Anyone have good coyote strategies?

[XUSNORDY]

I have tried the songdog thing just to get 1 for the pelt and find out how tasty they are. But never saw one night,day no diffrence calls diddn't even help. The ruger NO. 3 (223) will have a word with a few gophers this spring.

WOW!......REALLY didn't see that one coming either! ......I'm just curious....how were you going to eat the yote if the chance presented itself?.......we ate dog in the Philippines during JEST training....but they looked pretty clean prior to the boiling pot of water....most yotes don't appear to look so, um, as you put it "tasy".

[str8shooter]

Originally Posted by str8shooter
Why do you want to kill coyotes?

I don't think that was the reply he was looking for in this thread.
Jules

It was just a question. I'm a meat hunter and was curious. I hear them all the time at my camp, but me and the neighboring camps always thought they were good for hunting grounds because they keep the deer population on the move. I don't want to hijack the thread, so feel free to send constructive criticism (or flames) my way via PM.

[Tomcat088]

Tomcat088, did you kill these critters in Texas.....or east coast? I hunted them quite a bit in southern california, and found that the Eastern yotes are a bit different. It will be interesting to see your strategies. Here in the eastern woods they can creep up on you and "appear" less than 20 yards away without you knowing they were there at all....happens alot in spring turkey season when cutting/yelping and not even hunting yotes at the time!. Not at all like the 200/300/400 yard shots required in southern cal. Most of the places out here offer fairly short range cracks. Looking forward to your post.

PS: Does "Tomcat" refer to the F-14 Tomcat? Just curious.

Howdy XUSNORDY. I did in fact kill all of these coyotes in Texas. I have hunted them in all sorts of terrain in Texas though, from our flat prairie lands with 300-500 yard shots, to the "hilly" country and sand hills where you can't really see very far at all. I have started calling and had coyotes stick their head up 30 or 40 yards from me. I do have techniques for short range stuff and I'm sure some of you will definatley adapt these techniques to better fit your area. I just wanted to get into some basics that we have here about hiding, calling, etc. I have hunted coyotes in LOTS of different ways, from just riding around and finding them, to calling them in, baiting them, etc. I am currently in the process of typing the post in microsoft word because the posts are so long. I will have several different techniques and questions or suggestions and things that might be different in your area are VERY much encouraged. I won't pretend to know all about hunting coyotes in your area, I just know what works in this area. I know that you fellas might be able to adapt some of these techniques and find something that works great for you. I just want to try to help in hunting these dogs in any way that I can.

Oh and Tomcat refers to a nickname that I got in highschool. It wasn't because I slept around either, lol. My real name is Thomas but I go by Tommy. The coaches in highschool liked to have a nickname for everybody and one of them just started calling me Tomcat and it stuck.

[XUSNORDY]

Tomcat, looking forward to your strats on yotes. Seems I see more when I'm not hunting them, like gobbler season. They come in quick after some yelping in the mountains. They come right up on you, when you are just sitting against a tree. On the farm it's so different, and that's where I'm having the difficulty. I get some in with a rabbit call but they are really cagey, basically running up the treeline to get a glance and darting back in. Our blind is pretty good, and we have good camo to match the area. Bait works okay.....but feels cheesy to me. Man, in california it was much easier. I have a Texas trip planned next year for boar. My wife has relatives there...actually, I think the whole town of Lochart is related to her in some way or another! Can't wait for your advice! I'm sure others here will appreciate it also.

[bert304]

I was wondering what you do with them after you shoot them? Is the pelt worth anything?. I shot one 2 years ago while I was hunting spring Turkeys he thought I was a hen and might be an easy meal for him. Boy was he wrong. I am thinking of giving it a try also. It would be great to here from some PA coyote hunters.

[XUSNORDY]

I was wondering what you do with them after you shoot them? Is the pelt worth anything?. I shot one 2 years ago while I was hunting spring Turkeys he thought I was a hen and might be an easy meal for him. Boy was he wrong. I am thinking of giving it a try also. I would be great to here from some PA coyote hunters.

You too....a few yelps and the yotes are there!(Spring anyways)....I'm going to bring a box and slate with me on my next yote hunt in a couple weeks just to see what happens. Who knows?
Don't know about now....but in the late 80's a pelt in good shape brought on average $40....friends told me it dropped quite a bit after I was stationed back east. Here (PA) I don't know.....there isn't the "craze" over yotes like in Cali. It was the thing to do when not busting ground squirrels.

[Tomcat088]

In one of my predator hunting videos, they talk about pelts. Apparently in Canada there is a pretty good market for them and the typical is $55 US from what I hear, and some of the higher end pelts going for up to $100. This is after they are already stretched and tanned though, which in and of itself can be work. I don't know this for a fact because we don't skin them, we just hang them up on a post to deter others or leave them laying. Right after this I am going to post in sections different parts of things to keep in mind while coyote hunting. I decided to give ya'll some things to think about and then towards the end work into the actual calling, decoying, etc. Hope this helps, and let me know what ya'll think.

[Tomcat088]

Coyote Hunting

I wanted to start this off saying that these are in no way meant to be the only way to hunt coyotes. If others have had experience contrary to mine out here in West Texas, then please voice your opinion so that others can adapt accordingly. I am going to start primarily with the idea that we’re going to be call hunting. I haven’t been in all of PA, but have been up in the northern central part which has some hills, farm land, woodlands, etc. This kind of makes it hard to just drive around and look for coyotes because of how much cover they have accessible.

Wind:
One of the first things that I would like to talk about when hunting coyotes is wind. Most of the time, using the wind to your advantage is what will determine whether you have success or failure in coyote hunting. Coyotes have an acute sense of smell and if they smell you, they will stay far far away. Out here in West Texas even at 300-500 yards, if a coyote scents you, he will change direction; if he smells you heavy then he will flat out run away. We tend to have at least 15-20 mph winds in this area, so this distance is probably not even going to be close to the same in your area. If you can help it, you pretty much always want the wind in your face from the area that you suspect coyotes will be coming from. Like all animals they prefer cover, but coyotes especially love water, they will usually try to stay pretty close to it or have dens pretty close to it. In this area they primarily live in lake bottoms because they are lower than the surrounding areas and they are cool and usually hold a little water. Usually I will try to find a lake-bottom or area where there is some cover, where I can stay maybe 200 yards from it. Remember that you want to the lake bottom to be up wind of you, so that the coyotes have the least chance of scenting you. They also like to be around livestock, especially around their birthing period, but sometimes to pick off sick ones that are a bit more grown. When there are large numbers of coyotes they are known to eat deer fawns as they’re being born. Sometimes when coyotes are hungry, they will eat the rectum out of living cattle, but usually there has to be a pack that surrounds them in order for this behavior to occur. Typically when a coyote thinks that it has found something they will come in to some distance that they feel safe (varies between coyotes) and then if they are suspicious, they will try to circle and get upwind. IF you have an opportunity to see the coyote and take a shot at him before he gets upwind, then I would recommend you take it; with the exception being almost no wind, scent lock camo, or good cover scent (we’ll discuss that later). Realize that you won’t always be able to hunt every place that you have. The wind and layout of your hunting grounds will dictate where you hunt; because it will dictate what position and direction you may hunt a certain place. Occasionally you can call to a coyote that is fixing to circle in a very desperate cry, and if they are pretty hungry they will come back online to you. (More about actual calling later). Wise coyotes will always try to circle; some will just sit and stare at a distance.

[Tomcat088]

Cover:
When setting up to call, I would recommend that you wear camouflage, at least a camouflage top. If you are out in the open and prone then you should probably be wearing camouflage pants and possibly some sort of face net and hat. One of the best places to set up though is just inside a tree line in the shadows. You do not want to be right on the edge of the tree line because it usually makes you pretty easy to see. When you are in the shadows, it gives you a bit more freedom of movement when calling. Coyotes have VERY sharp eyes and will make you out at 500 yards if you’re moving quickly and not in camo. If you are hunting in an open area, you usually can’t be sitting up unless you are hidden in the shadows or leaning against a tree. In the open, which is how a lot of hunting is done here, I hunt strictly prone. For those who stalk hunt deer, that’s the kind of movements that you should do when hunting coyotes, no fast jerky movements. As with any hunting, you do NOT want to sit on the peak of a ridge because you will be heavily outlined. It’s ok to be near the top, just don’t get silhouetted by the sky. Something that most people who are hunting coyotes don’t realize is that your truck will give you away every time. Unless you’re riding around trying to hunt coyotes, you should be nowhere near your truck. I am known to walk at LEAST ¼ mile from my truck to the hunting spot; many times it will be half a mile. There are some coyote hunters who will walk almost a mile, because that’s how far they have to park their truck away to keep it out of view. Tractors are a little bit different around this area. Most coyotes are NOT afraid of a tractor and will walk right in front of them, but if you stop one for too long, they’ll get uncomfortable and run. You can usually hide in the shadow of a large hay bail and they are usually pretty comfortable walking among them.

Scents:
As I stated, wind is one of the most important things to remember, because even if you have a scent that is pretty strong, or are making a bit of noise, the wind will take it away from the coyote. If I have a cologne, deodorant or detergent that is pretty strong scented, I try not to wear it just as a precautionary measure. If you wanted, you could wash some of your clothes in the “scent removing” detergents that you can find at gander mountain, Cabela’s, etc. I don’t personally use scent removers. as long as you’re paying attention to the wind those things won’t hurt you too much. If you are a person who likes to have ever possible advantage or already have those things for deer season, you can put them to use on coyotes as well. Something that I personally don’t do, but that is also an option is to use a cover scent. The one that some of my friends swear by and I know some other coyote hunters swear by is “essence of skunk”. Just realize that this stuff is going to make you sit in that scent the entire time you’re hunting, but upwind or downwind, you probably have little to worry about. You can search online about other coyote hunters and you’ll see some of them use essence of skunk and talk about methods for its use. If you are a smoker, one of the things that you might consider not doing right before you hunt is smoking. You might be used to the scent, but I as a human can smell it a mile away, no telling how far coyotes can smell it. As I said, I just try to use the wind in my favor, it’s the easiest way to not be picked up by a coyote and not have to smell like a skunk or some other musk. Just realize that this will limit the direction that you are going to potentially see coyotes, which might not be a bad thing because it’s hard to scan 360 degrees if you’re prone.

More to come about actual calling, decoying, strategies, what to do when they're close, etc. I can just only do so much at once.

[bert304]

How do you call them? Are the electronic callers better then the mouth callers? Are there any good books to read?