Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Varmint hunting with medium bore rifles

First off Merry Christmas all you medium bore fans! Awesome thread and video whelennut. No pics but I took two out of three racoons with a 308 Win Sako years back. They were all lined up at 50 yds but the 168 BT only tumbled the third one. My family got me an Eberlestock backpack with rifle scabbard so I'll be hunting yotes this winter and chucks this summer carrying my M4 and PSS. So hopefully I'll have some pics to add to this thread soon, wish me luck.

GoforBroke,
Goforit!
I have got some Speer 100 gr spitzers (.270)I am itching to try out on coyotes after this XMAS stuff is over.
We have got lots of snow so it should be easy to see them.
whelennut

My son and I are going to start hunting coyotes this winter. I have and plan on using a Remington 700 in 223 Rem. I might just have to bring my Remington 700 in 280 Rem. once or twice!

Yep works well, like the time years ago when I was still on the farm. There was this one old walnut on a bend in the road between the milk barn and the old hay barn. Every morning when I went by on a tractor feeding cattle there would be an old boar squirrel on a stub branch chattering and scolding me. I tried many times to sneak up on him with a .22 but never closed the deal. Finally said enough's enough, went to the house for the only centerfire I owned then. Loaded 110 Sierras into the ol' 270 and leaned against the barn. At 100 yards the bullet took the tough ol' critter lengthwise, there was hair all over that tree for quite a while. For some reason I never saw another tree rat take up his perch.

Those 100-110gr bullets sound pretty explosive out of a 270 win. Watched my buddy shoot a chucks with 130gr BTs a 130gr at a 100yds. Pretty much vaporized it.

My sister in law is complaining about feral cats in her barn.
They have chased her cats out into the cold and eat their food, etc. If I sneak into the loft I can shoot them. I wonder if the .270 with 100 gr hollow points will be "enough gun"?
I am afraid the 35 Whelen might make a mess in the barn and she has horses too. Maybe the 10/22 would be a better idea, or a .410 shotgun, what do you guys think?
whelennut

Take them all, except the .22...

Remember...this is a thread about Medium bores..

Ingwe

I'm thinking this would be a good application for the 35 Whelen loaded with 158 gr pistol bullets!
I will bring the camera.

35 Whelen would make things interesting. A shot behind the ear with a good pellet rifle might be more applicable.

I got out Saturday to hunt coyotes. I doubt if it got over zero degrees F all day.
One of the guys had a .243 with 70 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips which was very effective!
They/we were driving cornfields and I found out that carrying my heavy barrel .270 was not as much fun as I thought it would be in the deep snow.
I either need to get younger of find a lighter rifle for this game.
whelennut

last kill with a "varmint" gun. most of the times when we go varmint hunting. we take a .30 calibre along, because you never know what to expect in africa. therefore most of our vermin are killed by larger than normal varminters. this jackal went down from a 308, the only other rifle available was 300wm.

LT Dan,
Do you ever shoot hyenas? What rifle works well on them?
My wife and I saw some in South Africa about 20 years ago in Sabi Sabi.
I wish I could have shot some, they seem like a nasty beast!
Regards,
Jim

whelennut, in my neck of the woods the hyena's are scarce. we have the lesser known brown hyena. we get sporadic livestock kills from leopard. and because my region is primarily agricultural, the leopard:"shoot on sight rule" of thump exist.

but i wouldn't mind bagging one spotted hyena. i am part of a conservation association through hunting and i know that the hyena is an important part of nature. i just don't like them. they stink, are cowards and they are ruled by the woman!!!!

for some reason or the other hyenas are not hunted often. maybe some of the local ph's on this forum can tell us why. but my ph friends says that any 30 calibre with the normal well placed shot will do the trick.

Lt Dan,
The ones I saw were taking a wildebeest from a large male lion
they were surrounding him and attacking from behind and when he would turn around the other side would come in.
They hyena was running around in the brush with an entire leg in his mouth laughing like he was the devil himself.
Very exciting to see.
whelennut