Recently I was approached by my mail man how lives on a farm. He is having a problem with coyotes at his place, and wanted to know if I knew anyone who hunted them. I told him that I would give it a shot. Now I've never really hunted coyotes before so I'm looking for some advice and techniques. I plan on using my .243 win. I just got a 6.5-20x 50mm scope for it.

.243 will do the trick. I like the 22-250, if you have both I would go 22-250, but if you don't the 243 will do fine. What are the distances and are you going to try and save the fur is another question and your surroundings.

I dont have both just the 243. Well I'm in Iowa so without actually seeing the property I would say there are prob some large fields with dense timber around. Shots will prob be under 300 yds and I dont plan on keeping the fur. I've been reading a little more but just thought I would get some more ideas of what works

I use one of the phantom game calls but if your good with a mouth blown call then go that way, you will definitely see more calling than trying to spot and stalk them. Camo is critical as is scent control, the exception to that is I've heard from guys hunting dogs outside urban and suburaban areas that the dogs don't seem to mind as much since they are used to it. I don't have a dedicated varmint gun I just use the same ammo as I do for deer but you can get some of these specialty varmint bullets that will put the hurt on as they basicly fragment on impact. I agree that at 300yds you have a plenty fast and flat enough shooting gun. The other thing I almost forgot is never hang in one location too long while your calling, change positions every 15-30 minutes as you feel are dictated by animal sign and weather conditions, if the wind is blowing then call a little longer. I don't know if you have any big cat's in your state and I don't recall ever hearing of bears in Iowa but remember if your in an area with bears, cougars or bobcats, anyone can answer your coyote calling. Good Luck and keep us informed.

If you are going to use a call, I'd get 30 yds. back in the thick stuff with a 12 ga. loaded with #4 buckshot or "Dead Coyote" size "T".
The last hunt I went on was with 3 other guys, all with long range guns with high power scopes. No one saw the yote till he was about 35 yrds. out on a full run. While those guys were trying to find the tan blur in thier 9 or 12 power scopes, I swung and put the bead 4 feet in front of him and rolled him ass over tea kettle.
Me and my buddy are going coyote hunting this Sat. in typical medium desert scrub. He's going to use a scoped bolt action .223 for any long shots and I'll cover any closer shots with a shotgun or a AR-15 with a EoTech. I'm even going to bring my Super 14 30-30 just in case.......

We never got real serious about the sport. After deer hunting is over we are usually out on the ice. The few times we have gone coyote hunting we walked a series of dirt roads, yiping and howling. When we would hear a pack, we would head toward it and set up with shotguns.

I have been to a couple of seminars two guys put on here in the Northeast. They primarily hunt farmland and open hardwoods almost always at night with shotguns. They also only use distress calls. They have a red light they use while they sit and call, constantly scanning for reflective eyes, and once ther eyes get within 50 yards they unload.

Rod is right. Scent control and good camo is imparitive for hunting coyotes.

For hunting a specific piece of ground in Iowa at least ,you will have no choice but to call,(lots of people use electronic callers)as most of the state is broken up in 1 mile sections with gravel roads,so in 80% of cases the largest tract will be only big enough to make 2 or 3 calling sets depending on the terrain ,up and down hills or flat and rolling,and how much ground you have permission to be on.
Spot and stalk in this state consists of driving and glassing the fields and timber till you spot something,then figure out who owns the ground,....get permission and then decide how you are gonna sneak up on them or give him a classic pincer movement and squeeze him to your partner,do this long enough and eventually you have permission to coyote hunt a lot of ground.
We also have a short bobcat season in Iowa and you better keep your eyes open for cougar,as those are in the state now also,and they are not protected so it is basically a continuous open season on them as well as coyote.Keep your eye open for large hawks also,they may dive bomb you,but if you set your e caller 20 yards or so away it takes a little danger,and attention off of you.Been 10 years since I chased coyote or fox around so take my memory for what it is worth.he he
dorson

Just a few extra suggestions, ask the owner to pay attention to where he's seeing the coyotes most frequently, where he hears them in the evening or where they seem to be hunting most. If he's noticed tracks or fresh scat in any particular areas. These will help you find the best places to set up to call. No matter how good you are, if they aren't in the area, you probably aren't going to have much luck.
If you can get out and scout around a little before hand it will help a lot. Pay attention to the prevailing winds, and your sight lines. Try to get a few locations figured out ahead of time, as well as the approaches, and do every thing as silently as possible. (The slam of a car door can be heard from an amazing distance on a still morning!)
One last suggestion, if you have a buddy, set up back to back, I can't count the times some old devil snuck up on me from behind.
Good luck, and have fun!!!

I forgot to mention one method we have used in the past that has proven to be very productive. Get a once living something (road kill has always worked well for us) and place it out in the middle of a pasture (underneath a screen or chicken wire held down with rocks) upwind of where you suspect the dogs will come from. Sit at least 100 yards away from the rotting meat an hour before dusk and wait. The scent will lure anything that is downwind of the pile and the chicken wire will keep the critters from getting away from your bait.

You will be suprised at how well coyotes can smell. One cool, late summer evening, I watched a pair of coyotes come about 300 yards up a creek bed to, believe it or not, three dead chipmunks I had shot and set out early that morning. Thermals and a light breeze can carry scent a looong ways.

Slick,

I've never called a coyote, but I know more than one hunter that has success doing it. Those that do seem to put forth one common denominator, they don't over call from one location. The dogs seem to get wise to it. These guys move from spot to spot, even if they shoot a yote from a particular spot.
Some of the yotes I have shot have been incidental while chuck hunting. Still, others I "baited" purposely as liv2hnt460 suggests. There were years when I would not eat the chucks I shot because of various diseases going around, and I would place chucks that I shot in a particular spot on the farm I hunted most. Predators and scavengers would get accustomed to finding "presents" in that spot, and I occasionally drilled freeloading crows and coyotes there. Seemed to be a common sense approach to reducing that farmer's coyote problems. He even shot one at that spot himself! ( I had long since told him about it, and he would check on it if I had put a chuck there).
By the way, that farmer's coyote hunting method was to simply keep a rimfire in the International Harvestor while he was cutting hay. That tractor was a virtual dinner bell for yotes that would come running to pick up dead field mice behind the mower! Maybe we should all buy tractors for coyote hunting (good excuse to get a new tractor don't ya think? - Now, if I could just sell THAT one to the missus')

Renster

Sounds like a hell of an idea to me!

Good info u have here so far. Learn to howl--that's the ace-in-the-hole really.

Don't be afraid to spot and stalk too. These days that's my favorite approach since i'm no longer interested in high numbers for fur.

There was a great article in Fur, Fish, Game magazine couple years ago about a guy that snipes coyotes at long-range over there in Iowa with a Savage 308. Excellent article i thought