Anyone having troubles calling coyotes

[knoxville]

Seems everyone i've talked to around the western states is having troubles calling in coyotes just wondering if this is going on everywhere or if i'm just talking to a bunch of lazy hunters that don't know what they are doing. Seems to me it's just been hit and miss depending on the weather but i still average 1 coyote to every 6 stands

[Big Bill]

Coyotes are smart. They get wise to efforts to kill em. The same applies to trapping em. They get so they can smell a trap in the ground from a mile away. You've got to go where there isn't much pressure on em. Try over in the Owyhee in SW Idaho. BTW, hows the weather over there in Pocy? My son lives there.

[grubbylabs]

The weather is crappy, its just gray and cold. It wont snow good and stay.

[Ole 5 hole group]

I've noticed they now have a higher IQ than they did a decade ago. Like pheasants - most are runners now - the dumb ones tried to fly and left the gene pool. The coyote rarely just comes running to the call out in the open unless they are young. Around good CRP land I think they stay well fed and don’t bother investigating our rabbit calls. Getting a glimpse of one every six setups isn’t bad – some days are better than others but they are all good days in the field.

[Big Bill]

I'd think that about this time of year the fur is gettin kinda shabby. Maybe it about time to hunt Jacks instead.

[knoxville]

It' been gloomy not real nice and not real bad snow just enough to melt in the next few days been doing most of my coyote hunting here in wy seems to be a little more worth the effort and yes any day a field is better than working nothin like getting a good dose of mountain air runnin through the lungs seems like its saving me from going insane

[Hunter Customs]

Things have slowed up aroung here. I went out calling today, made four hides on three different farms, sneaked in and out to the hides, I never saw one coyote.
I think part of the problem is the dead cattle that's around. I believe the coyotes are filling up on beef and they are not to interested in a dying rabbit.
I have not been seeing many from the roads either, I was seeing 8 to 10 a day.
Regards
Bob Hunter
www.hunttercustoms.com

[Daryl]

They've been called all fall and winter by callers using distress sounds, so they get wise to them.

Now their interests are turning more along the lines of mating/denning, so a successful caller/hunter needs to change tactics as well.

Calling coyotes isn't just a matter of goind out and playing a distress tune and waiting for a coyote to show up. Sure, that'll work a lot of the time, but a consistently successful caller will study the animal and know it's habits well enough to predict how it should respond to various things at different times of the year.

It isn't rocket science, but a caller should understand the animals (s)he hunts. It's not just this year that success with traditional tactics dwindles; it happens every year about this time.

Daryl

[bamaranger]

absolute fits anytime I call coyotes on purpose. Canine smart, and a super nose, little room for mistakes on noise and wind.

Remote callers and decoys should help, but I don't have those tools.

Best coyote killers I've heard of are illegal: hunting at night, over bait/carrion, using a remote caller and lights on their AR's from old barns and tool sheds.

Gun shop stories, but I bet their true.

[Daryl]

Bamaranger,

Actually, illegal tactics aren't really needed to kill coyotes.

E-callers are legal here in Arizona, and while I've used them, I usually have better luck with hand calls. Night hunting for coyotes is illegal here, but I've never needed to call at night. Early and late in the day do just fine for me, and I've even called them in at mid-day.

Noise isn't as much a problem as movement on a stand, but you don't want metalic clunks and bumps happening. The wind can be an issue, but not if you use a coyotes habits to your advantage. Set up to cover the downwind side, and shoot the coyote before it smells you.

As far as "sounds" to use, learn to use a howler effectively. This time of year, I've howled in a lot of coyotes that were essentially ignoring the rabbit on the e-caller that was playing in the background. They were looking for the new coyote on the block, and couldn't have cared less about the injured rabbit.

To call coyotes effectively, learn to know how they think. Illegal activities aren't needed, except by those who are unwilling to learn coyotes' habits.

I still remember the first coyotes I howled in. A buddy and I were out calling one evening, and the wind was blowing a bit. On the first stand, we used his e-caller (foxpro) with a rabbit distress of some kind. Nothing appeared, so after 15 minutes or so I howled a few times. I got some response from maybe a mile away, so we quit and headed that direction.

We set up again in a shallow canyon, and again let the e-caller/rabbit distress play for a bit before I howled (15 minutes or so). This time when I howled, I got a response from maybe 1/4 mile away. There were at least 4 yipping back at me, so I played along with them, just howling the same way they were doing. When they finally shut up, so did I. I waited a minute or so, and howled again. This time they were closer; maybe 200 yards.

I howled along with them for a few seconds,and then quit. After another minute or so, I howled once, waited a few seconds, and then started with a coyote distress yelp or three. That's when 4 coyotes charged out of the brushline ~100 yards away. They charged right past the e-caller/rabbit distress without giving it a single pause or glance, and came straight at me and my partner.

I was using a cow-horn howler made by Rich Cronk, and I've since added another made from some buffalo horn I sent to him.

The only ones that resort to illegal activities are those who are anxious for a kill, yet never learn to hunt.

Daryl

[Hunter Customs]

Daryl brings up a good point, the coyotes should be getting close to mating season, however I'm still seeing singles instead of packs.

There's several other things that have contributed to not seeing as many coyotes around here.
We've had good snow cover most of the season so the coyotes are not hard to spot.
They have been hunted since early fall and not just by callers. The hound men and the truck shooters have taken their toll on them as well. So the numbers that were seen early has been reduced.

The coyotes that are left are more educated. While out scouting for places to call I seen one from my truck and he seen me at the same time, he was 3/4 of a mile from me, turned North and left the country on a flat out run.
Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com

[JessicaR]

A co-worker just got some land and thinks coyotes are something she should try hunting to help local deer. She hasn't bought a call, what ones should she consider if she's never hunted or called coyotes?

[jesus5150]

I'm in eastern Oregon and I've used 3 different calls one of which was a remote controlled digital recorded call. I've recieved MANY responses but have never seen one. I'm hidden perfectly, Scent free, Perfectly quiet and EXTREMELY Patient. I've seen nothing. But my uncle brought down 14 in one session the other day and he was Hardly trying. I know that sounds hard to believe and I wouldn't believe it if I heard it but I saw them lined up in the pasture. Luck maybe? Anyway I feel your pain.

Interesting story, The other day i was calling and I was hearing two seperate calls from two seperate groups of yote's one northeast and one Dead west of me. I called for over an hour as they both got louder and closer (Keep in mind There was DENSE fog, probably only visible to 30 to 50 yards then it was white! we get fog bad here.) But as they got closer and closer I heard a HUUUUUUUGE dog fight ensue, sounded like 75 yards out. So I jumped up and started stalking toward the commotion and when I got close It went dead silent and that was it. blood and hair everywhere but no body's.... There sounded like there was 20 involved and there was yipping and screaming so bad that I thought it was a massacre. But there was nothing. And that's as close as i've come.

[Cremon]

Just out of curiosity - other than varmint control - what do you get from hunting coyotes? Is their fur high quality enough to be useful? I can't imagine dog fur being comfortable but I haven't gotten up close and personal with a coyote.

We have them here in GA and they are a nuisance and a threat to children (they inhabit the woods near more and more neighborhoods nowadays) and people kill them often just to be rid of them here. There is no season on them here in GA and you can kill one any time, provided what you use to kill them is legal where you are (example: it is illegal shoot guns within 50 yards of a public highway unless you are defending yourself).

What do you get from a coyote carcass?

[grubbylabs]

Well JessicaR that is a great question I have never gone yoti hunting and would really like to know what would be a good way to go

[Daryl]

I'm in eastern Oregon and I've used 3 different calls one of which was a remote controlled digital recorded call. I've recieved MANY responses but have never seen one. I'm hidden perfectly, Scent free, Perfectly quiet and EXTREMELY Patient. I've seen nothing. But my uncle brought down 14 in one session the other day and he was Hardly trying. I know that sounds hard to believe and I wouldn't believe it if I heard it but I saw them lined up in the pasture. Luck maybe? Anyway I feel your pain.

I don't find it hard to believe at all. Team up with your uncle and learn from him.

Pay particular attention to how he sets up his stands. Wind direction, surrouding cover and terrain, and ask questions so that you understand WHY he's setting up the way he does.

Stand set-up is, IMO, the single most important aspect of calling coyotes.

Oh, and be careful about being too hidden, so that you're not able to see. And there's no such thing as "scent free" to a coyote. They can smell the remants of gas left on your boot sole when you filled up with fuel last week. Learn to cover the downwind side so that you can see them before they smell you.

[Daryl]

A co-worker just got some land and thinks coyotes are something she should try hunting to help local deer. She hasn't bought a call, what ones should she consider if she's never hunted or called coyotes?

How much does she want to spend?

E-callers are easy for beginners to use, but they cost a lot more than mouth blown calls.

Foxpro makes excellent callers, and I've shot quite a few coyotes called in with a buddy's. I mostly use hand calls, but they'll require a bit of practice to learn to use them well.

Any of the closed reed calls seem to work well (the "voices" in them are interchangeable 'cause they're all the same design). I prefer wood, but I've used the plastic ones as well. Circe/Lohman, Sceery, and a number of others make excellent hand calls, and all have replaceable reeds in them.

I use Sceery open reed calls, as well as others. I have custom calls made by friends, production calls that are no longer produced, and a couple even made from the barrel of an ink pen. They've all called coyotes, so I advise getting one that's easy to use, and learning to use it.

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day. I have never seen any around here.

[thallub]

When the coyotes here get hard to call in I go to the shed and get one of the small wild pigs that we are always feeding. I take that pig and put it in a box by my side at a good calling location and pretty soon it starts to squeal: Here come the coyotes.

[jesus5150]

When the coyotes here get hard to call in I go to the shed and get one of the small wild pigs that we are always feeding

I thought about doing the same thing with a Petco Rabbit. But my fear is that i'll see jack squat and be stuck feeding this rabbit until i get up the nerve to eat it or something...

[bamaranger]

endorsing illegal tactics, simply repeating gun shop gossip. Guys are talking about wacking 5-6 an evening, and I'm seeing squat. .......but I'm not done yet.

Actually, I don't think many guys are purposefully hunting coyotes here. The illegal episode I'm referring to occurred in an adjacent state after a family had a high dollar pet dog killed by coyotes. The owner declared "enough", or so the story goes.

But our deer season is so long, and their fair game anytime sighted, that they get shot at plenty and are super spooky anyhow.

And we've got PLENTY. Many times I've been on a deer stand and heard 3-4 bunches at once on cold, full moon evenings. Tracks and scat everywhere.

I'm working out a strategy to call into thick cover, w/ open areas to my rear that are down wind, so that any 'dog coming in downwind will be exposed, or at least run the edges,and present a shot. There's enough pine plantations, and edges created by cutovers that I should be able to play the wind and have lots of set ups.

I'll let y'all know how this new plan works out.

[knoxville]

I would suggest sitting in a tree stand with a bow or shot gun thats the funnest they get right in on ya it works, just a suggestion and do please let me know how it goes.

[bamaranger]

dang many trees in our long deer season, and lugged that stinking contraption up and down so many ridges and muddy logging roads, that I am GLAD to sit my big butt on terra firma for a bit. But thanks for the tip. I have shot two from stands while bowhunting, but have quit the practice after a spike buck spooked at the blood from the hit coyote. Could have been the deer of a lifetime.

I want to hunt this evening, but am to ding dong tired after a split shift, off at 2200, back at 0700 in the AM.

Try'em tomorrow

[knoxville]

I've been in the thick brush with a distress call in my mouth and i feel like i'm about to make a great meal for a dumb mountain lion or something along those lines jumping at the crack of every twig. . . me like trees when calling in the thick stuff you will really have to let me know how everything goes

[waterfowler]

Im from michigan and I dont see anything. We average 1 per 12 stands.