That is not a bullet I, personally, would recommend for coyote hunting. However, the first season I had my Savage 12VLP, in .204 Ruger, the 32 gr. Hornady V-Max was the bullet I was using for prairie dogs (Summer of 2004). I hadn't worked up a good load for the 35 gr. V-Max yet, but decided to try to call in a coyote at the end of a prairie dog hunting day. I called in a nice male, who stood looking straight at me some 175 yards away. I held the crosshairs dead center on his chest and squeezed off the shot with the 32 gr. V-Max.
WHAP!!! He dropped sideways, about 90º to the right of the way he had been standing, but was dead right there. You can see the blood drops on his chest where the bullet entered and lots of blood on the ground from the chest wound as well as blood that drained out of his mouth.
Here's a photo of the rifle with the nice male coyote:
I shot one other coyote with the 32 gr. V-Max that fall, before I got my 35 gr. FBHP Berger load perfected. That one was another chest shot with the coyote looking right straight at me from about 150+ yards away. That, too, was a bang/flop shot. Here's the view of the setup from behind the rifle.
Here's a view from the coyote back up to the little hillside I was lying on.
I used the 35 gr. FBHP Bergers the rest of that season and through March of 2007. I sighted my rifle in for the 39 gr. Sierras the end of March and had a couple of ADC outings with those bullets in April. The 39 gr. Sierras worked just great for me. No splash wounds and the bullets seldom exited. When they did exit, there was very little hide damage. I used the 39 gr. Sierras for coyotes during this 2007-08 fur season with excellent results.
