Coyote calling rook looking for some help

[WhiteOak]

Hey all,

Around my place here in Eastern NM the coyotes are pretty thick. I've heard them in my back 40 and on both sides all at the same time I only hear them at night but I've had 2 cruising along my fence in the afternoon on different occasions hit one missed one. I just picked up a few head of sheep and would like to take a few yotes out and send a measage.

Problem is I haven't been able to call any in when I try to hunt them. I have a duel calls howler and can make decent yips and barks and decent rabbit distress calls.

How do y'all get the yotes to come in? I know the electronic calls will just loop on repeat, do y'all do that with the mouth calls too? Calling over and over for 15 20 mins straight?

If you could give advice to a first time caller what would it be? Get an electronic call? lol

Thanks in advance

 

[6mm Remington]

I am no expert but I sure have a lot of fun calling them and have had good success. You will find that you might call at 4 different sites and get nothing and then the next one you will call one in 5 minutes into your session. Same with the one following it. Just be persistent.

I use a Sceery rabbit call. I prefer it over the electronic calls. It's just simple and it works. I suggest getting a mouse squeaker bulb also. If there is no wind they can pick up that little noise from 150 yards away and often that's all it takes to get them to come in on a string. I start with the dying rabbit and then when I get a dog in close I use the mouse squeaker.

I've had good success using my coyote howler call to see if there are any withing earshot before I set up if I've never hunted a place before and am not quite sure where they might be hanging out. They tend to answer to it pretty well. Lots of folks tell you to go to another location after giving a spot 10 or 15 minutes, but I've had them come in after 45 minutes of calling. Sometimes it pays to sit a bit longer. I used to take my Norwegian Elkhound with me before he died and I would let him wander around while I called. I never trained him to run out and lure in the coyotes like some folks have, but just having him hanging out would distract them from where I was calling from and I think helped me get a few coyotes I might not have without him. It was fun having him with me too.

Keep calling and the first time you have two or three running in at full speed to see who can get to you/dinner first, you will be begging for more! It's a kick in the pants.

 

[mcseal2]

Practice good woodsmanship first off. If the coyote sees, hears, or smells you he isn't coming in most of the time. I think this is the biggest area where people mess up and more important than anything else.

Have something to break up your outline where you sit and get elevation above where a coyote should come from if possible. I personally am more particular about camo for predators than anything else. I like to cover my face and hands plus have camo that matches my area. To do this cheap they make leafy or ghilly suits that go over whatever else you wear. I figure especially when hand calling I'm telling the coyote exactly where I am and trying to spot him from wherever he comes from before he spots me. The coyote has the advantage in that situation. They don't see color but they see movement very well. I want every advantage I can get.

Always be able to shoot your downwind side before a coyote smells you on a stand. Coyotes like to circle downwind of a call to check it out.

Try to find spots to call from that give you the advantage. I like to have a terrain feature that the coyote will feel safe using to come to the call without winding me, and that I can get to without him spotting me. Using a tree row, fence row with brush, ravine, something coming off the main block of country where I think the coyote is that will help funnel him to where I want to shoot him. If he does what I want I have to do less moving to shoot him and have less chance of getting busted.

Be ready for them to show up anywhere, that doesn't always work

Smart coyotes I have better luck using an electronic call and letting them approach the caller from downwind without catching my scent while doing it. I get everything ready before going to set the call so I can get it set and be back out as fast as possible, less risk of me getting scented. I put a little scent like Coyote Juice or a coyote urine next to the call and put a decoy up next to it. Again, I have this ready so I can get it set up and be hidden where I won't get smelled as quick as possible. I use some scent control spray on myself and wear rubber boots when I do this too. When this works the coyote approaches the call and can use sight, smell, and hearing to verify there is something there to check out.

I don't use barks, barks are generally a sign of alarm. I generally use long not aggressive howls as my only coyote vocalizations. Rabbit calls have not worked as well for me in recent years as more people call. I try a bird distress on a mouth call or use something odd off my E caller.

Silence kills too, I try not to over call. On a calm day I might call for 30 seconds and be quiet for 3 minutes. Especially with hand calls movement is necessary to call and a coyote can pin point that sound's location. The less I can move while still getting him to come in, the better chance I feel I have to get him shot. Decoys can help with that too drawing their attention away from you.

Practice shooting! Everyone who calls coyotes misses some, but the less that get educated instead of killed the better. I like the Primos Rapid Pivot bipods best for a shooting rest for predators in more open country, the shooting stick version that doesn't attach to the gun better in tight spots. I shoot most of my coyotes between 60 and 120 yards calling but I get some closer and some further. My set-ups are intended to get them around that distance, it's a high percentage shot for me while not being so close that I get busted very often. I don't try to see how close I can get one like some people, first good shot I get at a stopped coyote I'll take.

 

[WhiteOak]

Thanks guys a lot of good info there.

To add, the place I am hunting is damn near flat. There is plenty of cover in the form of mesquite and yucca but no real terrain features to hide in or elevate myself. I've thought about building like a 5 foot high platform to lay on and glass from.

My set us was sandwiching myself in between a mesquite and my fence corner post, a south wind with open shots to the north east and west.

I definatly did not go full on camo was just wearing earth tones. I do have a asat leafy suit I will wear next time. I did not take camo and concealment to the fullest on this one.

Do you guys bother to bring binos and try to spot them or is the act of glossing calling to much attention in the first place. After that miss I have been thinking about putting a scope on my AR.

- - - Updated - - -

Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about coyote behavior, if yotes run on the property at night are they likely to be close by during the day or do they just constantly wander. Do they have a "range" they usually stay within?

 

[mcseal2]

I do take binos most of the time, but part of that is because I have rangefinding binos and not a separate rangefinder currently. I have to take my binos if I want to range anything since my old rangefinder quit on me. I do not use them to scan terrain, I figure the movement will do more harm than good. I do use them before leaving a stand if the spot justifies scanning anything to make sure a coyote or bobcat isn't along an edge looking at me from some concealment. I also get up really slow and look around as I get up and again before moving. Sometimes the change in elevation from standing is enough to show me something I missed.

Coyotes have a home range but it can vary a bunch in size. Sometimes they will have a loop they do where they won't be back to a certain area for several days. The best way I know to check if they are there is to howl at night and see where they answer you, plan your hunt the next day around that. At least then you know there were coyotes in the area at that time.

I run a Leupold 3.5-10x40 scope on my AR I use the most calling. If you put a scope on an AR remember that most mounts like the Burris PEPR one I used put the scope higher above the barrel than most bolt guns. I had to adjust my zero to account for this. With my scope after getting a 100 yard zero I re-zeroed it at 300 yards using the 300yd crosshair in the scope. Then I practice shooting water bottles both vertical and horizontal to make sure of where I'm hitting at ranges between 50 and 250. If I'm not shooting over a horizontal water bottle I'm not having to much rise. The practice gives me lots of confidence when I do it from my hunting bipod. I also shoot the polymer ball targets that roll when I hit them. Shooting 2 or 3 of them and switching targets between each shot gets me fast at locating and locking down on targets from the bipod.

If shots are mostly close that much scope isn't needed. I also have an AR with a 1-4x scope and 16" barrel I'll use in tighter spots. A 2-7x like the Vortex Diamondback with a finer reticle is also a darn good choice. That scope has a huge field of view on low power but not the thick reticle that covers the coyotes whole chest at 200yds. I'm going to set up my other AR for heavier, tougher bullets with my spare Vortex when I get my spare lower back from a friend.

 

[Skerhunter]

Check out Randy Anderson on youtube. He has some good info on calling sequences/set ups/general tips (to add to the great info already provided), plus his videos are fun to watch. One tip not mentioned - use a partner - sometimes they charge in like morons and it's easy shooting, most of the time they are sneaking in, circling down wind (sometimes at 50 yards sometimes a hundreds of yards) using every possible bit of cover they can. I usually have a partner(s) down wind covering the areas I can't see and they get most of the shots, a lot of times I don't even see the dog. I also have better luck on days/areas with the least amount of human activity - ATVS, trucks driving around, people out doing people stuff - coyotes usually don't come in if there is any activity in the area.

 

[WhiteOak]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the shared experience and this gives a lot of food for thought. I will definitely take my next stand a lot more serious and use try to put the pieces together. I will post the coyotes when I get it right. Itching to give it another shot

 

[mcseal2]

The partner idea really works. We do that hunting contests and as Skerhunter said, the downwind guy gets most of the shots.

Hunting solo I try to position my E caller to let me be the downwind guy at times. Other times I put it so a coyote can approach the caller from straight downwind without catching my scent, I get off to the side. I can't go as far downwind as a second person can though, not out of sight of the caller for sure. I just don't get to hunt with a second person that often. I am always feeding cattle in the mornings and I often don't get out calling until the last hour or so of the day. I get to get out quite a few days, but only for a little while each of those days.

 

[whoppe]

I run distress calls on the ecaller on a loop. For howls I do 1 or 2 then wait. If the coyotes start talking try and mimic their howls.