Baiting

New pic a few minutes ago, tonight's sit is looking productive.
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I have always called coyotes when I was after them but never passed up shooting one while feeding or checking water and definitely never passed the opportunity to knock one off of a carcass! Never had a "bait pile" but did have a spot 600 yards or so up the canyon from the house where we'd drag a dead cow if we lost one in the corrals due to sickness or difficulty calving. We could see 'yotes from the door or as we pulled into the yard when they were there so yeah, I guess we did have a pile. It was more for the convenience of having eyes on them before they knew they were being looked at. I think dad picked the spot so us kids could take advantage of it. Growing up, my two younger brothers and I were sure enough feral or at least that's what mom said! If we weren't doing homework or working, we were toting guns, bows, slingshots or, hell, even sticks and rocks around hunting rabbits, rock squirrels, coyote or whatever we could scare up out of the sandstone and cedar canyons that we called home. Not very often did we have a cow die around close enough to the house that we would drag it up there, but when we did, we would regularly shoot coyotes from the yard over the hood of the pickup or we'd play the wind and sneak up one side side of the canyon or the other from the house using cedars as cover and get in for a closer shot. I now carry a Rem 700 25-06 to hunt big game that was Dad's at the time. I watched him one day patiently wait with that rifle leaned over a corner post of our house trap aiming up the canyon. I could see a couple coyotes from where I was at the house feeding on a carcass but I couldn't figure out why he wasn't shooting. Before long, the crack of that rifle went off. One coyote fell where he stood and the other with a broken back was dragging his hind end for the cedars. I was probably twelve or thirteen at the time. Now I knew why it took him so long to shoot, he was waiting for them to make the mistake of lining up with each other! Dad just smiled at me as I trotted by him with 22 in hand and two heeler dogs and a barn cat in tow. Those dang dogs and cat.... The heelers were cow dogs first and good ones. Dad didn't tolerate them if they weren't. Second, they were our hunting dogs. As soon as they heard a shot or seen us kids packing a gun, they were on us like white on rice! They went everywhere with us as did that little Siamese barn cat. Couldn't count the number of rabbits that cat would flush out of a cedar for us, usually to be rewarded with a rabbit of it's own when we were done hunting. Anyway, once we got to the carcass, the dogs chewed on the dead one for a bit until I could call them off and got them lined out on the trail left by the other. Didn't take them long to have him hemmed up under a cedar another hundred yards up the canyon between a couple big sand stone boulders. They 'bout had him killed when the cat and I caught up with them. Got the dogs off of him long enough to put him down while the dang cat watched from atop one of the boulders next to the tree. Dogs were tickled pink that they'd caught a coyote and the cat I'm sure was disappointed that it wasn't getting a rabbit snack for his troubles! I stepped the shot off from the place of dad's shot to the corner post on my way back. 580 yards! To this day, I haven't bested that shot. Sure makes me smile when I think back to memories like that.

Haha, all that just to get to the point of why I started typing! We never did this near our "pile", but I wonder if using an e-call near a pile and playing a fight would pull coyotes out of the brush sooner than waiting for their stomachs to tell them it was time to return? Sorry for the long winded story to end in a one sentence reply! LOL
 
Samsquanch said:
We never did this near our "pile", but I wonder if using an e-call near a pile and playing a fight would pull coyotes out of the brush sooner than waiting for their stomachs to tell them it was time to return?
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I've done this before. No luck with the light fighting sounds, but I did have one come into the bait shortly after some lone howls. I much prefer to pattern the coyote with a cell cam coming into the bait and just wait them out when the time is right. It's been far more successful than trying to entice them to come to the bait with a call. I sit in my gun blind for bait hunting and I don't like sitting in a shack when calling.
 
Here is last night's coyote with 25-06, 70 gr. Sierra Blitz King at 3400 fps, a small female at 82 yards. She rolled, spun and jumped a few feet, landing up against the trail camera post. The bullet wrecked this one on impact, no exit. I think the shot angle hit bone. The last coyote with this same load had a small entry and no exit.

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BAIT SITE

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I have been trying to load a video file directly to Predator Masters, but that may not be possible. Can that be done or does the video have to be uploaded to Youtube or some other source? I am currently uploading a short section to Flickr. I am saving videos to make one at the end of the season that has multiple kills on it.

New York, Both. They skirt the field edge where it meets the bait site. Sometimes they come up that gully from the woods, and other times they cross the hay field more to the left and then go to the bait.
 
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wish I had a suppressor The only way I ever see a suppressor is to move out of New York. lol
I sighted in the new thermal today on the .17HMR. First time shooting with thermal was a experience. Still no coyotes on my bait just fox. I think I going to have to move my set up a new location.
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spotstalkshoot said:
NYHB, what thermal do you have. Did you sight in same distance to bait?
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I just got a pulsar Talion XQ35 pro. Its my first Thermal. only other night devices I Have used is a sightmart wrath HD.I set it up on a tikka 17 HMR to start with, just because the only thing I have coming to bait is red fox. I sighted in in at 50 yards just a little high so I be on at 100 yards. The bait at my house is 60 yards in open and i set up another one in woods with hope of coyotes at 90 yards. No yotes yet i think i have to get away from house more. I have a savage model 14 204 ruger. That is going to the gun I set up for coyotes. I am waiting for a rail to come for that to put on the thermal. plus, I am still working a load for that. I figured the 17hmr was the Easiest to set up. I took 4 red fox with it this season. Funny thing is I hunted my whole life and never shot a coyote. My goal is to get one this year and have a hat made out of it. I get pictures of them from time to time on my property but never had them hit the fox bait which is right in my open yard. I originally was going to set up a IR lighted bait station. Thats how i found this site. a google search found 6mm06 threads about a baited IR station. He was very help full showing me everything he did. I was about to order the supplies then I got looking into thermals. prices have come down, just a few years ago you count get anything for under 3000. so, I set a budget of 2000 and looked around. my first choice was the iray bolt tl-35 . couldn't find one Anyware. The I was offered a deal on the talion. after doing some research the talion seemed just what i was looking for. small light weight but still would work on bolt gun. can be used as scanner. seems to be the only bolt gun that is still small enough for that. It works well for left hand or right-hand shooter. some of the scopes are not very left hand friendly. I right-handed but left eye dominate.
 
NY, we are anxious to see the Talion in action, and hopefully a coyote will complete your goal. As to setting up the scope on the HMR, that's actually a good way to become familiar with it. When I got my first thermal scope, I put it on a 10/22 Ruger and shot rats at the chicken lot. It was a lot of fun.

Pertaining to having a hat made with a coyote skin, do you know a reputable place to do that, one that will guarantee that "your" skin will be the one used? I have wanted to do that for a long time, like a trapper's hat with fur on the inside. Somehow I don't trust companies to do the hat with "my" fur and not someone else's.
 
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