Mark,
Welcome & thanks.....
To answer your questions...
No, we really don't time our sets, and we usually give it no more than an hour or so at the very most. We hunt large area's and being that the sound carries a long ways, we like to hold up until were pretty sure that they're not coming.
We call then hold, and call again then hold, starting light and getting a little louder. The secret (at least around here) is to wait them out as they'll hold at the fringes until they're sure that it's a kosher meal.
They all say cunning like a fox....? Those dumb asses come flying in to a load of #4's or 5's. We can't get rid of them usually. You feel obligated to shoot them as it's fox season as well, but you're really wanting the coyotes.
I must be doing something right with the calls, as I've had some older seasoned fella's hear me over on another adjacent ridges calling and they said that it sounded like a cross between a coon and a rabbit getting the snot beat out of them. They said they couldn't tell it was a call, but maybe their just being nice.
I know the calls I use, usually call in every predator around for a distance.......the coyotes I'm sure are there and just waiting in the weeds nearby.
As far as vehicles are concerned...we never hunt near one. We park out on the lanes and usually walk from several hundred yards, to darn close to a mile sometimes before we set up.
I tried howling here.....both as a challenge, and as a response call. If you challenge howl, most of the time you'll get nothing.....and I know that they are there. I hear them when all's quiet, and I have a general idea (within a football fields distance) where their den is.
When the pack decides to open up and let loose with a howling session, I respond back with the same series, and they'll just shut up. Rarely do they respond. Even when I think I've done a series of howl's perfectly (for me), and with all the right responses too, they seem to shut down.
I've done them at night out behind my house, after hearing the howling from them.....they'd shut down, and within 5 mins or so, you'd see the sillhouttes coming across the snow in the moonlight out at 300 yds or so.
They'd make the brush lot out behing my place, and then disappear. Sometimes you can hear them snapping at each other, and so on. Kinda cool to have them in your back yard...at times, makes for some pretty hectic moments running for the rifle & ammo.
Hey Jimmie....welcome as well...
You're not too awful far from me either....about 35-40mins maybe.
I like hunting in treestands a lot.....left over from the deer hunting habits I guess.....I can see them coming in for a long ways, and fox & coyotes don't really have any threats from above, so even though they can & do look up from time to time, they aren't looking up all that much.
Not that they can't, they just work their head level, with their nose going 24/7.
Once they spot you in that stand though....you're toast. They'll always look at it.....that is, unless you end their career before they get away.
Most coyote hunting I do is on the ground with the aide of my hunting buddy. We usually set up with 360 degree view, in snow camo, and if mouth calling, somewhere in an open area, and preferrably, one with a nice brush island out in the middle. We'll utilize hedgerows, standing corn patches, etc., to make the best out of a situation, and in a lot of cases, appears ideal.
We're starting this year with an electronic setup as well, so it'll expand our library quite a bit.....and we'll see.
We have access to several thousand acres locally, and even some state lands as well, so success varies depending on hunting pressure from one area to another.
Sorry so long winded......
Bob
