hunting coyotes with dogs

In Ontario it is fairly common to use dogs to run wolves/coyotes. My neighbour a few doors down has a couple of hounds he uses just for this purpose.
 
Walker Hounds are common, as well as Fox Hounds. The London Hunt Club, a Fox Hound Pack, 120 or so dogs, just down the road from me, mostly hunt Coyotes around here now, with some Fox kills.

There really isn't a whole lot of training to these dogs, they smell the Fox/Coyote, they chase the prey, they kill the prey, or some people use them to flush the yotes, and then they shoot them!
 
dwright said:
have seen it mentioned a few times on this and other sites, what breed of dogs are used and how are they trained? just curious
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From what I understand of it,it's more common in the midwest and west where the terrain and gridwork of roads is more suited to that type of hunting.It involves getting ahead of the chase(by way of vehicles) and intercepting the coyote as he crosses roads from one block to the next,a tactic that likely wouldn't work very well in most of the forest lands of the maritimes.As for breeds,I beleive your typical "coonhound" breeds are most commonly used,Walkers,Blueticks,B&Ts,Currs and the like?

A tactic that might be better suited for the east would be using a decoy dog in conjunction with calling,that is calling as per usual with a decoy dog bouncing around the immediate area to complete the illusion.Any old breed will suffice for that,probly the smaller and more "coyote-looking" the better(border collie?),though I've read of a fella that uses a yellow lab with great success.Doesn't much matter I suppose,the idea being to call them into visual range and have them see another canine enjoying a free meal.
 
The best coyote dogs do not chase the yotes. Instead they range out, make visual contact and then return to their masters with the coyote following. I have seen it done with collies and it is very effective. Multiple coyotes are common as they will gang up on a dog and kill it.
 
Works great..I have been on a few hunts where yotes are pushed to blockers by the hounds. They are a bit harder to hit than deer until you get your timming correct.
I prefer blocking in funnels when pushing small pieces of bush around farm land, with 12g #4 buckshot, than having to take long shots on open ground @ a speeding yote with a rifle. With a rifle I prefer 100yds, and under for running yotes. Believe me when dogs are used the yotes are on the move.


crazydave said:
Would be a bad idea i would think, unless you don't mind your dog's getting mange.
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Thats why you keep your pets vaccinations up to date.

shredder0 said:
The best coyote dogs do not chase the yotes. Instead they range out, make visual contact and then return to their masters with the coyote following. I have seen it done with collies and it is very effective. Multiple coyotes are common as they will gang up on a dog and kill it.
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LMAO.......Thats not a yote dog......Thats bait!
 
Guys in my area run Walkers and Blue tick hounds. They will run 6-8 dogs, and generally push out 2-3 coyotes from a bush. The coyotes are usually shot before the dogs get to them.
 
We have used our dog to chase coyotes out in the past. One of us will take the dog through a strip of bush letting the dog range around in the bush and the other person will be stationed about 5-600 yards ahead where the bush narrows. The coyotes will generally drop down out of the bush into a dry slough offering a 40 yard shot or less.
It has been very successful for us over the years. With an old dog we used to have, if she started to bark, the shooter knew that within a minute or 2, a coyote would be coming by.
 
We used walkers (2 or 3) when I was younger in S. Ont. In the fall they hunted coon and deer, in the winter they ran fox and coyotes. 10 ga full of BBs was good to 60-70 yards.

The smart/old hounds normally knew what you wanted to hunt by the time of year and day you were hunting. Night meant coons, day time in the fall was deer, winter was fox or coyotes. They got it wrong on a few occasions but a quick attitude adjustment got them seeing things your way.
 
Im not sure the breed but my neighbour uses hounds to run coyotes. Drop the dogs on a fresh track and try to get ahead of the coyotes in the trucks. They use gps collars to keep track of the dogs and once the dogs get on a track the coyote is in trouble. Very effective method. 100 coyotes a year is the norm with there group.
 
Somewhere I have a very old book on hunting several species of mammals in North America without firearms. A Sporting Chance, IIRC.
There is a full chapter on coursing (hunting coyotes with dogs)
Seems I remember there were two dog breeds mentioned: greyhounds, the running chase dogs and made up most of the pack. The killer dog, airdales(?) lagged a bit behind his marathon brothers and closed in for the dirty deed when the coyote was cornered by the faster ones.
The fellas who ran coursing hounds, usually made special rigs with drop down sides on thier pickup trucks to transport thier dogs and quickly release them when a coyote was spotted.
Saskatchewan was one western province that allowed this up until whenever. But that changed several years ago. I am unsure of other jurisdictions.
 
I thought I was going to lose my dog when she chased after a coyote pup. I guess she thought it was her friend and wouldnt listen when I called her back =P
 
some guys down here still us kill dogs . thy run the yotes with walkers and blueticks then wehn the yotes crosses a road after running for a bit thy will let the kill dogs out ,thy will catch the yotes and dispatch it very quik and clean .we have a lot of fun running yotes all winter down here DUTCH
 
Before he moved, I coyote hunted with a friend and houndsman for years. He has raised/hunted Walkers for about 50 years, first for fox then for coyotes once they took a foothold in southern Ontario. In recent years he has started using English Foxhounds (which most N. American hound breeds descend from). English and Walker hounds tend to be the fastest of the scent hounds and can occasionally catch a healthy coyote. Even if they don't catch them, their speed puts a lot of pressure on the coyote's. By knowing the territory that you're hunting in and keeping track of where the hounds are, you can get hunters in place to cut off the chase. Getting in place frequently requires driving several concessions to get ahead of the chase. Some hunters do use Redbones, Blue Ticks, July's, Plotts etc- but they aren't nearly as popular around here as the Walkers and English dogs.

There is training required for any hound to excel. Yes, hounds have a natural instinct to work tracks and chase, but becoming proficient at tracking requires a lot of practice. As well, reenforcing the game that you want your hound to run usually requires a few corrections as they may trash onto deer, rabbits, squirrels etc.. And, the best hounds are athletes who need to be kept in good condition- LOTS of exercise, good nutrition and not too much excess weight.

Not every hound makes a good hunting dog and very few become excellent hunters. The more training a young hound gets the better its' odds of reaching its' potential. That said, I'm off to take my 8 month old Plott hound, Wendel, out for a run! With a little luck, the coons are going to catch hell next fall!
 
blue tick, walker, red bone, black and tan is what we use


to train we always get a few new pups and let them run with our two best dogs. Let them chew and yank on the dead coyotes for a while, get them running with the older dogs until they start to catch on.

I drag coyotes around the barn and hide them in spots and let the pups find it. They usually catch on pretty quick but takes a few years to work out all the kinks.
 
We used to do it the way Brutus mentioned. It has been illegal for 25 or 30 years. Greyhounds mostly for runners and any bigger dog for a killer. They were fed rolled barley and hot water and caged all of the time. They were dangerous. Always make them crap before you load them into the truck so they don't waste time doing it when you release them. Drive around and listen to the dogs, they always see the coyotes first and let you know. When they started making noise you pulled the string and the hatches opened and they were gone.
 
billdick said:
We used to do it the way Brutus mentioned. It has been illegal for 25 or 30 years. Greyhounds mostly for runners and any bigger dog for a killer. They were fed rolled barley and hot water and caged all of the time. They were dangerous. Always make them crap before you load them into the truck so they don't waste time doing it when you release them. Drive around and listen to the dogs, they always see the coyotes first and let you know. When they started making noise you pulled the string and the hatches opened and they were gone.
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It's still legal in SK, though there are a number of specific RM's and the fur conservation areas where it's illegal. Large areas in the south (down in the grasslands where the hunting is the best) are still open for running coyotes with dogs. We haven't been out in years but like you our chase dog of choice was Greyhounds and kill dogs were Labs.
 
Grew up running yotes with dogs in SW Ontario. Either walkers or whippets were used. Two different schools of thought with some hunters using the dogs to finish the yote off and the others using the dogs to just effectively push the bush for them.

It is an interesting way of hunting them. It can be fun and fast sometimes.

These days I just call them since it isn't allowed here in Alberta.

Greg
 
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