coyote hunting in central missouri

C

centralMOguy

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I am new to coyote hunting and need some advice. Me and a buddy are based out of Sedalia MO and have been trying hard to start calling in coyotes. We are using a foxpro wildfire and have tried everything from different coyote vocalizations to distress calls of all sorts without having any luck. We have watched different calling shows and stuff trying to see how guys are doing it but still no luck. We usually sit anywhere from 15-30min and try to play the wind. Any tips pointers and advice would be amazing! We really wanna get in on the yote killing. We also make trips to NE MO and southern MO hunting
 
I am actually having better luck with hand calls at this point in the season. Only using ecaller for finishing call.

Howls mixed with some barks. Pup distress blended into rabbit distress. Ecaller hot button set for rodent distress.

Sets on ridges with some cover here in Mo (1st season in Mo as moved in July); ecaller upwind, crosswind and in edge of cover with decoy below me is ideal.

Unlike Ks, I have not had success calling Mo Yates into open areas.
 
So is it better to hunt woods versus open fields? We have mostly been setting up on the edges or fields and pastures using the elevation when we can in our favor. Do most guys use shotguns or rifles in Missouri? We are really trying to get this figured out.
 
Ive been hunting my farm in S MO for 25 yrs.. Predators just the last five.. We have had luck calling bobcats out to open fields but have yet connected on the ole dogs!! The topic of calling coyotes into an open field or setting up like you described in your initial post is how we normally set up and now that I'm hearing more and more about the difficulty of calling yotes into these open fields I'm quickly becoming a believer.. I was in Marshall MO on a friends farm and we called for two days, all day, field edges and called in Zero!!! I watch the same shows and try to duplicate and have yet to do it!! I know our numbers are down here in S MO where I am.. Less Sightings deer season, no trail cam pics, some scat and prints, hair in fence.. I know some are here!! Needless to say I'm headed to the timber.. It's just hard to visualize a set up because you never see timber sets on T V.. But I have no doubt it is probably our missing link!!
 
Yea we spent this last weekend up in NE MO at my farm up there trying to call yotes. Had absolutely no luck. We can call in and kill crows but can't seem to figure out the coyotes. Guess we will have to try the woods and see how that goes
 
I'm going to try and get out in front of this storm scheduled for later this week.. Hopefully it leaves us with some snow!! Good Luck to you!!
 
Its alot tougher to call in coyotes this time of year vs. calling them in early. By now most coyotes have been called in and been shot at or watched one of their buddies get shot. They start to associate distress sounds with danger the later in season it is. Or atleast thats my way of thinking. I have killed 13 coyotes since the November portion of deer season ended up until about 3 weeks ago. Seen several more that didnt get a shot at and all these were called into open fields. I prefer to use a rifle bc bc most of my shots are not going to be up close and personal. I have used a shotgun on occasion but you are limited on far you can shoot by quite a bit. My advice to you would be to start as early in the season as you can if not saving fur. Start hunting them in late Sept. or early October and your chances will greatly increase. Also do a good bit of scouting. There has to be coyotes in the area your calling. Look for tracks and scat along fencelines, creekbeds, dirt roads or anywhere that would make an easy travel route for coyotes. Just bc you hear coyotes at night doesnt mean they will be there in the morning. Ive also noticed that coyotes are moving later in the day this time of year. We have been seeing them out and about between 10:30 and 2 while driving around. Keep after em and good luck.
 
we have been doing quite a bit of scouting. finding lots of track/scat/and hearing them at night. we just cant seem to coax them in. what volume should the foxpro be set at? and how long should we sit? i know this is a varying opinion but im really trying to figure out what we are doing wrong, or not doing quite right
 
Depending on the actual locale,,I've found down in Cooper and Howard counties, you really need to sit quietly for a little while before starting up your calling sequence...That's my normal area in the river bottoms and surrounding area..

Most of the Coyotes around there have been chased and shot at so much that any indication of human or motor traffic and they will lay low for a little while...

If they think you have just passed through, you might have a little more luck..Also, use a pair of binoculars to scope out the tree lines for movement before approaching where you are going to set up...If they are moving up wind (normal) you can come in behind them and have a chance to call them back to you..
 
I have found we have better luck setting up in the early mornings or late evenings....the late evenings have worked the best for us,we slip in to a spot about 2 hours before dark and stay there til dark,we start out with a few barks and a little distress sounds and wait a while then do more of the Coyote vocalization closer to dark.We've had several Coyotes come in close to Us but it either got dark on us or they would hang up on the Property we didn't have permission to Hunt on...but we did get them to answer our calling and got 2 Packs come in towards us 1 evening which makes for a pretty exciting day no matter what!
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We usually Hunt the heavy Timber and over-looking open field edges or simply thick timber/woods!We usually watch the heavy woods when first calling then watch the field edges and woods closer to dark.Its been a tough year and the Coyotes are pretty wise...we have called in a few Bobcats when they were in Season,my Calling Partner missed 1 then I messed up my chance with me forgetting my safety position on my CZ Rifle.


Another Friend of mine called in a Coyote one early morning in the heavy woods with His Johny Stewart Caller on Rabbit in Distress but missed when he lead the shot on the Coyote with his 12 Gauge Shotgun!

I've seen plenty of sign,tracks and had several pic's on my trail camera late at night...seems the Coyotes are pretty nocturnal like Deer lately!


I can tell You another time and situation when to really get those wise Old Coyotes....wait til the Farmers start cutting hay and mowing fields...the Coyotes really like scanning fresh cut fields looking for rodents,field mice and rabbits!

Another thing to do is be sure and try to be scent-free and spray down with scent killer to hide Your smell.There's going to be some nasty weather come in here thursday morning...if we get some snow that would be a good time to go out and try it some more!
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