Leatherneck, Baiting can be a fun and productive tool for eliminating coyotes. I personally have had better success baiting than calling here in New England. My time is limited to weekend hunting so it cuts down a lot of my calling chances. Also there are others in my area that both call and run dogs so it does not take long for the coyotes to get trained.
Baiting if you can get the right set up can give you the chance
to maybe not hunt so much ....as it is checking for a shooting opportunity 24/7.
I have put bait in various locations over the years and of course the best one is the one closest to home...because that is where I spend the most time if not at work. Others bait sites have offered a place that I could drive by and check. I have tried sites that are more remote. These became more challenging because I was not able to visit as often as I would have liked.
Bait where you can keep an eye on it. the more you can be close to it the better the chance. As for bait itself it depends on a lot of things. I have tried various baits and eventually everything gets eaten ...sometimes not by a coyote. Deer and pig seem to work the best where I am. Downed dairy cows/calves sometimes you need to be careful with. If there is any chance it has been given some sort of injection for something coyotes seem to stay away from it. When I run low on bait in middle of winter I have made baitsicles from food scrap and dog food just to keep them around. The other issue has to do with your area and what other food sources is your bait competing with and how many other coyotes are competing for it. 2 years ago we had almost no deer around here with plenty of coyotes on game cameras. I shot a bunch that year on my bait pile and I know there where no other bait piles for many miles. Last year I shot ...NONE. and saw very few tracks around all winter. this past spring we had deer around and multiple young bucks. The coyotes have been moving back in ..as I have seen deer tracks that indicate it was running with a set of coyote tracks right behind it. I suspect I will get a few coyotes this year and be on the up swing again. I choked on my first shot of this year. daylight shot did not have my glasses on.
one more thing before I sign off. I have used pallets to hold down bait to keep crows off of the bait and to slow the coyotes down and make them work for it. I have also tied bait to a stake to keep them from dragging it off. What you need to keep in mind is coyotes smell steel. I learned this from a trapper, so pallets don't always work with the nails also if you use a small cable.... garage door type to fasten a bait to a stake they may not go for it. use a rugged strap for this.
Good Luck
DD
