Best time of year for coyote hunting

[Goofycat]

I just returned from a trip to northern California, where I had shot several coyotes in past years. The results were.....zip...nada...nothing. I attributed my lack of success in calling them in due to the fact that there were so many cottontails around and, since I am still a novice, that the coyotes just weren't hungry enough to move their butts into shooting range. I was well-camouflaged, used fox urine to cover any scent problems, and just had problems getting them to come in, although I did hear several responses to my calls a long distance away.

The weather was relatively warm, even towards the end of October. The dismal shooting results made me wonder if shooting during cold/snowy weather might make for better shooting, provided that the food sources for coyotes were less available due to those sources hibernating, etc. Any thoughts on the best times of the year for good results, or does cold weather make no difference in how hungry the coyotes are? I shoot in relatively heavy rabbit and ground squirrel country, and know that ground squirrels are active mainly in April and May. They hibernate most of the remaining months, so this leaves rabbits as the main source of smaller game for coyotes...at least where I hunt. If rabbits also hibernate during cold weather or during the winter, I will plan future hunting trips accordingly. Any ideas?

 

[Too Tall Rosenwald]

Up in Montana they are around all year long. The jacks herd up in the winter, but the cotton tails don't.

The best hunting I have found is after the river freeze over. You set up where you can see both ways down the ice. Then start blowing softly on a fawn bleat.

A couple winter ago I was set up about 150 yards from the ice, on this little knoll. I was calling when 2 coyotes came a running down the ice and started up the hill. There was a few trees scattered around, and they were racing to see who would get there first. When I set up like this I use a turkey blind (3 disks) to hide behind. I had a .223 on a bi-pod and a 3-1/2" 870 on my lap. I laid the rifle aside and picked up the 870. I waited till the farthest dog was about 35 yards and the closest was about 20 yards. Then I let the farthest one have it. Then I picked up the second one at 55-60 yards. When I went to pick them up, I lazered my blind from each one. The closest one was at 31 yards and the farthest one was at 64 yards. First and only double I have ever taken with a shotgun.

 

[bigngreen]

If hunting is good they slow down on the coming in. I've switched almost completely to territorial or curiosity calls and the percentages went way up. If they are responding to you food calls in territorial way switch to what they want to hear, you lay down some coyote vocals and get ready.

 

[Rymart]

August and September are the best times of year in my neck of the woods - Distress sounds only so as to not intimidate the YOY (young of the year) dogs. Calling success suffers greatly for me in areas open for deer/antelope/elk hunting. Probably skittish with all the activity and shooting, and full from eating gut piles all night long. November is usually a good month, but then things go down hill from there with all of the calling contests and coyote hunters in my area. By mid December I go almost exclusively to coyote vocalizations for calling.

 

[Goofycat]

Which leads to another question: I purchased a FoxPro Fury, tried it out and thought that the volume was a bit low when the wind was blowing. I like the small size and compactness of the Fury, but would a louder (and larger) FoxPro Prairie Blaster be a better bet, or do coyotes hear so well that the extra money spent on a Blaster would be wasted?

 

[Rymart]

Or... how about the Foxpro CS24? Or the CS24 Krakatoa with the 30 watt toa speaker? I've been wondering the same thing. Currently I just use hand calls. The Critr' Call Magnum has some good volume to it for the wind.

 

[lidsplitter]

Or... how about the Foxpro CS24? Or the CS24 Krakatoa with the 30 watt toa speaker? I've been wondering the same thing. Currently I just use hand calls. The Critr' Call Magnum has some good volume to it for the wind.

me & my hunting partner just switched from the fx-5 to the cs 24. its volume & clarity are amazing. on the subject matter, we do really good here in october, when the young are venturing out on there own up until the opener of gun season(deer). then things get difficult til the woods settle down a bit, wich is usually in mid to late december. then the action gets really good again in january through march when the weather hits it's worst, which overlaps with the breeding season.

 

[Goofycat]

How does the volume compare with the Fury, and how long do the AA batteries last for the speaker? The CS was not listed in the printed Fox Pro catalog that was mailed, and the sales staff did not mention it as an alternative. I went to the website and found the CS24 under "Custom Shop," and it appears that this unit would have the volume capabilities that the Fury lacks. The only important feature that I would like to see is a rechargeable feature that the Fury has, but I see no reason why Alkaline AA or rechargeable NiMH batteries wouldn't work as well. The Fury just doesn't have the volume I need, and the Prairie Blaster is huge and heavy. I will contact Fox Pro to see about sending back both units for an exchange for the CS-24.

FOXPRO CS24

 

[lidsplitter]

How does the volume compare with the Fury, and how long do the AA batteries last for the speaker? The CS was not listed in the printed Fox Pro catalog that was mailed, and the sales staff did not mention it as an alternative. I went to the website and found the CS24 under "Custom Shop," and it appears that this unit would have the volume capabilities that the Fury lacks. The only important feature that I would like to see is a rechargeable feature that the Fury has, but I see no reason why Alkaline AA or rechargeable NiMH batteries wouldn't work as well. The Fury just doesn't have the volume I need, and the Prairie Blaster is huge and heavy. I will contact Fox Pro to see about sending back both units for an exchange for the CS-24.

FOXPRO CS24

makes the fury & fx-5 seem like it's whispering & it's very clear when cranked way up there. It seems louder than the fx-5 at the half way
mark. We called in 3 this morning that came from well over 1000 yards away with the speaker sitting down in a draw. My buddy bought a good set of lithium rechargable batteries from lowes that are working great. Been out 5 times without recharging.

 

[Goofycat]

I am at a loss trying to figure out why FP didn't just go ahead and incorporate a larger speaker into their Fury. The Fury is a nice unit, but the horn speaker IMO is just too small, plus I would never use the cone speaker. I can work easily with a 50-call maximum, but have no idea what is meant by what they term "disabled" regarding the CS24 speaker. With the Fury you must first mute the speaker from the Remote Control before the speaker will turn off, otherwise it just keeps on playing.

Does "disabled" mean that the entire unit can be turned off (nice for saving the battery power)? So, other than the 50-call limit on the CS24 (vs. the 100 call limit on the Fury), the fact that there is no battery charger on the CS24 (not really a problem), or that the CS24 doesn't mention whether it has a low battery indicator or not, it seems to me that the CS24 would be a better bet than the Fury, especially since the CS24 is around $100 less. And....the CS operates with that very nice TX-500 remote. And...who cares if there is no manual speaker control or digital display that shows the sounds. Heck, you can see what is going through the speaker by looking at the TX-500.

If the CS has a greater potential for louder and clearer volume, I see no reason to stay with the Fury.
All I want is loud, clear calls, a reference display such as is on the TX-500 and a direct-dial feature that allows me to punch three buttons on the TX-500 to get me to the sound I want and enter it directly into the speaker. If the CS24 allows me to do this, I am going to exchange my Fury for the CS24. It is a shame that the company doesn't just provide a simple comparison chart so that the buyer could make the buying decision more easily and quickly as to which model would be the most suitable.

Am I on the right track here, or are there things I still need to consider?

 

[lidsplitter]

sorry for the delayed response. your on the right track for sure. the cs-24 has a toggle switch on the back. just turn it on, flip up the antenna & your ready to go. none of the mute crap that you fool with on the other models.

 

[Goofycat]

I am near the completion of my fairly intensive study on the comparison of the Fury vs. the CS24 and will post my findings, along with some interesting information that Fox Pro has recently added to its website, although I found that it was hard to find at first. I will answer some of my own questions posed in my previous posts. I just packed up the Fury and Prairie Blaster, will send it back tomorrow. Drew at Fox Pro has been very helpful. I didn't think they would allow a return of two different calls, but they had no problem getting me what I wanted. The CS24 will be ordered as soon as we get our limit of 50 calls ironed out.

If any of you veteran callers have any suggestions as to which calls you would include, let me know. I am sure that others would also be interested. I will be using the usual coyote calls, pup distress calls, as well as distress calls from other animals. I also plan to have some crow calls added at the end of the list. I had originally planned to add boar sounds for boar hunting, but after contacting TexasBoars.com, I was advised not waste my time.

So, as it stands, I will wait until the CS24 arrives (probably around two weeks), try it out and compare it to the PB and Fury, then get back to this thread and give a report. I know this thread is probably causing a lot of yawns---especially with you veteran callers---but for us novices, it is the only way to get and give information. Luckily, I have been able to check two of Fox Pro's high-end callers out just to see how they work and get an idea as to how much volume is available on both of them, their portability, weight, size, features, etc. I have always used hand calls with success, but I am getting old and lazy and want someone (some THING) else to do the work.

 

[4xforfun]

I am near the completion of my fairly intensive study on the comparison of the Fury vs. the CS24 and will post my findings, along with some interesting information that Fox Pro has recently added to its website, although I found that it was hard to find at first. I will answer some of my own questions posed in my previous posts. I just packed up the Fury and Prairie Blaster, will send it back tomorrow. Drew at Fox Pro has been very helpful. I didn't think they would allow a return of two different calls, but they had no problem getting me what I wanted. The CS24 will be ordered as soon as we get our limit of 50 calls ironed out.

If any of you veteran callers have any suggestions as to which calls you would include, let me know. I am sure that others would also be interested. I will be using the usual coyote calls, pup distress calls, as well as distress calls from other animals. I also plan to have some crow calls added at the end of the list. I had originally planned to add boar sounds for boar hunting, but after contacting TexasBoars.com, I was advised not waste my time.

So, as it stands, I will wait until the CS24 arrives (probably around two weeks), try it out and compare it to the PB and Fury, then get back to this thread and give a report. I know this thread is probably causing a lot of yawns---especially with you veteran callers---but for us novices, it is the only way to get and give information. Luckily, I have been able to check two of Fox Pro's high-end callers out just to see how they work and get an idea as to how much volume is available on both of them, their portability, weight, size, features, etc. I have always used hand calls with success, but I am getting old and lazy and want someone (some THING) else to do the work.

I just picked up the Fury ($599.00) at Cabelas on Friday. They didn't have the Prairy blaster. I am very new to this game and HATE to buy something only to find out later I should have gotten something else. My only use for an electronic call is coyote and deer hunting. I can't imagin I would need 500 sounds. I should have baught the cheaper ($399.00) model.

What have you found out on the CS24??? It is still not to late for me to return mine and trade "up", (if this is indeed a trade up).

Let us know ASAP. It looks like the coyote have bounced back in a huge way and are compleatly destroying the deer population. I usualy see many, many does, yearlings, and this years fawns. I saw very few yearlings and NONE OF THIS YEARS FAWNS. It's time to take up a new hobby!!!

On top of the coyotes, we now have an influx of mountain lions and wolfs!!!

The deer don't stand a chance!!!

Thanks!!

 

[Goofycat]

I just ordered the CS-24. I had ordered both the Fury and the Blaster to compare the two, but was disappointed in both. The Blaster was a huge unit and way too loud....it was apparently nothing less than a larger version of the Fury...a MUCH larger version. The volume was entirely out of the vocal range of small animals, and I can't imagine that coyotes would bite on a sound or sounds that were almost on the volume scale of a 100 watt stereo. A DVD I saw recently reminded me that distressed or dying prey don't ordinarily have voices that are as loud as would be found on the Prairie Blaster. Also this unit is just too bulky to carry (at least for me).

The Fury, on the other hand, is small, light, and provides a good sound. My complaint is that the sound from the horn end of the unit sounds tinny. The horn is too small to give any particular fidelity; as such, the reproduced sounds don't have the accuracy I would expect. The unit has proven successful, and 100 free sounds are available. Again, my main complaint was that of a flat, tinny sound from the horn. Also, I wanted just a bit more volume, since I hunt in some very wide-open spaces.

So...I just ordered a CS-24. Hopefully, the unit will provide a better sound. It also uses the TX-500 remote control, but without a couple of features the Fury provides. The CS is also $110 less than the Fury. You can find all you need to know on the Fox Pro site. Here is the comparison info on Fox Pro: FOXPRO, Inc. - High Performance Game Calls.. coyote calls, predator calls, game call, hunting calls, foxpro fx3, decoys, lightforce also has a comparison of the Fury and the CS-24.

As for a battery charger, the Fury has a nice built-in one, while the CS-24 doesn't. Not a big deal for me. I plan to purchase the AllPredator battery charger. It is a bit more expensive than the one that Fox Pro offers, but the Fox Pro model's capacity is only for 8 NiMH batteries. This works well for the Fury, but the CS-24 uses ten batteries. AllPredators offers a charger that handles ten batteries. The charger (so said the sales guy) turns itself off when the batteries are fully charged.

I found that the Fury charger required watching closely to make sure the batteries didn't overheat. If there was an automatic shut-off feature, I failed to see it. Even the Fury owner's manual seemed to side-step the issue of an auto shut-off. This meant that the charger could not be left on overnight because it required monitoring every half-hour or so. Also, the AllPredators model's batteries offered a maximum output of 2600 mAh, whereas the Fury's offered only 2400 or 2500.

So, as it stands, I have ordered the CS-24 caller with the original 50 free calls. I elected to add 16 additional calls (for $25 additional). I can't imagine my needing any more calls, but if I do, there is room for another 434 calls on the CS unit. If further calls are needed, they can be emailed and downloaded from my iMac, although it might take awhile for me to figure out how to do it. If you want to see my list of calls or if I can answer any questions, just send me a private message.
.