Coyote hunting yesterday...

[DAA]

Me and my friend Tim got out for some calling yesterday. Hunting an area that's new to us, sign on the ground said there are a lot of coyotes in this valley though. Lot of jack rabbits too. First couple stands were dry, but on the third stand we had a big gorgeous coyote come in just perfect. Offered up a slam dunk broadside shot. Tim was using my .20-250 and missed the slam dunk shot. Video review shows he missed it by a mile. Way over that coyotes back. He was fit to be tied. Stand ended right there, as he was cutting loose with the epitaths.

Tim and I take turns with the rifle and camera. You get to stay on the rifle until you get a shot (hit or miss), then we switch. So...

Two stands later, I'm on the rifle, pretty little gyp came in and stopped facing us from about 120 yards. She had her nose up trying to get a taste of the breeze and looked nervous to me. So I dumped her right there, posthaste. Hit her exactly where I was aiming, at the neck/chest junction. She dropped like a ton of bricks, bang-flop. Tim wasn't able to get any footage though... Here's a pic of the coyote:



Back to the truck, I start to put the .20 away, Tim says no, he's gonna kill a coyote with that rifle it it's the last thing he does. Cool with me.

Wind came up and howled, and it was COOOOLD! We didn't have a thermometer, but I'd guess high teens/low twenties without the wind. Just plain bloody painful cold with the strong wind that started to blow. We kept cruising into new ground we'd never seen and making a few stands here and there anyway.

Second to the last stand of the day and me and Tim are both feeling REALLY good about the setup. Sometimes you get set on a stand, and things just look and feel right and you just KNOW you are going to call one in. This was one of those stands. Not 30 seconds after turning on the Foxpro, we've got two coyotes coming hard! Things kind of went to Hell in a handbasket on us though. The two coyotes were on separate paths. I chose the one I figured most likely to offer a good shot to follow with the camera and got some great footage of it coming for a quarter mile, but it flared and kept going right on by. Turns out Tim had chosen the other one to follow with the scope, and it had come all the way up not 20 yards from our boots, the got a snoot full of our breeze and bugged out, taking the other coyote with it. I had my eye in the viewfinder, so I never even knew the other one had come so close, or that it was the cause of the one I was watching flaring off. Regardless, the one that came up close in the brush never gave Tim a shot he liked. So, two called in, but no shot taken.

Next, last stand of the day, and DAMN it was cold! We both had a really good feeling about this stand too though. And again, less than one minute after turning on the caller, here comes a coyote. Big mature male, coming hard. I had some tall sage brush partially blocking my view, so the footage I got is only so-so, but I'll be danged if Tim didn't roll that sucker on the run!

Here his with the big gorgeous coyote:



The transformation of his mood was remarkable! And good to see!

We'll probably only get in another couple days of calling before we hang it up for the year. It's been a pretty good season though. And just way too much fun!

- DAA

[accadacca]

Cool story. Sounds like its all about the thrill of the hunt. Must take some real skill to bring those dogs home.

[fourtycal]

I spent Saturday out too. We made several sets but could not bring any in. I had some howls and barks but couldn't spot a thing.
It was cold, My truck said zero until nearly 11:00am and with the wind It was frigid.
I definitely need a foxpro, I have a feeling my mouth calls may be a problem.

Those are great coyotes. Good work.

[DAA]

Don't sell yourself short on your mouth blown calls fourtycal. I'm the last person to try and talk anyone out of an electronic call, and especially a Foxpro, as I'm one of the original field staff members for Foxpro. I've been involved in field testing and making suggestions for new Foxpro products for years. Their newest caller has some SWEET features on it that I've been wanting to see for a long time now. I think their stuff is the best, and definitely their customer service is second to none.

But! All that said... I'm pretty sure your calling is just fine. And I hate to see anyone just throwing money at a caller, when I think for most guys, most of the time, the sound really isn't that much of an issue. If anything, I'd say get a tape, or I can email you a sound file, and just get your mouth calls to where they sound at least half-ass like the recording. Which I bet they are at least that good already. Live prey animals in distress make a wide variety of sounds. Your mouth calling would have to be pretty bad for it to be a real hindrance. I've had coyotes come in to some pretty horrible sounding mouth calls!

The main things are location and not being detected. Sounds are small potatoes in the big picture, compared to being in the right place and getting there without getting busted. You had them yapping at you. So you know they are there and that they could hear your sounds. They might be wise though. When you get yappers like you had yesterday, a lot of times they have been called before and aren't going to fall for the same old rabbit blues from the same old directions. If the yaps and howls you were hearing were of the warning/alarmed variety, you can be sure those coyotes had you busted. And those howls were putting every coyote within hearing on high alert. Educated coyotes like that are harder to call. You have to work a little harder to approach them from a different direction and play them a different tune that they aren't wised up to.

With snow on the ground, it's not that tough to determine the areas they are using to hunt, travel corridors, or where they lay up during the day. You can tell from the tracks whether they are just moving through an area, hunting it, or whether it is a core area where they spend a lot of time. It's those core areas you want to concentrate on during the day. That's where they are in their comfort zone. The key is to get yourself into that core comfort zone area, undetected. That's the part I see most guys messing up. They just aren't stealthy enough. Coyotes have incredibly keen senses. Their hearing and noses are just about as good as any animal on the planet. Taking their sense of smell into account is always first and foremost. You HAVE to pay close attention to the wind and take it into consideration at all times. Both in walking to your stand, and in how you setup the stand. Never give them an easy way to get downwind of you under cover. You'll never see most of the coyotes you call in if you give them that. And then their ears. Even after all these years and having called in many hundreds of coyotes, I'm still sometimes just flabbergasted to witness how well coyotes can hear! So, when moving in to make a stand, it can not be emphasized enough that one must BE QUIET. I mean, like as in stalking a mule deer buck with a bow quiet. The conditions yesterday, with it being so cold, made the snow really crunchy. Makes moving silently very, very difficult. But! The wind was also blowing pretty hard. So we used the wind to our advantage, to cover the sound of our walking in to the stands. On every stand, we strived to use the wind to our advantage to both fool their ears, and their noses. It worked a few times.

Too long winded already, so I'll stop rambling. But, I would be really surprised if your calling was the biggest reason for not being successful. Far more likely that the coyotes were simply wise to the game and knew you were there. Locate core areas (single most important), move in undected (quiet, and ALWAYS being aware of wind direction), and you'll do well - I'm sure of it.

- DAA

[Sombeech]

Cool. I've gotta go Coyote hunting one of these days. Would you say you usually find them in the rabbit areas?

[fourtycal]

Thanks for the info DAA.

I have a couple of videos that make it look easy .
We did make several mistakes and I was in country I have never explored before but there were yotes nearby and it was just nice to be out there.
I have called them in before but it was way down in southern Utah where there is less pressure and I have always been with a guy that lives there and does this a lot, even my kid (13) got a shot at one last winter.
I can hardly wait til next weekend to try it again.

[JP]

DAA,
Any thoughts on the 7mm Mag

[DAA]

DAA,
Any thoughts on the 7mm Mag

Makes a good elk hunting cartridge. Kinda big for coyotes though .

- DAA

[JP]

Kinda big for coyotes though .

- DAA

I was thinking about the 1000yds shots

[shlingdawg]

I'm heading out Friday w/ my brother. We're both rookies but are going to attempt some of the techniques you mentioned. Last time I was out rabbit hunting out there, we heard bunches of coyotes up on the hill, so we'll try to get some this time.

[jumar]

Did one stand last night out West of Utah Lake, but didn't see anything. Not really surprised, I didn't expect there to be much there. Where are some good places relatively close to Utah County?

I did see some coyote pups a few weekends ago on my way to High Spur. My dad went down there last weekend and tried to call some in, but no luck.

[rooster32]

To each is own....but if you knock down a coyote at this time of year....there's a good chance your leaving a litter of pups to fend for themselves.

Wait a bit and you'll have more targets for the fall...plus you could actually use the hides if you choose.

Just my $.02's

[tanya]

To each is own....but if you knock down a coyote at this time of year....there's a good chance your leaving a litter of pups to fend for themselves.

yeah!

[Rev. Coyote]

DAA;

Thanks for another riveting report of you big strong men shooting dogs. Hey, do you guys ever go after songbirds with BB guns? That's another man's man sport too. Oh, or hey -- how about setting cats on fire? That's good for a few laughs too.

Seriously, though, you did eat your kill, right?

Rev.

[Sombeech]

Seriously, though, you did eat your kill, right?

coming from somebody who strongly supports abortion, I guess we could ask you the same question.

[spiraleyes]

Seriously, though, you did eat your kill, right?

coming from somebody who strongly supports abortion, I guess we could ask you the same question.

OWNED!!!

[KillEmAll]

[rooster32]

Ouch...that's gotta sting

[shagster]

Can't we all just get along now fellas?

[asdf]

Takes a big man to murder a little dog.