Best time to hunt coyotes in central Ohio?

Hunting around central ohio? the most important thing is location,location,location,,that is important hunting them anywhere,,but really important here...what i look for is land that borders some of the thickest stuff imaginable,,or big woods in the middle of nowhere,,where the pressure is lower...that would be a good starting point..as far as time of day they are nocturnal,,but they gotta eat.....X
 
That's what I have,several fields bordering thickts and woods that are only there because the ravines make them unfarmable. It is my private land and there aren't many others out hunting them, but I have been unsuccessful so far (only have gone 4 times so far).
I understand they are nocturnal so that it why I got a good night vision scope and have been going at night, but want to try daytime, it is so cold here at night right now
 
anytime right now is good. all day long and as much as you can go. they will be territorial and moving pretty good in search of food and most likely paired up. we got out today and seen 3 coyotes. one at 730 this morning and 2 paired up right off the road at 1045am mousing in a field. if i couldnt call the breeding season the next best time to call would be sept/oct when the pups are out.. these are the times i hunt the hardest and stay out as much as i can.
 
Ok I will keep on it. I have some old meat and a deer carcas I was going to try baiting them. Caught them on my game cam at 3:30 AM which is when my neighbor says they come through here. They killed a whole deer in my back yard and left nothing but a bunch of fur and bone fragments
 
Nightwatchman

I have hunted coyotes for the last few years and thought your best chances of killing a coyote was the first two hours after sunrise and the last two hours before sunset. Is this for certain times of the year? Doe's it really matter? I have never killed a coyote, but have called in about seven coyotes and have never killed one. All of them being evening hunts.
 
with it being so cold at night, they will feed at anytime, they have to eat to keep warm. The last couple of hours of darkness and the first couple hours of day light and the last couple hours of day light and first couple hours of darkness are best. unless they are pressured then the wee hours of the night are best, (midnight to about 5 am).

one other tip. use a sound they haven't heard before, I use the distressed Kitten sound and it will bring them running, also the fawn bleat is good. good luck and happy hunting.
 
buck, i read an article once a coyote has to have like 2lbs of protein a day to survive.... in cold weather thats hard to come by and that means they are going to have to stay active in search for food to sustain their systems. a few years ago i was hunting extremely hard the months of jan/feb... most of my success in jan was between 10am-1pm.... and they were being just as vocal at that time as they were at say 2am...(thats not saying i didnt call them in early in the morning and late in the evening, but i was having just as much success mid day as any other time) it made me a believer to stay at it all day when i could.. i called in 27-28 coyotes just the month of jan that year... i didnt get them all but they were responding great. i cant vouch for spring and fall weather when mid day temps still sore bc ill be honest, i dont stay out that long in temps like that but in winter months when its staying in the low temps ill stay out all day if i can and hunt it just like its the first stand of the morning or the last one of the evening..
 
Great answers guys.

I have another question. How long do you guys sit for a one setup 10,20,30,and 40 minutes? The reason I ask this is because I have heard many different opinions, like sit for 45 minutes to an hour, or sit for 20 minutes and try to cover as much ground as possible. What works for you? I figure nightwatchmen that if you called 27-28 coyotes in one month, you must know what your doing.

My other question is, how often do you call in one sit. For example, do you sit for the first five minutes in silence then do you do a series of calling then silence for the rest of the hunt? How long do you call? Now keep in mind that I own all except one of the Primos predator hand calls and have pretty much mastered their sounds.

I live in Northeastern Ohio, where there are lots of hills and brush country. I also own an SKS with scope that is accurate out to 200 yards.

Any of your guys opinion would be greatly apperciate, since you guys are so good ate.
 
the amount of time i sit on stand sometimes depends on the location... if im calling a bunch of rolling pasture and small woodlots or wideopen country i might sit for an hour especially if ive scouted the area out and i know the sign is there or ive seen plenty of coyotes. it all depends on how long you can stand to sit there. id say most of my stands average 30-40 minutes... i made a stand last year in a fresh snow. i walked about 500 yards up the road into one of our pasture fields that the coyotes were using as a travel route and set up right before dark. i called there for 35 minutes and decided nothing was going to show. i had set up facing an old road bed thinking the coyotes would use it to pop up on me based on the way the wind was blowing. after i got done calling i jumped up and headed to the house to call a neighbor to ask permission to call his farm. on the way in the house i realized i forgot my face mask laying in the snow. i jumped in the truck and drove up to the gate and walked out to get it.(i might of been gone nomore then 20minutes) when i got there i was greeted by two sets of coyote tracks that came right up to where my butt was planted in the snow and kept right on going. needless to say i was tore up by blowing a setup like that but at the same time,i realized in this type of terrain you never know how long it will take the coyotes to respond. ive heard alot of guys say they only stay 15 minutes. that might be fine in certain areas of the country but i know calling southern ohio for as long as i have, most coyotes are not as quick to respond. ive had some that ran me over literally and ive had others that were cautious coming in.
as far as calling sequences. this time of year i use alot of vocalizations to start my stands and will end them with distress sounds typically. in sept/oct i use more distress sounds and less vocalizations. i will do a distress sound for a few minutes then pause. if i switch sounds i will wait 5-7 minutes before starting a new sound.
 
So for an example of what your saying, your saying that you do a seiries of calling, like a locater howl then a jackrabbit. Then you wait 5-7 minutes before starting a new series or a new sound. So are you giving any coyote out their a 5-7 minute window of opportunity? Correct me if I am wrong. I just want to make sure I am doing it right before I hit the woods with your tactic.


Also, do you use the lunar table or moon phases to tell you when it's best to go out. Doe's it really matter?
 
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Originally Posted By: buckshooter2Also, do you use the lunar table or moon phases to tell you when it's best to go out. Doe's it really matter?
buckshooter2,
Welcome to Predator Masters!
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I don't hunt at night, if I can see my shadow on the ground.

Good hunting, Bowhunter57
 
all guys do there setups differently i guess... the past few years ive had alot of success using vocalizations to begin my stands in dec-mar... so i might start a stand off with an interrogational howl or an invitational howl... ill do a couple sequences of that vocalization and then shut up for about 5-7minutes... if i get a vocal response ill continue the vocalizations.. if i dont, then ill wait and start into a lightning jack or a rodent distress sound or something else... if i start out with a lightning jack sound then ill let that call go for about 2-3minutes... ill go through a few sequences and if i decide i want to switch up sounds then i wait another 5 minutes before i switch the sound up... i hardly ever use the same routine on every stand..
alot of guys will do it alot differently then i do with great success so dont just settle on one calling routine... find one that works for you and as you start to call coyotes in you will find yourself improving on your setups and calling sequences... just remember to pay attention to what you do right and what you do wrong and remember it for the next setup..

bowhunter57 is right... i wouldnt waste my time on a full moon either..
 
Where about are u at. Full moon has a lot to do with everything in nature, not only hunting. I'm sure u can do some searching around and find some scientific answers, but I've never had any luck predator hunting or deer hunting. Not saying it can't be done but ur success rates drop
 
I am very skeptical about the moon phases myself , but my last coyote I killed in march was on a full moon night with snow on the ground . The coyotes were going crazy that night . Called in four and killed 1 .
 
Originally Posted By: bulldawg21981I am very skeptical about the moon phases myself , but my last coyote I killed in march was on a full moon night with snow on the ground . The coyotes were going crazy that night . Called in four and killed 1 .

What happened to the other 3?
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I know the deer sure do feed at night that's why it sucks to hunt the next day. Predators on the other hand I don't know if its because they don't feel safe enough out in the open to hunt or what the deal is. Same with really clear nights around here. I know people that won't go out on a full moon. For me I go out whenever I have time, just love being out there. Why are u so stuck on the full moon thing?
 
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