Coyote hunting tips

[DSheetz]

Yes GEO it is a mind set and a way of life after awhile . You can train yourself to be observant and more aware of your surroundings you will find that the guys coming back from a tour in Afghanistan or Iraq were in the observation mode nearly 100% of the time . But then they were living in the high alert mode as well . I learned to in the service as well . but you don't have to be in condition red or orange to be observant and aware of your surroundings . There is some reading that can be done that explains it well and teaches you exercises to learn how with out being on high alert but being aware of your surroundings one book that comes to mind is Warrior Mind Set . There are others also a lot of martial arts deal with it as well as meditation . Meditation isn't about religion but it is found to be practiced in several religions . Learning to let yourself be focused and in the present isn't always as easy as it sounds but once it clicks the first time for you , you will say well duh what have I been doing all this time . Some of the writing by a guy named Chris Sajnog about shooting deals with learning to be in the present here and now . ( Navy Seal shooting ) he was a Navy Seal and Sniper instructor . The j is pronounced like an i so his name is pronounced Sainog it used to be Chief Sajnog but now I think it's Dr. Sajnog since he retired and went back to school . At any rate it is a good thing to be aware of what is going on around us especially in our world and the increase of people wishing to do harm to others . Take note of your way in and out even out of doors while we are enjoying our lives .

 

[APDDSN0864]

Looking but not seeing. I find myself doing this most of the time. Going through life on automatic pilot. You should shift gears when you hit the outdoors. Easy to say not so easy to do.

I try to do it even when I'm not outdoors.
We live in an incredibly beautiful and complex world.
Life is far too short and uncertain to miss anything.

Today was another example of being surprised by something I had previously seen but don't fully understand.
Coyotes can be cannibalistic, but it's particularly prevalent during mating season. Why?
I don't know...
The quest for answers to it all continues and drives me back outdoors.

Ed

 

[DSheetz]

Ed , I believe it's called elimination of the competition . If we take the time and study some of the tribes say in Papaw New Geni where cannibalism was a way of life for hundreds of years what was their reasoning . First to eliminate their competition then they believed that they would gain the strength and good traits of them by consuming them . Coyote being coyote I think it's just to be rid of the competition for a mate , food and territory . If your area is like this area there is a shortage of prey base at this time due to disease and the drought . I do the best that I can to be aware of my surroundings indoors and outdoors . where are the exits , where are the most people gathered , what are people acting like nervous or calm , what sounds do I hear is it what I should be hearing at this time , the same as I do with the animals and terrain when I'm out and about with them .

 

[APDDSN0864]

Dave,
Yup, I live in Condition Yellow all the time.

As to the cannibalism, most times, they seem to reject other coyote carcasses that were killed by other means ( like me...) but during mating season, they will devour both male and female carcasses.
I'm getting more mature adults in my traps lately, too.
I think I may have thinned out the dumb sub-adults so my calling and trapping methods are going to have to evolve.
It could very well be that the cannibalism is just more obvious this year due to our conditions. Don't know.
More data is required and we know what that means...

In case anyone is interested, a 100gr Ballistic Tip leaving the muzzle at just over 3,500fps from a 6.5x280AI will kill a coyote. Might even be the proverbial "over kill".

Ed

 

[DSheetz]

Ed , here a lot of the females showed that they had carried pups but didn't have any living pups . Last spring and early summer the pups died of disease at a young age before they got half grown here and very few lived to maturity this year . So most of the coyote being taken are adults from past seasons . I was visiting with my friend Gene the other day he said that he figured he would only get about a third of the number of coyote that he normally gets this year as the numbers are way low and there virtually are no fox . The deer , antelope , rabbits and other prey animals are also at low numbers . We have a hemorrhagic disease in the deer and antelope and chronic wasting disease in the deer and elk herds . The rodents have another type of hemorrhagic disease in them . Fleas , ticks , gnats , mosquitos and biting insects are plentiful and carrying diseases to them , as is mange still in abundance here . It's not scabies here but sarcoptic mange . Throw in a severe drought and the animals are having a hard time . In a few places last year we didn't get enough moisture for the grass to green up and dust phenomena was a problem with them as well . My Grandma told me it was like this in the twenties here and if I remember right she said that when it broke in 1929 it rained mud . It takes time for them to come back after this kind of happenings .

 

[DSheetz]

I maybe should have put this in the ramblings area but I hope that GEO will be understanding about me putting it in this area .

 

[APDDSN0864]

I maybe should have put this in the ramblings area but I hope that GEO will be understanding about me putting it in this area .

I think it belongs here because these things directly affect the coyote numbers and quality thus affect our techniques for taking them.
For instance, I have used a Quail call to call coyotes that mimics the sound a Quail makes when locating and gathering a scattered covey.
I guess that isn't working for me right now because of the drastically reduced numbers of quail.
It has never failed before.
I'm having much better results using rodent sounds than in the past.
In our search for knowledge about the world we live in, we have to consider all possibilities and recognize that nothing is static, conditions constantly change.

I guess I'm trying to get folks to think outside the box when coming up with solutions to being successful in our pursuit of these "Wiley Coyotes"
I know that I don't have all the answers and someone with a lot less, or more, experience than I may be the one that comes up with a great solution for taking really smart critters.

Ed

 

[DSheetz]

Ed , That is one of the very good points that I try to make about the use of good quality hand calls they can be used to make all sorts of different animal sounds for a fraction of the cost of an E-call and a wide range of animal sounds can be had . Criter-call comes to mind as one of the easiest for me to make a wide range of animal sounds magnum standard and peewee with the standard being my favorite then Randy Anderson's lil-dog comes in second for me they are open reed calls . Howlers are another call that fits in with these calls I personally make my own but the red desert and hot dog howlers are easy to learn to use just take the horn off of them and use your hands as a sound chamber to change the tone works best for me . You can have quail , rodent ,rabbit , cotton tail , jack adult and juvenile , coyote vocalizations , deer blats , antelope blats and a wide range of other animal sounds . They aren't for every one it takes time and practice to learn them as well as you need to hear the animals to know what it is you are trying to sound like and not every one has that opportunity as well as the time it takes to hear them and learn to imitate them .

 

[DSheetz]

Isn't it interesting that all animals have sounds they make to locate and gather their missing counter parts . I have used that to my advantage countless times on fox as well as coyote . It works on cats , antelope , deer elk and other animals if we just have the time and inclination to learn what it is we need to be saying at the time .

 

[APDDSN0864]

We tend to use distress calls to lure our prey, but there are other sounds that coyotes respond to other than just the dinner bell.
I hope some folks reading these posts will take what is offered and step out of their comfort zone and try new things.
While we never want to educate our prey, sometimes you have to try something different, such as the Quail calls.

Ed

 

[DSheetz]

Ed , 100% agreement on that . So many other sounds that will attract animals other then the distress sounds we tend to stick to . But then we tend to want to see them coming toward us at 90 with reckless abandon instead of picking their way in with caution and curiosity being their driving force .

 

[WeatherBugHiker]

70 gr match kings for 223 cause very little fur damage if that's what you're looking for plus hunting with the wind at your back and sun to your back don't get spotted and invest in some good scent blockers and callers and you'll be just fine just be persistent about it

 

[APDDSN0864]

Another sound I like to use is a Crow fight or distress call.
I'm not sure if it's a food response or sheer curiosity, but it can draw coyotes from quite a distance.

Ed

 

[APDDSN0864]

Ed , That is one of the very good points that I try to make about the use of good quality hand calls they can be used to make all sorts of different animal sounds for a fraction of the cost of an E-call and a wide range of animal sounds can be had . Criter-call comes to mind as one of the easiest for me to make a wide range of animal sounds magnum standard and peewee with the standard being my favorite then Randy Anderson's lil-dog comes in second for me they are open reed calls . Howlers are another call that fits in with these calls I personally make my own but the red desert and hot dog howlers are easy to learn to use just take the horn off of them and use your hands as a sound chamber to change the tone works best for me . You can have quail , rodent ,rabbit , cotton tail , jack adult and juvenile , coyote vocalizations , deer blats , antelope blats and a wide range of other animal sounds . They aren't for every one it takes time and practice to learn them as well as you need to hear the animals to know what it is you are trying to sound like and not every one has that opportunity as well as the time it takes to hear them and learn to imitate them .

Dave,

Do you sell your howlers here in the classifieds?

Ed