Ottawa coyotes. Strikin' out over here! Help a noob out, eh :)

[CoonT]

Hey guys,

Been hunting my whole life, but this is my first time going out for coyotes, and I'm not having much luck so far. What am I doing wrong here, or is this just the way she goes?


Land is a farm with fields and 10-30 acre chunks of thick cedar dotted throughout. The farmer's been seeing them or hearing them every other night.

Went out again a couple days ago (I've only been hunting after work so far. Might try to switch up to early mornings...work can wait) and there were tracks everywhere, old and fresh.

Looks like enough tracks to be 1000 coyotes chasing a million rabbits, and just inside the thick stuff, there was a spot where 3 of them had snagged a turkey (place looks like a friggin turkey sanctuary. idk how he manages to actually grow anything with all the birds there) and then bedded down beside it. Fresh as hell too, just that morning it looked like.

I've got the knight n hale ez howler (ez, yeah right, lol) and a rabbit squealer. The last 4 times I've been out, I've been getting there after lunch and setting up along the field where 3 chunks of bush connect. I've been calling like Youtube's been saying to, but so far I haven't seen (or heard) a damn thing.

I might just be impatient though. I'd always rather still hunt than sit, and I rarely sit still for 20 minutes before trying someplace else.

Does still hunting coyotes work, or is it a waste of time?

Is too much calling a bad thing? I wonder if my calls are driving coyotes away....maybe the reed's in backwards

Any tips would be appreciated. Heading out there for 6am tomorrow until probably 9 or so.

thanks in advance!

 

[cdn1canhunt]

Patience !!! Young Jedi. Over call to much you can! If you hunt the same spots each time out... At this time of year coyote vocals will get more attention than distress calling. Give your sets 20 mins minimum, call on and off for 7-10 mins. Still hunting coyotes is near impossible. You'd do better to spot and stalk. If you can find a few friends to can drive them/ track them if you have the skill and guys to block or wait along likely escape routes and they can shoot????? Calling coyotes in Ontario is usually try, try, try then one day like magic it all comes together!

You need to be careful how you get to your stands, set up on the cross wind and watch the downwind side as they will circle every time. If calling in the open isn't working try moving into the woods.... cold, windless days when sound travels best and coyotes are moving are best days to call!

Good luck !!!

 

[pringles613]

when i lived in ontario we always ran them with dogs... that being said I've learned a lot from being in the west and still hunting...

first off... give your spot a week break between going back they will learn the call and not come to it.
second, unfavourable wind don't bother, find the spot where you can get in without being seen sit wait 5 min before calling.
you want your spot to force them to cross into the open to figure out what you are.
if you are hunting a bait file mornings only

hope this helps

 

[CoonT]

Can't wait to get back out and try again.

Was just out in the back field practicing my howls, nice night out.

I'll have to step up my game I guess. Coyotes aren't going to be snuck up on like 2 1/2-year old scrub bucks, I guess haha!


Patience it is.

 

[pringles613]

haha no they are no buck thats for sure
I've had a guy tell me from out here that he had a 'yote spot him from 300 because he blinked.
not sure how true that is but they do have good eye sight as well as a super sniffer.
make sure you sit infront of something so you don't silhouette yourself, watch downwind and hunt crosswind.
dont shoot at dogs you can't hit. that will just teach them and others who are watching.
i had a dog circle me last year at 3/4 of a mile. spotted him by accident. they get weary very quickly.
for every dog you see there are 10 watching, so when you connect, get on your distress immediately and you may get 2 or 3

 

[rral22]

I think I have posted this here before, so apologies to those who have seen it before.

The first rule of coyote hunting is to hunt where there are coyotes.

We call coyotes that have been called before and not killed "educated" coyotes. If yours are educated, and hunting pressure will educate many for sure, they will be very hard to call. You may have to try something "different" to get their curiosity aroused. That is a very wide topic, so I will stick to generalities we use as SOP.

If they know you are there, they will not come. No sky lining; no walking across open areas if possible; stick to edges; use depressions; do not be easily visible from far away at any time.

No noise. You are going to call an animal with a sound, so don't make any that sound like coyote hunters. No talking; no slamming truck doors; no noise you can avoid; approaching the area while keeping a ridge between you and the area masks sound well.

Control your scent plume so it does not enter the area you intend to call to. We do not use any scent masking soaps, sprays, clothing, or whatever, because we believe they are useless and the only way to avoid a coyote's nose is to not let him smell you. One exception is we will often deliberately allow our scent into an open area down wind. Often coyotes will circle down wind to get a smell of what's making the noise. If the open area is large enough, they must expose themselves to do so. Often, in that moment they get your scent, they will stop to think it over for a few seconds. THAT is a good time to shoot, because they will likely leave after they decide what you are.

Break up your outline somehow. Brush in front (as long as you have a shooting lane) or behind you will do that. Do not move around any more than you must. We like to hunt in pairs. One guy gets fairly hidden, sometimes giving up long range vision, and does the calling. The other sets up to cover the approaches from an angle that allows him to see well, but the animal will be looking elsewhere for the source of the sounds. Decoys can work for this distraction too, if you are alone.

We use mouth calls exclusively. We walk lots and we hate carrying crap. That's the only reason to avoid the electronics that we can think of; that and the cost, and cold batteries. We have howlers, but use them mostly for "location" calls and then move in and use "dying prey" type calls. We believe only dominant animals will really approach a stranger in their territory, so howlers are less productive than prey type calls. We want the insecure ones too.

Call "softly" the first time in case they are close; you don't want to scare them. We call for 30 seconds to a minute and then sit for 5 and watch. The next set of calls can be louder. Watch very, very carefully. Binoculars are a real help, even in the bush. You cannot pay too much attention. Around here, if you see a magpie coming to the call, pay close attention to that direction. Coyotes and magpies hang out a lot together. Pay attention to the really unexpected directions too. Make head movements slow and steady rather than quick glances. Move nothing more than you have to.

The length of time we call a particular set up depends on how long we think a coyote would take to come from the farthest ranges we think the call is reaching. Wind knocks down calls really quickly, so your range is short. Calling from a ridge on a calm evening will reach a long way. Experience is likely the only teacher here. We have had coyotes over half an hour into the set, but most of the time 15 minutes will tell you what you need to know. Be very careful once you decide the set is done. Stand up slowly and have a long look around. The new angle will reveal all those coyotes you called but have not yet seen (and there will be a depressingly large number of them). You may get a shot if you don't create too much of a spectacle so that the dog has to figure out what the H*** just moved. But chances will not last long.

If you are going to just move and try again, don't talk, don't make noise, don't expose yourselves any more than you must. They may be watching. We move far enough to enter a "new" area that we think holds animals that have not heard us. In a big wind that may not be far; on a calm day that may be half a mile or more. We avoid calling the same area more than a couple of times a winter. Educated coyotes and all that.

Shooting sticks or tripods are essential. We use .22-250s or .243 and one 6mm Rem as dedicated coyote rifles. Coyotes are, pound for pound, a very tough animal. They are also small targets. You need to be able to shoot well, and shoot quickly at times with some honest power too. Multiples get really interesting. We agree before hand about left side/right side etc. and who will shoot first.

 

[cdn1canhunt]

when i lived in ontario we always ran them with dogs... that being said I've learned a lot from being in the west and still hunting...

first off... give your spot a week break between going back they will learn the call and not come to it.
second, unfavourable wind don't bother, find the spot where you can get in without being seen sit wait 5 min before calling.
you want your spot to force them to cross into the open to figure out what you are.
if you are hunting a bait file mornings only

hope this helps

Ahhh the hound hunt.... I'm missing that a bunch these days. Our group averaged 40-60 coyotes each winter the high was 76 when we ran the dogs! But then this year I'm missing the coyote hunting completely we drive them now on foot......but we need snow to do it....to spot them and find a fresh track to start. We have had virtually no snow on the ground where we hunt since Christmas Day, it quite frustrating !!!!!

 

[CoonT]

Great stuff guys, thank you.

Ha, now I'm wondering how many of them were watching me the whole time, and I just never even knew about it.


Well if anything, now they underestimate me, lol! Point-coon.