Coyote experts

M

medic joe

Active member
I would never proclaim to know all there is about coyotes. But over the years. I have been involved in discussions with others. Who no doubt, claimed they do. Two guys told me. A coyote does not use an old/abandoned den hole. The only time a coyote will use an old/abandoned den hole. "Is for rearing their pups". I informed them otherwise. Because I've seen instances. Where both a coyote & a Red Fox. Will/may indeed us an old den hole. Both of those guys then mocked me on my claim. When they mocked me. I instantly knew, they did not know it all. (Or as much as they both claimed). They made me chuckle actually. Both canines (from what I have seen). Will use an old den hole; During blizzards, being chased as well as being injured from being shot. That a side...The other discussion was with 1 experienced coyote houndsman. He claimed to me. Coyotes do NOT jump fences. They will go through or under a fence when chased. I thought right then. He didn't know as much as he claimed. Below is a coyote, one of 3. I watched one day. As they chased a small herd of deer. Geeze what do you know. They do jump fences :)


 
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medic joe said:
He claimed to me. Coyotes do NOT jump fences.
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Haha! Well that fellow would be one I wouldn’t bother arguing the subject with. My reply would simply be “Huh…I had no idea.” And gone on about my business.

I suppose an alternative response would have been “Huh… I’ve watched them jump over fences, into sheep pens on occasion.”

I’ve met some experts in many different fields of expertise. It’s not often that I feel outgunned! 😉 I prefer to try to teach, and remain teachable!
 
hunt0168 said:
Haha! Well that fellow would be one I wouldn’t bother arguing the subject with. My reply would simply be “Huh…I had no idea.” And gone on about my business.

I suppose an alternative response would have been “Huh… I’ve watched them jump over fences, into sheep pens on occasion.”

I’ve met some experts in many different fields of expertise. It’s not often that I feel outgunned! 😉 I prefer to try to teach, and remain teachable!
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I tend not to argue with any self anointed hunter. However, I'm not opposed to letting another experienced hunter. Who has not seen it all. Inform them otherwise. Specifically when someone passes on info. That is NOT entirely true in ALL cases. I will point out that flaw. IF...I have experienced otherwise..
 
medic joe said:
Below is a coyote, one of 3. I watched one day. As they chased a small herd of deer. Geeze what do you know. They do jump fences
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Cool pic!
hunt0168 said:
I’ve met some experts in many different fields of expertise. It’s not often that I feel outgunned! 😉 I prefer to try to teach, and remain teachable!
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medic joe said:
Specifically when someone passes on info. That is NOT entirely true in ALL cases. I will point out that flaw. IF...I have experienced otherwise..
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Never say never or always. The day I'm too old to learn something, is the day to call in the dogs.
 
DoubleLungRage said:
I used to call people out on their BS in a heart beat. Now a days I just listen and even agree sometimes.
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Me too. I’m a pretty good judge of character. If I think a person is open to conversation about something, I’ll put my opinion out there to have a discussion. When dealing with perceived experts or know-it-alls, I just don’t care enough to argue anymore. Getting older and have better things to do.
 
Quite a few years ago. When I was still interested in killing coyotes. I drove county roads roughly 98% of the time. Average hunt day was around 40-60 miles. Sometimes 80-100 miles of county roads. One Winter day we already had good snow cover. The top few inches were fresh snow. I came across a field drive culvert tube. Big enough for a coyote. Ditch & field drive culvert tubes are very small to very large. Anyway I came across a field culvert tube roughly 2' in diameter. I seen a pretty fresh coyote track going in & not coming out. Up until that very day. I never seen a culvert tube. That kept either a fox or a coyote in it any longer than 24 hours. I got out & looked at how fresh the track was. It was pretty fresh. That same day, early morning I suspected.. We were due for a blizzard within an hour or so. So I cut my hunt short. The blizzard came & went. The next morning I started wondering about that coyote. Whether it was still holed up in that tube. So I headed that way. It was a 20+ mile drive.

To get to that culvert. It was Sunny out & most of the roads were passible in my 4x4. I made my way to that culvert. Nope, he is still in there. So each following day I drove by it. To check on whether that coyote was still in there. Yep he is, no exit track coming out. Not until sometime on the 4th day if I recall correctly? Did that coyote finally exit that tube. So it stayed holed up for at least 72 hours. I did not know one would stayed holed up that long. I suspect hunger played a part in it finally leaving the tube.

As for holing up. Red Fox are notorious for holing up all day long in their old den hole or a wind break area. Such as an farm out building, brush pile, ect. Regardless of weather conditions. Otherwise, unlike most coyotes. Will bed down out in the elements during harsh Winter weather. Of the two canines. Coyotes can/will withstand brutal weather conditions. More so than Red Fox. Prior to seeking hard shelter. Such as an old den hole, brush pile, culvert tube, ect. During my hunt years. I've seen both canines bedded outside on the down wind slope. During WC days -28 & colder.
 
medic joe said:
Geeze what do you know. They do jump fences
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LOL I've never seen one jump a fence, but saw one jump through a mesh fence one one day.
The ranches I hunt use two different styles of mesh fencing. Some have same size mesh top to bottom and the other has smaller mesh at the bottom and graduates up to top. I was calling on an outer fence one day and spotted a smallish coyote coming toward the fence at warp speed. Don't know if he didn't see the fence or maybe was a YOY that had grown since the last time he tried this, but he never slowed down and jumped at least 3' high into the fence. He didn't quite fit and, for a moment was struggling before squeezing on through. I'm pretty sure he never tried that again. Most coyotes dig under the fencing as a full grown coyote won't fit through even the larger mesh.
 
I enjoy conversations with fellow coyote hunters but it doesn’t take long to distinguish the legitimate hunters from the ones reciting what they have read and inserting themselves into the stories.
I’m no expert by any means, but in the 50+ years hunting coyotes, I’ve found the only thing truly predictable about coyotes, is they’re unpredictable.
 
I haven't had a place to hunt in so long I'm not sure I remember how, much less to think of myself as an expert
 
It is my belief & what I do(tactic wise). Whether I'm quietly slinking into a call area. Or sneaking up on a sleeper coyote. I use the same tactic. Ideally I slink in from the 10:00 or 2:00 angle. Which puts me up-wind & cross-wind. From where the coyote is(seen from the roadway). Or could be(hidden in ground cover). Using that same tactic on both hunt styles. Will put you/me/us ahead of the 8 ball. As to NOT being busted before the hunt has actually started. It is MOST crucial. To be extremely quiet on the way in. Some callers tromp into a call area. Like a cow wearing a neck bell(See; idiots). As if coyotes are deaf. Their hearing ability is extremely top shelf. Not only that. But some coyotes will remember a distant noise for quite awhile. They DO not dismiss ambient noises, even distant noises). When they have been "alerted" to that sudden noise. I rank their senses on the high end of most animals. Some hunters believe that is bullarky. So be it, do as you wish. They can believe whatever they want. It is my intent to educate a coyote hunter. As to my own experiences. Many times even though I'm well versed in stalking. I have been busted at long range(numerous times, many actually). By a sleeper coyote. When the ground cover was. What I refer to, as being "loud". ie; Crusty/crunchy underfoot.
 
medic joe said:
It is my belief & what I do(tactic wise). Whether I'm quietly slinking into a call area. Or sneaking up on a sleeper coyote. I use the same tactic. Ideally I slink in from the 10:00 or 2:00 angle. Which puts me up-wind & cross-wind. From where the coyote is(seen from the roadway). Or could be(hidden in ground cover). Using that same tactic on both hunt styles. Will put you/me/us ahead of the 8 ball. As to NOT being busted before the hunt has actually started. It is MOST crucial. To be extremely quiet on the way in. Some callers tromp into a call area. Like a cow wearing a neck bell(See; idiots). As if coyotes are deaf. Their hearing ability is extremely top shelf. Not only that. But some coyotes will remember a distant noise for quite awhile. They DO not dismiss ambient noises, even distant noises). When they have been "alerted" to that sudden noise. I rank their senses on the high end of most animals. Some hunters believe that is bullarky. So be it, do as you wish. They can believe whatever they want. It is my intent to educate a coyote hunter. As to my own experiences. Many times even though I'm well versed in stalking. I have been busted at long range(numerous times, many actually). By a sleeper coyote. When the ground cover was. What I refer to, as being "loud". ie; Crusty/crunchy underfoot.
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By the way. Over all of my hunt days. Any given day 9 out of 10x on average. A coyote will choose to bed down in ground cover. Versus bed down out on an open hillside. "They" also prefer to be elevated. From right below a ridgeline to about 1/2 down the side of a hill. Versus, bedding down on a flat area or at/near the bottom of a hill/ridgeline.
 
medic joe said:
By the way. Over all of my hunt days. Any given day 9 out of 10x on average. A coyote will choose to bed down in ground cover. Versus bed down out on an open hillside. "They" also prefer to be elevated. From right below a ridgeline to about 1/2 down the side of a hill. Versus, bedding down on a flat area or at/near the bottom of a hill/ridgeline.
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For quite a few years. I just observed many coyotes acting naturally/unmolested. Because I wanted to learn from them. One Winter (early 80's) I seen over 80 coyotes. Their population was high at that time. So I decided to stalk 20 of them. To test my stalk skills & kill all 20 of them. No matter how quiet I was on those stalks. I only killed 14 out of that 20. Back then I was a shooter & did very well at long range killing. My skills vs their senses. I still came up short. As 6 out of those 20. Beat me at my own game.
 
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