Spring Coyote

[Bill Tait]

I am seeing alot of Coyote tracks and droppings along our ranges and I've found some holes (Dens?) dug into the sand hills that we use for our broadhead range. What is the best way to hunt these predators in the spring? Will they respond to calls? Should I set-up near the den and try to shoot them when they come out? :help:

[thisbucks4u]

Probably the best way to do it with a bow would be to find roadkill and place it upwind near (within 75 yards) one of these dens. Sit downwind of the den if the wind allows and pick them off as they come in or out to the carcass. Dont go if the wind is blowing wrong.
You can call them, but When they come in they will be looking for the source of the noise-YOU. This will make getting the drop on them with a bow nearly impossible. Find a way to draw them in to you without drawing attention to you. BTW Be as scent free as you can. Youll know your doin it right when you see one.

[Bob Gordon]

Using a call works excellent in the spring. I'm overrun with coyote's here and they come in pretty good to a call. The hard part is not to get busted as they come in close looking for whatever has the rabbit screaming and you are it. I found that hanging a dried turkey wing on a string and hang it about four feet of the ground fifty feet off to your side works excellent if there is some wind to keep it spinning, takes the coyote's attention off you at the last few yards. They don't care if the turkey sounds like a rabbit. I nailed one last fall when he walked down a elk trail I was set up on, bad mistake!....warf

[Glynn Sluder]

I like those small effective decoys as well. You can make one easily with any kind of feathers on some sort of stake that stands upright.

Here, they think that it is the hawk that just caught that screaming rabbit and attack to try to make it leave it behind or double up.

Never tried my bow before, sounds like another dang form of hunting to get hooked on.
Glynn

[swampy]

I understand that yotes are a problem but don,t you guys have seasons??

Around here the season is closed in the spring although taking them out in the spring could kill several at once (pup,s would starve)

[Bob Gordon]

Swampy...No season here in Idaho, they are a big time pest. A neighbor a couple miles from me had a cow die in the winter and I used a .243 and shot 52 coyotes off the remains of the cow in two months, didn't even see a dent in the local population, saw one last year nail a new born elk calf before it hit the ground, local coyotes here are shot on sight period....warf

[swampy]

WOW,we don,t have that kind of a problem and hopefully never will.There is a growing # of them around.I think a group of guys shoot 42 over a weekend calling and useing dogs.This was a get together type event with many teams I think the biggest was 47#s. I may have those 2 numbers mixxed up I don,t remember but even 42#s is a good sized dog

[Bill Tait]

The season is year round here. We are seeing more and more Coyote in the suburban and rural areas. They don't have any competition except themselves. Coyotes seem to be willing to eat anything that walks, flys or crawls. I have a friend with two German Shepards, he has to carry a pistol when he takes them out for a walk because the local pack of Coyotes has tried to eat his Female a couple of times. If given the chance, I would prefer to take a female even though it seems cruel to orphan the pups. Being limited to hunting them with bow and arrow on archery club property makes it impossible to control their population and taking a female with cubs would be the most efficient way to reduce their numbers.

[BowDonkey]

Back in my day {is that a form of carbon verbal dating or what?} I used to trap pretty hard. There is nothing short of a hundred dollar pelt price or bounty that will lower the population. You kill one and another moves in. Sometimes two! But it is fun trying. With the increasing urbanization of wild space trapping and gun hunting will be restricted even more. What I'm saying is we're stuck with these animals and they will probably always be on the increase, only diease will bring the numbers down. I'm not advocating germ warfare either or poison for that matter. Just a few of my observations on coyotes over the years. Damn I'm old.

[Cato]

I've heard of guys taking some kind of feathered decoy, or rabbit looking type decoy, and tying a fishing line to it so that when the yote comes in, you can jerk the line and make the bait move to divert his attention.

I've also heard that when the end of the world comes, there will be two animals around to watch; the cockroach and the coyote

[BowDonkey]

And a politician.

[Larry Hatfield]

around here they are very territorial. in the sagebrush there may be only one male for two or more females, and the females trespass at their own risk. when i trapped all the time i caught a lot of both sexes that were mutilated around the sex organs. they mostly fight head to rear end. they are too protective of the mouth and legs to fight like dogs.
when i get a last years pup looking for it's own space i kill them. i have two old females that have lived on my home place for years. i take care of them and they stay away from livestock. never have lost any animal to a coyote. but then i never left a dead animal for them to eat either. not ever. even on range land i haul them out.
they will survive on just about any diet. they even pick up rotted dropped apples in orchards in december.
when i fed cattle in a small feedlot one female used to eat any cow manure she found with whole or partially digested grain present.
in suburbia they prey on house pets, garbage, and any other food they find. they also pack up to some extent because of the limited cover available. then they are like wild dog packs. shot a bunch in mountlake terrace north of seattle at the request of the p.d.. was amazed at the numbers that had built up. lots of crosses with various dog breeds too.

[pondscum2]

went turkey hunting this AM on a ladies farm. she wants ALL coyotes & free-ranging dogs shot on sight. no sweat sez i, i don't like deer-chasers & turkey killers either. so what walks up to within 10 feet of me? right, 4 of the cutest coyote pups you ever saw, looking for all the world like 6 week old german shepherd puppies. how do you drop the hammer on something that looks like that ??? :goodvevil :sbrug: ps2

[Pinelander]

Envision what a pack will do to your downed deer next fall...

then draw, anchor, release... :p

Although with an autoloader, it would be faster and more productive.
ps2 - you been watchin' Bambi lately?... :D

[Lane Puckett]

we have them on our duck club and I picked up a 25-06 just because I wanted to play 'ma bell' with them.

That 25-06 will flat 'reach out and touch' them. It amazed me just how far you could cleanly kill a coyote.

I'm going to start working on them with a remote call and the archery gear later this spring but if they even sense someone is around they are really tough to get close to.

One of the retired firefighters here shoots coyotes year round and keeps a tally book. Most years he is in the 300 count, he favors the .243 as well.

However to answer your original question.
You might look into the remote electronic callers. There is a great varmit web site with a bunch of home brew wireless caller designs. Mine uses the Radio Shack wireless mic setup with a cheapo speaker. I have a cheap digital voice recorder and downloaded a bunch of dying animal sounds. You just hit the digital recorder and play the animal you want to sound like and upto 300 feet away the speaker announces the resulting sound clip.

Here is the web site
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

looking into that site here is the current information
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=9

This link has info about building remote e-callers
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=52107647&an=0&page=0#52107647


here is a simple homemade e-caller
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/homemadeecaller.html


I've been so busy with work and other obligations I haven't been able to get out and run it on the coyotes yet. All my shooting at them has been when I'm checking water levels and they just flush out. That habit they have of stopping at 300yds to look back is a killer.

Pretty cool.

CAUTION
viewing these links is almost as contagious as this site :bow2:

Lane

[pondscum2]

naw, aint seen bambi since last summer(found some REAL small tracks turkeyin' the other day, though!), just dont feel right shooting something that little. no problems killing them once they let loose of the teat though! if they beat me to my deer because i am an inept tracker, or made a poor shot, then they deserve it more than i do, i reckon... :sbrug: ps2

[Pinelander]

Not always the case when they're runnin' the place.
We've had 'yotes on downed deer within 15 minutes of shot.

I usually wait 15 before getting on the trail, but what I've seen in the last few years has me re-thinking that approach. :eek:

[pondscum2]

you are probably right about that part! make a good hit, wait half an hour, & find big chunks of meat missing, i'd change my tune i bet! :goodvevil ps2

[pondscum2]

updates on turkey/coyote hunting. went last Sunday. had 5 coyotes come to my turkey calling. got up to leave, busted 4 gobblers coming in silent. this AM. went on same ridge. got up almost under 3 big birds in roost trees. no gobbling, but they pitched out about 45 or 50 yards from me. right about the time i expected one of them to top the small rise between us, dang it here come 3 more coyotes! had 2 within bow range, couldn't draw on them. TOO many eyes....going back after turkey season with my .22 special. them half-baked little songdogs come sneakin' in on me again, its Katie bar the door! ps2

[Ronan]

I've never hunted coyotes (dad always told me if I aint gonna eat don't shoot it) that being said I understand the necessity and have been thinking about. So I talked with some friends from work that have hunted them here in Washington and they said that they use a two man team. One does the calling with a mouth call and sets out one of his daughters old teddy bears on fishing line about 15 yards in front. The shooter sets up about 15 to 20 yards to either side depending on location. When one is in range the caller starts to tug on the fishing line with his foot and makes the teddy bear jump and wiggle, giving the shooter time to draw and take the shot. They seem to be successful. And I've been thinking of making a plains quiver out of the hide.

Ronan