You are welcome I enjoy it when I can help others. You're getting the stuff we will be getting Friday. You already know who is in the area that's a head start so the tracking part isn't as important as it would be if you were just going into a new area blind.
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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As I have journeyed through the coyote control stages of my life there are a few things that I experienced and saw in others. One of the things that happened to me was that I was trying too hard to be really good at it, making it harder for me to actually see and understand them as they are. One of the things that I noticed others doing was that they were just kind of costing along and not really taking it serious awh I can just call in the plane and go out to kill some coyotes and have large numbers taken, and probably get the ones that are the problem. It took me a while to slow down and put my efforts to work in the correct manor and places, I then started to learn to figure out for sure which coyotes were actually the problem, after I saw the helicopter come in and kill a bunch of coyotes and the killing didn't stop, or several times it would fly and not get any coyotes. I decided that me being on the ground needed to do a better job of figuring things out. That's when I slowed down and started to think about the situation, how do I know what coyote, or coyotes need to be killed first. Then I started to figure out to kill those specific animals I needed to know where they were coming from and spending their down time. So, to do that I needed to learn to read the clues that they left for me to see, tracks in the dirt, mud, snow, small amounts of fur left in the wire of a fence where they crawled under it, antelope leave under fur in the fence also so then I needed to be able to tell it from coyote fur. I started learning the way that they lived so I could better figure out the places that they liked to live, and why they did. During that time, I figured out the reasons for them to be killing livestock, were they old, did they have pups to feed, or were they going to have pups and needed to feed the female to support her health, were the young of the year just getting out on their own. The time of the year dictated so much of the reasons for them to kill, thus the need for them to be killed, it was a job not a hobby so then I learned that I needed to take it serious and not just be out there when I felt like it. Being a job meant that I felt the need to learn as much as I could about the ways of the coyote so that I could be as good at it as I could. I figured out pretty fast that there were people out there that knew a lot about it, and some would share that knowledge, and some weren't as willing to. Some would for a price but some that wanted a payday really weren't that good at it, some were quiet but very much professionals and after they found that I wasn't just in it for any other reason than to learn and do a good job, were willing to help me along the way. As with the coyote some of the people that are very good at killing the right coyotes are the most complex people and so very often you would never know that they are extremely good at their job just because they are confident in themselves, and their abilities so just don't say much about what they do so well.
filled with lead 
The best way to learn from them is to watch them, listen to them and not kill them on sight a dead coyote has a few things to tell you, a living coyote can teach you so much more, observe them it's not always about killing them as fast as you can, calm, cool and collected patience pays dividends. Take the time to actually study them while they don't know that you are, and you become better at killing them when you have the need to.
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@windypants , I will echo Dave's advice on tracking to and from the calf kill site and add that, even if it snows, the other coyotes will continue to visit the site looking for any leftovers and any sign of the dog you killed.
Also, go back to the site where you killed the dog. If that was a mated pair, the female will be out looking for her mate as well as hunting. Tracking from there will also point you in the direction of the den.
Ed
Also, go back to the site where you killed the dog. If that was a mated pair, the female will be out looking for her mate as well as hunting. Tracking from there will also point you in the direction of the den.
Ed
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windypants
Well-Known Member
I was up there this morning before the snow set in and, in spite of doing a couple of call sets with the male howl and looking over a lot of country, I never saw a single coyote. First time in a long time! But I've spent a lot of time watching them from afar and paying attention to tracks and trails, so I have a pretty good handle on where to find them, and the best vantage points to get a shot from. I'll be back out as soon as this storm passes.
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Sounds about right if there's a front moving in. Critters are much more sensitive to barometric pressure changes than we are. They will stick closer to cover when it's about to get nasty.
Do you use a weather app to track weather conditions? I use "Windy Premium" more than the others. Standard "Windy" is pretty good, but the Premium, which is cheap considering the data that is available, gives me an edge.
The other one is "My Radar Premium" which allows me to track a front in real time as well as HD Radar.
Yes they cost money but, for me, they are an absolute necessity.
Ed
Another example of getting what you pay for Ed some of the free apps are pretty good but the ones that you pay for so often have much more information on them and very much so keeping close track of the weather means so much to the coyote and their hunters.
windypants
Well-Known Member
Ive never really paid attention to pressure and moon phases and how it affects animal behavior, but it is an interesting subject and a lot of people swear by it. It is something I would like to learn about. There are always deer around our house on the south slopes and ridges, and I always pay attention to when they are laying up and when they are feeding. They give me the cue when it's time to go look for coyotes. Many times I've watched coyotes on a far ridge up the valley, and their active times correlate with the deer. I do follow a local weather app for storm fronts and wind conditions to plan a good time to hunt a certain area. But, like this morning, I just love being out there and will go for the fun of it even if hunting conditions aren't ideal!
When trapping and snaring I found that full moons meant fewer catches, I figured just because they could see better and were using their eyes more than their noses. As for hunting times yes, I watched the deer and antelope feeding. When you get to keeping track of the feeding patterns try looking at not the moon faze as much as the moon rise and set times, I think you will find a correlation with it more so than the faze . Two hours before rise to two hours after it then two hours before moon set and two hours after moon set. Barometric pressures have a bearing on the way they act and their feeding as well, ask some of the ranchers about when their livestock tends to calve or lamb, or what they do as far as seeking shelter with the changes in barometric pressures, that will help you start figuring out when you want to be looking closer to cover in the draws or out in more open terrain. Checking the edges of the watering holes when the weather warms up and there isn't as much water around will tell you what direction they are coming from so then where they will be shaded up at during the heat of the day. When you start putting it all together if you are kind of like me it will become even more interesting. The wind hasn't diminished any here, yet we are getting gusts over 40 mph. today it is warm and sunny getting ready for the storm front to start getting here tonight after midnight.
windypants
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I'll watch that now. I recently got On-X hunt on my iPad and it has sun, moon and pressure in the weather page. Moonset was 4:42 AM and moonrise 12:48 PM today. The deer were up after lunch. It's snowing lightly and not much wind so the storm kind of fizzled so far. I'm ready for some bluebird weather!
I have always been one that studies things most people don't find interesting. I was reading about sea urchins one time, because the study was related to the moon phases. They took some urchins in an aquarium while studying them they noticed that they started feeding not by the moon phases but by the moon rise and set, they then transported them from the east coast to Kansas, within a few days they had adjusted their feeding to the moon rise and set in Kansas. So then I decided that I would watch the wildlife around here to see how they correlated their feeding to the moon rise and set. Before long I noticed that they were actually behaving much the same as the urchins had becoming more active a couple of hours before and after moon rise then again, a couple of hours before and after moon set. The predators were doing the same as the deer and antelope following their feeding patterns. So, then I got a fisherman's calendar and checked it to make comparisons to the predator's patterns, there were some comparisons in activity between them. The biggest was however that they were most active with the moon rising and setting. Coming on a full moon and going from a full moon as I have said before made a difference in my catches with traps and snares. With my trap sets you will only be able to see my scent holder at the set and I do that, so they have a visual attractor as well as scent, the rest is well blended. Still during brighter moon conditions, they stay at more of a distance and look the set over, if I have used very much scent on my holder, once again with the predators less is better in a lot of cases.
It's interesting that the tides rise and fall with the moon. Gravitational influences from it here on earth that the animals feel while we humans have learned not to notice them as we have taught ourselves to not pay attention to the changes in barometric pressures that the animals pay attention to, they are there we just tend not to pay attention to them. We have for the most part given up the hunter gather way of life so tend to not feel the need to be finely attuned to the minute changes like that. People have learned to work at night in factories and such so the sun rise and set isn't as important as it once was, with so many of us living where there is a lot of lights at night, we also tend not to pay attention to the moon rise and set as well as the stars and other planets. Some people are so accustomed to being around noise and light pollution that they can't get relaxed when they are away from it, I have been around people that had to have a radio or other noise on to sleep or that had to have a light on to sleep.
Oddly enough, when I'm out in nature or just outside for that matter, I can listen to every little sound(what I can still hear anyway lol) and be happy happy. But when in doors and yes when I go to bed, I have to have the tv or something on to go to sleep. But I'm just kinda wierd anyway lol.
