On almost every coyote calling stand we make we have a shotgun shooter and a rifle shooter. If the coyote runs right up to within 30 to 40 yards of our Foxpro the shotgun shooter shoots. If the coyote stops between 40 to 250 yards or so the rifle shooter shoots the coyote. We don't make any sounds to try to stop coyotes when they are running towards our Foxpro.
Before we started using shotguns in open country we had a fair amount of coyotes run right up to our cassette callers and turn and run off and get away. When we started using shotguns and put the shotgun shooter 10 to 20 yards from the e-caller not very many coyotes that ran up to our e-caller got away.
IMG_0260 - Copy by
Robert Morris, on Flickr
In the above picture, in wide open country with no cover the rancher's son is laying down on the left and my Foxpro is in the middle of the picture. On the right side of the picture is a coyote that ends up getting killed with a shotgun by the ranchers son. About 10 minutes before this coyote showed up I killed a coyote with my 243 Win laying prone.
In the country we hunt in, a good rifle and shotgun shooter will kill more coyotes than two good rifle shooters will over 4 months of coyote calling. Most of the ranches we hunt on, only 40% to 60% of the ranches are good rifle calling country. By using a shotgun or shotguns it make the whole ranch good for coyote calling.
Since we have to use lead free shot on coyotes we use12g/cc, 15g/cc or 18gr/cc shot. Steel and Bismuth shot won't work very good at all on coyotes.