Can you make any stand (forget the wind)

PanhandlePredators44

PanhandlePredators44

Member
Well with most of day being spent in a rig delivering parts, I spend most of my time listening to podcast on predator hunting. I like to think I’m a seasoned coyote hunter but I’m always up for learning new tricks cause we never stop learning how to be a better predator hunter . Well I was listening to one today with Big Al Morris and he put it pretty simple , that he spent a lot of years caring to much about the wind . What do you guys think should we not put so much emphasis on the wind???? I know I tend to want to make as much of effort to not get busted as possible. I’m sure there are some guys that will make any stand anytime no matter the wind. I just wonder how many don’t care at all about it .
 
Old proverb: You can hunt longer with the wind at your back.

I've had a few dummies come charging in regardless of wind, but for the most part, I think it's important to monitor your wind and set up with it to your advantage. I plan my calling day based on the expected wind. Totally screws me up and ticks me off when the weather man is wrong.
 
In a way he might be right depending on where you hunt, if you can see, downwind hunting can be successful. You have a 360 degree circle around you and your scent cone may cover 10% of that so you have a 90% chance of a coyote coming in without scenting you and even if he is circling to catch the wind there is a very good chance of killing him first.

The tighter the cover I think your scent is more important as you can't see what a coyote is doing until he arrives.

A surprising number of coyotes don't bother with using the wind and come straight down wind to the call..

I the terrain I hunt I prefer to approach into the wind or across the wind and not have my scent or noise blown into the area I expect a coyote to come from.
 
Going thru old threads I’ve found some people swear by calling downwind including Tony Tebbe:

facing downwind on coyotes?

www.predatormasters.com

ALWAYS FACE DOWNWIND

I just had a close encounter with red fox!! I set my decoy and sat downwind in a 3' hole in the snow with my back to some brush and with my face to the wind.....mistake!!!! About 1 minute into the call I heard some scrambling in the brush behind me, tried to turn but was stuck and heard more...
www.predatormasters.com www.predatormasters.com
Ed Sceery also suggests it too. Others prefer crosswind, and most it seems say call into the wind. Guys are hunting pretty much every wind in their own way.

Maybe where he’s coming from is all winds can work as long as you know how to play them and just go out there and just play and learn and be super flexible, and don’t box yourself in to 1 setup style thinking it’s right or wrong
 
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AWS said:
In a way he might be right depending on where you hunt, if you can see, downwind hunting can be successful. You have a 360 degree circle around you and your scent cone may cover 10% of that so you have a 90% chance of a coyote coming in without scenting you and even if he is circling to catch the wind there is a very good chance of killing him first.

The tighter the cover I think your scent is more important as you can't see what a coyote is doing until he arrives.

A surprising number of coyotes don't bother with using the wind and come straight down wind to the call..

I the terrain I hunt I prefer to approach into the wind or across the wind and not have my scent or noise blown into the area I expect a coyote to come from.
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Absolutely! I suspect that is basically what Big Al was trying to convey. Would be interesting to hear the quote in full context.
 
Limbhanger you are right, I ask that question years ago to Abner Druckenmiller and that's one of the reasons along with to much filming time, he said it would take a month or more of filming to put a half hour show together, cost would be to high, this was 10-12 years ago.
 
It depends on the country you’re calling imo. There are open country setups that I have never worried about the wind as long as I can see a good ways and feel like I can kill them before they can smell me. Especially places that I can only approach one way because of access or whatever, I’m going to take what I can get and take my chances.. I’m there now, and I’m gonna call it.

Tighter spots with close cover is a place I will give more thought to regarding wind but again if I can’t get the textbook setup I don’t really give a shat , I’ll play the odds and call it most times anyways. If I was confined to a few small properties or a notoriously tough states I’d probably the a bit more anal about it I guess.
 
I once saw a coyote coming to my call from dead down wind, trotting in along a ditch riders road (we have irrigation canals in that area and the ditch riders drive along the top looking for problems).

I broke out my laser range finder and set it to 'scan' and picked up the coyote at about 750yds, and just let it run. At about 490yds, that coyote leaped off the road into the grass and I never saw him again.

At about 1/4 mile, he got my scent and clearly did not like what he smelled.

How far can they smell us? I don't know, but I am a believer in watching the wind!
 
K22-hornet said:
I once saw a coyote coming to my call from dead down wind, trotting in along a ditch riders road (we have irrigation canals in that area and the ditch riders drive along the top looking for problems).

I broke out my laser range finder and set it to 'scan' and picked up the coyote at about 750yds, and just let it run. At about 490yds, that coyote leaped off the road into the grass and I never saw him again.

At about 1/4 mile, he got my scent and clearly did not like what he smelled.

How far can they smell us? I don't know, but I am a believer in watching the wind!
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I've seen that, but I've killed dozens that walked in on the same trail I did with my scent blowing directly in their face. Especially out west. If you sit down and start calling, and you're close to them, some of them seem to just sprint in, wind be damned. I had one once in a blizzard, walk in my fresh tracks, walked within 20y of my truck, straight downwind of my calling location, and almost walked right up behind me. I was packing up to leave and it showed up in my peripheral vision. I shot it at 50y with a 6.5cm, with a 140gr American gunner (maybe not the best coyote bullet), and it yelped and took off like it wasn't hit. I almost emptied a magazine shooting at it as it ran about 600y across a field and disappeared. I got up and went looking for blood. Fresh snow, easy tracking. I didn't find a drop of blood for almost 500y, then just a trickle. It was laying in a creek about 600y away dead..
 
Just like bowhunting, I never set up with my scent blowing to where I expect them to come from.

I always try to set up where the critter thinks they have the advantage, while you're in the position to waylay them.

That's why I generally have the caller a 100+ yards away, to give me that advantage.
 
one night we watched a coyote about 400 or so yards off to our left coming in to the call. that coyote started circling off to our left never coming closer than that 400 or so yards, it eventually went all the way out to the road to get behind us. we were on top of a very high hill and could see for a 1,000 yards or more. that coyote never got close and busted us at over 500 plus yards. it ran across the road and thru another equally long field and never stopped, just disappeared into the woods.
 
DesertRam said:
Old proverb: You can hunt longer with the wind at your back.

I've had a few dummies come charging in regardless of wind, but for the most part, I think it's important to monitor your wind and set up with it to your advantage. I plan my calling day based on the expected wind. Totally screws me up and ticks me off when the weather man is wrong.
Click to expand...
Never heard that proverb but think it is great
 
AWS said:
The tighter the cover I think your scent is more important as you can't see what a coyote is doing until he arrives.
Click to expand...
This^
K22-hornet said:
At about 1/4 mile, he got my scent and clearly did not like what he smelled.

How far can they smell us? I don't know, but I am a believer in watching the wind!
Click to expand...
Set up at a gate in an E-W fence @ it's junction with a N-S fenceline, placed call 50 yds or so to the south. Fairly heavy brush in all but the north quarters with a wide swath mowed along the E-W fence. There was a low area between the gate and a hill top about 600 yards north of the gate. The low spot was flooded (about 150 yards wide at the fence) from a recent heavy rain. The N-S fence was new and had a dirt berm pushed up it's entire length. There was a 10-15 mph breeze from the south.

A few minutes into the stand, had a pair coming over the hill 600 yards downwind. When they got to the water, they didn't miss a beat, jumped up on the narrow berm and continued on full tilt. Figued this was a double for sure! When they hit the 400 yard mark, the lead coyote turned inside out, almost colliding with the other coyote and they both departed post haste. IDK how far away they can smell you, but that pair did so @ 400 yds for sure.

Probably should have taken the shot in hindsight, they were running straght away, but recovery would have been messy so I gave them a pass.
 
Wind costed me a shot/coyote last night. Was in a blind at a bait location, skunk on the bait. A coyote hit the big rolling hayfield(traveling east to west) and ended up over a slight roll past the bait(130 yards). Wind had been out of the NE, supposed to shift to SE, bait south and slightly east of blind. I thought the wind was changing, decided to use the squeeze squeaker. 2 squeaks coyote came straight at me. I thought ok this will work, he starts tracking slightly to his left(west). Suddenly stops very briefly than turns hard left picks head up and than spins and runs off no stopping. Winded me at 40-50 yards(the brief stop) than made that slight turn to improve the scenting condition. Gone, no stopping him even in the dark.
 
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