Anyone else target coyotes in the off season? I know there are quite a few trappers out there but was wondering if anyone calls them in the off season to help pass the time of a long winter. Be well Rob m
Yep, did for several years. I live in East Texas, all private land and small acreage. When I was working I got to meet lots of landowners and aquired a good bit of permission to hunt coyotes. My buddy and I killed quite a few calling them with an e-caller. It’s fun and you’re dojng the landowner and the deer a favor.
I absolutely LOVE varmint calling. Haven’t done a lot of it specifically with a bow, but every time I see a yote while in the treestand while deer hunting, it immediately turns into a coyote hunt. Been fortunate enough kill quite a few with a bow.
I do a few coyote trips every year starting Thanksgiving weekend.
Went to SD last weekend. Called up 10 in 14 stands. Now I wish I could say there were 10 coyotes in the back of the truck but I can’t. lol Ended the trip with 3 in the pick up box but it should have been 7 with some better shooting.
Here is the first for the year. A young male pup. This time of year can be exciting to call. Lots of pups out there and they are learning quick that they have to kill to survive. So lots of hard chargers coming into the ol bunny blues.
Yeah my wife would get excited when mid December came as deer season was ending and I would be around more… then I picked up calling coyotes after the deer season. Now I got the bug and keeps my busy all year. I shoot most with my rifle but have taken a few with my bow as well. They are a cagey critter to get with a bow consistently.
For sure it’s just a shame the fur market for coyote declined the way it did Canada Goose went woke and the market died, what a shame cuz so many get thrown in the blow out when it’s a beautiful fur that could be utilized in so many ways if we hadn’t got so liberal and soft as a country
Charlie, on that trail cam pic I have a certain dislike for coyotes that come running to deer fawn or antelope fawn distress. Seems like they get a little less mercy. ;-)
they have a contest near me & I go to the weigh in/count. I shared their ad about it on facebook & got a 2 day ban/jail. Said I was breaking weapons rules. No free speech I guess. Wasn't even my original post. They get a bunch.
Had time to make 4 stands this morning before having to go pick up the groceries the wife ordered.
Last stand of the morning a pair came into the call around a point jutting out into a frozen pond. I was able to get the lead coyote that went around the pond but missed the second one that wanted to cut across the pond.
A pile of them destroyed my nephew's 10 point on Friday. From the looks of the blood trail appeared they got on him right after the shot and he tried to fend them off. All that was left the next morning was the neck, head and one intact front leg. Rest was almost down to the bones.
I plan on heading to NY after the New Year to put a hurtin on some. Way to many around when the fawns drop. They oddly disperse from say late July until the snow flys, then they are ALL back.
I try to get out once per week to keep my self in shape and spend some time out of the knife shop. Also keeps my senses sharp through the off season. When the snow starts flying i get the itch pretty bad to get out.
I used to tell folks that calling in predators, especially coyotes, is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on. ;)
Out in the deserts of Calif. there's a critter called a Kit Fox. Ya can't shoot 'em, but they'll come flying in to a call with absolute reckless abandon. You can point a bright white light at them, and they'll sit there and look at you as if they were expecting dinner to be served.
Cute little buggers, and dumber than a post, but they sure can cause some excitement when you see the reflecting light in those eyes as they come bouncing in at full speed. Once one shows up, they don't always want to leave. I used to keep a box of dog treats in the truck, so I'd toss one out and it'll grab it and leave.
Pic is of one I called in during a prospecting trip near Barstow, Ca. back in 2013.
t-roy, I live up in the N. Cascades now, but they do have Grey fox down in the SW deserts. The Grey's prefer more rocky, hilly terrain, and the Kit's are more comfortable out on the open plains. The Kit's are smaller, and have that blown out tail look, where the Grey's have tail fur that tends to flow smoother. Sometimes it's tough to tell the difference between them, especially in the scope at night.
SD, the one in the pic above decided to hang around my camp on Thanksgiving night. I was out there camping alone east of Hinkley at my buddies club claim, and that fox hung around for a few hours. It sat just a few feet away, and I shared most of my turkey sandwich (and a few cookies) with it. She was good company, and given time, I'd have made a lap pet out of her...:)
We had one of those epic days of calling yesterday. We called 11 stands and called up 13 coyotes including a handful that hung up on us. Started the day off with a quad. Somehow we walked out of there with only 1. Should have had 3. Finished the day with 3 in the box but it should have been 8.
Sounds like it was a fun day, Michael! Calling can oftentimes be feast or famine. It’s an absolute blast when you get something to respond to your calling at the majority of your setups.
This year has definitely been the best year of calling so far. Out of 33 stands I have called in 29 coyotes. December is my favorite month to call. Lots of coyotes on the land scape and not much pressure been on them yet.
I believe if I was still trapping, I'd take all my pelts and have them garment quality tanned, and then offer them for sale. At less than 75 pelts, you can have them tanned for $30 ea., and then they can be sold to a furrier, the general public or at auction for damn good profit. Prime western pelts should bring a min. of $100 ea. if not blown up.
Anyone have experience shooting coyote with a .17hmr while hunting (not trapping)? I’ve only taken one with the .17hmr and it was a neck shot and had to follow up. Just wondering how shooting behind the shoulder would do for those that have done it? I know it’s a powerful little round, but only a 20 grain bullet. Regs on state land here outside of deer season limit me to rimfire. I can use shotgun, but limited to no larger than #2 shot and I’m not interested in taking the shotgun.
In my opinion the 17 hmr is very marginal on coyotes, especially with 20 grain bullets. If shot presentation and placement are perfect, it can work. But that seldom happens.
22mag would be a much better choice for a rim fire than the 17hmr. The 45 grain Hornady self defense are a great compromise between velocity and bullet weight
I think you’re going to have a lot of coyotes running off using a 17. I would use the 2 shot in tungsten or even lead if you can. The Lucky Duck guys use Hornady Dead Coyote loads. They are 3” BB loads. They shotgun a lot of coyotes every year.
I don't feel a .22 mag is sufficient for coyotes, and same goes for the 17hmr. Coyotes are tough, and I've seen 'em drag their guts a half a mile before expiring.
FWIW, a .222 is about the minimum IMO. I shot a .243, and found that the 85 gr. BTHP from Sierra was the best all around load for preserving a pelt. In a 12 ga., 3" mags of BB's are the optimum.
I live in Connecticut also and have used the 17 on coyotes anumber of times. I will say it does work in limited scenarios. They must be close like 50 yards or less and the shot must be perfect, head or double lung broadside. I have had to chase a few after shooting them and had a few get away. Now when I use a caller I bring the turkey gun,12ga 3 1/2" #2 shot. That is surely a better bet. My 2C.
That’s great Marty. Wow haven’t seen a coyote managed out like that in a number of years. You definitely did it a favor.
We called a couple days back at Christmas time. We ended up with 4 for the 2 days. Planning on going out the next weekend the winds are under 10 mph. Which isn’t going to be this up coming weekend.
I don’t do nearly as much calling now, as I did in the 80s & 90s, when I lived in Oklahoma. There were severe restrictions on was was legal down there, back then, as far as nighttime calling, so we only called during daylight hours, which, IMO, is more exciting, due to being able to see them responding to the call. I have absolutely nothing against the thermals, though. I’m still using an old Ruger M77 .220 Swift with a straight 8X Leopold scope, using 52gr. Hornady BTHP bullets. 95% of my calling has been done with mouth calls and a diaphragm call, but I recently got a FoxPro that I need to break in.It has motion decoy on it. We used a motion decoy when I lived in Oklahoma. I can’t say that it made a big difference for us, but some guys swear by them.
IMO, if you’re having decent luck calling, I’d almost rather hunt varmints than anything else. It is a blast.
All our calling so far this year has been in the daylight. If we have some snow on the ground we will call some during a full moon. Don’t own thermal.
I like Lucky Duck E calls. Rick from Lucky Duck provides all their sounds and they are good ones. The remote on a Lucky Duck will reach out farther than the FoxPro one I used to have.
I am a believer in if the coyote can’t hear the sound it’s not going to respond. So the volume is always cranked up. Most of our calling is in SD so it’s pretty wide open and coyotes can respond from a long ways out. The farthest I ever seen one come from was a mile and an a half out. But I expect coyotes to respond from a 1/2 mile out if they are triggered to respond.
10 to 12 minutes a stand and 10 to 15 stands a day. Start out in more open country in the morning and get close to cover in the afternoon.
To me what you choose to shoot them with doesn’t matter. We have had coyotes at 30 yards that have been shotgunned and coyotes shot at 300 yards with a 243 or 22-250. My goal is to get them to the call every time. Just wished it worked that way a lot more than it does.
Breeding season is right around the corner so sound selection is going to change some. But so far it’s been a few howls (40% of the stands) some bunny blues, coyote pup distress and finish the stand off with a coyote fight. If I have one that hangs up I will rifle through sounds to try and find one that will coax it in. Pack Rat and Coyote Coon fight are the winners so far this year for when that happens. Once again I wish that worked out Al it more than it does.
This year by far has been our best year. 84 stands so far with a call in percentage of 40%. The first year we called was in 2007. We called in 1 coyote that year. lol
Just curious as to how you guys get set up? How do you sneak in, how do you set the call out, how do you play the wind, etc? I've had the best luck playing the wind to almost my disadvantage, but that's hard to do sometimes. And I'm always worried about spooking them out while sneaking in and setting up a call. I've always suspected that when I call and don't see anything it's because of my entrance (even though I try to sneak around the best I can).
Honestly I don’t worry to much about my walk in. For the most part I try and limit my walks to 1/4 mile or less. The biggest factor is walking to and from stands takes time. The shorter the better. Hide the truck and head in.
If I can park on one side of the hill and cross over and start calling all the better. Most of the country I call is wide open but it’s broken up pretty good. Lots of little cuts and swells in the landscape. Wind wise I prefer a cross wind but if it’s in my face so be it. Coyotes will circle the call. It’s just a matter of do they do it at 500 yards or 5 yards. Running an e caller helps with the wind because you can place it upwind or cross wind from you. There are certain times I have had the call 80 yards or better from me. We always have a guy covering the down wind as well. When the wind is really light we have noticed they don’t circle as much.
Biggest thing is having cover to sit by. It’s amazing how the coyotes don’t pick us off sitting in front of the exposed dirt in that bad lands type terrain.
Lots of different ways and terrain to call them in. I don’t think it’s a one size fits all type of thing.
This is something I picked up from Geoff Nemnich. If a coyote is 1/2 mile out and I play a sound he likes. If he is trotting/running to the call at 10 mph he should be at the call in 3 minutes. So I tend to play the sound for 3 minutes. Coyotes check up for a lot of reasons. Including pausing the sound. So I let the sound play with no pausing.
You gotta love when a coyote shows up the first minute or two of a stand. You know they were close and chances are it wouldn’t matter what sound you played (for the most part). They were coming to the call.
Well stated, Fulldraw. Some of my favorite spots in Oklahoma were where I could get out of the truck and only have to walk 100 yards or so, to set up. If you have to walk very far to set up and then back to the truck, you burn up a lot of time. You could potentially make 3-5, or more, additional sets in a day, if you don’t have to do a lot of walking. Some spots are worth it, though. We had one we called the “bobcat honeyhole” that was almost a 500 yd walk to get to it. We probably killed close to a dozen bobcats (plus a pile of yotes) in that spot over the years. Unfortunately, that section of ground got leased up, and we could no longer hunt it.
As far as setting up, a crosswind or a headwind is a no brainer. We would always set up with me on the far right (I’m a southpaw) and a righty on the far left, to be better able to cover a bigger area. If possible, we would also try to set up in front of or beside some type of bush, yucca plant, or other cover. Whenever someone spotted something, that person would start to lip squeak to signal the others.
Where I hunt I like to see the down wind of the call and be able to shoot the coyotes as they tend to head or circle that way. I like to hunt on foot… and prefer to walk miles while doing… almost like elk hunting to keep in walking shape and I like to be remote if that makes sense. I have done best finding pockets of coyotes in hidden draws and areas they can lay up and rest far from roads. Be blessed.
For you guys that call a lot, is there a time of day that you wouldn't go out? Say you only had a lunch break, would you do a sit at noon? I figure early morning and late evening are best, but sometimes free time comes on it's own schedule.
I have called coyotes in at noon lots of times. Just get as much cover and as close as you can to the cover as possible to make a stand. Think of where a coyote is going to lay up for the day. I also think of how far they will respond to the call. If it’s a half mile in the morning try getting 1/4 mile or closer for the middle of the day.
SD, one suggestion if you are only going to be calling in the daytime..plan your daytime hunt around a full Moon. Coyotes will hunt a lot less at night during a full Moon, so your chances to get one coming in are best in the early morning, but they may respond better throughout the day.
That all makes perfect sense. Thanks for the info guys.
As a trapper I know yotes can get trap shy. They educate very quickly. I was worried about getting them used to my calling but not getting them to come in for shots. I'd guess that once that happens hunting them gets a lot tougher.
We went out this morning and got a couple. To be honest I can not ever see a pattern to when/why a coyote comes or doesn’t come to a call. My only advise is to hunt as much as you can, find good ground with coyotes to call and pay attention to your downwind and be able to shoot it as sooner or later every coyote ends up downwind of the call… some 5 yards… some 500 yards.
Keep in mind coyotes will respond for other reasons than food. When. Coyote shows up with pup distress or a coyote fight sound playing is it because of food or does it have something to do with parental, social or curiosity.
Yes. The key is to find what sound triggers that individual coyote to come in… some come to prey distress… some to fights…. Some to pup distress and some out of pure curiosity. Find that trigger and they will come. I quit trying to “paint a scenario” with sounds as coyotes don’t think like we do and now I run though a group of sounds in different categories to find the what triggers a response.
SitO, that’s the only rabbit sound that makes you feel bad for whatever rabbit made that sound. If I am correct that’s lightning Jack by foxpro… a good one. Also… awesome you are after them with a bow. I have shot a few with a bow but more often than not use a 22-250AI to hit ‘em with.
Thanks John. I was torn between a 22 creed and the 250ai and went with the 250ai with zero freebore to account for lighter bullets…. 60-65 range. Also is just me… I like different and why I shoot a 260 rem in place of the 6.5 creed. ;-)
had a good day last month. Killed 10 of 11 that I called in. Left two behind that had mange. Keep after 'em everyone. Save a deer, kill a coyote or three.
