For me I found that keeping clean , showering in the morning , putting on clean clothing , not using cologne or highly odor containing antiperspirant , washing my clothing in a low odor laundry detergent with a low UV signature helped me more then any cover scent . The foods you eat affect your body odor tremendously . People that use tobacco products put off a tremendous amount of odor from their breathing . People that are excited or nervous have an awful smelling body odor as well . It's ok to shower two times a day morning and evening especially when you are going hunting low odor soaps and shampoos , low odor detergents for your hunting clothes with low U V signatures kept separated from your every day and work clothing . fill your truck when you aren't wearing your hunting clothing . Don't cook your breakfast in your hunting clothing ect. . Trying to control your own odor better is a ton better then trying to cover up your odor , canines can smell cancer , drugs and explosives even when people have tried to mask them with things like baby powder , gasoline ect. you can put these items even inside of a gas tank or tire and the dogs can still smell them . Keeping your body odor controlled is the better way over covering it with another odor . Even I can smell a bull elk or pigs , sheep and cows in the field . Cologne , cigarettes , chewing tobacco deodorant soaps and antiperspirants and the foods being eaten and drank , coffee ect . have given away human presence in a lot more serious situations then hunting coyote . For me the preventing of my odor means more then trying to cover it up but that's me not every one I'm a little different then most . My family calls me something like anal-retentive or anal - orifice something like that . An ounce of prevention is worth more then a pound of cure in this case as far as I'm concerned . But then again each to their own .
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Coyote hunting tips
- Thread starter geo4061
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gbett308
Well-Known Member
Recommend using this forum to write a book? Think it would be good and I would buy!
For many of us calling and hunting coyote is a way of life it's not something that we just do in the fur season . We do it for a wide range of reasons but most often for the person doing it as a job it's for the protection of livestock for the stock producers . We love the job or don't stick with it as it's a hard way of life . There are a few times in the year , on average , that you can feel overwhelmed . The pupping season , is one of those times because they are a lot like us they want to have and raise their families , and often that means killing the easiest animals to feed them , livestock and the other young of the year . Then again when they are teaching their kids to hunt and make a living for themselves , life for the control worker gets hectic . That normally takes place in late summer and early fall . Each and every one of us learns what does and doesn't work for us at different times of the year . In the spring of the year I like the sounds that are most commonly heard in nature that time of the year , fawns of all types , little animal sounds , rabbits ect. . When I'm denning and close to where the den is I will use coyote or canine puppy sounds , tracking and experience tells you that . I will use adult coyote vocalizations at this time also . For me I use coyote vocalizations from late December to mid June when I'm dealing with adult coyote as for me even the non aggressive sounds will often seem threating to immature coyote . After June if I use coyote vocalizations it lone howls at a higher pitch and not much at a time maybe one or two of them in 10 minutes time mainly as a locator . After June I will start to use more of the adult sounds of deer , antelope , rabbits the animals that are in my area even lamb and ewe sounds I try to do my best at keeping it as natural as I can . As a rule of thumb if I'm hunting coyote I use lower pitched sounds , if I'm looking to get fox or cats I will be using a higher pitched sound , that's just as a rule and not cut in stone . There are times that I have to do things differently for an animal that isn't the norm . For the most part people are people and when they first get their new E-call they will be beating the key pad and using every sound they have , then after awhile they calm down and settle into a routine and end up just using a few sounds over and over again . Dam I need to buy a new caller these animals won't come to this one anymore . Most people are calling to animals that they have tried to call several times , maybe for a few years , and have tried calling them with the same sounds all through the different seasons and times of the year . That is why I say that for me I use these sounds at this time of the year and change them to other sounds for the change of seasons , because nature changes the sounds with the seasons so I feel that I should also . But I'm not much different then others I have some sounds that I have used at some times of the year for more years then any coyote will live . Being in the same areas working on the coyote and other predators year round I tend to not have the same animals to try and get . I get a new crop of them a couple of times a year that I haven't worked on before . Yes there are a couple here and there that will hear me several times but they usually die from something other then coming to the call , traps , snares or ambushed in their lay up areas .
geo4061
Well-Known Member
Gentlemen thanks again for the exchange of experiences. I would have never tried clam juice or sardines. My thought here would have been that these new smells would ring the alarm bell or at least put them on high alert. I am pretty anal when it comes to trying to cover up my smell, however; I know I am not even close to total scent control so I am all for anything that helps.
Scent control is really very simple: don't let the coyote get into a position (down wind) to smell you…
You can smell like anything you want or don't want, and he still can't smell you if he is up wind.
To each their own I guess.
You can smell like anything you want or don't want, and he still can't smell you if he is up wind.
To each their own I guess.
The sardines is a very heavy scent, so it puts more parts per million than your scent. I have seen coyotes stop, stick their nose in the air, and they looked like they were drinking in the scent.
Sardines is an old trappers attractant. Attractants are called lures in some states and are not legal, so know your regulations.
We always set up to where we can see down wind. I carry a little alegator clip in my shirt pocket with 2 feet of black thread on it. I stick this on a bush and watch the down wind scent cone. Two cans of sardines in a dark sock, two socks hunt on either side of you, 10 yards away will be pay dirt for you. We put the socks in a Glad Loc freezer bag, then put that freezer bag in a Coffee can with a lid. Freeze the whole can, thaw out of a hunt on another day.
It also helps to buy some rabbit urine, have a small spray bottle. As you sit down to start calling, spray the rabbit urine, it will be a true direction finder. If you have a coyote hang up on you, you know if you use the "spritzer" that the scent cone will carry 250 yards in a few minutes, so get ready.
Look with your eyes going back and forth, not turning your head, the coyote's brain is made to pick up the slightest movement. If you happen to look over and see a coyote standing looking right at you, very carefully raise your gun, slowly, aim and shoot quick. With camo net over your head, camo gloves, camo gun, the coyote will be trying to figure out what you are, since he has not smelled you. The sardine and rabbit urine has his brain confused, but not for long. They may charge off or right at you. Be careful of your tracks if you filled up with gasoline at the gas station, they can smell your track for 10 yards at least.
Once you kill one, start the stand all over again. Do not stand up, watch and expect multiples since they run in family units. Blow a wounded pup call if you have one,and be ready!
If you see a coyote coming in from a direction where he will come across your track, try and stop him for a shot before he gets to your tracks. I and parts have sprayed our boot bottoms with rabbit urine and made a drag from a stock soaked with rabbit urine or sardine oil.
We have spooked quite a few coyotes with Fox urine, makes you wonder what kind of urine was in the ebottle.
Hunt on the leading edge of a low pressure front and during a lot pressure front. Within a few hours of a low pressure front passing can be very good, but it will pass fast as the high pressure rolls in. High pressure or rising barometric pressure make the parts per million much less, so the predators do not smell as well.
During a high pressure front, scout, do not call...all you are doing is educating the coyotes. Scout, mark areas on your map, get permission from new land owners.
Watch the sunlar tables with the Major and Minor feeding periods that correspond to the Moon phase. This is basic hunting, nothing new. Those Major and Minor feeding periods in combo with watching the barometric pressure are huge when it comes to knowing how animals move. Field and Stream used to publish the Solar table with the Major and Minor feeding periods, it is something to live by.
One last thing, Coyotes have a language. If you learn how to use a Dominant male howler, female/juvinile howler, locator call, Interrogation call, and Challenge howl, you take away all advantages that a coyote has. A coyote has no defense from howls as they are talking to each other all the time. The very best luck we have had when hunting during a High pressure system is with howling, for those that have never seen it, howling is a step above the best hand distress calls and electronic calls. Two guys howling is a shore nuff game changer. We have had three guys in our group howling a group howl, then we challenge howl, then sound like a wounded coyote in a fight. Dominant male and females come in charging to see who is in their territory, hair standing straight up on their back. I have shot several that would not come all the way in, but stand off in a challenge howl trying to get up their courage. It is very rewarding to kill a coyote in mid howl!!!
Best of luck to you Predator Hunters, take a youngster with you if you can.
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There is a product called, "Dead Down Wind" that actually does a good job diluting the human scent.
geo4061
Well-Known Member
Thanks Vince. Another thing that is very interesting to me and we haven't talked about it is the use of a Decoy Dog. Someone please school us.
Several of the people using live dogs as decoy dogs run mountain curs or southern black mouth curs . I have had both they were started on the trap line and pretty much knew what to do on their own . For me light colored dogs seemed to work a little better at attracting coyote but I had a black dog that worked out okay . He was a blue healer border collie cross . I have had male and female dogs for some reason the females seemed to do better but both worked well for me . One of the guys I have worked with a lot runs a Jack Rusell terrier that is a male . He has a heavy canvas wide collar for him . You want a dog that doesn't range out real far and knows to come back to you . You don't want a dog that wants to stand and fight . My dogs worked by themselves I didn't have more then one at a time but several people will run two or more at a time . You want them to challenge them into coming to you and then standing in shooting range for your shot . My dogs were all smart , my last dog was around 14 when one morning I had 6 pups answering my howls he came back to my side looked at me and went to the truck loaded up and retired . It was fine with me he had earned his keep over the years and lived to be nearly 16 . Ellie was a smaller southern black mouth cur light tan in color and just knew what to do . She wasn't overly loud mouthed just enough to get and keep them interested . She would run them then turn and lure them my way . When she had them in gun range she would go past me stand to the side and behind me till I shot then she would have her fun with them . Most of my dogs knew that once the shot was made on one if there were more to go and work the others keeping them near and their attention off of the shooter . It's about them showing themselves and playing the game of chase and be chased by the coyote . My dogs also helped me to locate the dens with the pups after the adults were out of the picture saving me a lot of foot steps . They were my friends and a ton of company we learned to rely on each other .
I have never been able to figure out how to control a coyote. If they come across your tracks as you walked to your stand, you will probably never see them.
Scent control works, but it does take an effort.
That's why I try to use my calls directionally and with a lower or controlled volume , so that they won't cross my tracks . Even in the relatively open country that I live in I want them to come from the direction that I 'm calling towards not from my sides or from behind . It's an art to be figured out how to and when to use scent control along with the air currents , humidity and temperature's . Where I live we normally have lower humidity 15 to 30 percent often , and the breezes or wind come from the west , but the air currents will be raising from the lower parts of the draws to the higher parts of the draws so I'm calling from the tops of the draws into the lower parts of the draws with the brush and often junipers and Russian olive trees in them . The world that I live in is vastly different then the world that you live in so where I live the use of cover scents isn't as important as having less scent to begin with . I don't use any scent elimination such as dead down wind just keep clean and wear clean cloths washed in a low odor detergent and a low odor anti perspirant . We will often have breezes up to 25 or 30 mph when I stop calling but the close observation of wind direction plus using it to my advantage is much more important then trying to cover up my scent for me and in my area . There is nothing carved in stone as to how animals will or won't respond to any of the different situations that we will encounter them in in their world when we enter into it to hunt them . When you are working on controlling coyote , at times 7 days a week for a couple of months at a time , you don't want to smell of strong odors , you don't want your truck cab to stink every time you get into it , you want things to smell natural not strange to the animals . If covering your odor works for you then that is what you should by all means do but that isn't for every one of us what we should do , we all need to explore and find what does and doesn't work for us in our own situations , and hearing about what does work for others is a part of the learning experience . In my situation hunting coyote 7 days a week up to 16 hours a day at times keeping myself and the cab of my truck clean was more important then trying to smell differently .
Dead Down Wind works so well on scent elimination, I have had coyotes come in on the same path that I walked in on, they never smelled a thing, then does came in on the same path, and they never smelled a thing, either. You have to spray the bottom of your boots with the Dead Down Wind.
We have had the same success with Elk and deer. I had a doe bed down at the bottom of my ladder stand, with the backpack right behind the ladder. Of course, I sprayed the backpack just prior to me putting the backpack down behind the ladder stand. I could go on and on.
Dead down wind does not smell like anything, it eats the bacteria in the human scent that causes our scent to small. If you spray Dead Down Wind on an fresh-cut onion, you will not smell the onion!
When my wife does my laundry with Shirts soaked with sweat, she would spray the shirts with Dead Down Wind as an Odor eliminator.
I hunted coyote competitions in S. Ca. for years, was in Orange County and So Cal clubs, then moved to Az. We hunted in Mexico for years when you could do it safely with all the gun permits and hunting lisc. The last time hunting coyotes in Mexico was 1990. New President of Mexico changed the rules where you had to have a Mexican guide with you at all times. We killed a lot of coyotes while living in Az, but you could not night hunt in Az.
We have had the same success with Elk and deer. I had a doe bed down at the bottom of my ladder stand, with the backpack right behind the ladder. Of course, I sprayed the backpack just prior to me putting the backpack down behind the ladder stand. I could go on and on.
Dead down wind does not smell like anything, it eats the bacteria in the human scent that causes our scent to small. If you spray Dead Down Wind on an fresh-cut onion, you will not smell the onion!
When my wife does my laundry with Shirts soaked with sweat, she would spray the shirts with Dead Down Wind as an Odor eliminator.
I hunted coyote competitions in S. Ca. for years, was in Orange County and So Cal clubs, then moved to Az. We hunted in Mexico for years when you could do it safely with all the gun permits and hunting lisc. The last time hunting coyotes in Mexico was 1990. New President of Mexico changed the rules where you had to have a Mexican guide with you at all times. We killed a lot of coyotes while living in Az, but you could not night hunt in Az.
We all find what works for us in our situation and that is what we should use . We do that by listening to others and experimenting on our own . What works for me may not work for you in your situation and what works for you may not work for me in my situation . You might have a bigger budget to work with then me or I might have a bigger budget then you , or maybe we both have a poverty level budget to work with but put our priorities for the use of our time and money in different places . We have different experiences and that is how we determine what makes the most sense for us to do when we are out doing what we do . Over the years I have found that I can only tell of what I have found to be the most effective for me as to why and what I do . When we go to school we are given the basics of what we are there to learn then we take that knowledge out and start modifying it for our own particular uses . We all change the lessons learned to fit our own areas and needs be it a contest or a job we do what works for us and let others do what works for them . We tell of our experiences and share with others but we have no control as to how they apply what we share with them that is the way that life is . I can tell you of things that I have seen and done that will do harm and warn of them but some will have to try it for themselves to find out if it truly is a bad idea . Or I can tell of things that worked out well and why it did for me in my situation , and it may not work for them in their situation . We can only share and allow people to do for themselves what they want to so they can then decide weather it will be the best course of action for them . That is why there are after action and monthly reports made to figure out what went right and what went wrong in this particular situation so that others will have a little more knowledge to reach out and compare their situations to and perhaps pull off the job better , faster and successfully without any bad outcomes . Today is about enjoyment of what I do not for a job any longer , I no longer have to kill a specific animal that is a problem and costing someone else their livelihood . I now get to relax and have the pressure taken off to kill an animal that is killing I always enjoyed the work , the challenge , the getting out in all weather conditions and seeing the other things in the world as well as sharing what little I have learned with others . That is what calling and hunting coyote is about learning and putting to use what others have seen work for them then modifying it to our needs so that they can best enjoy what they want to do with their coyote hunting and calling experiences then as we have share it with others . Not any one thing that we do will always work for every situation nor will it always be the best thing for others to use it is at best a new thought for others that they might find helpful . Take all that has been discussed here on this thread and think it over then take it out and play with it to see what parts of it will be of the most benefit to you in your situation , cull out what doesn't fit your needs at the time but keep it in the back of your mind incase it will be of use to you in the future . Be flexible don't get set in your thoughts learn and adapt to the situation you are in at the moment that is what I have been able to see as the one best thing for me in hunting and calling coyote adapt and over come they do .
Good post, Dsheets! Hunting out West is sure different than hunting in the South.
I used to teach calling seminars, and discovered that most people want to go "coyote shooting".
One thing for sure, a guy that learns to hunt Predators, can hunt anything. Predator hunters learn to outsmart a predator's Eyes, His Ears, and his Nose. Combine that knowledge with the issues of how Barometric pressure has such a tremendous effect on how predators move/hunt with their Major and Minor feeding periods. Lastly, the understanding of how high and low pressure weather fronts enhances or is the detriment to calling Predators.
These are fundamentals in Hunting and Fishing, and the Novice would be well advised in educating themselves on all the above.
I used to teach calling seminars, and discovered that most people want to go "coyote shooting".
One thing for sure, a guy that learns to hunt Predators, can hunt anything. Predator hunters learn to outsmart a predator's Eyes, His Ears, and his Nose. Combine that knowledge with the issues of how Barometric pressure has such a tremendous effect on how predators move/hunt with their Major and Minor feeding periods. Lastly, the understanding of how high and low pressure weather fronts enhances or is the detriment to calling Predators.
These are fundamentals in Hunting and Fishing, and the Novice would be well advised in educating themselves on all the above.
