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Post by critterstalker on Feb 9, 2007 17:44:08 GMT
How many of you hunt really thick cover for Coyotes? I'm interested in what kind of sight range you'll hunt in and how you setup your caller? I hunt lots of small sloughs and openings in thick spruce forests, but the Coyotes are very leary of coming in due to the wolf factor. Just interested if there's some way I can change things a bit to get them to commit.
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Post by browning204 on Feb 9, 2007 17:50:58 GMT
if the coyotes are affraid of the wolf factor then how do they eat?
will they just eat what they kill and not respond a already "distressed" animal?
I hunt thick stuff, the caller is never more than 40-50 yards from me. The Wolf question is a whole new one to ponder!
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Post by critterstalker on Feb 9, 2007 22:28:40 GMT
The yotes will make vocals when they're bunched up together, but that's about it. I've seen their tracks on wolf killed moose before, so they must appear after the wolves have had their share of food. It's basically the same thing as the Fox and Coyotes down in the States I imagine as the Coyotes will kill Fox down there.
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Post by browning204 on Feb 9, 2007 22:34:17 GMT
yes coyotes will kill fox. The Fox will most times live in between the teritories of the coyotes if the coyotes live in the area.
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Post by highwaystar on Feb 10, 2007 1:39:25 GMT
I Stay out off it!!!
I try to work the edge and pull them out. There has to be a way in and a way out. Thick cover is more often then none lower and I set up the caller trying to pull them up hill. Try to find a good funnel and use the thick cover as a natural fence. I'll use river and streams that circle or border the cover to get them in the open. Using river or stream bends as a cover to make them look around the bend at you. OOPS to late dead coyote!!!
Myself I have to see. I think I am claustrophobic. ;D
Talk to the coyotes with out no distress calling. The WT caller I have has all the sounds to do this. If I was there I would try Female calls and coyotes fighting over food. You know coyote talk. LOL.
My 2 cents.
Highwaystar
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Post by browning204 on Feb 10, 2007 3:14:16 GMT
using the land to your advantage is smart to do and I try to do it but I am learning that pulling coyotes into a large open area is hard to do!! I have only had it happen once. I was calling in this huge cut cornfield trying to call into some woods below it. Did the hole coyote vocals and distress for about 20 minutes and then gave up. My partner walked to me and we were standing there talking for a good couple of minutes until we heard a kinda here I am howl. We looked and a coyote had come out about 20 feet into the field and paced back and forth quickly. We said holy crap and I dropped my stuff and took aim, squeeze the trigger and BANG no more coyote. we walked over and saw the tracks that looked like this coyote peeled outta there like lighning! It was a clean miss! (story of my life!) In my own defense, the shot was over 300 yards easy! What did I learn kids? I learned that even after calling has stopped, hang out for a bit for the slow responders. That coyote could have been a less dominant coyote waiting for the all clear sign. Maybe thats why it gave the here I am howl before exposing himself. what else did I learn? get to the range more often!!!  |
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Post by okanagan on Feb 17, 2007 0:14:57 GMT
You might get some help from bowhunters who call coyotes.
I kind of specialize in calling coyotes and other stuff in thick cover, partly because I started out as a bow hunter and had to have them close. Coyotes are nose dominant, and when they get close, inside of 30-50 yards usually, they want to be downwind where they can verify the calling sound by scent. I've had them come in to within 15 yards before they circled downwind.
Also, though some will come into bare open, most don't like to. My philosophy is to give the animal what he wants, in exchange for letting me see him and get a shot at him there, where he wants to go anyway. So I set up so that I can see downwind and even prop or mount my rifle or bow so that it is already pointing downwind and needs as little motion as possible to aim and fire. Broken cover downwind lets the critter feel safe, and give you slots of open to see and shoot him as he maneuvers to get downwind.
Things will likely happen fast once the coyote comes in that close and you won't have a lot of time, but you will have enough, perhaps several seconds to aim and shoot. All of this is with a hand call in mind. With an electronic remote, you can set up even better to get the drop on those critters sneaking through cover downwind.
Also, as someone else mentioned, use the cover to channel critters much like trappers use guide sticks.
I killed a coyote recently in thick second growth timber tight around a logging landing as bare as a white table cloth. I set up to see critters back under the timber, inside cover, and killed the 35 lb. prime male at about 25 yards where he stopped a good 15 feet back from the edge. He was peeking out at the M1 Bandit call and Sidewinder decoy which were almost hidden on the far side of the open ground, 40 yards from him. Lots of callers don't agree with my thinking and don't like these claustrophobic set-ups, probably most callers. I like close shots.
Good luck!
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Post by critterstalker on Feb 17, 2007 1:55:42 GMT
Great information okanagan, thanks for the help. Your type of setup sounds very familiar to the type of scenarios that I hunt in. I'll give it a shot and see how those type of tips pan out.
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Post by browning204 on Feb 17, 2007 13:30:03 GMT
that is good stuff, thanks!
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Post by okanagan on Feb 17, 2007 21:09:58 GMT
Wish I could try a hunt with you back east. Some friends think my set-ups are weird. I got some of my ideas from reading Jim Corbett, the hunter who killed so many man eating tigers and leopards in India in the 1920's and 30's. I developed the same style to some extent before I read Corbett, but learned even more from him. I call my stands in thick cover "Corbett Stands". He never spells out his philosophy but it is obvious that he believed you only need to watch the specific spot on planet earth where the animal you want is going to show up, even if that spot is only ten feet across. Most of us sit where we can watch real estate. The animals taught me, and Corbett added one crucial bit of info.
I got a large male bobcat recently in a grown up clear cut. The evergreens were thick and 20 feet tall, and every space between was choked with alder and head high blackberries. An abandoned road was the only real opening. I sat to watch a swath of ground three feet wide for about 30 feet of its length, and had a secondary lane a little wider. I shot the cat at less than 25 yards as he sat in the three foot wide space. Lucky. Quite a difference from the 360 degree view and 300 yard shots, though I have used those also.
Really enjoying the M1 Bandit. Haven't been to this site in months. I'm far west but this sure seems to have good people.
Will try to post some pics.
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Post by okanagan on Feb 17, 2007 21:20:59 GMT
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Post by browning204 on Feb 17, 2007 21:53:01 GMT
really cool pics! that cat is nice! That beautufull scenery is great
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Post by highwaystar on Feb 17, 2007 22:09:57 GMT
Scouting thick cover? By sound as in night Calling near this stuff? By looking as walking around and seeing tracks and other sign? Today myself and brodeur272 hit the stuff today on a call and scout hunt. Covered a lot of ground and came across 1 set of tracks. And, he was running the stream bed down the middle of the bog. So, after today I'm going for the night Calling. okanagan. I'll ask, how are you doing your scouting? By the looks of your photos you are not poking and hoping!!! By the way very nice.  Highwaystar |
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Post by okanagan on Feb 17, 2007 22:55:45 GMT
Scouting thick cover? By sound as in night Calling near this stuff? By looking as walking around and seeing tracks and other sign? Today myself and brodeur272 hit the stuff today on a call and scout hunt. Covered a lot of ground and came across 1 set of tracks. And, he was running the stream bed down the middle of the bog. So, after today I'm going for the night Calling. okanagan. I'll ask, how are you doing your scouting? By the looks of your photos you are not poking and hoping!!! By the way very nice. Highwaystar Thanks for the good words. Good subjects in the camera viewfinder to work with. Re scouting: This is the far west, lots of coyotes in most places, enough that I'll fess up that I've never scouted coyotes. It is hard in much of the west NOT to be within earshot of a coyote, though this is wet country and not nearly as many here as inland. I don't have experience with the scarce critters you are hunting. The coyote in the photo left some fresh tracks in the snow where I set up for a bobcat, so I knew he was nearby. I seldom get a yote to a cat stand but did this time, at 6 minutes. He showed up right where I expected the cat to, back under those trees across the road behind him in the head-on photo, just to the left out of the photo on a slight rise. I watched him as he watched the Sidewinder decoy. He was a large one with a prime coat, and even though these wet side ones have coarser darker fur than the inland yotes east of the mountains, I decided to take him and tan his pelt. He stood around too long. I've not really scouted bobcats either, and called them simply by picking out a likely place. This year however, I've only called bobcats in a spot where I saw a track. On the one pictured, I was driving, looking for cougar tracks in the snow, and saw a large bobcat track about a half day old. Followed him a little ways and set up on his back trail. In thick stuff, night calling with a light is vastly better, because the eyes show up so well. Without the reflected eyes, in daylight you might not see the same critter slinking along in the edge of the timber or behind a screen of grass. You guys hunt a hard quarry. I used to hunt coyotes a lot, but haven't targetted them on purpose for several years. |
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Post by critterstalker on Feb 19, 2007 14:48:07 GMT
Great pictures, thanks for sharing them. I like your philosophy based on Corbett's style, very interesting. I've done this before when I used to hunt the thick swamps for deer back in Michigan. I'd only have one tiny slot to see where something might cross and that's where I'd focus and put all my attention. It's payed off too, and has done so time and time again. I think part of that strategy that helps, is that it keeps movement to the absolute minimum. Night hunting up here can be productive, but I have to contend with hoar frost, which makes every single thing look like a set of eyes reflecting back at me, especially in thick stuff. Great information guys, thanks for the input.
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