When my brother and I howl we usually start off with a locator howl and if nothing happens we answer ourselves with a younger coyote howl. If that doesn't work we'll do a coyote seranade together using our mouth calls (sounds pretty cool!). If we do get a pack to answer us we try and listen to see if there is a dominate male howling with them. That's when we challenge him....usually, he'll challenge back and we'll get into a pissing contest with each other for about five minutes or so. We stop calling when he stops calling cause by that point he is usually moving in.
We've waited as long as a half an hour before seeing anything. I think that the trick is to pique his curiosity and then shut up. If he/she stil hasn't shown up we'll challenge each other (the callers). One will play the dominant male and the other an upstart young male. After we do that I'll chime in with some ky-yis an make it sound like the young one got his butt kicked. That usually brings him in. It's pretty cool watching a big 'ol male coyote coming in with his hair all bristled up!
Hope this helps somebody!
