Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

Dmp25-06 you are a generous man........ GOD must smile on you!
Bedding areas, this past year I learned more about bedding areas than I have in 37 years in Mondamtana, you all on this site inspire me and my love of hunting coyotes drives me. In this area the coyotes like to lay in tall stubble and where it depends on the weather and wind. One thing we don't realize is how much 12" of stubble cuts the wind and all a coyote needs is a slight rise or depression to get rid of the rest of the effect of the wind. So this gives the coyote the ability to lay in any way he wants, meaning if he wants to be able to spot danger from a far he lays just below the rise on the leeward side of a hill for survailence purposes, if he isn't as paranoid he will lay in a low spot just downwind of a slight rise but far enough away from danger to give him an easy exit if needed. Around here they like to lay 500-800 yards off a road and over at least one rise from the road preferably two. I like to get on the downside side and glass anywhere from 1/2 mile to 2 miles or more out and look for anything that stands out as different, give yourself 20 minutes or more glassing as it gives them time to lift there heads and look around. It takes a coyote a while to settle down so every 15-30 minutes he will lift his head to look around, they look like Mickey Mouse with pointed ears and are easy to see. i try to look at the terrain from various angles as you never know when you get the angle to spot them. Once you see one it is common to see others, pick the one your going to stalk but remember where the others are at so you can do them next.....that is more common than you think. When I first hit this channel country I would walk canals and get shots from 200-300 yards easy, unfortunately most of them have landed on a stretching board and the ones left are a lot more cagey😳😂 in this area I have killed 22 ( 5 miles x 3.5 miles) my buddy that puts them up said one year he trapped 19 and one year he trapped 25 in this area so you know I have to shoot 4 more😳to be a one upper......this fellow is a good trapper. When the wind gets bad 35-45 mph some tend to get in the thicker grass and then are impossible to see. The coyote realizes in snow he stands out more so if he is watching your pickup do not stop until out of sight even if he is 3/4 mile away as he will get up and move away. Places to look, just over rises on leeward side, creases in draws off hills on leeward side, low spots just downwind from a hump....you get the picture...also look at your area and find the places that are the deepest, meaning farthest away from human activity, that is where they will bed during the day, least place of human interference...
 
Well by now the short fur season has pretty much come and gone . For most of us it's that time of the year when we would do ourselves and our farming and ranching friends a big favor by putting our calls and guns away and just do some observing and letting the predators teach us some things about themselves . Now most of what is left have been well trained and so many people will be scratching their heads going why don't they come to my calls any more . It is the time when the females are with pups and the paired up are setting up and keeping a territory cleared of the intruders . Now is the time when if a female is widowed and left to have pups on her own she may find someone to help her or she may turn to killing whatever is the easiest and that is so often livestock . In a few weeks the guys that do control work will be getting more calls for help then they can handle as the farmers and ranchers friends and family that pleasure hunt have done all they can by now and mostly thrown their hands up in defeat . So now the guy that does the control work has to figure out how to get the killers stopped as fast as they can by what ever means they have at hand putting in many miles on by foot tracking learning where they are living , where they are coming into make their kills how best to get them killed . The control people will be putting in long days not eating at any set times scratching their heads wondering how to deal with the killers knowing that once I kill this problem they will have another killer to get stopped as fast as they can . Spending many hours in their truck catching a nap when they can eating out of a can and away from their family we choose to do this and can only hope that the people we are trying to help survive in farming and ranching appreciate it . So many people don't know that by doing what they are enjoying at this time of the year it is causing problems for others that are called to come clean up a mess caused by some body that really doesn't know that they are making trouble for others to have to deal with . It's best if you aren't doing control work and just out to kill something that you may consider killing time and observing and letting the predators teach you at this time of the year . In the fall there will be a fresh crop of untrained young to go out and enjoy again . Wishing the best for all !
 
Back in 1960 my parents moved me and the rest of the kids to Southern Indiana from Glenrock Wyoming .There ended up being eight of us . The U.S. had been in a depression then WW II and then the Korean War . Most of the country had been impoverished for a long time and to feed their families people had to kill wildlife and raise most of what they would eat . My grandparents had raised their kids on wild meat for the most part , rabbits and antelope as well as a big garden . There weren't hardly any deer or elk as they had already been killed and eaten here in Wyoming at that time , my Grandmother got to shoot a deer in the late 50's for food and there weren't any white tail deer here even into the 60's . As my grandparents Raised cattle my grand mother said I'm going to eat my best beef and sell the rest of the calves except the replacement calves . So there was at least one steer being fed out . In Southern Indiana there weren't hardly any forms of wildlife , you could hunt coon with dogs all night and maybe run two . There were no deer or turkey to be found . There were some grey fox and a few red fox but the coyote didn't exist there , there was a wide range poising program that had killed out most of the predators in large portions of the U.S. that didn't end till 1972 , and then it still went on behind closed doors in much of the U.S. . I can still find in some of the smaller rivers back there where people had gotten together and piled rocks in them to form what was then called a riffle to raise the water on one side and then a fish trap was built with slats of wood that had a narrow gaps that would let the smaller fish through to live till they grew up some more . Here in Wyoming there was wide spread use of strychnine oats to control prairie dogs that also killed a lot of birds of all types . There were bed bugs in so many homes and DDT as well as cloro-dane was widely used used to control them . Bald and golden eagles were also on the list to be targeted . There were bounties put on magpies even .10 per egg and .25 per adult magpie . So after it all slowed down and Vietnam wound up giving the U.S economy a boost we then got more and more middle income people here in the U.S. . And thus more and more people became able to buy their food stopped eating wildlife out of necessity and the numbers started to come back conservation programs came into being in the 60's and 70's and people forgot what their grandparents and parents knew about the use of wildlife , if you just go out indiscreetly kill just to be killing you end up not even being able to feed your self in the end . Yes I have killed more then most and less then some but I had a reason to kill when I killed . I kept my fur in season then sold it . I killed the ones that were killing and tried my best not to cause them to become killers so that I helped the farmers and ranchers that were already having a hard time making ends meet to feed the rest of us . As well as to keep the fawns alive so we had game animals for your hunting . I learned to figure out who was killing and why they were killing , where I could kill them and as fast as I could . I learned that if I killed an adult male coyote out of a bread pair, that it was probably going to leave the female to start killing livestock to feed the pups and do more harm then good . I learned that if I kill both of the pair that I also need to find and kill the pups so they didn't starve to death or be stunted and suffer . I learned it was in the best interest for me , the farmer and rancher and animals , if even when I was killing the offenders ,to show respect for them and to think out what I was doing before I did it not go out and kill some thing to be killing something . Ok I'm done ranting
 
Very well put DSheetz. We should ALWAYS have respect for all aspects of what we are doing in the wild. Too many chest thumpers these days and NO RESPECT for others and what they are doing. In my area and areas that I hunt this is a rampant problem. All about themselves and $ and not what's right. Unfortunate.
 
Well, there are people in your life that make a difference, wear off on you or just open your eyes to more than what you know. I think that the "snow camo Santa" is one of those people....yesterday, went out on another hunt adventure @ -12 not too bad as the wind was 7mph or less, wind out of the northwest, was on the west side of some fields, saw a coyote standing 3/4 mile away looking at me very alert, he started walking east and eventually picked up 3 more coyotes. Just to back ground you this is a large east/west valley with high hill/plateau on north side, long ridge on south side, 3 canals and a natural creek in the middle all at various levels, intermixed with stubble fields. All of a sudden they started heading north looking like they were on a mission, after about a 1/2 mile they picked up their pace and were staring straight north (keep in mind I am watching them with 30 power binos) I looked about 400 yards north of them and saw 3 coyotes facing them, pretty soon the 4 ran at the 3 and they turned tail and ran and the 4 caught up with the 3 and they ran around in circles chasing each other, but no biting......this went on for 30 minutes and then I figured out what was going on, it had to be a "fur Fest"...….one of the females were in heat as 2 different males were trying to "jump start" her. ;) they started heading east so I went around the 2 mile section and started in on foot in the canal, by now they are 1/2 mile away and above the canal, I can only move so fast as there is hardly any wind and the snow is squeaky. I was within 300 yards of them, but they were down in a crease, in front of me I had a coyote on the canal @ 300, one on a hill west of them at 450, 2 east of them at 300...….but I did not want to shoot as I was waiting for them to come together bunched up like they were a 1/2 hour before. Well coyotes always have a way of disappearing and these were no different, little by little 2 went west, 2 went east and I never saw the 2 males and female in heat again, total they were 8 coyotes as one more had come into the group. It was easy to tell the adult males by their size and behavior, but it looks to me like when they mate, it is quite a show for all...…….I never took a shot but what a classroom adventure in coyote behavior. When I got back to the pickup went around the northside to glass better and saw a coyote off the road heading north, when I got even with her pulled over and she trotted away, guesstimated between 300-380 and I kept barking at her till she stopped and looked back, bad move, DRT, ranged it 350 and a hair, she never moved, she was spotting blood, she was in heat. All told saw 10 coyotes yesterday, 8 in the fur fest group and 2 singles...…..it was a treat to see them interact, I watched them longer than I would have in the past, was wanting to learn more.
 
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Isn't it interesting what they have to teach us . This time of the year it is best if you can take the bread female out of the the picture as then the male has no reason to start killing livestock and normally it isn't hard to tell which one that is , the smaller one or ones most of the time . A person can be proud to know that some others have been helped along the way in your journey through life . Yes it is quite the show and there are some coyote sounds that you will not hear at any other time . If you think that latter in the spring you do need to use the puppy sounds to limit the numbers of coyote responding just do a very few seconds of it don't turn it on and let it run . Then like last spring kill the female , then the male and then the helper that was brought in to help then the pups .
 
ReemtyJ ,

The fields that you refer to as being "stubble" in your posts , are they grain fields that have been cut and harvested , leaving the stalks still standing ? Or , something different ?

The reason I ask is that my family ( Father , brothers , sons , and friends ) hunted Pheasants for many years in the Texas Panhandle area . The area that we hunted was about 3-4 sections of agricultural land , producing different grain crops , depending upon the seasons of the year .

The land owner /Farmer and his son would plant , irrigate , cultivate , and harvest their crops , and leave the grain stalks standing , about 2 feet tall , in the fields for us to visit and hunt during December of each year . It made great cover for Pheasants , Quail , Rabbits , and Coyotes , of which all were PLENTIFUL .
The planted crop fields were usually 1/4 to 1/2 miles long by same width , and there were several areas that were enrolled into the USDA reclamation CRP program , and left to regrow native grasses . All of it was excellent Coyote habitat .
We always had Coyotes running out of the fields in front of our walkers , usually with Pheasants in their mouth .

Our land owner/Host had 2 standing orders that we never crossed .
#1 - Do not shoot Quail , those were his birds to shoot and eat .
#2 - Do not shoot Coyotes . He ENJOYED watching the Coyotes running and bounding over the crop rows in front of his very large John Deere tractors and implements . He said that they were very PLAYFUL .
In reality , the Coyotes were violating his Rule # 1 , killing his Quail , Pheasants , Rabbits , and everything else .

These rules stayed in force for at least 15 years , UNTIL the coyotes began digging burrows for dens there in his cultivated fields , and his John Deeres began dropping off into those burrows , necessitating that another tractor come out to pull him out of the hole .
At that time , Rule #2 was REVISED , and became : Shoot any and ALL Coyotes that you see .

We shot and killed 2 or 3 Coyotes during our Pheasant hunting .

All of his land was totally table-top flat , with a County dirt road running East-West , right through the center of his property . Only at the southern edge of his property did the land begin to have any contour to the terrain .

There are oil wells pumping on his property , and 2 storage tanks , one on north area and one on south area , flat-topped , with ladder to top of tank , that I think would make good shooting platforms .
I don't think that there is any way possible to try to stalk the Coyotes on this property .

DMP25-06
 
The stalks that I refer to are Milo grain stalks that are left after the grain heads are cut off at harvest time . They were usually left at 18" - 24" tall , and were very much like corn stalks , 2" or larger diameter stalks with heavy lower leave coverage . Coyotes can run up or down the rows and never be seen .
 
So here you are on a Sat. morning you just got up and your setting around in your jeans having a cup of coffee and waiting for your significant other to start stirring and come have a cup of coffee with you . Your cell phone rings and you notice it's the number of one of the guys that lets you hunt coyote on him so you answer it . He's kind of excited as he starts telling you he's found a couple of calves this morning or yesterday evening late that the coyote have been eating on and he thinks they may have killed them . So you arrange to meet him a little latter on in the morning . The two of you get to the dead calves and find that they have been eaten from the neck down so now what do you do ? There are bird droppings on them but there are coyote tracks all around them also and you see that the coyote have marked their area also . Being the hunter that you are you are also kind of a detective as well and you want to know for sure that the coyote killed them or that they just were scavenging when they found the already dead calves . You came prepared you always carry some lite vinyl gloves with you and as always your trusty knife is razor sharp and ready for use . You set up and start skinning the neck and jaw of the first calf low and behold the neck shows that there are puncture wounds on the jaw and neck tissues spaced around an inch and a half apart and about 1/4 in diameter . Yup that one was killed by coyote so on to the next calf as you skin the neck back it's clean no marks this one died from other reasons then a coyote . Or maybe your just out wandering around looking over your hunting area and find a fresh deer that's been eaten on all the sign says the same as with the calf but you want to know for sure it was killed by coyote not some thing else like disease . You carry a zip loc bag with your gloves in it so you leave it open and lay it down beside where you are doing the inspection . You find that it wasn't killed or even if it was you don't just take your gloves off and throw them on the ground . You carefully pull one glove off and then use the inside part that is exposed to pull the other off, just like you have seen done by med personal , and put them in the bag closing it to take and dispose of it . You also fold and put your knife in the bag to be cleaned and disinfected before you take your gloves off .
 
As hunters and sports people we need to be detectives also and you sir are doing well at it Reemty as are so many others . It's been well below zero here at night and only in the teens and low twenties for highs . They say it's to be that way for at least a week you all take care and be careful when your out in this cold stuff .
 
I did get some training in that kind of thing so that I could show the livestock owner and explain what had actually happened . I got a call once where the livestock owner showed me about 10 adult sheep that had been killed in only about 2 days all of them had their heads missing . What would you think had done that ? It was a relocated bear !
 
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