Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

I got a call one evening from a guy asking me to help with a pair of coyotes that were killing lambs. He explained that they had set traps, snares and had tried calling them, they used all different sounds on their call even the puppy sounds. I reliantly said I would come out and see what I could do because I knew that these coyotes had been harassed a lot and had been shown pretty much all of the things that I normally would use on them. I showed up the next morning around 9:00 we went to the pasture where the killing was happening, I parked my truck in a low place then found some kills by watching the buzzards and birds, found the coyote tracks and figured out what direction they were coming and going in. I went to my truck and headed in that direction to the fence line and then tracked down the fence on some trails found several places that they were crawling under the fence set up my snares in the holes. I then went into the next pasture and continued tracking them towards some deep rough draws and pine ridges. They continued on into the neighbors where I didn't have permission and they wouldn't give me permission to hunt them. I had covered most of 15-20 thousand acres tracking them now I knew they were where I couldn't go in after them. I went home and came back the next day. They had dug new holes under the fence avoiding my well-set snares. I sat up and tried to call them from the other landowner's place, no luck. I went home and came back that after noon set up and got my siren out, ran it and waited they answered it. I sat up in the rocks and they showed up coming into the sound of the siren. It took them a half an hour to get in to range. So many times, it's a matter of figuring out where they live and then knowing where the travel routes are and sniping them as they are traveling from one place to another I have needed to do that more than once with coyotes that others have tried and shown most of the same things that I would try on them.
 
DSheetz said:
I might think about changing up what I'm doing with this one if it were me trying to kill her. I would think about looking for her tracks in the direction that she was traveling, maybe setting and listening for them to talk so that I knew a little better where they were living. She might have had her pups by now so is keeping close to the younger ones at this time. If she has lost her mate to something she will be harder to kill as now she will need to be more cautious, but she is going to be more cautious now at any rate, due to protecting her pups even if she hasn't had them. Lone howls or a siren around 8:00 - 10:00 AM should get a response. They will also get a response at night letting a person know where they are so they then can close in on them in the day light hours. I have at times needed to find them in that way then go back during the day from say 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and go to them when I knew that they would be laid up close to the area that they called home then use my call to get their attention and have them show themselves. That is what keeps us hunting them, the challenge of getting the ones we need to stop doing what they do so well!
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I need to head out there during the day and try that but I have received no responses at all. She's on camera, but so far completely silent. I've only been out there twice now I'm wondering if I should ease into the woods and try to locate the den? Also, I will add the biggest track of land in this area may be 20 acres. There are several roads houses, Barking, dogs, etc..
 
A couple of years ago one of the guys that I worked for, for 30 plus years called me to see if I could locate some coyotes for the plane. I went out and got set up on a good ridge let out my howl. I waited for a few minutes and did my locator howls; in a few minutes I was greeted by some very angry great pyrenes dogs, that the neighbor had as guard dogs for his sheep. I ended up tracking those coyotes down as they wouldn't talk. I told him you know if every time you had said something and your dad had slapped the heck out of you, you wouldn't say much either. It's really tough to do control work in smaller subdivided areas you just can't get to the areas that they are living very easily. And so many people have dogs that the coyotes become quiet instead of getting chased all of the time. They are masters of survival. I have snared dogs and if they have been held by a cable they just set and wait for you to turn them loose if not they die just like a coyote does it's a catch 22, in those areas not like most of my country open and few people around, I'm glad that I live where it isn't very populated. I have seen coyotes here that made 6-mile round trips to kill lambs, to feed their pups.
 
338 dude said:
I guess I need to try during the day around noon with the siren or some howls because it is legal to hunt at night Ihave only been out there at night. I thought that might be easier to catch them out and about but it's proving to be anything but.
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I missed a few post. I see you answered the questions I had. I wonder if maybe she isn't having her pups now since you're not seeing her ? She looked pretty close to me. But I'm not real familiar with coyotes & their habits. Just go by the techniques a few trackers & hunters use in my area. I see more fox than coyotes. But I know the yote are around. And bobcats. I still would like to see one out & about. I hear them at night. But no eyes on any yet. Besides the trail cam pics.
 
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DSheetz said:
I might think about changing up what I'm doing with this one if it were me trying to kill her. I would think about looking for her tracks in the direction that she was traveling, maybe setting and listening for them to talk so that I knew a little better where they were living. She might have had her pups by now so is keeping close to the younger ones at this time. If she has lost her mate to something she will be harder to kill as now she will need to be more cautious, but she is going to be more cautious now at any rate, due to protecting her pups even if she hasn't had them. Lone howls or a siren around 8:00 - 10:00 AM should get a response. They will also get a response at night letting a person know where they are so they then can close in on them in the day light hours. I have at times needed to find them in that way then go back during the day from say 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and go to them when I knew that they would be laid up close to the area that they called home then use my call to get their attention and have them show themselves. That is what keeps us hunting them, the challenge of getting the ones we need to stop doing what they do so well!
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I didn't even have to ask and you answered my question. We have seen a coyote several times now in about the same area. Mainly in the AM but also midday. I'm pretty sure the den is within a 3-4 hundred acre area of where we've seen it. Problem will be trying to get in there without being seen as always the case here. Too flat and wide open for too far. Only brush or high spot within a mile or better in every direction makes it almost impossible to sneak in on or even glass from a distance. Like 338dude, these are silent ALL the time. Will be a challenge for sure.
 
For me the flat set was my go-to set. A lot of people like dirt hole sets and they have good success with them. I enjoy trapping as much as calling or snaring them. It's just a challenge no matter how you go about getting them. I like #3 coil spring traps with offset square jaws, 16 inches of chain with a box swivel on the end and in the middle of the chain. I am a fan of attaching the chain to the trap in the hole on the end of the frame, with a j-hook rivet, instead of using a Dee ring in the middle of the frame as it causes the jaws to stay tighter as the coyote pulls its foot to one end of the trap jaws. On the chain end I use 3 links of 3/16 " chain rounded so I can double steak or even triple steak attaching the box swivel to the middle link. I also like a dogged trap instead of a dogless and adjust the dog so that it doesn't move back and forth on the frame. I file the dogs end with a vee notch then file the notch on the pan flat and square then make a vee notch so that as I set the trap the two notches fit together and work as a gun sear so that when stepped on there is no give it just fires. I will set the dog and pan together and hold them in place without actually setting the trap then bend the frame so that the pan is level. The offset in the jaws is stamped so it has sharp edges on them, so I run a file on them and take the sharp edges off. A lot of people like four coil springs on their traps but I found that the average trap frame needs to be beefed up or it bends with stronger four coil springs and doesn't stay set or doesn't hold well. I bend the ends of the jaws up a little so that they don't pull out of the frame and make sure that they are long enough to begin with then I make sure that they still move freely to close without any binding. I dye them after they rust and wash them when they are new to get them clean. I don't wax them as the mice tend to dig them up and the wax will hold odors. I make pan covers from denim or unbleached muslin cloth that fits inside the jaws side to side with a slit for fitting over the dog then under the jaws to keep anything from getting under the pan even if you do get a hard rain . I don't use anything under my trap pan several people say they do okay with fiberglass insulation under the pan but even I can smell that so I don't use it.
 
My flat sets are made up wind along a good trail beside a bush, small rock or something for a backing that they can see over. I dig a good trap bed to the right of center and back so the center of the pan is 8-9 inches back from where my lure will be, coil my extra chain in the bottom of the hole put some sifted dirt on it. I put my pan cover on my trap working under the free jaw, I keep my thumb under the trap pan just to be sure, I flip it up then tuck my slit over the dog and under the jaw that is held by the dog pull my pan cover snug set the trap in my bed and flip my free jaw down pull the pan cover snug under the free jaw, then bed my trap so it doesn't rock any when I push its jaws or levers. I sift my dirt over it level the dirt with my glove held in my hand not on my hand. Then blend the set in well so it looks like the surrounding area. At the base of my backing, I will use a cotton ball, as a lure holder and a visual attractor with a small stick pushed through it and into the dirt to hold it in place when the wind blows. There are a few lures that I use by far whiley red 500 is my favorite then o'gormans set freshener #6 . For me I found that red fox gland lure works best at the flat set and just a little bit goes a long way one drop is all it seems to take especially when there is a full or bright moon and they can see the white cotton ball well. That is a good weather set for freezing and thawing snowy weather there are more things that need to be done.
 
I was out checking some of my traps in the mountains one day. I parked my truck got out and started walking down a draw to my sets. Setting in the rocks and just peaking up over one was a nice bobcat, it just sat there and watched me as I went back to my truck got my rifle out and got sighted in then shot it. Another day I was driving down a two-track trail in a pasture where I was planning to call coyotes in the next pasture up on the top of a hill was a bobcat setting in the sun just watching the world go by being season, I brought that cat home with me. Bobcats and coyotes blend in quite well with their surroundings and they don't always run when they see you. When they just set down or lay down it's a challenge to find them. It's an art learning to see animals that are frozen and not even blinking. I was out in July one afternoon to locate some coyote pups in real rough draws, I walked up a steep hill overlooking them and on a rock the size of a car was a bobcat just laying looking down into the rough juniper draws. I slowly slipped up behind it watching as its tail was the only thing moving, I lip squeaked, and it turned its head looked at me a few seconds then turned back to watching downhill into the draws. I watched it for a while then slowly squatted down picked up a small stone stood up and threw it hitting the cat in the rump. It was funny how high it jumped nearly straight up turned in midair and was running flat out to my left, over to a rock ledge about a hundred yards then turned stopped and looked back. Mountain lions and bobcats will often just set not moving to watch you as you go about whatever it is that you are doing its kind of spooky when you see one that you know has been watching you before you realized it was there. I was set up in a rock pile calling coyotes one morning in May. I did a couple of my locator calls when all of the sudden from above and behind me I heard a low murmuring set of growls. I had two bobcats setting in the rocks above me letting me know they didn't like a coyote in their home talking. I THINK THAT IS ABOUT THE MOST NERVIOUS I HAVE EVER BEEN WHEN I WAS CALLING! I wasn't sure what to do I knew that calling was done in that place for the day. I turned toward the growls slowly located a safe area and fired a round from my rifle then went to my truck. A year earlier and just down from there I was calling into the same rough draws and saw a big tom creep over the top of a ridge down towards me out a couple of hundred yards. I slowly laid back on my elbow and watched him an hour went by before he was setting below me at about 20 yards, he had crept down the hill side came to a trail by a fence line and slowly moved my way, sometimes he would start to take a step then move his foot back and forth slowly before setting it down. He stayed in a low crouch the whole time. When he was close, he crawled under the fence and started up the draw I was in then he laid down and was just watching me. I did have him in my scope the whole time just in case, after several minutes I moved, and he turned then ran back into the draws. I love watching the cats, but they also kill lambs and yearlings and there have been times that I needed to get permission to take them out of season.
 
DSheetz said:
I was out checking some of my traps in the mountains one day. I parked my truck got out and started walking down a draw to my sets. Setting in the rocks and just peaking up over one was a nice bobcat, it just sat there and watched me as I went back to my truck got my rifle out and got sighted in then shot it. Another day I was driving down a two-track trail in a pasture where I was planning to call coyotes in the next pasture up on the top of a hill was a bobcat setting in the sun just watching the world go by being season, I brought that cat home with me. Bobcats and coyotes blend in quite well with their surroundings and they don't always run when they see you. When they just set down or lay down it's a challenge to find them. It's an art learning to see animals that are frozen and not even blinking. I was out in July one afternoon to locate some coyote pups in real rough draws, I walked up a steep hill overlooking them and on a rock the size of a car was a bobcat just laying looking down into the rough juniper draws. I slowly slipped up behind it watching as its tail was the only thing moving, I lip squeaked, and it turned its head looked at me a few seconds then turned back to watching downhill into the draws. I watched it for a while then slowly squatted down picked up a small stone stood up and threw it hitting the cat in the rump. It was funny how high it jumped nearly straight up turned in midair and was running flat out to my left, over to a rock ledge about a hundred yards then turned stopped and looked back. Mountain lions and bobcats will often just set not moving to watch you as you go about whatever it is that you are doing its kind of spooky when you see one that you know has been watching you before you realized it was there. I was set up in a rock pile calling coyotes one morning in May. I did a couple of my locator calls when all of the sudden from above and behind me I heard a low murmuring set of growls. I had two bobcats setting in the rocks above me letting me know they didn't like a coyote in their home talking. I THINK THAT IS ABOUT THE MOST NERVIOUS I HAVE EVER BEEN WHEN I WAS CALLING! I wasn't sure what to do I knew that calling was done in that place for the day. I turned toward the growls slowly located a safe area and fired a round from my rifle then went to my truck. A year earlier and just down from there I was calling into the same rough draws and saw a big tom creep over the top of a ridge down towards me out a couple of hundred yards. I slowly laid back on my elbow and watched him an hour went by before he was setting below me at about 20 yards, he had crept down the hill side came to a trail by a fence line and slowly moved my way, sometimes he would start to take a step then move his foot back and forth slowly before setting it down. He stayed in a low crouch the whole time. When he was close, he crawled under the fence and started up the draw I was in then he laid down and was just watching me. I did have him in my scope the whole time just in case, after several minutes I moved, and he turned then ran back into the draws. I love watching the cats, but they also kill lambs and yearlings and there have been times that I needed to get permission to take them out of season.
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Yes , cats are interesting and fun to watch .
ALL species of cats are amazing athletes , probably having more strength per pound of body weight than any of the other predator species on earth .
And , they move about in total silence , with a minimum of visible motion , as though they "float", never touching the ground .
The most beautiful of the predators , from common house cats up to Bengal Tigers .
 
Yeah, they're fun!
bobcat2.JPG
 

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