Trying to get into coyote hunting. . . sort of lost

[benson821]

I am trying to get into coyote hunting and am not sure what to do. I went with my uncle in wyoming but coming back here is like a whole differnt country. out there it's open and people's land is open. here it's lots of crops and land is not very open. i was wondering how to get started. i already bought some calls and have a rifle so i just need area to hunt. so how do i go about finding land and bringing the coyotes in for some lead?? All help is much appreciated

Thank You,
benson821gun)

 

[hey_poolboy]

Welcome to the club!

I've learned a lot from this and other forums. Read and research all you can. No matter how much you know there's always something else out there.

As far as hunting land goes, a little elbow grease can go a long way. Around here I can go to almost any farmer and ask to hunt coyote on their property and get welcomed with open arms. It always helps to be specific that you want to hunt coyote, not just "hunt". I've always found that it helps to build relationships by helping out too. If I am leaving a hunting stand and see the farmer out working on something I'll stop and give a hand. I grew up on a farm and know my way around most of the tasks at hand, so that helps a little too.

Breaking the ice is the hardest part. Once you get permission to hunt always be courteous, clean up after yourself, and even stop to let the landowner know what you killed. Once you show them your helping alleviate their pests they are likely to pass your name along to friends and that leads to more places to hunt.

 

[benson821]

Welcome to the club!

I've learned a lot from this and other forums. Read and research all you can. No matter how much you know there's always something else out there.

As far as hunting land goes, a little elbow grease can go a long way. Around here I can go to almost any farmer and ask to hunt coyote on their property and get welcomed with open arms. It always helps to be specific that you want to hunt coyote, not just "hunt". I've always found that it helps to build relationships by helping out too. If I am leaving a hunting stand and see the farmer out working on something I'll stop and give a hand. I grew up on a farm and know my way around most of the tasks at hand, so that helps a little too.

Breaking the ice is the hardest part. Once you get permission to hunt always be courteous, clean up after yourself, and even stop to let the landowner know what you killed. Once you show them your helping alleviate their pests they are likely to pass your name along to friends and that leads to more places to hunt.

I have done some reading but i now i need to do more. But my only problem is i like in ND and it's all Farm land around here and that doens't seem like a likely place for a coyote to be around, and if it's not farm land it's tall grass or wetland. I just don't know where i am supposed to start looking around here for coyotes.

 

[bigngreen]

The edges between the farm land and fields is what your looking for! Edge areas are coyote areas, look for sign like tracks and poop in trails, any place where two edges meet you double your coyote killing goodness. A good example is a place where one fence row comes into another along the field edge, back your self up to the fence line in tall grass and go after it. Listening to coyotes talk in the area will help get you dialed in, you can get them to howl with a howler or siren, just get a feel for the area and observe it, if you get a light snow go find a coyote track and follow it you'll learn a lot!

 

[royinidaho]

Benson,

Just get out there and go at it. After absorbing all of the above mentioned good advice. You'll be training your yotes but you'll be getting some education yourself.

Stealth during approach to your set is imperative. If they start barking/howling as you go in......you're busted! But you will know where they are.

The yotes live there. They know their way around the area. They don't observe boundaries as humans do. A barb wire fence is no barrier to them. A sheep fence is. They will learn the 'holes' in these. (A good place to watch)

They will always take the easiest path between two areas. Most always a trail. They will walk human paths, even very recently made, hoping for a hunk of Snickers bar. Really!

Camo up and cover hands and face. Don't move. If things are as "close" as you mention, a shot gun may be a better rig than a rifle. In the open of WY there is usually more time to get prepared for the shot. In your situation, same as mine in the river bottoms, there's I'd say less than a 2 second window to spot the yote and make the shot. Except when walking/stalking or ambush.

If there are pheasants around listen for the cackle, the one they make when they are being hassled.

Oh, and don't call too loud. I heard what must have been a 300 watt, dolby surround sound system out back one day while doing a walk and stalk. I saw several yotes hi - tailing it out of the area when that thing was lit off. Didn't get a shot at either one. But I shot anyway just to **** the idiot off.

 

[RH300UM]

All of the above is great advice. The biggest help for me was getting DVDs of Randy Anderson and Les Johnson. These guys are very good at what they do. Watch what they do and how they call at differnt times. Randy is very good at talking to the dogs and has some great videos. See if you can hook up with someone around your place to hunt with. Go to the local gun shop or sporting gooods store and talk to the people there. I have found these places to be a great source for info. Where do the locals hang out for coffe in the morning? What gas station do the farmers visit? Do you have a conservation orginization that has a local chapter banquet nearby? These are all GREAT places for contacts and info for places to hunt and people to learn from.Also as roy said just get out there and call.

 

[hutch]

Go to predatomasters.com and Californiapredatorsclub.com, excellant sites, with a lot of info. The key to coyote hunting is to hunt where there are coyotes, 2nd, you need to be very still. Buy yourself some rabbit in distress hand calls ( closed reed ), and pick a place where you can sit, preferably with a little elevation. Call for 5 sec wahwahwahwah ( just like a baby crying)and slowly scan the area, repeat every 3-5 min. That's it in a nutshell After 15 to 30 min move to the next setup 1 mile away. This what I do, it varies somewhat among hunter. Keep it simple.

 

[benson821]

Well i went out this past tuesday (no school) and drove around the country looking for what i concluded were spots where coyotes were. the day was about 40 degrees and a light snow/rain at times. the day started out good i found some spots to set up and called for about half and hour then moved on to another spot to call. later on in the day the wind picked up (50+ mph) and the rain/snow picked up more often. Well it was fun but i learned some things that should have been common sense, wear more clothes or pack more, don't let calls freeze up, and scout around for coyotes (still have yet to see or hear anything that they exist). I thought this wouldn't be that hard to get into, turns out it's easy to get into, but having success is tough stuff. I plan to go and try to head out this weekend again.

I have a question though, I always see land that might be good for coyotes, and i see a sigh that says no hunting and such, how do i find or contact that landowner? around here people will have a spot of land and like 20 miles away from it. another thing is is a cultivated field (one that has just had crops harvested good to sit by for hunting or should i steer away from those. the basic layout of the land is crop field, little grove of trees, fence, then another field and the same thing, are those groves of trees good spots to call, and what about public hunting land?

Thanks for the help
benson821gun)(sorry for the long post)

 

[royinidaho]

Benson,

How's about posting where you hunt? Information sufficient to get it on Google Earth.

Public land ain't a bad place to go. The yotes don't know the difference.

If you get a solid cover of snow take a walkabout and watch for tracks. Walk very very slowly. So slow in fact that you nearly topple over until you get used to it.

Put the scope on low power and be ready. Who knows?

I call this method "walk & stalk" and have shot more close range yotes with this method in semi heavy cover than I ever have calling.

 

[Moki]

Go out and buy a Randy Anderson "Calling all Coyotes" video he has 5 or 6 out now and yes I have them all now.

The first call I used after watching the video was one of the Primus Ki-Yi calls that he uses I still have it and several others but I now also a Foxpro FX3 electronic call.

This is a link to a site that list his video's I am not promoting it just showing some of his videos and the calls he uses.

Randy Anderson Videos & DVDS & Game Calls

 

[mmhoium]

Benson,

I'm also in Fargo.

Forget about public land until at least the first of the year. They get walked to death by deer hunters. During this time of the year, you may as well just scout and leave the rifle at home. Otherwise, be prepared to travel far away from any humans.

I like the area around the Sheyenne Grasslands and also I do some hunting around Valley City. There is also some good area around Michigan, ND from my experience. Basically, get away from the city. Northeast SD has some great coyote hunting as well. If want any other advice from a local, just message me.

-Michael

 

[BurnsScout]

My only advise to a new yote hunter would be to start early in the season. Around here in early september and up till rifle deer season is the absolute best time to call. I think mostly for a couple reasons: 1) There hasn't been a ton of people out kicking around. Most peole think late fall and winter for coyotes, so that is when every one goes. 2) In the early fall/late summer the young ones will be whelped off and out and about. This is about the only time you will encounter dumb coyotes.

Nothing beats just getting out there and doing it. Get as much good advise as you can, but spend most of your time hunting. Good luck

 

[tt35]

You've gotten some good advice already. I'll just add a couple more ideas. First, those groves of trees are a great place for the coyotes to lay up in during the days. Think in terms of calling them out of the groves. Second, don't give the coyotes a chance to get down wind of you without you seeing them. Sit on a fence row and put the harvested field or pasture on your down wind side. If you give them a chance to get your wind without you seeing them, you won't have chance. Stay at it. The learning curve is a little steep up front. Good luck!

 

[joe_25-06]

Also watch and see where there prey is. I live in the woods and farm areas of MN and around my house when the rabbits starting having babies the yotes are all over my place and then when they eat them all or the bunnies move on the yote do not come back around my place until the next year.

Public land are pretty good places to hunt too. my spot I like to hunt has state land on the left and then over a small hill is private land I have permission to hunt on. I have never called a coyote in on the private land but have called in four coyotes on the state land.


"Slow is smoothe and smoothe is fast"!gun)