Baiting

up here in the north east baiting gets used often. In Maine, baits are set out with a driveway alert monitor set up over the bait. when a coyote comes to the bait the driveway monitor sets off a buzzer under shooters sleeping bag. hunters are stationed in a wooden blind with a sleepin shelf. I have a good friend who is a pro taxidermist, so we have a good supply of deer carcasses to use for bait. however the best baiting is after the winter freeze, when small food sources become scarce. good luck ( ps I like calling myself, as I am 63 and tend to sleep thru the buzzer)
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Been reading this thread for a month now, with great interest. What a great resource for us guys in the east!


First year baiting for me, the closest I can set up my pile will be 90 yards. Question to you guys using Gen1 scopes: Will I be able to pick up yotes at this distance, using an additional 1 or 2 IR led's? Or would I be better off just using my XLR250 and a regular 4x scope? The backdrop is heavy pines, so very dark... Also - I'm in northern NH, winters get pretty cold (subzero) in case that matters.
 

Originally Posted By: xxLeftyxxBeen reading this thread for a month now, with great interest. What a great resource for us guys in the east!


First year baiting for me, the closest I can set up my pile will be 90 yards. Question to you guys using Gen1 scopes: Will I be able to pick up yotes at this distance, using an additional 1 or 2 IR led's? Or would I be better off just using my XLR250 and a regular 4x scope? The backdrop is heavy pines, so very dark... Also - I'm in northern NH, winters get pretty cold (subzero) in case that matters.




This thread is indeed a wealth of knowledge for guys like us who many times are forced to hunt this way, due to the type of terrain we have available to hunt, as well as the lower number of coyotes. You can't call a coyote that isn't within hearing distance.

I haven't had a coyote at my bait site for one month now, though bait is available every night. The last coyote visit was November 16. Calling coyotes here is not very productive at the moment, plus the fact that I have lost a lot of land to calling, and baiting is not as easy as many people think. The last coyote I shot at the bait site was August 31.

As to Gen 1 night vision scopes, the answer is "YES." You will be able to see at 90 yards if you use IR lights at the bait site. One light is acceptable, but more is better if the coyotes will tolerate them.

A Gen 1 scope is best suited for bait hunting and with the use of IR lights. Without the IR lights, it is not very usable, even with a good illuminator. I have an expensive laser illuminator that helps, and with some careful aiming, I could probably pull off a 100 yard shot. The IR lights transform a Gen 1 scope into a very nice piece of hunting gear. Most guys who criticize Gen 1 scopes are hunting / calling coyotes at various distances. The Gen 1 scopes simply won't cut it for that type of hunting. But, over bait and with IR lights, it is quite a different story.

One IR light will allow you to see well enough to make a shot, but the illuminated area will probably be narrow, so the light will have to be aimed a little more precisely. Having two lights will add quite a bit of illumination, and three or more would be wonderful.

I have noticed that some coyotes don't mind the lights as much as others. Lights work much better if placed overhead, say at least three lights, and angled individually to illuminate a broader area. I had a couple of coyotes that just didn't like the idea of those lights mounted in a tree, so I took the lights down and placed them on the post near the trail camera. The camera gives off a red glow when it records video, and the coyotes seemed to tolerate that much better than the lights overhead. Having the light down lower to the ground throws the beam out a distance, but when looking at it from a 90 degree angle appears to be a long, narrow streak of light.

As to backdrop with dark pines, that won't matter as long as you use IR lights. They will illuminate the area, you just may need to experiment with the number required for you to see well.

As to cold, I don't think it matters for the lights, but will most likely zap a battery much quicker. The problem with cold is where you will be shooting from. If from your home or a heated cabin / blind, not so bad. But if you try to sit in a remote blind somewhere and wait, well.....Take it from someone who knows about that. LOL.

If you will be shooting 90 yards, I personally think you will need as much magnification in a Gen 1 scope as you can get. That's why I value the ATN Spartan 410 and it's 5X magnification. It just seems that targets appear so much further away at night than they do in the daytime. Optical illusion I guess.

Another fact about night vision scopes in general, is that of trajectory. I have found trajectory to be a real issue, so I place a target at my bait site and shoot from my cabin to zero the scope. That way it is sighted "dead-on" at the very place where I intend to shoot from.

Yesterday I spoke by phone with a friend in another state who ran into similar problems with trajectory of his NV scope. He and a friend have different scopes. My friend has the Pulsar Digisight N550. He had sighted in about 125 yards, but was shooting at coyotes over bait at about 75 yards. Both he and his friend missed three shots that night on coyotes. They were very perplexed as to why they missed. Now he knows why after we talked about it, and I informed him of my experiences. So, just a tip - sight in at the area you plan to hunt and you will be fine. My scope holds zero very well and I have no issues with that. When I squeeze the trigger, something is going down.

One good report my friend gave about the Pulsar N550, being that it is digital, is that the x and y coordinates (crosshairs) are adjusted digitally, and numbers appear beside each. Therefore, he can write down the numbers of the horizontal and vertical wires for future reference. He will be able to zero the rifle at various bait sites and different distances, make notes and tape it on his rifle. When hunting a particular bait site, he will adjust zero back to correspond with the numbers of the original sighting. No clicks involved.

If you decide to get a Gen 1 scope, you might consider Sportsman's Guide. They have an unconditional money-back guarantee, even if you mount the scope and use it. If you don't like it, you can return it for a refund.

I'm sure you have seen these videos previously, but here they are again as a reminder of what you will see with the IR lights.

The coyote in this video clip was taken with 5 IR lights overhead, focused into a narrow area, but they were bright. The coyote didn't seem to mind the lights. When the trail camera turned on, it provided more light. Just remember that the NV scope sees a lot brighter than what the video camera shows. I could see very well at my 60 yard site.






This coyote was scared of the overhead lights.



 
6mm06 - thanks for the info. The Pulsar N550 really looks like the best fit (Gulp!), the pricetag is a bit steeper than I wanted to spring for...

Have read a lot of very positive reviews on it, want to do a bit more research and be sure. I like the idea of Sportsman's Guide due to their return policy, too. Will let you guys know as things progress. Our night hunting season goes from Jan 1 - Mar 31 st. I only started putting out bait last weekend since archery deer season just closed and I didn't want to attract predators until it ended.
 
Well the weather outside is frightful, looking like a foot of snow will accumulate by tomorrow night, this should bring a change in coyote patterns I hope, nothing has touched the bait site for almost a month, they are in the area but no takers on the pile.
 

DannyK,

Seems that most of us have had very little activity lately. The last coyote to visit my site was November 16.

All those guys who think baiting is so easy have probably never tried it. You know the thoughts that exist out there. All you have to do is put out some bait, sit a while and start shooting coyotes, like shooting fish in a barrel.

Yea, right!
 
Got my bait site up last week, and set up my trail camera at the same time – Bushnell's black IR Trail Cam. First few days, all I saw were two groups of deer making multiple passes through the area. Then Wednesday nite I had a fox come around 10 pm. Stuck around just long enough for a couple photos, only activity of the night. I had out a leg bone from the buck I recently shot, a road kill turkey and some old stale cat food I found in the back of the cupboard.

Busy night on Friday night as the fox came back for a bit around midnight, then a little later a couple deer showed up and actually stayed nearby for ½ hour or so. Also had a number of blank trips on the cam, so increased the IR flash to always use full power. This site is 95 yards from my living room window and I have two Chamberlain sensors out. The deer was the only thing that tripped the alarm. The chamberlain has worked great on deer, but I was suspecting it was having very little success with picking up smaller critters. I have two set out at right angles to each other to try to cover gaps, about 15-20 feet from the bait, so I figured maybe I had them to high in the air and tried dropping them yesterday down to about 30 inches off the ground.

Last night the alarm went off a number of times around 4-5 am, but when I looked at the photos, I saw only deer traffic during that time period. HOWEVER, I had the fox come back around midnight, and also a guest appearance by a bobcat an hour later. (NO Chamberlain alerts again, bleh.)


This morning, I went down around 9 a.m. and tried turning the sensors 90 degrees so they are now vertically aligned. Not 15 minutes later, I looked out the window and saw movement. Below are a few of the hundred or so photos shot in the next 4 hours. Take a look at the time stamps in the bottom right corners, and elapsed time between the first few pics. The earliest one caught a piece of me adjusting the closest sensor, then...

EK000003_zps1d2a19d6.jpg

EK000011_zpse78e427f.jpg

EK000021_zps0e2d13ce.jpg


These cats hung around for over 4 hours, before finally disappearing. And again, the alarms almost never picked them up. I think maybe I got a total of 4 or 5 trips.

In this last shot, you can see them directly in line with sensor 3, yet no trips. Any ideas what I should try next for better sensitivity?

EK000054_zpsb1f5f1c4.jpg



And, of course, NO open season here on cats, grrrrrr.
 
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Not exactly baiting, but I put two yotes down almost two weeks ago and nothing has touched them, not even buzzards.

Normally more would have been eating on those for two or three days.
 

Wow! Those are some really good photos. Bobcats are beautiful animals, always good to see them. Which camera specifically do you have? Is it working well other than these photos? Seems trail cameras are bitter-sweet. I like the idea of getting a better camera - but, one that works the way it's supposed to. Seems mine act up from time to time.

As to sensors, I tried the Chamberlain two seasons ago and it didn't work very well for me. I had gray fox run all over the place and it didn't notify me. I tried different angles and heights and it still didn't work well, so I returned it for a refund.

Give the Driveway Patrol a try. It's cheap (less than $20 shipped), and my experience is that it works very well.

At least you are getting some activity at the site. That's always enjoyable and keeps the excitement level up.

I currently have a red fox coming to the site, but he has a free pass. The other night I had a possum terrorizing the local red fox, chased and ran the fox off. He is one tough little dude.

Here's the attack possum in action. Click on the photo to view the video.





 
Originally Posted By: xxLeftyxxGot my bait site up last week, and set up my trail camera at the same time – Bushnell's black IR Trail Cam. First few days, all I saw were two groups of deer making multiple passes through the area. Then Wednesday nite I had a fox come around 10 pm. Stuck around just long enough for a couple photos, only activity of the night. I had out a leg bone from the buck I recently shot, a road kill turkey and some old stale cat food I found in the back of the cupboard.

Busy night on Friday night as the fox came back for a bit around midnight, then a little later a couple deer showed up and actually stayed nearby for ½ hour or so. Also had a number of blank trips on the cam, so increased the IR flash to always use full power. This site is 95 yards from my living room window and I have two Chamberlain sensors out. The deer was the only thing that tripped the alarm. The chamberlain has worked great on deer, but I was suspecting it was having very little success with picking up smaller critters. I have two set out at right angles to each other to try to cover gaps, about 15-20 feet from the bait, so I figured maybe I had them to high in the air and tried dropping them yesterday down to about 30 inches off the ground.

Last night the alarm went off a number of times around 4-5 am, but when I looked at the photos, I saw only deer traffic during that time period. HOWEVER, I had the fox come back around midnight, and also a guest appearance by a bobcat an hour later. (NO Chamberlain alerts again, bleh.)


This morning, I went down around 9 a.m. and tried turning the sensors 90 degrees so they are now vertically aligned. Not 15 minutes later, I looked out the window and saw movement. Below are a few of the hundred or so photos shot in the next 4 hours. Take a look at the time stamps in the bottom right corners, and elapsed time between the first few pics. The earliest one caught a piece of me adjusting the closest sensor, then...

[image]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/xxxleftyxxx/EK000003_zps1d2a19d6.jpg[image]
[image]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/xxxleftyxxx/EK000011_zpse78e427f.jpg[image]
[image]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/xxxleftyxxx/EK000021_zps0e2d13ce.jpg[image]

These cats hung around for over 4 hours, before finally disappearing. And again, the alarms almost never picked them up. I think maybe I got a total of 4 or 5 trips.

In this last shot, you can see them directly in line with sensor 3, yet no trips. Any ideas what I should try next for better sensitivity?

[image]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/xxxleftyxxx/EK000054_zpsb1f5f1c4.jpg[image]

And, of course, NO open season here on cats, grrrrrr.

no cat season in nh?? wierd, anyway like 6mm-06 said get the driveay patrol sensors cheap and work well to about 80 yds after that you need to do the antenna mod.
this year im upping my game 2 additional sensors and gen 3 night vision
smile.gif
! this will enable me to move my bait back to the 100 yd+ mark where the yotes will be a little more at ease. so far i have 10 deer carcasses in the garage i got from the local venison cutter. today i put out a pile of scrap venison and a cam in what i call a simmer spot. its more wooded about 200 yds from my actual bait site. after deer season ends i will move the bait pile to the kill site....pics soon!
 
Originally Posted By: xxLeftyxxBeen reading this thread for a month now, with great interest. What a great resource for us guys in the east!


First year baiting for me, the closest I can set up my pile will be 90 yards. Question to you guys using Gen1 scopes: Will I be able to pick up yotes at this distance, using an additional 1 or 2 IR led's? Or would I be better off just using my XLR250 and a regular 4x scope? The backdrop is heavy pines, so very dark... Also - I'm in northern NH, winters get pretty cold (subzero) in case that matters.


My bait is 71 yds and I use a Red 250 Kill light. I have a 4X16 but a 4X should work fine.
 
xxLeftyxx
Tyr putting the censors lower 1 foot or so off the ground. If that dont work try to return the whole unit and tell them you want another I had to do that once as the first one would not work at all. Good luck.
 
I got a dream job
A local game warden called me and asks if I would be interested in doing some ADC work this winter on a deer yard. They want someone to monitor deer/coyote activity and hunt coyotes within the deer yard. I am only allowed to use baiting outside ½ mile of the deer yard but I can call anywhere within the yard. I plan on setting up at least 2 bait stations with heated shooting shacks. The yard area is about a 7 mile by 3 mile area. The pay is not much but it covers my expenses. The pay is $7.50 per hr and $.42 per mile on sled or in my truck. With a fresh snow on the ground I went to the west side of this area Thursday night and stopped counting at 12 sets of coyote tracks in 3 miles. One group of 4. This area has the most coyote sign I have seen in years. Since I love hunting coyotes and have plenty of time in the winter I should be in a good position to help out our deer herd.
 

Some guys have all the luck! Nice landing that job, Scalloper. It may not pay much in green backs, but I'm sure the rewards will be worth it and memorable. I'm really anxious to hear about, and see, photos of the place and all the yotes that will no doubt hit the dirt, eh, snow. Keep us posted.

 
6mm06 – The camera is Bushnell's model # 119477C Trophy Cam HD Max. A friend of mine has had two of them for a year now, and was really sold on them so I gave it a try. Only had it for a month now, so far no complaints. Runs on 8 or 12 AA batteries, with Lithiums it has worked well down to 5 degrees (coldest we've seen so far this year). My friend has gotten a year out of one set of batteries, keeping it out all winter. Holds up to a 32G HD card, and will take either photos or videos as well as a field scan option which I think could be really useful. Because it is black IR flash, only takes B/W photos and videos at night, but a reasonable trade-off to lose the flash IMO. Here's a few night photos of various critters so you get a better flavor for what you get. Cheapest I found online was around 230.00, I am thinking of getting another one soon for what it's worth.

EK000066A_zps26d8de9f.jpg


EK000021_zps32468866.jpg


EK000138_zpse5b4aaa7.jpg



Funny how the bobcat looks like a ghost in all its photos...

I already tried the driveway patrol, did the antenna mod on the receiver, and results were inconsistent. But I hadn't realized the mod could be done on the transmitter as well, so now I guess I will try that route next.

Meanwhile, I tried out a friend's pair of Gen 1 binoculars, with built in IR illluminator, and felt I was really at the limits going out to my bait site. Also, I have an 80 acre wood lot I own with a couple friends, where I shot my first yote years ago. A huge adjacent lot was clear cut two years ago and I'm thinking I will be putting in some hours calling out there this winter. There are a few open areas where I would likely be seeing out to 200+ yds. With this in mind and after hours and hours and hours of reading all the posts in here and the night hunting forum, I think I'm gonna take the “buy once, cry once” approach and go with a Gen 3 set up. Had a good phone conversation Saturday with Kevin at HTRN, and I will be pulling the trigger next week on either the MX-160 or PVS 14 mono with all the trimmings. I'm pretty excited that this will be a dynamite setup that will handle everything I can throw at it for years to come.

Scalloper – what a freaking dream job, I'm definitely jealous!
 
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Well, the camera certainly does do a good job. Night photos and video from the ones I have experience with, are the same - black and white, but that's OK. The main thing is to have a camera that works well and records what visits the site.

That's great about either the Mx-160 or the PVS 14. You will own the night with either of those two. I like the idea of the MX-160 since you can use a day-time scope and have Gen 3 night vision.

As to the Gen 1 stuff, you are right that it's very limited and basically not worth mentioning - UNLESS you use the IR lights that I have mentioned so much previously. Those lights transform a Gen 1 into a whole different critter. BUT, it's limited to a fixed position, such as a bait site. I really couldn't ask for much more than my Gen 1 scope at the moment, for the price. Away from the bait site and the IR lights, it won't cut it.


 
xxleftyxx,
i just ordered a mx160 with the jackrabbit quick mount from kevin at htrn last week. i should have it next week. after wanting one for a few years, like you i decided the pay once route would be better. the gen1/2 setups may of worked at my bait sight like 6mm-06 uses but wouldnt cut it on other spots as i do also like to get out and call as well. another thing i have had happen several times was i would have the alarm go off and the yote would be far away from the bait so in that situation the stationary ir lights wouldnt help
 

Originally Posted By: deerslyr1xxleftyxx,
another thing i have had happen several times was i would have the alarm go off and the yote would be far away from the bait so in that situation the stationary ir lights wouldnt help


That's very true. The IR lights illuminate the immediate bait area, but any distance outside that area would appear dark.

I'm anxious to hear how the Gen 3 stuff works for you guys at your bait sites.
 
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