Effective range/caliber to choose?

[mungojeerie]

A family outing coming up with snowshoeing and cross country skiing in mind has left me with an opportunity. I have snowshoes but no cross country skis. So my girlfriend and her mom suggested that when everyone goes skiing I should do my own thing and go hunting :-D

So Im gonna get in a short predator hunt coming up... I might do some trail walking with snowshoes up to some big open expanses and glass/call... but I will likely just do some sets with the motion decoy and call.

I have 3 options as far as what to throw at them.... wondering what the best would be as far as trying to save pelts.

1) .270 wsm throwing 150gr berger hunting vld's or 140gr interbonds
2) .22-.250 throwing 40gr varmint loads
3) .22 lr

at the moment Im leaning towards the .22-250... I know the .270 makes some pretty massive exit holes on yotes with the vld's... havent tried the interbonds on a yote yet. Now I havent tried the .22-250 on a yote yet either... but I have seen some pretty nasty looking kills on smaller animals that pretty much seem to explode. The .22lr is tempting... but not sure what the effective range would be. I would guess maybe 80 or so yds and it would have to be a bang on shot if recovery is expected. I was hoping to sit 75-100 yds away from the decoy.

[doughan]

22-250 is my choice

[r106]

With those caliber/bullet options I would go 22-250. I would even look for heavier bullet for it. Might help with longer shots. What twist is the barrel?

Nothing wrong with using the 270 but with those bullet choices it would make mess. A bullet that doesn't expand so rapidly would work better. I would use a really heavy for caliber tsx. It makes a pin hole in and a small exit

[Ltbullken]

22-250. If you call in a wolf or cougar you'll want something more powerful than a .22 LR.

[mungojeerie]

agreed.... I was originally just thinking about coyotes & if I got lucky a wolf... but I guess there is always the idea of cats too... I may check open seasons and purchase some cat tags just in case...

I was thinking about using a fawn distress... though I have never used it... I always use cottontail or jackrabbit distress.

Anyone have cats come to their predator calls? I know they do... just never had it happen personally.

[panhead]

If you like wounding stuff use the .22. If you want to anchor something use the 22/250.