Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Best gun for the task

We've got a situation at our camp that requires us being armed at all times. This is a 200 Deer/Turkey camp in Northern KY.

Feral Dogs/Coy Dogs/Coyotes. These packs come and go. They're all interbreeding. The coyotes roam as a mated hunting pair. The rest roam in packs up to 6. They're a nuisance to the deer and turkey, but they've also managed to scare the bejesus out of us. We've all been tracked. One rather aggressive pack went after my grown sons as they were exiting their car and they had to jump back inside and wait them out.

As patriarch of camp, I've issued two standing orders:

1) Shoot anything resembling a coyote on sight.
2) All persons need to go armed when away from the house.

I normally carry a double-stack 9, or a single-action 357 Mag, or a 357 Mag Carbine. Moose is now carrying a Micro Roni Gen 4X housing a Glock 9mm. Angus is carrying a double stack 9. I'm also rather partial to a Mini-14.

It's to the point where I've decided Mooselette, now age 8, probably won't be able to solo hike around the farm. Her father and uncles all grew up with being left to have the run of the farm at this age. However, she's not yet ready to handle a firearm on her own and I don't want her having to deal with the dogs alone.

I thought I'd start a discussion: what would y'all pick for a task such as this?

I'm sorry, what exactly is the "task?" Are we gun-shopping, mapping strategy, what?

Given the task of being on alert for coyote and their ilk as targets of opportunity, what would you carry?

When we see these bastids, we're usually inside 50 yards. We've got a second or two before they're into cover.

By actual body count, we've been most successful with our turkey shotguns. They like to come to our calls and decoys during season. #4 lead turkey loads do a pretty good job on them out of a full choke.

M94 22 WMR would work very well with 40 grain JHP or 50 grain JHP

Shotgun, AR, .22 WMR auto, or whatever you're best with inside 50 yds. I can't really think of a handgun I'd put on my list as a first choice. (Did you mean to post this topic in HANDGUNS? The PREDATORS AND VARMINTS forum is right below this one and maybe you clicked the wrong one?)

Rather than be reactive, go on offense. Start baiting them and shoot them over bait. If your state allows it, shoot them with lights at night.

Also, bring the dogs in for the night and put out some baited steel traps. For fun, have Moose and Mooselette design and build a box trap and see if you can capture one alive, unharmed. It can then become the bait, as it howls for help (again, if permissible under the law).

Shaman, You have my sympathy. I had to deal with this very scenario years ago on one of our farms in Indiana.
I had to declare all out war on a bunch of ferals and coyote/coy dogs, and though I am big on handguns, I found a Remington 1100
with a short cylinder bore barrel loaded with #4 buckshot and a varmint call was hard to beat.

I would take a hard look at the Ruger or FN pistols in 5.7mm as a carry gun around the camp. They are lightweight and hold a lot of ammo and should play hell on dog sized vermin

On another note: bait them and shoot them at night with a suppressed rifle with a thermal or night vision optic or even a red light

Shaman: I think a semi-weather proof Smith & Wesson Model 66 (or the equally effective Model 686) with 6" barrel would do well for the modest range Coyote eliminations.
Good luck on and keep after the Coyotes.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I've used the .40 S&W for everything on your list and a lot of things not on it. 180 grain HST will do the trick.

I don't see any reason to change the handguns you are carrying for self defense. They would all work. If you are going to hunt them, use anything you would shoot a dog with. I wouldn't overthink it.

Yep, dont overthink it. Even if your wound them and get away, they wont last long.

If just about, yes I'd carry a handgun...

But it sounds like you've got some serious hunting to do.

Calling coyotes can be a lot of fun. Since it's more of a removal program vs. sport I'd use a reliable' semi-auto shotgun and have my buddy back me up with an AR or the Mini-14 for anything out of reach of the shotgun. Nail the hell out of them when they come in, may not come into that call again after being shot at, if they do they'll be quite cautious.

Don't have a thermal or night scope, and don't have the money for one, we used to use red lights, maybe there is another color option that is better now ('kill light' is just one option).

I've had a few livestock kills due to cougar & coyotes over the years and keep a 'kill light' handy for such problems.

Jerry

Most anything preferably bigger than a .22 will work well. Shotgun with #4 or larger shot, M-1 carbine, Mini 14, lever action .357/.44/.30-30, AR-15, M-1928 Thompson, RPG, etc., etc. Basically, whatever ya' got that's handy to carry around and you can shoot well. If a .22 is what you have at the time, then use that. Just shoot 'em with something and hopefully what you shoot 'em with is enough gun to do the job. A .22 is kinda light for the job, so just shoot 'em multiple times if that is what you have. Remember, these are not deer. You are not particularly interested in sportsman type "humane" minimum meat destroying shots. Your objective is to kill them without hesitation. They are your enemy.

No, actually I meant Handguns, because you all see things through the lens of self-defense more often than not. I've learned to trust you guys for advice like that. This isn't quite your EDC kind of question, but it's a lot more about "pumping it to 'em" versus sport hunting. Fair Chase this is not.

Moose (Honorable #2 son) fell into a Micro Roni GEN 4x a few weeks ago. He fitted it to his Glock and tried it out at the farm over the weekend. You talk about a $hitstorm!

http://www.micro-roni.com/

I tried it. Yauza! He's now totaly sold on it for anti-dog duties. He was reliably hitting a target at 100 yards using a Vortex optic.


I've been more of a rifle kind of guy, but even I've gotten so I like having a pistol in a shoulder holster rather than having to sling a long gun.

I like the way you think.

They come out of their den and congregate at sundown. The coyotes will sound off, and I've had a long-standing fantasy about using an M2 mortar on their dog-asses. I could put my sons 100 yards to either side of the mortar pit and they could shoot azimuths as the dogs start going off. They relay that data to the pit and I could calculate the range and elevation. SuperCore is ex-Airborne, so he knows how to hang and drop.

Dad was in the field artillery. He'd be proud of me.

Get you a PMR 30 in 22 magnum, they are super light, easy to carry and you have 30 rounds of ammo at your disposal. I keep one of them in my tractor with a spare mag, I'd be scared to guess at how many critters it's killed. I can easily hit coffee can sized targets out to 50-60 yards offhand.

A 12ga stoked with #4 Buckshot would seem almost tailor-made for targets you are describing.

If'n yer jist walkin' around, any of the handguns you mentioned or anything else in a 9mm is more than enough,,,,,,,,hitting at 50 yards takes some proficiency though.

If actually huntin' 'em, a short(er) barreled shotgun with buckshot or an AR with a red dot or a low power variable would be about right for me.

MM

I think you need the new Ruger 5.7 with a red dot.