Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints What is your fave scope for Coyotes?

Tell us the terrain you hunt, type of hunting, calling etc. and your scope choice, can give other details ie. what power you often shoot, ranges, type of rifle.

Also reticle choice and if you use turrets, what type.

Thanks.

For calling:

Pretty basic 3x9 Leupold, duplex reticle. Power depends on the cover...shot them at 3 and shot them at 9

Rifles: Vary....a lot From .222 to .22-250 and .204 All but one are bolt guns....

This one is the exception and I don't use it for calling......222 with a 2x7 Redfield

This coyote was an opportunistic kill.





As far as terrain goes...this is usually it...




The sage in the bottom is head high and thick, the farther you go up the hills the shorter it gets...

My favorites are Burris 4-14 or Lupey 4-12.

Straight 6X or 10X or 2-7X.

Mil-dots preferred.




Travis

Semi-open, at least where I set up.

Calling most of the time, but will spot and stalk.

Scope-3.5-10x40 Leupold, duplex, CDS. The CDS doesn't get used much as most shots are under 200 yards, but it does come in nice a time or two each winter. 90% of the time the scope is set on 6X.

Rem 700 SS 22-250.

My combination guns get 1-4x20mm's on them, most of my coyote calling bolt guns 22-204 and 6mm-204 have 1.5-6x40mms on them and I have one 22-250 with a 2.5-10x40mm for open country targets of chance.



More than accurate enough for shots to 300 yards.

My favorite calling gun doesn't have a scope....

But when I do, I'm starting to love a fixed 4 or 6....

Nice reports and pics above thanks all.

Greg - shotgun?

700 Classic in 17Rem..2.5-8 VX3 duplex.
The area I hunt looks just like Lonny's but I used this same set up when I lived in NV.
I'm used to the 2.5-8 so it ain't going anywhere but I could get by with a fixed 4X or 6X because I seldom turn it up past 6X anyway.

My favorite scope is a Leupold VX2 2-7x33. The terrain is mountainous with very thick brush.




Kimber Montana in 17Rem. is my preferred choice with a Kimber Montana in 204 as a backup.

Yup -

I do open country calling and these days I'm using my 17/204 most often. No matter which gun I carry, they all have the same 4.5x14x40 duplex Leupold on top. Most shots are 100 yards and closer. I leave the scope on the lowest setting until I decide to take a longer, as in 200 yards and further out, shot.

Open country calling for me. Run a Leupold 4x12-40 on a 17 tactical but scope just sits on 6x all the time. When the wind picks up or rancher just wants dogs dead it will be my 6mm creedmoor with a SWFA 10x sitting on it

This^^^^^^^^

Mostly wooded creek bottoms and cut bean/corn fields.

99% calling and 1% drive by targets of opportunity.

Weaver V16 - 4-16x42AO with crosshair and 223plex
Leupold 4-12x40 with duplex or fine duplex
Sightron 4-12x40AO with duplex
Nikon ProStaff 4-12x40 with duplex

Keep the magnification dialed down unless a longer range shot presents itself.

I hunt cats in tight cover, 'cause they very seldom cross open ground in daylight. Mostly with a Remington 597 in 22 Magnum.

I hunt coyotes, mostly with a 204, a bunch of 223s, and the occasional 22-250 or 243. I leave a 243 at my MIL's ranch on the northwestern NE and southwestern SD border, so I shoot all the coyotes on that ground with the 243.

I'll not much of a "dial for distance" guy and my shot are typically within 100 yards, but seldom over 300 yards.

My calling is generally open country too. And my shotgun is still my favorite calling gun -

Good stuff, thanks gang

I've had a lot of combinations and cannot really say I have a favorite scope. Most of my coyote killing has been calling and I never liked high power scopes for that job. I started out with a Remington 788 and a Weaver K4 for my first set up because that was what I had and had to make do with it.

I was pretty fond of a Remington 600 222 with a fixed 4x, I've forgotten which brand but it was an inexpensive one. Stacked up a few piles of coyotes with it. There was a 788 in 22-250 with a Burris 6-18 for a short while that, while extremely accurate, I never liked the big scope for calling. I have the same scope still but it generally gets used for range work and load development.

I used a Savage 24V 222/20 gauge with a Weaver K2.5x for several years. It was a lethal combination. I kept the 222 barrel zeroed to 2" high at 100 and the shotgun barrel shot the center of the pattern to the crosshairs at 40 yards.

I used a Remington 700 in 17 Remington more than any for calling and had it topped with a Burris 6x Mini. I guess I could say it was my favorite other than it wasn't left handed. I have a Ruger 77V in 220 Swift with a Redfield 12X that I always resorted to if I needed to snipe a problem coyote who ignored calls or if I just wanted to spot and stalk rather than call. It was my only coyote rifle for a long time and I used it for calling. More than once I had one almost in my lap and finding him in that scope was fun.

Currently I'm running a left handed mini Mauser in 6mmx22 with a Leupold 7.5x. It's little brother, another lefty mini Mauser in 17 Remington is going in a B&C stock temporarily till I can get time to work on the wood stock for it. It will wear a Leupold 7.5X as well. I haven't decided yet if I am smitten with that scope but it seems to be working well. I don't get as many opportunities to call like I did when I lived in the lower 48 so I don't get as many chances to evaluate equipment.

I guess that's the long way around to say I like lower powered scopes for calling. For a coyote sniping rifle the sky's the limit on power. Though I've never had one I've always wanted to try a Leupold 4.5-14x40. It appears to offer both the low power I like for calling and ample top end for sniping without being too large.

65BR: For open country night calling I like my Leupold 3.5x10's with Du-Plex reticle.
For open country day calling I prefer my Leupold 6.5x20's with fine Du-Plex reticle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Leupold 3-9x40 set on 6x. If I'd put it on my .22-250 instead of my 7mm-08, the 6x42 would be the winner.

Leupold Mark AR Mil-Dot..3-9x on my CZ Ackley, 4-12 on my AR...I think I like the 3-9 better.

I'm a varmit caliber junky but my favorite setup for coyotes is an AR in .223 with a Burris 3x9 ballistic plex. I'm shootn a 55gr Hornaday either v-max or SP in front of 23.5gr H322, no speed demon but it's consistently accurate. Zeroed at 100yrds the first plex down is zero at 200 and the next 275.

You posted this on the optics forum also....do you really want a scope for coyotes or a "all around scope" ???? you are yanking in different directions

Probly killed more while looking thru a Leupold 3-9x40 than all others combined.

Dont know if its the best, but it aint a bad choice.

2x7 is great on a calling rifle

Hakko 1.5-5 with naturally illuminated crosshair with circle reticle. Sako Vixen calling rifle in .221 Fireball.

I'm waiting for a Leupold mildot to put on my CZ 223.....I'll run that this year and see if I like it.
I've got a Leupold VH reticle on my Remington 223 AI.....

Gonzaga,

Tell me about that VH reticle. I'm looking to try one of Dogzapper's designs on a prairie dog rifle.

Kimber,
Its not bad once you learn the drop system. The wind hashes make it nice though. It's a lot clearer than the Burris ballistic plex I used for years.....

'zaga,

Thanks!

+1

Current scope on my dedicated calling rifle is a 2-7 Bushnell 3500 with massive thick crosshairs that cut to fine in the center. Rifle is a Remington Mohawk 600 in .243, a bore larger than .22 because wolves and cougars are on the menu.

I started with a 2-7 Redfield, worked my way through 3-9, 3.5-10 to 6-18 briefly and for my style of hunting and calling predators, went deliberately back to a 2-7. Personal hunting style is more critical than terrain IMO. I started calling in open country with a bow, needed to have close shots and have kept the same style with rifle in hand. I've called coyotes within touching distance in open grasslands. I now regularly hunt a range of terrain and vegetation from true rainforest jungle near my home to open grassland and sage a couple of hours east across our nearby mountains.





A dead coyote is lying 35 yards from the camera, just left of the small dark stump near the center of the photo below.



The coyote below came to a stand intended for bobcat and he stopped to watch the Sidewinder motion decoy pictured.



Killed a bobcat at the spot below. I like a scope mounted low and close to the bore to allow bullets to travel as close to line of sight as possible when threading small holes in brush at close range. Erich's 1-4x22 scopes are even better for this kind of work.

I'm getting attached to this Meopta 3.5-10x44. An awesome scope so far on coyotes in south TX.
Bob

I have a few, nothing really special. A 2.5x10 Weaver on a 6.8 spc AR, 3x9 Bushnell on a 223 Wilde chamber RRA AR, 1.5-4x20 Mark AR Leupold on a 7.62x39 Armalite AR. (this rifle will probably get used this winter, just got it sighted in)

They all work for most of the places I hunt. The edges of cropland or little pasture plots along cropland. Also some calling in the river bottoms and some in the wide open areas of the sandhills.

I shoot all factory loads, usually whatever shoots the best in the particular rifle. Most of the time if the calling is working the shots aren't too long.

3.5-10x40 VX-3

We hunt most in really open country in west texas but I carry a a shotgun and a rifle to every set up. The rifle has a 4-12 Leupold VX-R. Also have a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 that I use at night up in the high rack. It helps when they hang up too far out.

I like the 2x7 as well ( in addition to the 3x9 I mentioned earlier...)

good looking bobcats

I'm going after the ones with spots next....

What rings are thoes on your T3?

I run nikons 3.5-14x42, SF, mildot scopes on most all my rigs these days.

I have numerous rifles that I use for calling coyotes. All have Leupold 4-12X or 4.5-14.
The 4-12 would be myfavorite. My calling is all in open plains country.