I see the debate on the "Hunting in the East" Forum being consolidated back into the "Predator Hunting" Forum. I have no dogs in that fight, but will say, that I didn't frequent that forum much. Having the eastern folks posting in the Predator Hunting forum, I may catch their posts, and, I do enjoy reading about hunting across the U.S. and abroad for that matter. Lots of Eastern baiters here, and I love the posts on different tactics, regs, and operations out east.
I say all this, because, I see the "Baiting" Forum was also moved back to just a thread in the Predator Hunting forum. This means that enough new topic posts, and the Baiting thread will be on page 3,4, or 10. Having to go looking for the thread to post is a bit aggravating. Just looking for thoughts from the baiters here. I'm pretty good at adapting to change, and do really enjoy the new format and it's ease of navigation and photo posting, but, I think the Baiting thread should have at least remained a Forum.
Thoughts?
Bait sites give you a great opportunity to observe habits, Owen. Never thought they would respond hours after a stand, but why not? Never say never. No way would I sit that long, however. I'm not that patient, also because I have enough territory to move on, like you said, to more fertile grounds, but I almost always sit 10 minutes after calling, sometimes longer if the stand warrants. If I were hunting smaller tracts, I'd sure stay longer.Mostly though what I have found is that they will often show up anywhere from an hour to three hours after those howls.
That causes me to believe that a lot of coyotes come to calling stands way after hunters have left. They are extremely curious but also very cautious. I think callers educate a lot more coyotes than they can begin to imagine. It would be cool to call a place and then leave a Trail camera there and see what shows up hours later. Of course nobody calling is going to sit on one stand for three hours. Most of us will give it a few minutes and move on to find more aggressive coyotes which is certainly understandable, but I do believe they can come hours after we're gone.
Primarily a caller, however always make a stand or two on any dead critter or gut pile we come across if possible and one of my favorite setups is overlooking a permanent dead pit or on roadways in the area surrounding. Various calls often stir the pot, so to speak as SSS stated above, especially when conditions prevent setup overlooking the pit. Only a couple other callers hunt this ranch and I haven't seen any indication of coyotes avoiding that area. I'm sure that some coyotes become educated, and agree that pups learn from their parents.In other words, having a bait site in the same spot for years and years, do or could coyotes develop a danger sense to that area, and even further, pass that onto young pups as they raise them...avoid that area.
Nice buck! We have so many birds down here that gut piles and carcasses don't last more than a couple of days unless something like a cow or larger exotic.I had one show up for one day when my wife collected some bait. He come in 3 or 4 times that night and once the next day, then nothing since.
It was a purdy good gut pile the "hammer" nailed.