freebm & Wayne,
Thanks for the faith, but even though I've spent a few years playing this game, if success is dictated by the numbers you've obtained, I'm still in the newbie catagory.
That being said, you can be successful at calling but due to the coyote's suspicious nature, not always get the opportunity to shoot one. Or, better yet, not even know they're there.
I guess the question could be asked, "well, if you are calling well, you should be able to call them within range".
This isn't true at all....you'd have to be psychic to know exactly what to use and when to use it.
Also, you'd have to be able to foretell the (physical) condition and mental state of the coyotes in that area. I'll never be that good.
To a small point, some of this can be done.
A good caller, that has done his homework and scouted the area, would have a better idea than one who hadn't, and basically "upped" his percentages by doing so.
Looking at particulars like, "what affect has the weather had on them", "what is their prominent food source", "has it been affected", "what are their habits during the hunting season (mating or not)".....???..etc, etc.
Noticing these things while out, and being able to assess them accurately will up your averages greatly.
Ironic that you mention it though....for instance...
Yesterday afternoon, around 3:30PM, I headed up to the new area my partner and I had been scouting and hunting. We were in there during late fall, and while there hunting chucks, we scouted for sign regarding fox & coyotes.
Alot of fox sign & little or no coyote.
Well anyway, as of just a week or so ago, we started spotting very large coyote tracks, but not seeing one.
Then we spot male & female coyote tracks together, and sign is increasing quite a bit.
The first time we hunted it, although we didn't get a decent shot, fox were out and screaming. Since we spotted the coyote sign, the fox have been almost non-existent. Even their tracks from night hunting.
Back to yesterday afternoon, I headed in late and got setup about 3:50PM (only 6 or 7 miles from my house). I picked an area kind of central as I was hunting alone, and so the sound would cover well. It was pretty quiet with a slight breeze coming out of the S/SW, and pretty warm for this time of year (about 35-40 degrees).
Starting off my calling with a newer rabbit distress call, I ran it for about 20 seconds, stopped and waited for a couple of minutes, then ran it again. I did it one more time, then quit for about 20 mins or so.
My reason for using it this way is this;
Fox usually will respond quickly. Probably within a few seconds to a minute or so. Coyotes, not so. They'll usually come in cautiously, and quietly, holding up at a distance and surveying things first. Then if they're convinced it's dinner, they'll continue on in, most of the time, slowly.
Calling this way seems to cover both...hammering on a call constantly doesn't seem to entice coyotes around here to come in, but the "call & break" method seems to turn on their interest, then lets it cool a little, then it fires them up again....kind of a tease thing. It seems that once they're fired up for the second or third time, they come in harder, hotter and closer.
I've watched them hold in a spot after calling once, and about the time they look as though they've lost interest, toot on the call again, and watch them rocket back towards the call. Almost like a renewed vigor.
Anyway, as time was getting very short, I decided to move about 100yds., down towards my buddy's favorite spot so I could see the whole field. I moved very quietly inside the woodline and made little or no noise. Getting setup in the second area, I started the same calling sequence. Not seeing or hearing any responses, I held off on the calling, and tried to keep my eyes peeled on the edges of the field where the snow remained after the warm weather. A small group of deer filtered out into the field about 300yds. across from me and they started to feed, but were very skittish. Their heads kept popping up and looking in the same direction. They finally spooked back into the woodline where they came out from....and quickly.
......1st indication that something is up.
I know our deer don't spook readily on fox....so, maybe something else.
After scanning the field with my scope and then not seeing anything, I then checked the wind direction and figured something was coming in from upwind of the deer. The deer had been directly upwind from my location, so whatever it was, it crossed that line upwind from them.
After another short calling series, I shut down and listened. Besides the tractor trailer slapping on his "jake brake" a mile back on the roadway, and the local dogs who bark off in the distance, I distinctly heard a very short, high pitched bark & howl, but couldn't tell where it came from, or for sure, whether it was in fact, a coyote.
Well within 10 seconds, maybe shorter, the whole coyote pack opened up about 400yds from me, and there was a bunch. As far as I could tell, at least 6. Guessing, I think I had called them in from the first location I was at, which was within 250yds. of the block of woods they were in.
The initial responding dog that opened up was definitely the dominant male, low bark and gruff howl.....very discernable.
Staying put in the original spot would've put me closer to them, but scoping from my position, they never showed in the field, or the edges anyway. If they had, both spots would've afforded a decent shot, just one longer than the other. I was prepared to shoot in either direction. "Hindsight is 20/20".....if I stayed put, yep, maybe a closer position for a shot, but if I hadn't moved, I'd have never seen the deer's reaction and cued in on it. As it stood, and where the coyote's called from, it was their scent that spooked the deer. After they called and gave away their location, it was a "no brainer".
I'll head back up tonight and position across from them about 200yds. in a heavy treeline where I can see into the woods where they're holding up. Maybe if they think they're safe inside the woodline, I can snake a shot through and nail one.
Who knows.....again, sorry so long.....
Good luck /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif,
Bob
