hunting coyotes

beau5278

beau5278

Joined
Jun 7, 2007
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Just wondering if anyone does it,what gear they're using,best hunting times and such.I grew up hunting ground hogs for target practice but there aren't as many farmers around raising hay anymore,that was always the best place to hunt in PA after a cutting of hay,so I started kicking around the idea of hunting coyotes.There is no closed season on coyotes in PA and all I'd need to get is an electronic call and some night vision glass or something like that,just wondering what anyone else uses and how successful they are with it.
 
I knocked one off last year while deer hunting, but don't hunt coyotes specifically....just opportunistically :)
 
coyotes can easily be taken in daytime . either electronic or hand calls , it's important to have something at your back so you do'nt silhouette yourself & use very limited movement. i opt for proficiently in hand calls since the're much less to carry.if the wind is nondirectional you may not have success because of their good nose.
dennis
 
We've taken plenty in deer season over the years but I wanted to try hunting them more specifically and I know they'll travel in the daytime then but I always figured it was because they were spooked,I'd much prefer hunting them in daylight.:thumbup:I looked around at a couple of guys websites that hunt them and one thing they say with electronic calls you don't have to be as careful of movement because their attention is in another direction.Around here,it's very seldom ever still so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
When I was pig hunting in Tejon Ranch, the guide mentioned to take out coyotes, but it is tough for me to do so. I had 3 to 5 opportunities, but I passed. I hear their #s are too high there, but I just cannot do it without a better reason. It is tough when you are dog lover, and they look too much like a dometic dog. I guess I wussed out.
 
I, too, love dogs. However, there is way to many where I hunt for deer. Any chance at a Coyote, I take that shot. Only have a few times so far, but there is more and more every year, it seems.
 
Well if it has a collar on it you probably just shot LASSIE.

Lot of good forums on predator hunting and most song dog hunters take it serious. Worth a Google.

Hey, just kidding about Lassie. My weakness is prairie dogs..typically drive >4K mile R/T annually to shoot them...have armadillos in FL but no PDs.
 
For calling I prefer to use a diaphragm (inside the mouth) type call. The sounds seem very natural and it's very easy to control the volume, pitch, and speed of the call. There is nothing like pretending like a dying rabbit and just pleading that coyote to come in for dinner! I use a Remington 700VS .22-250 topped with a Leupold 6.5-20X scope. I think I may be starting to like yote hunting almost as much as deer. It's easy to get permission to hunt a LOT of ground and there is less competition (and animosity) from other hunters.
 
That's one thing that I'm looking at too is the competition.I'd rather hunt with a rifle than a shotgun any day so I can be out in the woods any time in the next month and a half while the shotgunners are shooting doves and geese.:DOne thing that I'm seeing is that most shots are in the 250yd range or so,can you call them in closer?I'm hunting in big timber where a 100yrd shot is a long shot.There are a coupe of open fields near the bottom where you could see farther if they won't get closer than that.
 
beau5278 said:
That's one thing that I'm looking at too is the competition.I'd rather hunt with a rifle than a shotgun any day so I can be out in the woods any time in the next month and a half while the shotgunners are shooting doves and geese.:DOne thing that I'm seeing is that most shots are in the 250yd range or so,can you call them in closer?I'm hunting in big timber where a 100yrd shot is a long shot.There are a coupe of open fields near the bottom where you could see farther if they won't get closer than that.
Click to expand...

Calling them in closer is where I really favor the diaphragm call. You can make you sounds according to how the coyote reacts while coming in. You can almost "plead" with them to come closer with softer desperate calls. I've had them within twenty yards quite a few times...they just came in from a bad angle that I couldn't quickly adjust for. That's when a shotgunner comes in handy!
 
I was on another site earlier and according to info there,it doesn't look like they're as spooky in the woods as they are in open ground.This looks like it's doable,I just need to decide on calls,I've got everything else.:thumbup:
 
formites need not worry about the depletion of yotes. since the 60s they have spread from the western states to all up through n.y. & canada. male yotes on occassion will mate with female dogs. they also slip into edges of urban areas eating cats , small dogs & food left outside for pets. the situation in austin has gotten so severe that we hired a full time trapper. friends of animals at the initial city meetings requested we relocate the animals. when queried if friends of animals would put up a large bond to buffer damage to city employees they deferred.in texas we are covered up with feral hogs & yotes. the yotes have the advantage in urban areas but in the rural scene hogs push yotes to the more arid environments.
dennis
 
A scrap/bait pile can work well if it's legal in your area. I have a friend who raises cattle and have all their calves in a 2-3 week period by artificially inseminating them. The yotes come in after dark for the afterbirths-:barf:- We set up on top of the barn with a light or hunt dusk and dawn.-- KV
 
our cats are their bait. It got to the point last year that I put a double treestand in my backyard against a big oak, and a buddy and I hunted them for a few nights from the stand to no avail. All he had was some kind of crazy call that sounded like a duck had been punted by an NFL kicker.

Then, another night, as I was chillaxin' watching TV with the OL, I heard their nutsy squirrel squealin' and hollerin' and went outside to investigate. Two of them had one of my cats cornered on top of a patio table. I had them both lit up with a Sure-Fire flashlight, but no gun in hand. They were very brazen little succa's (they looked to be juvenile), and as I approached them, they very slowly backed out of my yard and across the main road (I live in the outskirts of town on a mountainside). The cat gladly came inside for the night. The only reasonably small-caliber firearm I had handy inside was a Rossi .22 revolver with snakeshot rounds that we keep handy for undesireable snakes, etc. I went back out and the coyotes had come back into my yard. The snakeshot chased them off with some yelps, but proved to be a non-lethal alternative to say the least. It was like one of those phallic sexual-inadequate dreams where bad guys are chasing you around with guns, firing away, and you go to return fire and find that your gun is made of plastic and only fires blue ink. What, no one else have those dreams? :)

Anyway, the next day, I went and bought a Ruger 10/22 with Tapco stock (kinda looks AR-ish) and mounted a Streamlight TLR-1 ~120-lumen LED light on the front rail under the barrel. I also picked up one of those Tactical Innovations 25-round polymer mags with the stainless feed lip.

The coyotes never returned. That's all it took; going out and spending a healthy bit of money on the right tool for the job that would not, at least that year, be used for the job.

The coyote rifle remains at the ready for their return.

Not sure that my coyote-predatorial contexted-story fits in the mold of this thread, but figured I'd throw it out there.

Ya'll be cool.

Professor.
 
I've been known to hunt them a little bit, and have started my boys as well. I started when I was young and enjoyed it tremendously! As you can see, I started my boys predator calling pretty young.
There are many small things but the big pointers are to pay attention to your approach to the area to be called. Particularly the wind direction, and not being seen walking in. If you can hunt into the wind and drop into an area from over a ridge or up out of a gully it seems best. Camo helps but you can get away with blending with positioning and natural cover as long as they don't see you moving around. Think like turkey hunting.
I have more pics but I don't want to get to carried away. You get the idea.

Kids.jpg

IMG_0638.jpg

GagesFirst12_26_46.jpg

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Not to deviate too much but what does one do with the body after the kill? Do you eat them or use their hide?
 
BigNate said:
I've been known to hunt them a little bit, and have started my boys as well. I started when I was young and enjoyed it tremendously! As you can see, I started my boys predator calling pretty young.
There are many small things but the big pointers are to pay attention to your approach to the area to be called. Particularly the wind direction, and not being seen walking in. If you can hunt into the wind and drop into an area from over a ridge or up out of a gully it seems best. Camo helps but you can get away with blending with positioning and natural cover as long as they don't see you moving around. Think like turkey hunting.
I have more pics but I don't want to get to carried away. You get the idea.
Click to expand...

Great pics,how hard are the bobcats to call in?I'm in an area of PA that I can get one permit with a furtakers tag and wouldn't mind trying that but for know I'll concentrate on the coyotes.I'll keep your suggestions in mind,that won't be too hard to do where I'll be hunting.

nate1714 said:
Not to deviate too much but what does one do with the body after the kill? Do you eat them or use their hide?
Click to expand...

They're furbearers.
 
Cats generally come in very slow, sometimes as much as an hour. They walk slow and will sit down and watch before moving again. If you get caught moving while they're sitting watching they leave. It's the hardest thing to call in I think.
Equipment wise, I like hand calls and have used the diaphragm type, but have not had as much success with e callers. The real big $ ones may have better sound quality and work better but I've just not seen it. My Dad has tried a couple different ones, and my bro-in-law uses one, but I think my success ratio is quite a bit higher.
I don't always worry about camo so much but every little bit helps when it comes to calling cats.
Don't be afraid to use a scatter gun either. In close cover you may be surprised at how fast something can wind up in your lap. I like smaller buckshot over BB's but BB's work. The youngest boy got his first with a .22 Mag, we use .223's a lot, and have used everything at one time or another.
The furs down here in the valley aren't worth saving so caliber wasn't much of a thought, but on the cats we save the fur & I like the .223 loaded with Speer 52gr HP's loaded about mid-level, or Hornady SX about the same. I've tried about everything on fur. These two worked well for me. I have been having to use copper only in my area now and the Barnes varmint grenades don't get the job done well enough in .22 cal, they're to fragile, the tipped bullets tear them up, as do the standard soft points.
 
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