My son and I want to hunt Coyotes, looking for info about getting started?

[NYH1]

My 8 year old son and I want to start hunting Coyotes when deer season is over.   We have never hunted them before.   We're on an EXTREME budget.   Basically all we have are the firearms to do it.   We have a Remington 700 223 Rem. that's amazingly accurate.   We also have a few different shotguns.   We'd prefer to hunt them during the day with our rifle instead of at night with a shotgun.

Like I said, we don't have to much money to spend on equipment and gear.   What do we "NEED TO HAVE" to get started?   We're in Central New York if that matters.

Thanks, NYH!             

[Cottonwood]

Since these two sites do not have forum boards I would highly recomend you view them:

http://varmintal.com/ahunt.htm

http://www.predatorquest.com

On Predator Quest you can actually watch Les Johnson as he post his TV shows that views miss.  

Anther site I would recomend is http://www.varminthunter.org and get your FREE Varmint Hunter Magazine.  The one they just sent me has on page 3 The "S" Rules for Predator Callers by Larry Brezny  This magazine is a must for varmint hunters.

[trotterlg]

You probably only need to spend another $5.00 on a mouth call to get the basics.  An inexpensive electronic caller would be better, but truth is that they will come to most any sound that could be something injured and dying.  Have fun, read a little about where to set up, but just go out and see what you can get to come in.  One person with a .223 and another with a shotgun, I would say number 4 buck, but BB or number two's will do, would make a nice package.  Larry

[NYH1]

Thanks guys! 

[Mikey]

New York Hunter - I seriously doubt you have far to go at all.  If you are in the central New York area you are probably surrounded by coyotes and may not even know it.  I would check with your local EnCon office or go up on EnCon's website for local coyote information. 

And, you can always talk to local farmers, especially milk or beef farmers regarding coyotes in their areas and ask them permission top hunt coyotes on their lands - you might be surprised as to how many ask you to get rid of as many as you can.  My late next door neighbor, a beef rancher, would ask me if he could leave the remains of those of his cows or dead calves up on my property as the coyotes made all the other cows quite nervous if he left the remains behind the barn. 

My other neighbor counted 19 coyotes when he hayed his fields this summer and accurately described three completely different packs all in the same area at the same time.  My hunting buddy has taken one from each pack this season. 

You can use most anything available to hunt coyote, rifle, pistol, shotgun, night scopes, bait, etc., and they are out there.  Check your local Encon site, they should have some good information for you.   

[Qaz]

  For me to take an 8yr old predator hunting in the east, and be serious about it, he would have to be made of stone( they fidget too much). It is nice to spend the time with the kids though. I also hunt in the east and it is a different ball game than out west.
  First get a closed reed mouth call and practice, attach a feather to a stick with string for a decoy and place it out in the breeze about 50yds away from you in a field so it is easily seen. You want the coyote to see the movement before he locks on to the sound of the call.
  2) Next if both you and your son will be shooting, figure out who will be shooting what firearm and sit back to back. Start your calling off soft for no more than a minute and wait 5-10 minutes before calling again. The key in the east is to take your time and watch and listen a whole lot more than call. Don't get hooked on only staying on stand for no more than 15 minutes like you read in the books, you are hunting a different animal.
  3) If you are hunting an area with heavy woods around a clearing, 9 times out of 10 the coyote is going to hang up and watch to see where the sound is coming from, if he has not spotted you at that time he will usually start to circle you to catch a scent and yes he will circle up wind if something seems out of place to him.
  4) Here is the hardest part, stay still even though you can hear him circling you and do not make a sound. Let him show himself, do not start looking for him he will catch your movement, he already knows where the rabbit is, he wants to see it! He will not break cover until he is comfortable and when he does then shoot!
  5) If you don't have a shot, don't shoot, you can call him in later. If you shoot and miss, you will never get another chance at him.

  I learned the hard way by trial and error, I read up on how they do it out west and none of it worked in the woods and mountains here on the east coast. Let the coyote or fox make the mistake and then capitalize on it. This is how I do it and it works for me. If you  are hunting the woods and mountain like me, the action will be close and fast when it happens. I wouldn't have my 8 year old there for no mans money, 12 yes, 8 no.
  Good luck, this a addictive, frustrating and just pure pleasure pastimes.

[NYH1]

  For me to take an 8yr old predator hunting in the east, and be serious about it, he would have to be made of stone( they fidget too much). It is nice to spend the time with the kids though.

I wasn't planning on hunting this year at all.   In October he (my 8 year old son) asked me if we were going deer hunting this year.   I've taken him with me every time I went this year.   There is no why I could get out of the house to go hunting without him getting up set.   Plus, I really don't want to hunt without him.   

My 12 year old daughter has gone deer hunting with us a few times this year too.   My 16 year old daughter couldn't care less about hunting anymore.   I shot a deer while she was with me.   She was 8 at the time.   It was a blast!

I've thought about getting a little blind.   How would they work for Coyote hunting?   

One last thing.   I'm the only one that has a firearm when we go hunting.   In New York State, kids can hunt small game when they're 12.   They can hunt big game when they're 14.   My 12 year old daughter and my wife are going to take their hunters safety course before next season gets here.         

[Strat]

If you make a mistake, such as moving while in stand, while he's circling to find sent, shot and miss, etc. All you are doing is teaching this smart animal what to look out for. He, inturn, teaches the rest of the pack.

Strat

[Qaz]

I have hunted from tree stands and blinds and neither has worked for me. The reason is from a tree stand you have to actually move more to see all the way around you than you do from the ground and they seem to always come to the tree stand from behind me. I have used several blinds and being able to see with a wide field of view is a problem.
 This is preditor hunting in a nutshell; Get to the stand without being seen or heard, disappear when you sit down, call in short bursts, DON'T MOVE, watch and wait, DON'T MOVE, if you can hear him- DON'T MOVE, if you can see him, shoot him!
 Coyotes blend in very well in the woods and they know every inch of that territory. They pick up movement like you are waveing a flag. Your only job is to fool him into thinking you are not there. Two people equals more noise and more movement and the coyote is usually alot closer than you think.
 Here is something to think about. I always thought my camo worked, until I got the idea of testing it on my dog. I have 3 sets of camo; Mossy oak, Real tree and Jungle. I took each out seperately and hung it in the woods behind my house, between each trial, I looked to see what it looked like to me and then brought my dog out and attached him to his run. Each time he started barking at the camo that was hung somewhere in the woods. I can only guess that the patteren looked out of place to him and caused him to bark. Here is a case of camo and no movement that I could see, and a dog that instantly recognized that something was not right.

[skyhigh_seller]

Squeaker call
Any other something dying call
3" #4 Buckshot and a full choke
decent light
CAMO
I am in CNY too.  Coyotes are tough.  If you have been reading about these guys going out and blasting away at coyotes and getting doubles blah blah ...... that is all out west.  Not here! 

Look-up the hunt in VanEtten at the Shoe Inn.  Twin Tiers Coyote hunt.   I hunted in it the first 3 years.  In the past they had pros come and do seminars and for $20 hunt entry fee they had $1000s of drawing stuff - guns FoxPro callers, lights, decoys, etc.  Over the course of the 3 days just about every entrant wins something - there is that much stuff donated.

[sparkysteve]

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

[Blue Duck]

+1 on Predatormasters.  Lots of info there.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

Qaz, It is interesting to hear what you have to say about tree stands and calling coyotes....I have shot hundreds out west, but never gave it a try when I was hunting in the east .....I always thought the way to fool that coyote circling to get your scent would be the tree stand, but what you say about movement makes much sense...I thought that elevation would be the key to fooling the little devils out on the east coast...My cousins hunt them a great deal in central Pa., but he is an old fox hunter and they use dogs...didn't realize this until I left Pa. after a deer hunt...Next trip, I will try and arrange a coyote hunt with dogs...Something I would love to do, also a southern deer hunt with dogs...Maybe someday...Thanks for the information.,....

[Cottonwood]

Here is something else that just might be very useful

Predator Calling Seminars

http://lewand.tripod.com/barkatthemooncoyoteclub/id15.html

[spikehorn]

My experience with treestands has worked out. we put them up over bait piles,about 50-75 yards back from the bait piles. always have the same 2 or 3 people stock the bait pile. When you first put the bait pile in wait a week or ten days before you refresh it,after that start hunting it a few times a week. only the people who stock the piles hunt the stands, they get used to the scent. Do this in the woods not in an open field. We usually get on stand in the mid afternoon and just wait. We don't use calls at all. We started doing this about three years ago and have taken 48 dogs to date between the three of us.

[flicker]

You know all you really need is a mouth blown  rabbit distress call. Or anything that indicates distress. One can kiss the back of his hand to get the same results, not the volume. Two of you post one of you watching down wind. Hunt the  first 1.5 hours before daylight to whenever you decide to call it quits. Back out in late afternoon to early evening, hunt the heavy cover.