Wow some great advice already given. Do spend some time reading those threads Dsheetz mentioned. He is a coyote whisperer for sure.
I live a couple hours south of you and we visit the Hills every summer at least once trail riding. I've been trying to figure out if it would be worth a calling trip up there. My normal terrain is probably a lot like your plains. I was in your boat about 12 years ago, tried it and called one the first stand but got the fever and missed but was hooked.
Do you have properties where you can go? What about where you deer hunt, do you see coyotes while in your deer stand?
I bumped into an older gent who was trapping the same ranch I was calling, and we have been hunting together ever since. He taught me alot and really changed how I did things and the success rates started to climb.
This ranch consists of large to medium sandhills, with the normal meadows and wetlands in between hill ranges. Starting out I used to focus on the meadows, calling to stackyards, or hay bale yards these days, or calling towards the hills. My partner got me focused on being in the hills during the day as that's often where the coyotes bed. Meadows more for hunting during the nights. Hills bordering wetlands can be good, I've pulled quite a few out of cattails.
Ag land, I've found standing corn can be great, if it's kind of alone surrounded by pastures or other stuff. I've called coyotes out of corn fields within 200 yds of my house. Get within a couple hundred yards of it leaned up against a bale or tree and call to the corn. Conditions have to be right, dont set up with the wind blowing from you to your calling area. Corn calling needs to be a fairly calm wind I think as I doubt they hear much in there if all the leaves are rustling but that's just my thoughts on it.
Calls, I've had good success with my Lucky Duck. To be honest I never gave hand calls much of a shake, when I try them I sound good I think but never seem to call anything. The LD has so many great sounds it just works. I like starting with 3 or 4 long female howls on the first few stands of the day. Quite a few times that's all it took and I could see one coming. Often they will respond vocally, and I love that as it lets me know where and about how far away they are, in fact that's an awesome leg up when deciding on the next stand location. If they're a mile or more from the sound of it, I don't expect them to come in but I will move to them for the next stand.
Learn your land and over time focus on the best areas. Hunting the same places year after year has big benefits (as long as there's coyotes there). For many years on one ranch we were learning where they were and where they usually weren't. Some of the best looking hill ranges just didn't seem to produce, while other spots are better than 50% call success. Watch for sign as you travel between stands, every coyote leaves tracks somewhere. If you go for miles without tracks, well guess what, probably be better off looking elsewhere.
Ask ranchers where their dead piles are if they have them. And focus within a mile or so of those in likely cover. If you can get some land around feedlots that's money, I haven't been so lucky to score those properties as their spoken for and sometimes leased because they're so good.
And lastly watch your down wind if at all possible. I usually work into the wind from stand to stand. I hate to think how many have circled downwind a hill away that I never saw. I bet it's been a good pile of fur. A partner or even 3 guys is very handy in places with choppy hills as there's no way to see everything. A guy 100 yards or more downwind depending on terrain can pay off big time. Other times 2 is a crowd.
That's a few quick thoughts I had, remember everyone approaches things a bit differently and you'll get what seems like contradictory advice but many different ways can work. I'm still a rank amateur compared to guys like Dsheetz and many others. Once you get one coming in you'll be hooked.
I live a couple hours south of you and we visit the Hills every summer at least once trail riding. I've been trying to figure out if it would be worth a calling trip up there. My normal terrain is probably a lot like your plains. I was in your boat about 12 years ago, tried it and called one the first stand but got the fever and missed but was hooked.
Do you have properties where you can go? What about where you deer hunt, do you see coyotes while in your deer stand?
I bumped into an older gent who was trapping the same ranch I was calling, and we have been hunting together ever since. He taught me alot and really changed how I did things and the success rates started to climb.
This ranch consists of large to medium sandhills, with the normal meadows and wetlands in between hill ranges. Starting out I used to focus on the meadows, calling to stackyards, or hay bale yards these days, or calling towards the hills. My partner got me focused on being in the hills during the day as that's often where the coyotes bed. Meadows more for hunting during the nights. Hills bordering wetlands can be good, I've pulled quite a few out of cattails.
Ag land, I've found standing corn can be great, if it's kind of alone surrounded by pastures or other stuff. I've called coyotes out of corn fields within 200 yds of my house. Get within a couple hundred yards of it leaned up against a bale or tree and call to the corn. Conditions have to be right, dont set up with the wind blowing from you to your calling area. Corn calling needs to be a fairly calm wind I think as I doubt they hear much in there if all the leaves are rustling but that's just my thoughts on it.
Calls, I've had good success with my Lucky Duck. To be honest I never gave hand calls much of a shake, when I try them I sound good I think but never seem to call anything. The LD has so many great sounds it just works. I like starting with 3 or 4 long female howls on the first few stands of the day. Quite a few times that's all it took and I could see one coming. Often they will respond vocally, and I love that as it lets me know where and about how far away they are, in fact that's an awesome leg up when deciding on the next stand location. If they're a mile or more from the sound of it, I don't expect them to come in but I will move to them for the next stand.
Learn your land and over time focus on the best areas. Hunting the same places year after year has big benefits (as long as there's coyotes there). For many years on one ranch we were learning where they were and where they usually weren't. Some of the best looking hill ranges just didn't seem to produce, while other spots are better than 50% call success. Watch for sign as you travel between stands, every coyote leaves tracks somewhere. If you go for miles without tracks, well guess what, probably be better off looking elsewhere.
Ask ranchers where their dead piles are if they have them. And focus within a mile or so of those in likely cover. If you can get some land around feedlots that's money, I haven't been so lucky to score those properties as their spoken for and sometimes leased because they're so good.
And lastly watch your down wind if at all possible. I usually work into the wind from stand to stand. I hate to think how many have circled downwind a hill away that I never saw. I bet it's been a good pile of fur. A partner or even 3 guys is very handy in places with choppy hills as there's no way to see everything. A guy 100 yards or more downwind depending on terrain can pay off big time. Other times 2 is a crowd.
That's a few quick thoughts I had, remember everyone approaches things a bit differently and you'll get what seems like contradictory advice but many different ways can work. I'm still a rank amateur compared to guys like Dsheetz and many others. Once you get one coming in you'll be hooked.