Coyote hunting tips
- Thread starter geo4061
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geo4061
Well-Known Member
Sounds like way too much fun. I will have to report back on this one.
geo4061
Well-Known Member
I am going on a hog hunt in a couple of weeks.. I will sneak in a set or two. I thought it would be cool if those sets were yours. Get detailed, tell me what you would do and I will try to pull it off. It's in central Texas. The cover is pretty thick, lots of cedars.
D
Deleted member 115360
Guest
You want a hunting buddy?
For me I would look at finding a nice cedar on some high ground to use as backing and shade for my cover over looking a draw or gully that the coyote would want to use as a denning site . I want to be able to get to it unseen if I can with the sun at my back or before it comes up . Here they like one that has a south facing side to it the best for denning in with some water close by . This time of the year I would use some friendly coyote vocals and do that sparingly . Maybe one howl and wait for a couple of minutes and do that again . Then two or three howls and wait a few minutes . I would use higher pitched howls like a female not a male . I'm thinking that by then you will probably see one laying and watching you from a place that they can see you and their denning area . It may be up to 200 - 300 yards out but I have had them lay up at 40-50 yards also . They will be very cautious this time of the year and will slowly make their way to a good vantage point and not very vocal as a rule but that's not cut in stone . This is for before 9:00 A.M. as at this time I like to call early in the morning from first light to maybe 9:00 at the latest then again a couple of hours before sun set . So often now they will lay and just watch where the sound is coming from so it is a good thing to practice actually seeing a coyote that isn't moving . I think that a lot of people call coyote in to a distance and just don't know it because the coyote just lays there watching them at this time of the year and even in the winter months if they call too much too busy making sounds for too long every rabbit dies and has small lungs , and maybe too many different sounds there are only so many animals in one place , dyeing rabbit and what ever is killing it and what ever is killing it doesn't make much sound as it doesn't want to share it's small meal . or too loud . OOPS I got to rambling . But that is what I would do myself slow quiet and patient observing and listening all the time .
So now it's mid March or early April and I have a coyote laying out at 200 or 300 yards just watching me . It just lays there and I've used my coyote vocals on it and know that it's just watching my location so what now ? I can shoot it if it's a good shot for me or I may want to get it closer for a better shot . So that is where the puppy squeaks and squeals come into play . I make those sounds on my hand calls and reserve them for special use , spring time on hung up coyote that I have to kill because they are killing livestock . Not being a pleasure hunter of coyote I know that I have to avoid abusing my tools and that I will need to limit some of the sounds that I use for special occasions other wise they may not be of any use to me when I really need to have them in my arsenal . Just because I have a car that will go 120 mph doesn't mean that I should drive it that fast anymore then just because I have an E-caller full of sounds doesn't mean that I should use them all the time . I think that we should put some thought into the way we use our callers what time of the year are the sounds normally made by the animals themselves and let that be our guide lines for the sounds we use . The average coyote hunter hunting for pleasure really doesn't need more then 6-12 sounds the predator hunter doing control work needs a few more but at differing times of the year as it's being done by them 12 months of the year . It's kind of like the fisherman dangling bait for the fish . bam your hooked my money now thanks .
Dave your making way to much sense
geo4061
Well-Known Member
Dave I have a great spot; you talked just like you had seen it. One problem. Most of this place where I am hunting you can only see maybe 50 yards. So we really need to try to get them coming to us.
D
Deleted member 115360
Guest
Hey guys, I have a question that hasn't been broached here yet:
What goes into your decision as far as the placement of your call? Do you always run a decoy? What kind? Do you think it is necessary to be able to see your call/decoy while calling? Do you set it according to the wind? Thanks for all of the good tips.
What goes into your decision as far as the placement of your call? Do you always run a decoy? What kind? Do you think it is necessary to be able to see your call/decoy while calling? Do you set it according to the wind? Thanks for all of the good tips.
GEO they will just being cautious some times , you may only see them peaking at you under around or beside some brush . Especially with friendly coyote vocals . I have used hand calls more then e-callers as I like to have my sounds and nobody else has the ones I use . also most of the time the pre set sounds aren't what I wanted although they have some very good sounds now . I used to use the Johnny Stewart ms512 tape player a lot , I wore out two of them and one Burnham brothers tape deck caller then a fox pro when they first came out so I kept them setting beside me with one speaker pointing down range seldom did I use both speakers on my fox pro at the same time . That way I could tell what my volume was doing and not get it turned up too loud and I didn't have to expose myself more then absolutely necessary , a lot of people do set theirs down range and get away with it . I don't use a decoy any more my dogs got too old and have been gone for a few years now . I have used a white feather on a swivel and fishing line off to my side a few feet successfully mostly for bobcats . If you are going to run a decoy that looks like a coyote most defiantly you want to be able to see it or you won't have it long . I try to have the wind and sun in my favor the best that I can . You can't always have perfect calling conditions and if you wait for them to be you won't do much calling where I live .
GEO, after awhile you find that the places you like to call from are the same type of places that others would call from if they were to pick a spot to call from on your hunting ground as we all find that the coyote are prone to bedding in the same kind of places every where they live it's just the way the are wired .
D
Deleted member 115360
Guest
Could you elaborate on that please? What is an ideal bedding area?
Bedding areas change with the weather and time of the year . When it's cold , snowy or windy they will curl up on the down wind side of a hill cut bank ect. in the sun or down in a draw that has some brush in it , where Reemty lives they like to curl up in the stubble fields as it affords them protection from the wind to sun them selves , but it also allows them to hear and see what is around them as well as gives them cover and concealment . In the spring they like to find a draw or cut bank to lay in the sun or near the top of a hill where it's quiet . They will like to find a quiet place to have their dens in often with a sunny side . In the summer when it's hot they look for a shady spot with brush and trees where they can dig some dirt and cool off usually where they can water close by and maybe have a breeze to help cool off and keep the bugs at bay . Near a rock out cropping under a rock ledge and on the shady side of the hill sides or draws . Here they will often take the pups and start camping in the sage brush by late May or early June where it's cooler clean and there aren't so many bugs to bite them and the sage brush gives them shade as well as hiding them from sight so you will notice them in a sage brush draw or low valley . By fall you will have pups and older single coyote that are traveling and hunting so often you find them laying up in quiet places with brush , tall weeds or grass as cover . One of the best ways to learn where the coyote in your area like to stay is to set and just watch them they will teach you where they like it the best at what time of the year in your area . I have spent countless hours just letting them teach me by watching them and yes I thanked them for the lessons taught to me before I killed them and often never did any type of calling just watched and listened to them . Time , study , observation and patience . Doing control work I need to kill them as soon as I can , but I still don't have to be in that big of a hurry to if they can teach me some thing new for an hour or two first . When you are setting to look for them look at little cut banks , the bottom of rocks beside a tree or brush they will mostly be curled up and small with their ears sticking up . I think that Reemty can give you good information on spotting bedded coyote in his part of the world perhaps he will do so in the ramblings and such from coyote hunting .
