Thank you 74honker. I grew up without even a TV or phone. I was in the service with a computer programmer that couldn't find a job as the only people with computers were the government and they took up the space of a small house and used 1 1/2 " batamax tape. Now I carry one in my shirt pocket that can do more than they could and are way faster at it. I am amazed at how much has changed in the last fifty years of the world's life, then the world's previous history. When I was a kid, I was always told that tv's, radio and such were the devil's advocate, and idle hands the devil's playground. How times have changed for most of us!
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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We got an inch of rain a day for three days. The tracking will be good in a day or so after it dries out some. We have a lot of sticky, slick gumbo in my area that builds up on your tire's, packs in the fender wells and is just plain slick to drive on. Walking in and on it isn't much fun, it's slick and builds up on your boots as well. The mud prints will be good in a couple of days with an abundance of both male and female tracks coming and going near the dens in the trails and bottoms of the draws. So many of the draws in my area don't have any vegetation growing in them. You will be able to find prints near the dens at mud holes where they are drinking, the prints tell a story to me, the size tells me the sex of the animal, how many coyotes are there, by the different size and shapes of the tracks, what direction are they traveling, how often are they visiting the same places, how close to the den I am by the numbers of tracks in the same trails going both directions. Some of the early born pups will be trying out their new voices in the mornings by now, the later born ones not yet but in a couple of weeks they will talk it seems to me that when they have talked, they don't want to answer you for 30 - 45 minutes so I need to take that into consideration if I am trying to locate them by getting them to say something to me. If the tracking isn't good and I am locating by hearing them they will soon be talking again but you need to be there when they are talking or wait for them to be willing to talk again. I have made them move the pups by not paying attention and not realizing what I was doing and getting too close to the dens at this time of the year. but I have also sat at a distance and watched them, and the pups interact, more chances to learn from them. It is tick season. The military tucks and blouses their pants legs for a reason.
We got another inch of rain last night, I love it, this time of year it makes grass more than weeds grow. I can wait until it dries out to go hunt predators so that I don't cut ruts in the roads and give them time to make good tracks as well as get to the point where they will talk again. We got hail in several places though and I defiantly am not a fan of that. I saw some hills that were white with hail piled up and when I went down the interstate there were places that had four inches of hail piled on the roadside. 60 mph winds driving rain and hail with the temperature dropping from 75 to the mid-fifties in just a couple of minutes.
Straight Shooter
Well-Known Member
Glad you are getting the rain.
We didn't get any rain last night. Just a slight breeze out of the north that brought a lot of smoke with it from the fires in Canada. I suspect the people north of us have it bad because of the amount of smoke we have our air quality is at 107 and was at 158 last night bad news for those of us with breathing problems.
windypants
Well-Known Member
Went looking for the local coyote den today. Found a bear den instead. That will be fun to watch next fall and spring! Lots of bear sign around, so I put up a camera. Also, the coyote den is somewhere in this area, so maybe I can get pictures of them, as coyote tracks and trails are very difficult to find in this country now. Chances are I won't be able to find it until the pups start talking.
Do you have any stock trails or deer trails in your area I didn't see that it looked like there weren't any along the fence line. But I did notice the smaller trail running along the hillside downhill from the bear den hole and it looks like your ground is pretty dry for making mud prints at this time. Still, it is beautiful country. Do you have any watering holes close by, a spring or stream?
windypants
Well-Known Member
There is a trail in this draw with both male and female coyote tracks. I saw one go into the head of this draw today, but didn't get a good look at it. This is also near where I got the thermal picture of the pregnant female a couple of weeks ago. There is water in every draw this time of year, so I can't really key off of water holes. There are a number of dozed up brush piles nearby— maybe a good place to look?
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windypants
Well-Known Member
I went out early this morning and saw 2 coyotes with the thermal scanner leaving the area where I think the den is. One before daylight heading NE and a male at daylight going SE. Would they be leaving the den area at daylight? Or am I on the wrong track and the den is elsewhere?
No, they do that here after the pups are a little older. When the mom thinks that the pups are okay to leave by themselves at the den, they will both go out to hunt, feed and get a drink. This is the time they will be bringing some food home for the pups in their stomachs. It won't be long then that the pups will be talking. Their eyes are open and are changing from blue to the color of the adult's eyes. They are turning tan and will be venturing out of the den hole to lay and play in the sun. She might be leaving the den before daylight, and he may still be coming back to the den area to babysit during the day. That would be my suspicion he is coming back to puppy set so I would be thinking the pups are at least two weeks old now. She will be coming back later in the day, a trail camera near but not too close to the den area, will tell you what time they are doing what. In my area the time she comes back varies a lot. I don't know if they are even telling each other, they are coming and going at this den, they sometimes don't here but normally do. I think it has a lot to do with how much pressure they have put on them. I have made the pups talk at this time of the year in a couple of ways around 8:00 to 9:00 and even a little later in the mornings, running a siren, howling and by running my call at the highest volume with the puppy sounds. The puppy sounds will most times cause older pups to move away from the den in your direction and be scattered out, so it was my last resort. The siren and howls you don't want to be right on top of the den when you use them, or they might get scared and go in the den instead of talking. With the howls you don't want to be overly aggressive, and with the siren you don't want to run it so long that you miss them talking but long enough to make them talk maybe up to a minute.
windypants
Well-Known Member
Thanks Dave. It was mid-morning yesterday when I saw that one going into the draw, but didn't get the binos on it before it went over the hill. I haven't heard a sound from them in quite a while. I'll probably just keep watching and listening for a while without influencing them at all. They are understandably very wary. I'll probably put another camera in the area.
