Coyote hunting tips

[APDDSN0864]

Sorry about the Aussie confusion. There was nothing posted to your whereabouts so I made a bad assumption. So fill us in. Where are you and how is the coyote hunting?

I live in SE NM, Carlsbad to be precise. The coyote hunting is pretty good right now, even though they are denned up and not moving much.
When hunting, a coyotes can, and sometimes do, travel more than 5 miles in one direction just to start seriously looking for prey.
The farthest I personally know of is a big male that would travel seven miles each way to predate on a particular herd of sheep. I think he loved lamb even more than I do and that's saying something .

Ed

 

[DSheetz]

The first old pair of coyote with pups I had problems with killing lambs were traveling 12 miles round trip from their den and back to kill them 6 miles each way . A lot of tracking to find the den and take the old ones started at day break and ended at 8:00 that evening . Tracking helps immensely at times when your calling .

 

[geo4061]

Is it possible to just go out and track them any time any day? Do you have to have the right amount of rain to help with soil conditions?

 

[geo4061]

all the way how about a couple of follow ups. Do you usually hunt out of the 6x? Advantages? Fill us in on the custom AR you built for coyote hunting. Thanks

 

[DSheetz]

It helps to have moist conditions for tracking but I have done a lot of tracking in dry dusty conditions and in sandy draws . The thing I find most helpful is sun light and getting in the right position to use it to your advantage so that you can see the subtle shadows of the small impressions made by their paws , the bent down grass's , hairs left on weeds , brush and fences , sometimes it's just a small speck of blood or something like that . It can be where an animal laid down in the grass . Tracking is so much more then just looking for foot prints it's looking for all the signs that are left by the animals you are hunting . It involves being able to read what you see so many people will see things such as where an antelope has went under a fence and left some under fur in the fence and think that it's coyote fur . It look similar but is a slightly different color and texture and smells like antelope . Time and experience are needed it helps to have someone that knows what they are seeing to teach you but you can take your time and learn it on your own slow down observe don't just look watch the animals see what they leave for you to observe and learn what they have to teach you about themselves by what they are showing you take note of it . It will help you in all aspects of your life to be more aware of your surroundings . Tracking is often just interpreting subtle differences .

 

[APDDSN0864]

Is it possible to just go out and track them any time any day? Do you have to have the right amount of rain to help with soil conditions?

Yes and no. I hope that clears things up.
DSheets gave an excellent overview!

It's more difficult to track at high noon because of the angle of the light striking the track.
Deep, dry sand is more difficult to track in than damp soil.
Once you become familiar with tracking, it's easier to discern the tracks of individual, particular coyotes and separate them from others they may be traveling with.
Tracking is paying attention to the subtle things. Sometimes you are so engrossed in the subtle things that you walk right up to the downed critter!

Ed

 

[APDDSN0864]

all the way how about a couple of follow ups. Do you usually hunt out of the 6x? Advantages? Fill us in on the custom AR you built for coyote hunting. Thanks

I have built two AR's for coyote hunting. My primary one is a Rock River upper and lower, 18" slim profile, 1:8" twist, three groove polygonal rifling, Black Hole Weaponry stainless barrel, Toolcraft BCG, Midwest free-float foreend, JP Enterprises flash hider (no longer made), Odin Works adjustable gasblock, MagPul UBR Gen 2 stock, MagPul MOE-K2+ grip, and a Leupold FireDot 4 2x7-32 scope in a Leupold mk1 scope mount.
My other is a Spikes Tactical upper & lower, Toolcraft BCG, 14" Black Hole Weaponry 3 groove polygonal rifled barrel, Odin Works adjustable gas block, Midwest foreend, JP Enterprises flash hider, SBA3 pistol brace, MagPul MOE-K2+ grip, and a SigSauer Romeo5 red dot sight.
Between these two, I am comfortable taking coyotes from kissing distance to 300yds.
I am primarily using Speer 50gr TNT bullets and Varget in LC brass with CCI 400 primers. No exits, even on Bobcats. No post-shot tracking, either.

Ed

 

[APDDSN0864]

What will immediately get you busted, movement. Move your eyes a lot, your head slowly and very little, and the rest of you not at all.

Move no faster than the wind is blowing the grasses and small limbs!

Ed

 

[geo4061]

Kudos gentlemen. I couldn't track BIGFOOT. The monster or the truck.

 

[CBH Australia]

You might be surprised if you try.
Different scenarios here but I've noted Dog tracks from a moving vehicle and my eyes are not great.
Working in pest management and learning a little from the researchers I became more aware.
Animal behaviour, animal prints and tracks and general commonsense you might apply when hunting. And of course listening to forum members.

Be open to learning every opportunity and learn from mistakes. You might just see something and take note and of course if you miss an opportunity you might change tactics in a similar situation.

 

[geo4061]

Yes. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[APDDSN0864]

You might be surprised if you try.
Different scenarios here but I've noted Dog tracks from a moving vehicle and my eyes are not great.
Working in pest management and learning a little from the researchers I became more aware.
Animal behaviour, animal prints and tracks and general commonsense you might apply when hunting. And of course listening to forum members.

Be open to learning every opportunity and learn from mistakes. You might just see something and take note and of course if you miss an opportunity you might change tactics in a similar situation.

CBH, excellent info! Never stop learning!
IMHO, if you're not learning, you're dying.

I go into every day with the mindset to "Never turn down a training opportunity!"

Ed

 

[DSheetz]

Study the animals all that you can be very curious about what they are doing and check out the signs that they leave behind when they move off from where you have been observing them that will help you in the future to know what the sign is saying when they aren't there . Was it coyote , fox ect . were they mousing were they coming to a call were they breading or traveling with pups . That's why I keep saying you learn more from observing the animals your hunting then by shooting them when you first see them . I have spent many hours observing coyote fox and bob cats as well as many other animals just to learn what they are doing and what their sign says . Observe first then shoot be as cautious as they are so that you can see how they act when not disturbed is what has worked for me . Every sun rise is the start of a new adventure , every sun set is the end of that adventure and time to start preparing for the next adventure .

 

[DSheetz]

APDDSN0864 and CBH Australia , You guys are spot on as with so many parts of our lives we being humans tend to make things harder then they really are . It's not real hard to do tracking after you have done it for awhile . The hard part is to teach yourself to look for the things that are out of place with the rest of the surroundings ( observing ) not just looking at things . In the ramblings there are pictures of coyote tracks showing the size difference between male and female tracks plus fox tracks that show well how he took off on a run and gathered up to jump . Tracks of animals are like human tracks they differ from animal to animal of the same species , size and shape changes . This one has a toe that doesn't set the same as the others do or maybe missing most of a foot or only three feet ect, Many times animals will set the back feet in the same place as the front foot but if some thing has happened to one of their legs or feet they don't line up quite the same . There are some good books written on tracking and one of the good things about doing it is you don't have to move fast while doing it but you can travel a long distance before you realize you have . Move a few steps then look up ahead some feet before moving again , nobody wants to get so wrapped up in it that they step down close to a snake or other thing hidden in the surroundings .