Coyote hunting in Maine...

i get out a lot, but i'm old and retired and i'm out almost every day for at least 1 or 2 sets. our local rod and gun club got 43 mostly over bait, and one trapper friend of mine got 30.so that is how we got so many . i had good luck calling for most of the year but for the last 2 months i've not had any action calling. it is monster cool when you see one coming in.sometimes i get wicked discouraged but i know it works and you just have to keep goin and it will happen.
don
 
I went out last night with a friend, saw some eyes at one stand but he never came out again. Went for a second stand, we sat on it for roughly 45 min with no results, when all of a sudden 3 different packs all started going off. We didn't get any but it was an amazing sound no less
 
Been out a few times here in the Farmington area. Seen one last weekend but no shot. Came in after a howl, then a challenge howl. It never said a word. Froze at about 75 yards out. Came a little closer with a little pup distress. My 12 year old daughter saw the eyes and got excited. Shined me an the gun oops. He or it (lol) didn't stick around long. But it was her first one. Lots of fun.
 
I hunt in york county, been out 6-8 times no success yet. Hunt mostly at night. How often do do you guys go back to the same spot?
 
Don, I thought you only picked them up by the side of the road! I guess you can call them the chubs-of-the-woods. I'm calling in Washington, Maine but with limited success. Just young ones so far. Baiting just brought the others, fisher, bobcats, fox, eagles and even a few turkey vultures. The coyotes only came in the early AM. Tricky buggers.
 
Originally Posted By: donlynchforest parker i'm from the bucksport area and we've been getting quite a few,i got one on my bait last night. between trapping and hunting/calling we got more than 80 last year from this local area. tracks have been scarce for a while. i don't know how much of a dent that number makes in the population.
don
There are a few of us here in Washington county that have been hunting over baits from home, trapping, and hounding and its working the populations are down in allot of areas but you dont need to drive that far to get back into decent populations like north of Rt 9 I am still seeing good sign on snow all threw that area.
 
maineeagle,by that last post you must know me , maybe from FFIM? so far this year i've killed one on my bait at home and on feb 6th i went into a remote pond near here and set up. i really haven't had any luck calling for a long time and i thought this would be just another failure so i didn't pay much attention to where my shooting sticks would be placed. i also thought no coyote would come all the way accross the extremely smooth ice. well after maybe 12mins. i looked way up at the NE corner of the pond at least 500yds away i see a black thing that was changing shape. i put the scope on it and it was a coyote.it came all the way down the other side slipping and falling at least 3 times then it turned and came straight for me. then i had trouble setting the shooting sticks. just as i shot they sagged to the left and i missed, then again as it ran off.i was bummed bad but at least i had called one in after a ton of failures.i had played a few howls at first but was using DSG cottontail at the time it came in. let me know if you're on FFIM.
don
 
scalloper, i've hunted there in the beddington area . i missed one off the 73000rd, coyote fever.i've hunted north of cherryfield also but no luck so far
don
 
the last time i was in the area there was too much snow for me to get in where i wanted to go. my trip was up rte 179 to rte 9 then down the 73000rd to 193 to cherryfield. i called at a few spots but did not see any sign, however i didn't get to explore far enough because of the snow to make a fair judgement.
don
 
With this fresh snow I'll be back out after them again before the fawning season. They do a ton of damage on the deer herd in the spring.
 
i'm goin to be out starting tomorrow lookin for tracks. although we didn't need quite this much snow. i've kind of overcalled my area but i can't stop. just a few minutes ago one of my pals brought one in to be weighed for our contest that he shot over his bait last night in the snow storm. it was 36.5 lbs a male. hopefully i can find one without a hole in him already.
don
 
Thats a very nice coyote Don. I plan on hunting most all day tomorrow from my sled. Ride and call ride and call. This snow will not last long.
 
i'm very interested to hear what you see for sign. i'm doing a little nuisance skunk trapping right now, mostly for the cover scent it gives me.
don
 
called in a pair of them this morning and killed one. i got the female, 31 lbs. it was in the same place that i killed 2 and missed one last summer. i'm going back tomorrow and try for the other one. i started out with 2 female long howls then waited and did 2 more howls then, after a bit, DSG cottentail and that played steady while they came in. very cool. it just shows that you have to keep trying.
don
 
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Nice. i really enjoy hearing about mainers having success because i just took this frustrating sport up this winter and after aprox 35-40 hrs, i'm still a virgin, no kills yet. boy, its not easy in this state thats for sure, but i'm still lovin it. i've been close but always make some new mistake, guess i'll have to learn them all the hard way. i'd love to hear how you vets do it down to the smallest detail, like how you play the wind, etc.
 
success in Maine means you only fail 95%of the time. the rest of the time you do wonderful. i get discouraged quite a lot, but i keep going and know that at any moment it can happen. first i like to go in with the wind in my face but i want to sit in a cross wind with open country on the down wind side. the pair i called in yesterday came in across a wide open blueberry ground up wind of me, but part way they turned and started to circle through a patch of woods. when they came out onto more open ground i got the female. there's not a lot of mystery to it, i think that if they are nearby they will respond and if not they won't. stay at least an hour, that's important!
don
 
thanks donlynch. every tip helps and i'm soakin up all i can. my wife just told me about a farmer thats complaining that when he plows the fields, the coyotes come out to eat the moles and mice right behind the tractor. i'm planning a trip to talk to this farmer next week.
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