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Old November 5, 2001, 03:48 PM   #1
VTR996
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Call Of The Coyote??

Does anyone have a preference of coyote call or a call they have for a favorite to lure in coyotes? I'm thinking of trying out my .223 w/.55 balistic tip nosler.Us Okies can't hunt at night w/a light LEGALLY so I'm limited to early morning calling..
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Old November 5, 2001, 04:37 PM   #2
ahenry
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Good question

I have always been told that rabbit and woodpecker distress calls are the way to go even though I have never had any luck. I have tried a few times but no dice. In addition to VTR996’s question can anybody provide some technique or something?
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Old November 6, 2001, 02:15 AM   #3
KYE-OAT
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Funny you should ask........

..........I love callin' more than any other type of hunting and hopefully with a little success, you will enjoy it too.
I prefer the Crit'r Call or the Tally Ho, as far as tube calls.......for tapes - woodpecker or fox-killing-rabbit are good ones.........
The MOST important thing is not to move. If this is a physical impossibilty for you or you fidget, take up a different shooting sport now. Other things that have worked for ME are:
1) Try and set up on a hill, half way up.
2) Get the sun behind you. (this will be manditory for early AM)
3) Wind in your face. (you already know prevailing direction)
4) Use rabbit piss. (drip it as you walk and use some on your boots)
5) In open country, use an electronic caller, 30-50 yds to your front, at the bottom of the hill.
6) Use full camo.
7) Look for motion, not shapes.....with your eyes, not head.
8) Do not wait for a "better" shot....coyotes don't do favors.
9) Growl or lip-squeak to stop a nervous/leaving coyote.
10) Have fun. Sometimes this can get lost in our desperate effort to have a good time(read: Be successful).

Hope this helps some. And like Tiger Woods would attest, I am sure...........Practice, practice, practice.......and then practice some more while you're restin' .................good luck!
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Old November 6, 2001, 06:49 AM   #4
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What KYE-OAT said....plus.

When you are in your hide....become a rock or stump. Every few minutes do some isometrics, from your toes to your nose. That way you won't stiffen up or cramp up and no movement is evident.

Sam
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Old November 6, 2001, 06:36 PM   #5
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Try to find a club in your area and ask them what they use. I have used the call tapes with decent success. Like was said earlier, DONT MOVE.
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Old November 6, 2001, 08:12 PM   #6
Art Eatman
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I use a baby boom-box (sometimes) with a tape. I have about 100' of speaker wire, and thus can set the speaker out front and control the length of time of the call and its loudness from where I'm sitting.

The majority of my experience in southwest Texas is that if Ol' Wiley doesn't show up fairly quickly, he ain't gonna be there at all. I guess I'm talking a minute at most of tape-time, and three or so minutes of waiting and possibly three repetitions of this.

With a hand-held call, I yowl until I'm sorta fed up, maybe 30 seconds to maybe a minute at most, then wait. There's no hard and fast rule about this. If you see a coyote, reduce the volume. He might run off if he thinks that rabbit weighs 400 pounds.

Coyotes tend to come in to maybe 75, maybe 50 yards and then veer downwind to smell the goody before they move in. Take this into account when you pick a sitting-spot, so you can see clearly into the downwind area. That's the why of having a speaker out in front of you, cross-wind.

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Old November 6, 2001, 08:14 PM   #7
444
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I use a Johnney Stewart Electronic Call with a rabbit in distress tape. I use a 50' extension on the speaker. I sit in a place that has heavy vegetation so that I can't see more than about 10 yards at the most. I hunt with someone else so we can sit facing opposite directions. I hunt during daylight. I don't wear any camo or use any scent. I don't take any great pains to remain motionless but I do sit quietly and don't make any big obvious movements or noises. I chew tobacco when hunting and frequently spit. The coyotes come at a dead run for the speaker. I have sat up on a hill while my buddy sat down the hill about a 1/2 mile away with the call, and I watched the whole thing unfold. Coyotes run full tilt for miles to that speaker. Obviously I am looking for short range shots. I hunt with pistols. Usually autoloaders like my Colt Officers Model. You will need to set up differently for rifle hunting.

8) Do not wait for a "better" shot....coyotes don't do favors.
Sage Advice, pay attention to that one. Coyotes will know that something is amiss right away.
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Old November 7, 2001, 08:01 AM   #8
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I shun the electronic calls even tho they work. I just prefer a good mouth call. less stuff to hassle with.
If you can find an old P.S.Olt rabbit squeeler that looks like a flat black bar bout 4" long. (think mini harmonica). You can bite in the center and blow thru. Light bite = medium volume rabbit and with a firmer bite I can squeek it like a mouse. Brings those shy dogs in for closer look.
If you can't find one of these, get a dying rabbit call and also one of the little rubber squeeze sqeekers. I've known folks to use a pet toy squeeker too.
When an areas coy-dog population starts to get a little call shy I find the squeekers make the difference. They're smart and they only need to get fooled once to get smarter.
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Old November 12, 2001, 12:27 AM   #9
El Rojo
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My dad is a master caller.

My dad uses a Johnny Stuart electronic call and he is quite a proficient caller. As has been stated, they will hear that call for miles and come a runnin. We have found that the most effecient calling method is to set up a shotgunner about 10 yards upwind from the call. Usually with even a slight slope this enables you to set up a person with a rifle about 50+ yards back with a good view of the entire area. Any coyotes that come in close can be shot easily with the shotgun. Coyotes that are not as tempted and hang out away from the call can be dispatched at distance. This method works great. Sometimes we have gotten doubles in close with the shotgun, sometimes the coyotes stays out there 200 yards and just looks and he gets hit with the rifle. As was mentioned, don't screw around. If you have a shot...take it. If you shoot a coyote early on in the call, don't leave! One memorible call comes to mind. I was on the rifle and my dad was on the shotgun. I could see for hundreds of yards and we were overlooking this large canyon. About one minute into the call, I am startled from my long distance search by the sound of sudden shotgun bursts. My dad had a coyote trot within 3-5 yards of him as he was laying on the ground. It scared him so bad he blew his first shot and then got him on the second. The third shot missed a little and off the coyote went. It really sucks to miss that close, but it happens. We hunkered back down and waited. Less than five minutes later I see two coyotes a couple hundred yards away on the other side of this ditch. I start to get ready. I guess where they are going to approach us at and sure enough, they come racing out of the ditch towards the call. My dad was not quite as surprised on these two even though he didn't see them until they were about 10 yards away. I was following them with the rifle as they passed about 30-40 yards from me, but it was unnecessary. Dad nailed them both and I shot the last one just to make sure. Had we left after the first shot, we wouldn't have gotten those two later on. This has happened to my dad numerous times. In fact, he got 4 with a shotgun in that same exact spot the year before.

As to Art's recommendation about adjusting the volume, we have never done this and they coyotes still come in full speed. We set the call up away from our location and it just stays as is. One time I had a coyote run up to the call and it seemed to sort of spoke him, but I think it was mainly because it was not a rabbit, but a camoflauged bag with a speaker standing on it. We try to put the call in a bush or throw brush on it now. The volume thing might get results, but we have found KISS to be a good principle. Just set it to about 7 or 8 and leave it.

Calling is lots of fun. I highly recommend it. Nothing will get your heart racing faster than a coyote running towards you at full speed. Especially when you can see them coming from hundreds of yards away. Then there is the element of surprise, you may not see the coyote until they are only a few yards away. Great fun.
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Old November 13, 2001, 08:20 PM   #10
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What time of day do you guys hunt coyotes ? I'm assuming early morning or late evening. Or can you call then in at any time of the day.

Are there some times of the year that are better for hunting coyotes ?
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Old November 13, 2001, 11:13 PM   #11
Art Eatman
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Early morning or late evening, yeah. The daylight sessions can be longer during times when there is more moonlight. During the dark of the moon, late-night seems to work better.

My theory, FWIW, is that during moonlight, prey animals have a better chance of spotting Wiley first. Wiley's gotta work harder/longer to find a meal.

SFAIK, when you hear a pack howling, they're hunting (ususally; nothing's "always"). The howling spooks small prey critters into moving and thus betraying their location.

Again, FWIW,

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Old November 14, 2001, 03:08 AM   #12
444
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I have hunted them at all hours. I don't really think it makes a whole lot of difference. Many places don't allow night hunting or hunting with a spotlight, but I do that here. That is really coyote shooting with no hunt involved. The last coyote I took was in the middle of the day. I sometimes wonder about this hunting at the crack of dawn thing. I wonder if it is an old wifes tale.
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Old November 14, 2001, 09:29 AM   #13
Art Eatman
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444, a call can wake up a predator and bring him in, but in general all wild animals move around more at night than during the day.

As far as "crack of dawn", for deer hunting it's a case of Big Bambi not having yet gone to bed. Of course, during active rut there's no telling what time of day BB is gonna be out there running around like a high school kid on Satiddy night.

Since I hate getting up early, I prefer walking hunting, kicking BB out of bed to see if he's worth shooting.

, Art
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Old November 14, 2001, 10:19 AM   #14
Bottom Gun
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I'm pretty pleased with my new digital electronic varmint call. It's just a speaker and a control box the size of a cell phone. It's powered by a 9V battery.

Check it out at: www.phantomcalls.com

They have samples of both varmint and deer calls you can listen to.

PS: It works great.
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Old November 14, 2001, 11:03 AM   #15
444
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Art, I have read and heard both ways. I recently read an article about how deer change their daily routine during hunting season when so many people are in the woods. It said the larger bucks feed and water during the heat of the day since there are less people around since most hunters leave the woods for lunch etc. I have heard it said also that the really monster bucks are totally nocturnal. I know with deer hunting, I defitely see the vast majority of deer right around day break and nightfall, but I also am one of the guys that goes in for a break during the middle of the day. I work with a guy that hunts all day and claims that he has gotten his biggest deer during the middle of the day. I don't know.
I am certainly no expert on coyotes, but I always thought of them like a dog. I know my dog will sleep at any time. Or around the clock. But if he has something to interest him, he will stay awake. Coyotes have to hunt to eat obviously, so that occupys a lot of their time unless they get something right away that fills them up. I don't think that coyotes get enough food that they would just ignore a potential meal just beacuse they were lying down. I just hunt them whenever it is convienient for me. And they seem to come in. I see them around town throughout the day. In fact I believe there are a lot more coyotes in town since the pickings are easy; dogs, cats, livestock, garbage, dog/cat/livestock food.............. I have been toying with the idea of hunting in town with a bow. I live in a rural town with lots of really big vacant lots.
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Old November 14, 2001, 12:03 PM   #16
El Rojo
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They key time.

The key time to call coyotes is when it is cold! A cold overcast day is great calling weather as long as the wind is half way consistent and not a hurricane. We usually will take off at the butt crack of dawn and start calling as soon as it is light enough to see a coyote 10 yards away with a shotgun. Then we call all day long and usually drive off of the ranch right as it is getting dark in the hopes of getting a "drive by" (we drive around, we see coyote, we jump out with bipod, we shoot coyote). The key is cold. When it is hotter than heck, they are not all that interested in running around looking for a meal. When it is cold, they are hungry. If they are lounging around in the sun of a cold day and they hear that call, they come a running. The main thing about calling is just getting lucky and having a coyote nearby. We have quite often had coyotes come in to the call within 30 seconds. That means they were really close when we started. That is why it is important to not make a lot of noise when you arrive on location. Don't slam the truck door. Don't talk.

Heck one time we even shot a coyote about 75 yards away as we were walking out to call. It was the weirdest thing. I was carrying the 12 gauge and the old man had the .22-250. As we are walking out, I see this young coyotes standing about 75 yards away just watching these two camoflauged men with a curious head tilt. My dad lays down, takes what I thought was forever, and then drops him dead. I don't know if he would have come in to the call considering he was watching us walk the whole way getting ready to set up, but it didn't matter. He was there and so were we and my dad doesn't miss still coyotes within 100 yards.

If there are lots of coyotes around your area and you are not calling, you should. It is a lot of fun and it is a good way to introduce your way onto nice private land. We sort of knew these big time ranchers in our area, but only family gets to hunt anything on the ranch. My dad had started to get pretty proficient at calling and he was quite a trapper (when it was still legal in the PRK). He was allowed to go out on the ranch and he started bringing a lot of coyotes back by the ranchers house in the back of the truck. That gets the ranchers attention. They know you are not up screwing around on their ranch looking for things to poach. Nothing gets ranchers more excited than seeing 4,5, or even 8 coyotes laying the back of your truck...dead! Next thing you know, they are telling you to bring you son up and shoot some quail. You are going to their Superbowl parties. Even invited out to Thanksgiving. It also never hurts to volunteer for everything and anything. They need help gathering stock, volunteer to come out on a day off and help. It actually is some fun work. Branding? Building fence? After enough years, they tell you to go ahead and go get a buck. Shoot a pig or two or get 5!

I am not BSing you guys here. This is the true story of my father and his experience of building a friendship with a great ranching family. I would cheapen the whole relationship if I only said that we suckered them into letting us hunt on their land. It is not like that. We really like to help them out as much as possible. And they don't mind us shooting game on their ranch now. My dad takes the younger kids of the collective family hunting and fishing. It really is a great relationship. And it all started through calling and trapping coyotes.
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