New Coyote Hunter~Need Advise

There are so many ways to hunt coyotes, but my favorite is to call. For starters, I would get the RASPY COAXER from primos calls. This is a good call for beginners because it makes a variety of sounds and is easy to master. As far as places to go, enjoy some time scouting in remote areas and look for coyote scat along roads, fencelines, gullies, or ridgetops. In my experience, areas frequented by coyotes will have lots of scat and tracks. Then, go out early, get into a good location with the wind coming from your target area, call like crazy for 10-15 seconds, then wait 5-7 min. Repeat this sequence three or four times, then try another area. I have had some sucess in the west desert, but I prefer to go south and east of the Wasatch front. Hope this helps.-----shooter

shooter is right, that's good advise.

I might add, be very quiet while going to your stand. Like you would when deer hunting, sneak in and try not to move very much. Be as still as possible when calling.. coyotes have laser accurate eyesight. Camo up, cover your face and hands if possible, your skin will stand out. Park your vehicle out of sight from your stand, where them wileys wont see it...

Pay attention to the wind/breeze.. they will circle your call sometimes and use the wind to get a wiff before coming in.

Good luck.

Alright, Great thanks for the advice...but how do you call like tips? What should I sight my .243 or .308 into? What bullets are best?

Buy a couple of coyote hunting videos or audio calling tapes. Practice what you hear on the videos. Just try to sound like a dying critter.. remember they have small lungs, so use short squeals.

Know your weapon. Shoot at 50, 100, 200 and 300 yrds. Often a coyote will run right into your lap when you're calling so consider a shotgun for close range.

This where you have to spend some time in the field sharpening your own style. There is no right or wrong way to call. Some coyotes respond to very louds agressive calling, some prefer squeaks and muffled cries. You just gotta go out and try it all till something works. Take into account your terrain. If you are in a huge sage flat like the west desert, call louder than if you are in a tight, stream bottom canyon. I have done best calling very aggessively for a short period then remaining either silent, or going to short squeaks.

As for your rifles, if you just want to kill them, shoot whatever you can get or load cheap. If you want to save pelts, I would forget the 308 and load the 243 light with 55-70 grn varmint bullets, or heavier solid copper bullets. Sight in dead on at 100 and hold on the top of the back out to 250 yards or so.-----shooter

Where do yotes usually come from? Thanks for all of the help Shooter and Sawsman!!!! How are electronic Calls?

I've seen them come from everywhere but above. Be ready, and remember that they want to eat you! High end electrics are great...ie foxpro, cheap ones suck. Start out with mouth calls and if you become an addict, you can chose to invest in an electric later.---shooter

All right sounds good...just one more question Idk if you have mentioned this before but does time of day matter?

Like shooter mentioned, early morning is good. Coyotes will come to the call throughout the day though. Make some stands early while the gettin' is good. :thumb

Coyotes are like cockroaches. It's been said that they are the only two things that would survive a severe nuclear winter. Coyotes are everywhere. They can be found even downtown. It has been eluded to that coyotes are super smart. You mentioned you wanted to hunt close. That's fine, coyotes will be pretty much where ever you go. Some of the close and easy destinations have been called pretty hard. The coyotes get educated fast. The guy's that have suggested setting up so the wind is coming towards you know what they are saying. Watch your downwind side. The dogs will almost always try to circle around to come at you from the downwind side. I've had them come up 10 feet behind me and never knew they were there til it was too late to get a shot. Keep this in mind when determining where to set up. Use ground features to give yourself shooting lanes. As far as calling goes, we usually go in pairs or trios. We call softly at first so as to not blow out a coyote that may be inside 100 yards of the setup. If nothing appears quickly we call loudly and then wait 10-15 minutes. If one of us sees a yote at any time during or between calls, we lip squeek as a signal that a dog has been spotted. It's crazy how far out there a coyote can pinpoint and hone in on a lip squeek. Even if the dog is 5-600 yards out, once spotted we lip squeek them in. Unless you really want the long range practice, a small caliber gun will do fine. Most coyote shots I've witnessed have been inside of 200 yards with the majority inside 100. I suggest the smaller calibers. I like .223 and .204. Good luck on your hunt it's super fun. If you don't call a coyote in on the first few stands keep at it. Sometimes we'll go the majority of a day not seeing a coyote and then end up with 3 to 4 kills on our last few stands.

Coyotes are both great hunters and scavengers, if you see areas that constantly have hawks circling it may be good for yotes too. Coyotes are great at catching mice and rabbits and the sign of hawks in the area usually mean some type of small prey in the area.

Alright thanks for the advise! Anymore ideas on which calls?

I think I am going to make an El Cheapo call from Varmint Al's. Thanks everyone that helped me out with this topic
bc.pse

The Dan Thompson PC-2 cottontail is a great call as well as the jackrabbit. I like the Sceery calls as well. Tweety is great for cats and it's pretty easy to do a bird distress with it. All of these calls are pretty easy to use and they work well. I hear that the Quakerboy Screaming Cottontail is magical but I haven't personally tried it. Happy hunting.