Live bait for Coyotes in Ohio

[johnwilliamson062]

Sometime back I read or was told that the best bait for coyotes was a kitten in a cage. Claimed kitten was safe, which I guess physically it is even if a miss on the hunters part could result in a terrifying experience that probably isn't "humane". It was generally agreed at this conversation that this wasn't legal in Ohio anymore anyways.

I was looking up the coyote regs today as I plan to start coyote hunting next week and I was thinking of using bait and wanted to make sure it was legal(raw chicken breast or such, not live kittens). I saw no regs on bait. I couldn't believe it, so I called the ODNR district one office and asked them. They said there is no limit on bait for coyotes and they wouldn't regulate something like using live bait.

Does someone else regulate this? Is this actually legal?
I realize you would be at the very least on the edge of animal cruelty even if the animal was properly fed and in a secure cage, and roasted in the news and even by most hunters. I personally don't think I could use the set-up even if the kitten was say 25yds from me and I was planning to take a shot at 75 yards. In that scenario I figure i have a better than 99% chance of either killing or running off the coyote before the kitten would feel threatened. I am not talking about the moral ethical questions here. I am asking from a purely legal standpoint.

Anyone know?

Found an article:
http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/7637/MI/US/
In this article the kittens were abandoned, malnourished, tied to the tree instead of in a cage, etc. It is also MI, but it is on the same subject.

[davlandrum]

I called the ODNR district one office and asked them. They said there is no limit on bait for coyotes and they wouldn't regulate something like using live bait.

I think they answered your question. Bad JuJu, but probably not strictly illegal.

[T. O'Heir]

"...Does someone else regulate this?..." Ohio's animal welfare laws. Leaving a kitten in a cage outside in January will very likely get you arrested for animal abuse faster than spit. And you'll help the anti-hunting crowd.
Kittens(babies in general) make great bait for women though.

[troy_mclure]

We used to stake out chickens, and pigeons for fox/coyote bait.

Just use a short 2' rope from the leg to the stake.

We lost a few pigeons to weasels(fast sneaky buggers) but never a chicken.

To make them cluck and make noise just scatter around some feed, including just out of their reach.

works very good.

[comn-cents]

There are dogs trained to bait coyotes in. They run from the coyote bringing them back to the hunter. I think there are a few videos on you-tube of this happening.

[ClayInTx]

Using a live animal as bait, even in a cage, will likely bring down the SPCA on you even though it might be legal as far as the DNR is concerned.

The SPCA can be much meaner than the DNR.

Do it around me and you’ll find I’m meaner than the SPCA.

[sway]

meaner huh? lol, anyway i ve never heard of any kind of live bait for coyotes, especially "legal" ones. why not just use a call, i dont know what kind of call would work in your area, but here in new mexico we have ton of jack rabbits, so that call works great. the only thing that i can think of that i use besides my ar 15 and my call is coyote urine, i use it a few feet away from where i make my stand to cover my killer sent. lol anyway, best of luck in your hunt!

[longrange08]

i use a chicken works like a charm. hope that helps im in dayton also so it does work around here. and hate to be like this but if you miss big deal just a chicken.

[troy_mclure]

yep, we used #2 so if we hit the chicken it would just get eaten later.

[Scorch]

I had an old friend in Nevada who used a live pup in a cage for years, or so he told me. Don't feed them breakfast, they'll whine plenty. Coyotes came running when they hear the pup yelp. Me, I use a cottontail squealer and a squeaker to coax them in.

[FrontSight]

I know a kid who used a live, stinky rabbit to bring in a fox..

[A_Gamehog]

Anybody who has ever trapped knows the blood curdling screams a rabbit makes as he's getting stepped on his rib cage. That's the most successful noise you will ever try to immitate when calling Coyotes in the wilds.

My point,

If you can't call or don't know how buy a DVD that shows how or some of the calls you buy now have an instructional DVD included. Randy Anderson calls on DVD are both funny and Educational.

All you will do setting a live Kitten in a cage in a field is attract the wrong sort, you know city folks with dogs and cameras and badges.


T. O'Heir said,

And you'll help the anti-hunting crowd.

I agree 100%

[Daryl]

The "baiting" side of it is probably legal.

However, it (a kitten in a cage) COULD be construed by some to constitute "animal cruelty", and that's serious business in many places. I believe it's a felony if convicted here.

Dead meat would be another story, but why not just call them in?

Daryl

[triggerhappy2006]

hahaha....I used to use my dog as bait and the weapon....I would let her out at night as a pup and she would bring yote's home once or twice a week....I stopped doing it at about the third one because of rabies concerns. Big dog+small yotes and smaller packs=Big dog with small yote chew toy

[hagar]

I tried using my Minpin in a cage as coyote bait about 50 yards from where I would set up, she would bark her head off if I left her alone. Did not work very well though, I had much better luck with a rabbit call. Left her in the SUV one day, and as I was walking away, she was barking like crazy, and a coyote started barking back just over the ridge. My buddy snuck over the ridge and nailed it. Another time something came right up to my SUV, there were muddy paw prints on the window, but I was not 100% sure it was a coyote that peeked in. It was far enough from human habitation that I doubt it was a dog.

[Daryl]

hahaha....I used to use my dog as bait and the weapon....I would let her out at night as a pup and she would bring yote's home once or twice a week....I stopped doing it at about the third one because of rabies concerns. Big dog+small yotes and smaller packs=Big dog with small yote chew toy

Must have been a fast dog. Coyotes will outrun most anything canine except a sight hound or some such.

They float away from my airedales pretty easily unless they have a bullet in 'em. Denning season is another deal altogether, but even then they'll lead a dog away from the den if it'll follow (and the dog usually does).

Daryl

[Wild Bill Bucks]

When baiting for yote or hogs, I have found that the guts and hide from this seasons deer, placed in a plastic bag and put in the freezer, works just about as good as anything. Take them out of the freezer a day or two before your hunt, and let them thaw out, and they will put off an odor, that will bring yotes and hogs running. a "fawn in distress call" will help the process, but only if you really know how to use it. If you don't, it will run off more than it will gather.

Place the hide over the guts when you put it on the ground, and use a forked stick to hold the head up a little, and it resembles a downed deer, even better.

[gunn308]

We make meatsicles by putting meat scraps in a bucket 2/3s full and fill with water and freeze. Set the bucket in a bucket with enough hot water to rise up the sides 10 minutes usually loosens the meatsicle dump out and place a couple of tuna cans in the bottom and put meatsicle back in and put out where you need it. I keep all my trash fish from ice fishing slice the bellies open and make fishsicles too. As far as using a live animal for bait and the aspca they even think shooting coyotes is cruel. My dog tolls for coyote when the coyotes are called in I send him out and let him give chase then tone him back in and he comes running to me the yotes generally follow to shotgun range. My dog weighs 60 lbs. and he's all muscle so he could probably handle a yote someday he might have too but I'll always be there to help out.

[Mobuck]

How are they going to know you're using this kind of thing unless you show and tell? Surely, PETA/SPCA aren't following you around in the middle of winter. I actually taperecorded my baby son's crying and played that as a coyote call for a while. Yes, it did work a couple of times but his mother drew the line at using him in the field.

[sway]

yea seems like dragging around guts, and hides, and chickens just too much trouble just for a coyote kill. like i ve been saying all you need is a call. if there in that area they will come in.

[sway]

yea seems like dragging around guts, and hides, and chickens just too much trouble just for a coyote kill. like i ve been saying all you need is a rabbit call. if there in that area they will come in.

[4V50 Gary]

I wouldn't use an abandoned kitten for bait. I guess that's just my morals.