Coyote hunting tips

[ButterBean]

I build grain elevators for a living..

I've worked all over the country, but I primarily work in and around Central Illinois the last 6 or 7 years. I am an agricultural millwright. I work for a family owned business that was the #1 seller of GSI equipment in America until a couple of years ago when GSI stopped warranting the waterproofing of their new bins, and now we are sukup's #1 seller. I always take a few months off in the winter to hunt and hang out with my family, but I'll be back at it by mid month, unless something major changes.

We have a GSI plant 10 minutes down the road

 

[Deleted member 115360]

We have a GSI plant 10 minutes down the road

Yep. I work out of Heyworth Illinois, and the main GSI facility is about 45 minutes south of us in Paris IL. They have one in Arcola IL too, about the same distance south east of Heyworth. It's unfortunate, but their quality control and customer service seems to be taking a nose dive in the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[ButterBean]

Yep. I work out of Heyworth Illinois, and the main GSI facility is about 45 minutes south of us in Paris IL. They have one in Arcola IL too, about the same distance south east of Heyworth. It's unfortunate, but their quality control and customer service seems to be taking a nose dive in the last 4 or 5 years.

I'm 10 minutes from Paris and I have a friend that has worked as a welder there for a long time

 

[Deleted member 115360]

I'm 10 minutes from Paris and I have a friend that has worked as a welder there for a long time

I'm in that area all the time. I spent much of the last 2 years working in Arthur, and a big facility directly south of Arcola. We service most of the elevators on rte 66 in that area. I probably drive by your house 20 times a year or more.

 

[ButterBean]

I'm in that area all the time. I spent much of the last 2 years working in Arthur, and a bug facility directly south of Arcola. We service most of the elevators on rte 66 in that area. I probably drive by your house 20 times a year or more.

give me a holler if your over this way and we'll get a set

 

[Deleted member 115360]

give me a holler if your over this way and we'll get a set

I will take you up on that for sure. If you ever go by Lincoln, there is an elevator right on the side of the interstate that burned down 2 years ago, and we built it last year. I was on that project from start to finish. I'm always making repair runs down to Pana and Rosamont. We just did a big multi year addition in Pana that finished up in October. I've worked on most of the elevators in that area several times.

 

[Reemty J]

Butterbean, if your 10 minutes from Paris? What the heck, I didn't think they had coyotes in France

 

[DSheetz]

They got there the same way a lot of western coyote got back east illegal animal trade . I knew a guy that would buy live coyote give them antibiotics , ivermecten and take them back east to sell them to people that wanted to run them with dogs in fenced in inclosures .

 

[Reemty J]

they speeded up natural dispersion.

 

[Deleted member 115360]

Yeah, I think most of ours came up from Mexico. When I was a kid they were sparse. There was a movement north of fire ants in the early 90's, and with it came armadillos and about the same time we had a few rabbit boom years. It seems like some time in the mid 90's, our coyote population boomed. I used to go with my dad and we would kill them pretty regularly. He had one call, a wooden rabbit distress call that he had used for a couple of decades successfully in Alaska on several species. He would also lip squeak. That was all he used, and he called them in better than I can most days with an expensive foxpro. I also think that since they were fairly new to the area that they weren't as keen as they are now, but that may just be something I tell myself to feel better about empty stands. Interestingly enough, after they moved into the area en masse, our rabbit population disappeared. I used to know a dozen people who had beagles and chased rabbits, but they all gave it up. Only in the last decade have the rabbits made a comeback and now I am seeing rabbit hunters again. I think I killed my first yote about 1990 or 1991, and most people here had never even seen one back then.

 

[Deleted member 115360]

I have read a handful of books on coyotes, and there are 18 or 19 genetically distinct sub groups of coyotes in North America. The Coyotes hunted in Montana are as different genetically as the whitetails in Alberta and the Cous deer in Mexico. They are on the edge of being a different species. The percentages of wolf DNA vary greatly, as well as what types of wolf DNA they contain. The behavior of coyotes across their ranges probably varies more than any other animal within its species. Average size of a coyote from different parts of the country can vary by as much as 100%. Their diets aren't the same, their denning behavior isn't the same, their vocalizations aren't the same. They all clearly have an immense amount in common, but for the man who respects and studies his coyotes, behavior of coyotes a couple thousand miles away might not always be that relevant. Our coyotes here have a ton of Mexican red wolf DNA. They are predominantly a rusty red color and the males can reach 50lbs+ if they can make it to full maturity. I've only ever heard of a few over that 50lb mark, but they are out there. I don't weigh them, but a 40-45lb mature male isn't a rarity here.

 

[Reemty J]

35-40 # is a large male here, my trapping buddy had one once at 50 # a true giant and an anomaly. Females I would guess the weight range 20-30 #......shot one once at 600 + yards with a 6XC (15 years ago) , range finder said that was the yardage and I thought, no way, looks father away. Wounded it first shot killed it second, drove over there, at best it was 12#, I had just shot a dwarf coyote, damdest thing I have seen. Kind of a mini me coyote. little legs body everything...…...kind of freaky. Kind of a coyote dachshund

 

[Reemty J]

My brother inlaw shot the 1st coyote in Renville county Mini-dam-soda in 1981-82

 

[Deleted member 115360]

I have a good friend who has a full body mount coyote that he killed in Butterbean's neck of the woods about 20 years ago. It was a certified 58lb. The mount is amazing. It's like looking at a 180" deer. Like people see a big deer and say, "it must have been 180!", and then when you hold the rack of a 180" deer in your hands, you realize that you've never bumped into anything so big in your life.