Newbie coyote tips

[byronick87]

Hey gents,
I tried doing a search without luck and I’m sure this has been beaten to death on here so I apologize in advance but asides from all the YouTube’s and celebrity hunter articles that just end up promoting their sheet, would you be able to share some basic coyote hunting tips?
I’ve hunted deer for an solid decade but I’m sure there are different strategies to coyotes.
I purchased an electronic caller and just bought a 22-250.
Thanks in advance

[KGB]

Be very quiet. Watch the wind. Don’t make sudden moves. These buggers have an excellent eyesight, excellent hearing and they can smell you a mile away. There is a reason it’s called a willie coyote… they are smart!
I use the same equipment, an e caller and 22-250.

[tikka250]

I think the best advice that encompasses many other tips Is from the time the truck is in park treat every moment like your being watched or heard. Walk in without skylining yourself and setup with some sort of cover behind you however small to break up your outline.
On stand stay as still as possible and move slow and fluid when you need to move.
And of course watch your downwind at all times. Coyotes have a knack for finding the smallest bits of cover to sneak in behind a guy.
Never hesitate to ask if you have questions.

[penguin]

Open country is fun too, but I head to solid bush quarters for a different kind of fun. I move slowly and quietly into the wind and when I see a good sitting spot up ahead I set down the e caller and continue to the spot and set up. This leaves the caller about 50yds behind me. Yes they can circle and come in from any direction but I have shot several at 10yds doing this.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by tikka250

I think the best advice that encompasses many other tips Is from the time the truck is in park treat every moment like your being watched or heard. Walk in without skylining yourself and setup with some sort of cover behind you however small to break up your outline.
On stand stay as still as possible and move slow and fluid when you need to move.
And of course watch your downwind at all times. Coyotes have a knack for finding the smallest bits of cover to sneak in behind a guy.
Never hesitate to ask if you have questions.

This. It doesn't matter how good you can call, if they see you going in or can see a vehicle in an unusual place you are toast.

[Grizzly Adams1]

I'm a firm believer in calls. Having said that, you need to pick your location carefully, so you're not obvious but you have a good field of view, .22/250 means you don't need to shake paws with them.

[waterhaulerhunter]

Like others have said, watch your wind, sit in shadows or something at your back if possible, sun at your back also helps to hide you on sunny days. Don’t make movements that are necasaary and if you do move while they aren’t looking at you. Also keep the truck as far away from where you’re calling and out of site the best you can. When you’re ready to call it quits for the stand give it a few minutes with no call and be quiet yourself and just watch the fencelines and bushlines. Nothing worse than getting busted once you’re done and heading out.

As far as calling sequence play around with the sounds and lengths of time playing the sound and quiet time in between sounds. One day something will work and the next it won’t. Also don’t play every sound in the call, try to save some new sound for the next time. Good luck! It’s as addicting as it gets.

[RancheroMan]

A small tip that helped me a lot was placing a plastic owl (the kind for keeping birds away) beside my call. I found it helped keep the coyote's focus on the call and afforded me a bit of leeway for adjustments without giving myself away. It also seemed to bring the coyotes in at a faster pace rather than a slow meander.

[coyote_man]

Many excellent tips provided.The best advice I can offer is to try to go to places where others dont so you are not dealing with educated coyotes. Along with this you have to go to where there are coyotes. Yesterday I picked some bad places and even with over fifty years of practice I couldnt get a single bite.

[waldedw]

but after 50 years of calling yotes I'm still learning just like with all hunting, and yotes still give me a rush when I see a dog coming in, when I loose that feeling I know it will be time to stop, so most of all enjoy it and take advantage of the fact that in most areas you can hunt them year round.

[stob]

You can fool everything except their nose

[Smokinyotes]

I try not to call in a spot more than once every 3 weeks so they don’t become call shy. I keep a little spreadsheet and I mark down the date I called a specific location.

[pikeslayer22]

I use a coyote decoy and also a rabbit one that goes on the call. Put the coyote decoy in a spot where they can see it good. And always bank on them coming from where you least expect them too

[byronick87]

all really great tips!! never would have picked them up watching those vids.
Thank you very much everyone. Will keep you all posted.
going out this weekend

[densa44]

All that I can add is; get well hidden near a barbed wire fence, set call to fawn bleat, with both hands shake fence as hard as you can, carefully pick up your rifle, now remember all the previous advice. Good luck.

[Hoopi]

Hi, I suggest calling for coyotes around cow farms or where you see lots of coyote tracks. The higher density of coyotes will give you confidence you can build on with your experiences. Of course, the other advice shown in this thread is gold.

Best of luck,

Hoopi

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by Hoopi

Hi, I suggest calling for coyotes around cow farms or where you see lots of coyote tracks. The higher density of coyotes will give you confidence you can build on with your experiences. Of course, the other advice shown in this thread is gold.

Best of luck,

Hoopi

Calving season will soon be upon us and the yotes will be hanging around.

[stob]

talk to BIG LOU if he lives...lol

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by stob

talk to BIG LOU if he lives...lol

Hahaha…. I’m alive! But I was on thin ice for sure.

Some excellent advice thus far. Not to mention, a couple tactics I hadn’t thought of. I’ve used fawn distress with some success in the right spots but, shaking/squeaking a barbed wire fence while playing that sound - that’s thinking outside the box to really sell a scenario. I know a couple spots where I’ll definitely be fielding this tactic.

One thing I’ll add to the discussion and I hope I can describe it so it makes sense. If it allows, I like to approach stands crosswind. For example, if there’s a spot where I’m expecting coyotes to come from the north, and say I have a wind with a north factor, I’ll come in from the east or west and stay back a bit, so as not to get directly downwind from where I anticipate an approach. This way, I can watch my entire downwind side, as well as upwind where I’ve figured they will come from. Most times, if I’ve selected my approach correctly; they don’t end up circling and cutting my track. This also leaves the entire “arena” (downwind) in front of you clear of your tracks. Sometimes, you’ll get one that circles the long way that you didn’t want them to go, but I find more often than not, they’ll play in a fashion that works to the thought process.

Guess I’ll add a couple things. Lol…. Learn how to use mouth calls. There are 100%, times and places where there’s zero advantage to using an e-caller. Not to mention, you’re not playing the same music at the dance, time after time. Yes, you can always switch up sounds on a caller but, there’s something to be said about the change in pitch, tone and emotion that you can invoke yourself. Not to mention, they are keying hard on you and if you’ve followed the hiding advice above, you can get them uber close.

Don’t get in a panic to pop them. Especially singles. I should really try to remember my own advice in saying this. If your set up is good. You’re well hidden. Wind is steady and in your favour; let them work in. Pay attention to everything they do. How they work the terrain. How they respond to sounds. Sound changes. Often, if you can see them on approach from a decent way, you’ll learn to dictate their speed of approach. This isn’t a hard a fast rule as at times, the only thing stopping them will be a bullet. Coaxing can be a fine art but trust me, it’s some game you’ll want to master to a degree. 5-6’ is the closest I’ve pulled one and I’ve done it on more than one occasion. Other than having them bite your boot, I’m not sure on what level you can top fooling them.

Carry a shotgun and a rifle. This is something I wish I had gotten my head around much earlier in my story of addiction. If you want to learn the hard way, as so many of us have; so be it. But the older I get, the more readily I will listen to the voice of experience. My goal is not just to call coyotes. I never will achieve this but, I’m always trying to kill 100% of what I call. I promise you, you will not get close to this without implementing a shotgun.

Take a seat of some sort. Keep it light and it has to be quiet. It cannot be a burden of weight or packability if you’re already packing two guns and a caller etc. I’ve come to like a Heat a Seat cushion. But if you don’t need the cushion, I made my coyote drag do double duty for many years. It kept the snow off my butt and was wonderful to drag out coyotes. Nothing worse than a wet arse and legs after your first set.

I could go on, but I have to help Sweetie Pie bring in groceries.

Best of luck! I’ll be your sponsor when you want to enter rehab with CCAA. Coyote Calling Addicts Annonymous.

[Hunter Trav]

Originally Posted by Big Lou

Carry a shotgun and a rifle. This is something I wish I had gotten my head around much earlier in my story of addiction. If you want to learn the hard way, as so many of us have; so be it. But the older I get, the more readily I will listen to the voice of experience. My goal is not just to call coyotes. I never will achieve this but, I’m always trying to kill 100% of what I call. I promise you, you will not get close to this without implementing a shotgun.

What kind of loads do you recommend for the shotgun?

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by Hunter Trav

What kind of loads do you recommend for the shotgun?

Check out the “which shotgun for coyotes” thread. There’s some good info in there.

[Barry D]

I have pretty much converted to shotgun for coyotes. I only use a rifle in specific hard edge habitat set ups. With my custom loads, I have a range of 60 yards with confidence, and coyotes are much easier to call in to thick cover than in the open. As everyone else stated, wind and your back trail are your biggest risks to mange.
To get perfect examples of how we pull them into thick cover in areas that get hunted hard, go to Youtube and search for Thewhitesilence. That is my sons Chanel. He is 100% shotgun for everything and your will see his whitetail and mule deer hunts from this last year too.

FYI, he got four wolves with his shotgun over the Christmas break and once he is done for the season, he will post the videos's of those hunts. Closest wolf kill was 23 yards, furthest was 65. Amazing feat, but we are figuring out the riddle on how to hunt wolves. Its been a slow process, but we are getting rewarded. We are convinced they are not as smart as coyotes, but hard to hunt in other ways. More on that at the end of our season.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Boy, Big Lou has sure got them coyotes figured, lots of valuable real world advice.

[byronick87]

Well at least one of you guys were right!
Minded the wind and made sure my forehead stayed below the sky line.
I went out for first light and hit the prey distress on the e caller; not much action so we switched stands after about 30min.
This time I tried the coyote yip and howls; this old guy came in on a string not 2 minutes into the call. put the 22-250 to use.



missing a few teeth
so cool to get one of these down.
thanks again everyone.
now who knows someone i can bring this pelt to??!!

[waldedw]

Another guy out whacking dogs is a good thing, keep at them

[Big Lou]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bucksnbears]

#1 most important thing. Have quite truck.
Loud mufflers, gravel from roads, slamming the doors,ect will put you behind the ball before you even start calling.