New coyote hunter

[daddywpb]

I never knew we had so many coyotes around here until last turkey season. A buddy and I were sitting on a field with about 50 birds in it. All of a sudden they all ran off in different directions. A minute later a group of about a dozen coyotes ran into the field about 100 yards from us. I've never hunted them before, but my wife bought me a new Ruger Hawkeye in 22-250 and I'm really looking forward to trying it. Now if I just knew how to call.......

[Glanceblamm]

It is a great age to learn how to call just for all of the avalible free downloads from Western Rivers, Varmintal.com and the like that you can listen to that will give you a good idea. A lot of times you may even find an instruction disk or video avalible at even dept stores. Best thing is to purchase a call and practice with it. Make sure to power it up with air from your diaphram instead of air from your mouth.
You will develop your own style or niche as you go more & more and find what works for you.
One word of warning is that when you see that Coyote\Fox\Cat coming in, you are hooked for good. It is everybit as good as seeing a Turkey or Deer coming in.

[manofthe45]

Welcome to the addiction and welcome to the forum.  Please feel free to ask away on any ? you may have.  New 22-250 and plenty of yotes I'd run not walk and buy a couple mouth calls and a decent electronic caller if its in the budget. 

Prime furs coming soon to a woods near you.

[onecoyote]

There is no better hunting sport then predator calling. 

[Jal5]

YOu can make a electronic caller easily using the instructions on varmintal.com good luck it is addictive!

[daddywpb]

Well, went to Bass Pro Shop last night a got a Nikon Buckmaster 6x18x40 scope for the new Ruger. Looks like I'll be heading to the range this weekend.  Archery season has opened here and a buddy of mine said he had a coyote slipping thru the brush around his ladder stand. I bought a rabbit distress call to practice with. Electronic callers are not legal here. What other calls will I need? Looking forward to getting out there this fall.

[Gary paugh]

If i had a doz coyotes running around in front of me i would be buying some #4 buck for my shotgun.
Your new setup sounds great tell you get a coyote at 20yrds running at you.
Have a buddy or carry two guns and kill them all.

[Glanceblamm]

Dont overlook the Howler calls...My Sucess rate went up considerably when I puchased a set from Bill Austin back in 86.
Today a Primo's hotdog is readily avalible and is great for locating and making the distress call along with barks to challenge or stop the Coyote. There is a few more variations in the (Howler) language and most seem to work.
Your instructions for the Howler may or may not show you how to make a great bird in distress  call with this open reed.

[daddywpb]

I already bought some #4 buck for my 11/87 turkey gun. I'll look for a howler call next time we go to BPS. A friend of mine is going to go with me to be ready with the shotgun.

[ol mike]

If you are hunting in the east or midwest you should hunt from a deer stand .

I've hunted in ohio and georgia and when you get into the woods where the coyotes live the wind rarely blows in the same direction.

A mature coyote will lead the way to the distress sound when it gets close it will begin to circle downwind so it can not only use its hearing but also its smell.A coyote has a nose 600X stonger than a human ,a coyote can smell you 200 yards away -long before you see it in the woods.Get up in a treestand !!

Wear rubber boots to the stand just like a trapper does while making a set.
You can go out and sit down start calling and have a coyote come racing in and you kill it ,but many people go out and call in coyotes only to have the coyote smell them and sneek out.

Here's a run down of what to do select  a stand where there is good cover b/c you'll have birds eye view from the stand anyway.

Walk to that stand well before daylight in your rubber boots that have been kept outside.

A diaphram turkey call makes a great pup in distress call ,just put it in your mouth and do some hut - hut sounds -it's easy.
Early in the season is when pup in distress works best -september is when the alpha male/female run the pups off -it's called dispersion.But they will still come running to the sound of a whipped pup.

Get in your stand wait 10-15 min for things to settle down ,when you make you're first distress sound do it quietly b/c there could be a coyote 100yds away ,so easy does it at first.

Watch in the low deppressions that come towards the stand coyotes generally come to using the available cover.

Don't call too much b/c call shy coyotes are all to use to hearing the constant rabbit on a tape sound and know all too well what it is..Call for 15-20 seconds and taper off wait 5 minutes then call again.

You can make a decoy w/a piece of clear fishing line -i use the green spiderwire myself -- just put a rabbit/squirrel/bird feathers tails etc on an alligator clip and tie the line to a chest high bush below you.
In between a calling series jiggle the decoy with your finger.


What i'm getting at here is do everything you can to call in and kill them -not go out and give it a try =edecate them.

Don't get up and leave if nothing is coming in 15 minutes -spend an hour in the stand and binoculars are a big help.


The coyotes you saw was probably a family of yotes not a pack ,packs are rare in the east -midwest

[onecoyote]

daddywpb, when I'm making brush stands, I make it kind of simple. I park my truck and walk less then 100 yards, usually closer to 50.
If I'm using my remote I'll put it out maybe 25 yards downwind and go back to my stand and turn it on medium.
I always make sure I have a good field of view, that's very important as most coyotes head downwind when approaching the sound. The idea is to kill the coyote before it gets downwind.
Most coyotes have smelled humans before and sometimes pay little attention. Your biggest enemy is movement, that well turn a coyote off real fast.
Being a gambler I play the odds in my favor, I don't make long stands. The average coyote responds within 3 to 7 minutes, so I make 10 to 12 minute stands. The more stands you can make in a day and the more ground you can cover, the better your odds.
You don't need anything fancy, keep it simple and just go hunting. You well pick up your own style in the terrain you hunt in time.......Good luck

[daddywpb]

Everything I've seen and read up to this point has said to stay at a stand for 20 to 30 minutes max, so a treestand is out of the question - too much work. If the coyotes I saw were a family, it was a big family. They were covering a lot of ground with their noses to the ground. We were on the downwind side of the field.

[teddy12b]

Hey guys.  Great topic I'm trying to get into coyote hunting as well.  Electric calls just became legal in my state and from what I've heard they are the way to go.  I don't even know where to get started to be honest.  I don't know if I'd be better off with a 22mag or 12 gauge with #4 shot.  Do you just make a few calls and then move on every half hour or so.  Is this something where you have to perfectly still like bear hunting or can you wingle a little like deer hunting?  Is it more of a concern with scent than deer or bear? 

Great topic guys I'm looking forward to reading all the advice.

[manofthe45]

22 mag or 12 with #4.  The twelve hands down.  Will a mag kill a yote yes, but unless you are restricted to rimfire I would not take the mag over the twelve.  Now in my PA in the fall I will often carry a rimfire along with the twelve and 223 if I am calling in a area thick with coon and reds for a CLOSE head shot.  Local fur buyer balks at coons blown apart.  While not  money hunter a couple bucks to help cover gas and shells is never turned down. 
As far as electronic callers.  Foxpro is the best hands down in my book.  I am to broke to own one , but the guys I have hunted with that had one out called my johnny steart by probably 3 to 2.  My favorite though is still a good mouth call.  Just something about it.

[sailorman]

A lot of really great info was posted already.   But wait...   there's more.

It's not the first time I've heard of turkey hunters calling in coyotes.  If you have turkey calls and decoys - use them!
I love my assorted mouth calls - but I always  accompany it with a couple of crow decoys and some crow screams as well. 
If there are ducks in the area, try a duck call as well  -if you have one.
Don't laugh - Last year I called in three coyotes in 1/2 hour making a ruckus on a duck call - (I'd wore out my welcome using the rabbit calls  )

[manofthe45]

No place is thinking outside the box more important  than predator hunting.  Any change may make the diffence if that educated yote has been called at by everyone and their brother.

[Glanceblamm]

Yep, those change-ups are great.
I have used the turkey diaphrams with my favorite being an HS-Strutt dble-kee kee which is billed as a young turkey in distress. You can start with a few clucks but then get the thing going really fast and high pitched.
A conventional diaphram can work well by pronouncing "whyyy-whyyy" instead of chick. I have not tried the Hut-Hut like ol mike said but will be sure to do so to see what kind of sound I can get out of it.
If you have never used the mouth diaphram, it make take you a few sessions to get any kind of noise at all out of it.

Another one that I use is the Mr. Squirrel call. This is that little metal disk that you blow into. What I do is to blow into the thing while shaking a small sapling via foot pressure. It can work great but you really have to watch out for the hawks & owls.

Sailorman,
Welcome to Graybeard Outdoors! Looking forward to any tips & techniques that you can offer.

[hillbill]

during rifle deer hunting here in MO me and my 12 yr old son had been seeing some yotes coming out of the same brush patch pretty regular. he was hot to shoot some yotes after rifle season was over. during muzzel loader season i called one in and he missed it with the front stuffer. not a big deal since he hadnt practiced with that rifle in a year or two. i thought well, we will never see that yote agin. the next day i called it back in and he nailed it at 150 yrds with his 06. just a simple mouth call, was  awesum hunt, he was amazed that DAD was the yote whisperer, lol.just git out there and sound like a dying rabbit, they will come.