for the .17 over the 22 mag, but as I've said before, I'm yet to actually test my theory.


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## i_love_177

u r wrong about the 22 mags accuracy at 200 yards im able to achieve 1 inch groups and 150 yards .4" groups ill upload some shooting sessions sometime


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## Ryan_Todd




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## north14

:eyeroll:


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## Militant_Tiger

i_love_177 said:


> u r wrong about the 22 mags accuracy at 200 yards im able to achieve 1 inch groups and 150 yards .4" groups ill upload some shooting sessions sometime


That is stunning, have you thought about joining a league or contacting ripleys?


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## i_love_177

well i can do it accepy certain conditions must be met such as like there has to be no wind and also im sitting down doing this not standing and i have a 9x scope


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## i_love_177

o and about the league i live in the middle of no where so impossible


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## Militant_Tiger

That was a joke 177, most people would kill for a consistant .4 inch group at 50 yards, so being that you stated that you could achieve such groups at 150 makes me think that your measurements are incorrect.


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## i_love_177

im seroius .4" at 150 YARDS


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## utahheadgear

Hmmmmm, interesting.

Just got home from a day of yote hunting with my .17 HMR. Smoked two yotes with two shots. No follow up shot needed on either of the two. The first dropped in his tracks and the second did one spin and dropped dead. I would like to say that they were 150 yards out, but they weren't. One was 25 yds and the second was 20 yds. The second one actually came in to 5 steps but he was behind me and I had to turn and get him as he was leaving. I'll need a few more testing trips to see what the gun will do at longer range. That is if I can get them to stop charging in to almost point blank range before they stop. I guess my calling was just too convincing today. Preliminary testing looks good though, and I think the .17 HMR may just end up being my new yote gun.


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## oldrosey1

the 17hmr is an excellant rifle for varmints including coyotes, with a ballistic tip bullet it will make a critter bleed fast and it will die quick if hit in the chest. as far as head shots, this round is designed to fragment and it does, it will fragment on the wall of an empty pop can or plastic jug. It is extremely accurate, much more so than a 22 mag, faster, flatter and will kill efficiently up to 250 or so. It is not inhumane to coyotes and will not tear up the hide because it does not exit. An accurate shot will kill a coyote everytime. so there


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## Militant_Tiger

Do us all a favor and dont come back with the story of the first one you lose.


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## sdeprie

Geez, I don't think I will shoot ants with mine, now. Actually, I want to use mine for Fox.


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## utahheadgear

Militant,

Do us all a favor and don't make any more posts to this thread.

At least not until you have some in the field experience about the topic we are discussing. Until then, your opinion is neither valid or wanted.

You have alot of negative input, but you don't have much to say about the facts that I stated earlier in this thread regarding kinetic energy, nor about the fact that there are numerous people that have had great results shooting coyotes with the .17 including myself, yotehunter, and sdeprie. Oh, and I almost forgot that guy that shot his with a "spitwad at 500 leagues". I guess all those facts are just BS though because in your "opinion" shooting a coyote with a .17 is like hunting elephants with a spitwad, right?

Thank you very little!


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## Brad.T

:lost: :fiddle: blah blah blah blah blah blah if you guys put have the energy in to calling coyotes that you do arguing about calibers and defending the one you use you would have a lot more fur on the ground regardless of the caliber your shooting


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## Militant_Tiger

"Do us all a favor and don't make any more posts to this thread.

At least not until you have some in the field experience about the topic we are discussing. Until then, your opinion is neither valid or wanted.

You have alot of negative input, but you don't have much to say about the facts that I stated earlier in this thread regarding kinetic energy, nor about the fact that there are numerous people that have had great results shooting coyotes with the .17 including myself, yotehunter, and sdeprie. Oh, and I almost forgot that guy that shot his with a "spitwad at 500 leagues". I guess all those facts are just BS though because in your "opinion" shooting a coyote with a .17 is like hunting elephants with a spitwad, right? "

Indeed I have no field experience, but I bring the word of several dozen people from rimfirecentral as well as varmint al, and I assure you that their combined knoweldge is far greater than yours or mine. I am quite sure that someone has killed a deer with a .22 short before, and if you are sure that you will always, always be able to make the perfect shot, then go ahead and use the .17, if you feel that at some time in the future, there may be a remote chance that you may miss by a few inches, get something bigger.


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## sdeprie

Fine, let them say it and stay out of the middle of it.


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## coyotekiller

I would like to say that I love my 17hmr and at 175 yards i drew a straight line across a pepsi can with all 5 of the shots in my clip
So I am planning a hunting trip to southern Iowa this weekend all for coyotes with a friend 2 savage 17 cal. rifles are going with I will be sure to let all of u know my results of the hunt.

:sniper:


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## sdeprie

What part of southern Iowa. My stomping grounds are the southeast corner.


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## i_love_177

alright now time to finish this now first of all a militant tiger dont sweat it the 17 has the same power as a spitwad at muzzle lol anyways i was just joking hey nice kills on the coyotes and *I NEVER SAID U CANT KILL A COYOTE I SAID AT RESPONCIBLE DISTANCES IT IS FINE* and did the the bullets go through? and im saying if u wanted to shoot a coyote at *LONGER* distances such as past 100 yards use some bigger


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## Militant_Tiger

sdeprie said:


> Fine, let them say it and stay out of the middle of it.


If you would like to take your argument to them I am sure they would have plenty of answers, until then I doubt the lot of them have the patience to argue with a single minded middle aged child.


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## Brad.T

guys a good discussion is what we are looking for but keep the name calling and personal attacks for when can meet in person and you guys can hash it out face to face.


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## coyotekiller

Im goin south of knoxville Iowa and Im takin a verry expensive camera so when we finish The pictures will be available for all to see

:sniper:


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## sdeprie

MT, you have a hard time knowing when to let go, and don't call me a child. My grandchildren act more mature than you are at this point. My point was to state your opinion and let it lie, and quit quoting everyone else. Everything does not have to be a bloodletting debate and you don't have to win every round, and people are more interested in your personal opinion or your personal experience than in web sites. They have just as much access to them as you do. Do you want me to say it's not enough? Fine, it's not enough. But you know and I know that as many people now want to go out and try it because you said it wasn't enough as have decided not to try it. I'm still going to use it for fox. I'm not sure about how many coyotes are in my neck of the woods, anyway. Maybe bobcat, maybe lynx, but I doubt it. Now, when I retire and go back to Iowa, that may be a different story.


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## utahheadgear

Militant,

If it's numbers that count then let's not go to rimfire central, let's count the number for and against on this thread! Oops, you lose!

I wouldn't be quite so confident about your rimfire central defense. So you have a couple dozen that agree with you, good job. From what I can tell there is another couple of dozen at least that would agree with me and sdeprie. Check this thread out.....

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/sh ... ge=1&pp=15

Oh, and by the way, refering to Varmint Al as an authority in this matter lost all credibility awhile ago when you quoted his elephant theory.


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## Brad.T

This topic is going nowhere and nothing constructive is coming out of it anymore, for those reasons i will be locking it down


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