Baiting

Glad you got a little heat to take the chill off. I am new to this and learning. In fact, I never shot a coyote. Do the pop-up blinds bother them at all if out in open fields? or do you set them in cover 100 yards away?
 
I usually setup 150 yards, but this is a tight area. Have to limit shot angles because of house cattle. I always have back cover to break outline of blind. And of course wind direction. We have NW prevailing winds Oct to March so I'm usually east of bait. Although I sometimes setup for SE wind during weather changes.
 
Congrats, CT. Enjoyed reading your post. My experience is the same as yours pertaining to daytime coyotes vs. nighttime. Rarely do I see them in the daytime. I think maybe in the last 13 years of baiting I have only killed two in day light hours. My trail cameras have captured video of a few day ones, but it’s pretty rare.
 
About 11:15 the pair came I shot one and missed running shot at the second.
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Good morning, I recently have started two bait piles that have had coyotes using them every night. I am in the market for drive way alarms so I can sleep in the heated shacks I have while hunting looking for any recommendations. Thanks
 
NateNY: For driveway alarms, you want one of the two options i posted on the previous page in post #8,204.

Both alarms systems have range of 150+ yds through trees etc. I haven't done a full range test on mine, but range has never been an issue around my 8 acres.

The hosmart alarms can have a single sensor ring multiple base units simultaneously. The sensors have a switch inside for you to select channel 1-4. If you set a sensor to channel 1....when it goes off it will ring channel 1 chime on all hosmart base units that are within range. I use one of these systems and have 4 "shared" sensors between my house and my parent's house next door.

The WULOO system comes with 1-4 sensors, but a base unit can support 8 sensors. With this system you set each sensor to a channel #1-8, then you have to "pair" the sensor to the base unit. Each sensor will only ring the base unit that it is paired to. You could have multiple overlapping systems with each set of sensors only ringing the base units they are paired to.

I've been running both systems for about 4 years. I've had a couple WULOO alarms get water in them and quit working. (I leave them out year round....wind, rain, snow, summer sun, etc)
 
It depends if your area is wide open, or if there are fairly established game trails, logging roads, driveways, etc where the animals travel. Often i put one sensor pointed at the bait pile. And for me I have two driveways/logging roads where 90% of the animals enter from.

For a bait pile sensor I'd try to put it 10-20' away. Probably mounted 3-6 feet off the ground, with the sensor pointing at the middle of the bait.

For me where I'm trying to catch animals coming through a driveway. I have some sensors about 3' off the ground, pointing slightly down and perpendicular across the driveway. I have one that is about 7' up a tree, pointing down at the middle of the driveway. Distance from centerline of driveway to where the sensor is mounted is probably 15-20 feet.

I have high confidence that pretty much every animal that passes, will be picked up by the sensors. Whether cats, dogs, coyotes, racoons, possums, deer, bear, people, rabbits, squirrels, etc.

For sensors on a driveway or a game trail, putting two sensors, spaced 30-100 feet apart, ringing different sounds (channels), will let you know which direction animals are traveling, and how fast. For example, if my outer alarm rings 3 times back to back. Then 3 minutes go by. Then my next alarm that is 80' up the driveway goes off 3 times back to back....i know it's a deer or rabbit that is grazing on the grass along my driveway. (Unless i dumped some meat/bait in front of those sensors to lure predators in). If my outer alarm goes off a single time, and 15 seconds later the next alarm goes off a single time.....I drop what I'm doing (or jump out of bed) and race to grab the gun and get to the window to intercept whatever is coming through....it's probably a coyote.
 
Coyote have WAY better hearing than most realize, keep the volume as low as you can. And 100+ yards to the bait if your firearm optics will allow. Remember the alarm will continue to sound as long as there is movement in range, when you open a window the sound will carry. The sound of the window and alarm, your movements. In quiet conditions (low to no wind and cold air temps) even the sound of a firing pin on an empty chamber may spook them.
 
hm1996 said:
That's dedication; good to hear you didn't freeze to death, Mike. :ROFLMAO:
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A balmy 22F last night, much warmer than the -20F last week. Didn't even have mittens on much of the time. Could stay on the phone, working the PM thread. New location tonight, new blind. New bait. This one is tight also 113 yards because of a property line.
 
coyote_thumper said:
06, in the absence of roadkill are you using other stuff for bait?
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Yes. In deer season a local meat market gives me trimmings. I cut the scrap pieces into 1” cubes or so, place them in freezer bags and in an old freezer in my storage building. I scatter the small pieces around the bait site. That keeps a coyote’s nose searching for the next tidbit. Unless staked down, larger pieces would be carried off. I have had good results with this method over the years. I also use table scrap meat.

I hunt from my heated shack as most of you know. I have a comfortable bunk and warm propane-heated room, which surely makes hunting more comfortable. The heater has a thermostat and operates on a 20# tank. When the alarm sounds I turn on a small monitor at the head of my bed that is hooked to a security camera to see what is there. If it’s a coyote I turn off all sensor receivers, lights etc. As mentioned, coyotes have great hearing, and as Spot said, even a firing pin striking can be heard. I squeezed the trigger one time on an AR that didn’t fully seat the round. I had to recycle the round, and the coyote instantly stopped and looked my way.

A solar system operates all my 12 volt DC devices as well as security camera, monitor, overhead lights, and a lamp at the head of the bed. I even have a 15” TV. I don’t get a signal for TV stations, but the built in DVD player allows me to watch movies. A single 100 watt panel and 20 amp charge controller along with a 100 amp AGM battery supplies all the power I need.

As to distances for shooting, I have been killing coyotes at the 60 yard site for the last 13 years. Just this year I extended the distance to a measured 82 yards, not due to coyotes not coming to the 60 one, but rather to better take advantage of the contour of the land and the field / brush edge. The 82 yard site is straight on past the 60 yard one and just slightly right. I bait both sites. The security camera sees both sites.

The furthest i have shot a coyote there is 130 yards, and only one time as he was up in the hay field. One other time I got one at 90 yards, and the rest have been at closer ranges even down to about 45-50 yards. Not sure how coyotes might respond to the sight of a house vs. my shack.
 
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I'm in a new setup tonight, using the landowner deer blind. Octagon home built on grain wagon running gear. Wind is gusty to 20+, have camera setup as activity alarm. Road kill deer bait, hit first time last night. Staying until 10 hopefully early visit, wind is supposed to back off some after 8pm. This new property to me also. The landowners are nice.
 
Wow, you guys have been busy. Congrats to all hammering dogs and putting in the time. My alarms are always on, but very slow here. I've killed 4 coyotes this baiting season total. It got very cold here for a couple weeks, below zero with brutal windchill, and was kind of thinking it would pick up, but no go. I have more traffic in my bottom valley than I would like from neighbors and such on UTV's and walking... Very frustrating, but staying neighborly and not saying much. But, it does seem to to change patterns with daily goings on down there.
Still fun with anticipation of a coyote coming in, just very slow. Stay after em fellas and again, congrats to all having some luck.
 
I killed #13 on the 25th. Had one come in two nights ago and when I went to mount the gun the Thermal screen was froze up. Nothing but black screen and cross hairs. Had this happen on the Yoter last year once. It had been on for 4 hours but not used. When it happens I have to pull the aux. power and take the battery cap off to kill all power. By the time I got that done and powered back up he was gone. I have coyotes hitting the bait at 1:00 & 3:00 AM I'm just not much of a 3rd shift guy. Got my bait station up and running at the Log Cabin. Put out 3 deer and already have coyotes and coons hitting it. I'll be able to cover all 3 shifts when I start hunting there because I can sleep in a nice warm bed until I get a notification. I shoot off a tripod from the up stairs bedroom window. I've spent some cold nights in my shadow blind. Can't run heat cause the fumes bugger the coyotes. It's only 65 yards from the bait.
 
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