I live in north west Missouri (StJoseph) and would like to here from others in my area. We are covered up with coyotes up here but I have noticed that they are getting harder to hunt since the area wal-@#$% started carying predator calls. Anyone else noticed this? I hunt puplic land only so I cant realy control the preasure.
missouri coyotes
- Thread starter nwolf
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BrentWin
Member
That and all of the predator hunting shows on TV now days. Alot more guys are out there calling them or trying to shoot them from the road.
Learn to howl, they get wise to rabbit distress. I think that howling is better this time of year anyway.
Learn to howl, they get wise to rabbit distress. I think that howling is better this time of year anyway.
jj_nemo
Member
I hunt the area between Butler and Lamar MO. I have definitely noticed the change over the last couple of years. The elecronic callers and shows are making it tough. I've tried the electronics and always go back to mouth calls. I get a bigger thrill out of making the sounds that bring em in. Plus, you can put so much more realism into the sounds. I agree with BrentWin, the howl, if used properly can work pretty good, especially when they are doggin. Good Luck!
Are you saying you can call them in with a howler? I've never tried it because I've always heard that it does not work. I hunt in eastern Kansas, about 50 miles from the Missouri border, 70 miles south of K.C. This is my first year hunting after about a 10 year hiatus so I cannot compare against recent years, but it does seem like they are not responding very well to either mouth calls or electronic. I've had perfect conditions this year and have had little success. Last weekend I saw one across a field too far to take the shot. He was moving right to left in front of me. I tried my mouth call, he looked over in my direction but just kept moving. I live down in a valley where there are many coyotes. I hear them howling and yapping at each other off and on all night long. I've got several good spots to hunt them on my land and a couple of neighbors property. It just seems like I would have had more success under these conditions.
jj_nemo
Member
To be honest, I don't know if howling alone works, never tried that. I use a couple howls and barks starting my more open set ups this time of the year. Use the howls sparingly, "less is more". Follow up with some different distress sounds. I think the rabbit is the least effective distress sound in my area. Probably cause the coyotes don't know what it is, hawks keep em so thinned out. Good Luck!
The farm i hunt is a little south of Bethany and we have had no luck calling coyotes. We've used rabbit, bird, and rodent distress calls and even coyote vocals but never had anything come in. And we have more than enough coyotes plus some cats but again never called any of them in either. I agree that there is a lot of pressure on them in the area as there have been way more people around the past few years than before
jj_nemo
Member
I have 2 properties that I am about to give up on. Both are excellent looking and I know there are many coyotes there. No matter how good they look, I have terrible luck there. On the other hand I have a couple places that produce about every third time I call there. I limit all my places to 2-3 sets per year to keep the pressure down. You might try shotgunning on a full moon night over snow. My cousin in Nebraska has great luck with night calling. You might want to make sure it's okay with the land owners. I had a bad experience night hunting years ago. Had a farmer claim to be holding a pistol on me behind his truck door. I didn't really feel like arguing with him. I had permission to hunt on his neighbor, but he thought I was poaching or shooting at his cows or something like that. Even more impotant, keep expanding your hunting properties. You can't have too many.
Excellent advice. I do hunt at night under a moon, usually with snow on the ground but if it is a full moon I will hunt even without snow. I use a scoped rifle though. I have not had any success with that this year, but I think it is just tough to see them at night even with a nice moon. Many years ago I shot one at night with a full moon and snow. Ever since I've been hooked.
I hunt in eastern Kansas where we have a lot of wide open fields with rolling hills and small ravines with rocks and trees spaced out. I've gone out the past 4 weekends and I've seen a coyote each time. I think I called them all in. I shot the first one, but I've missed or did not get shots at the other 3. Mostly my errors I think. I have read up on how the "professionals" call and everything I read says to call at a spot for 30-40 minutes and then move to a new spot. Each of the past 4 weekends, I sat in the same spot for about an hour and a half or more, calling about every 15-20 minutes before I saw my coyotes. Maybe it is because I'm hunting in more wide open spaces, I don't know. But if I had followed the advice of the pros I doubt I would have seen any of the 4 that I called in.
This morning I sat up in a tree overlooking about 900 yards of mostly open field with rolling hills and a few trees along the bank of a winding creek. I called for about an hour. Then I got out of my tree and started walking up over the hill behind me. In less than 5 minutes after leaving my tree I spotted a coyote standing in the tall prairie grass looking right at me about 100 yards in front of me. Before I could react he took off. I walked up to the top of the hill and spotted him running at about 500 yards up over the next hill. If I had waited just a few more minutes I think I would have had a really good shot at him.
This was the view from my tree:
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I hunt in eastern Kansas where we have a lot of wide open fields with rolling hills and small ravines with rocks and trees spaced out. I've gone out the past 4 weekends and I've seen a coyote each time. I think I called them all in. I shot the first one, but I've missed or did not get shots at the other 3. Mostly my errors I think. I have read up on how the "professionals" call and everything I read says to call at a spot for 30-40 minutes and then move to a new spot. Each of the past 4 weekends, I sat in the same spot for about an hour and a half or more, calling about every 15-20 minutes before I saw my coyotes. Maybe it is because I'm hunting in more wide open spaces, I don't know. But if I had followed the advice of the pros I doubt I would have seen any of the 4 that I called in.
This morning I sat up in a tree overlooking about 900 yards of mostly open field with rolling hills and a few trees along the bank of a winding creek. I called for about an hour. Then I got out of my tree and started walking up over the hill behind me. In less than 5 minutes after leaving my tree I spotted a coyote standing in the tall prairie grass looking right at me about 100 yards in front of me. Before I could react he took off. I walked up to the top of the hill and spotted him running at about 500 yards up over the next hill. If I had waited just a few more minutes I think I would have had a really good shot at him.
This was the view from my tree:
heathbaker
Active Member
I am also a Missouri resident and avid coyote hunter. I too have noticed a coyote hunting "frenzy" erupt amongst my corner of the state. I have bumped into guys in areas that I frequently hunt, who claim they are "calling coyotes."… Except their version of doing so consisted of tossing an electronic caller out the cab window of their truck and letting it play as they eat a snickers… Do I feel this "style" of hunting hurts the rest of us callers? The answer is yes, and no.
It takes more than knowing that a distress sound can potentially call in coyotes to continuously be successful sit after sit. Coyote hunters should be just as curious as the critters they call in. By this I mean you should continuously seek to gain knowledge about your preys environment, and habits. Always ask the question, "Why?" Why did that coyote lock up at 300 yrds? Why did that coyote not have any interest in my call? Why the hell didn't I call anything in during this particular sit? Sometimes there just isn't an answer for these questions, but seeking potential answers will make you a smarter and all around more successful coyote hunter. Below are a few tips that have helped me bag numerous Missouri yotes over the years:
· Hunt early months, young eager dumb coyotes venture out during Oct. and tend to be far from call shy.
· Slow down, one productive quality sit is better than rushing in and making all kinds of racket in attempt to make several sits before the morning is over. "Telling one good story of smoking a yote is better than four stories of how you didn't shoot anything."
· Practice with your calls, anyone can toot a horn but not everyone can make music…
· Start soft with your distress sounds and gradually get louder. Some guys disagree with this but it's worked well for me.
· Mix it up by calling an area from different angles. Don't condition the coyotes to your habits condition yourself to theirs.
Good Luck!
It takes more than knowing that a distress sound can potentially call in coyotes to continuously be successful sit after sit. Coyote hunters should be just as curious as the critters they call in. By this I mean you should continuously seek to gain knowledge about your preys environment, and habits. Always ask the question, "Why?" Why did that coyote lock up at 300 yrds? Why did that coyote not have any interest in my call? Why the hell didn't I call anything in during this particular sit? Sometimes there just isn't an answer for these questions, but seeking potential answers will make you a smarter and all around more successful coyote hunter. Below are a few tips that have helped me bag numerous Missouri yotes over the years:
· Hunt early months, young eager dumb coyotes venture out during Oct. and tend to be far from call shy.
· Slow down, one productive quality sit is better than rushing in and making all kinds of racket in attempt to make several sits before the morning is over. "Telling one good story of smoking a yote is better than four stories of how you didn't shoot anything."
· Practice with your calls, anyone can toot a horn but not everyone can make music…
· Start soft with your distress sounds and gradually get louder. Some guys disagree with this but it's worked well for me.
· Mix it up by calling an area from different angles. Don't condition the coyotes to your habits condition yourself to theirs.
Good Luck!
