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Eastex

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Hey I'm new to the forum but have done a lot of reading here over the past year or so. I got into coyote hunting about 3 or 4 years ago and never really had anybody to go with to learn from. I bought Byron south videos and learned what I could from there. All has been well up until this year I had pretty good luck and pretty good success rate. My first year of hunting I called in and killed 15 or so coyotes and around 25 last year. This year has been a different story, I think I shot around 10 this year. I have a few questions as to what could be the issue. I use a foxpro firestorm and some hand calls. I got in good with a cattle rancher that has quite a bit of land and has also gotten me on to other ranches, I currently have about 8000 acres to hunt that is split up into 12 different pieces of property. I never have had good luck night hunting at all. Here is how my normal stand is , I set up on the edge of a tree line or a thick fence line and start the fox pro off soft for the first couple minutes or so, I then usually kill it for a few minutes and start it up a little louder I do this over a period of 20 minutes and maybe a little longer if I have high hopes for the spot. My fox pro goes up to volume 20 and I have never called with it past half volume and most of the time I usually stay around volume 7 or 8. I am always cautious with the wind and usually try and call cross winds or wind in my face. I wear full camp face net and gloves and sit so still that my whole lower body is asleep. I know something is missing or I'm not doing something quite right. I also have enough places to call that I'm always calling a fresh spot and I usually give each places 3 or 4 weeks rest after being called. One thing I can say is I have honestly never went out and located coyotes and I was reading an article where the guy said he will go out the night before and use a howler to locate coyotes for the next mornings hunt. I never have don't this and didn't know if it was that important? We hunted a tournament here a while back and I gave all my places 2 months rest before the tournament. We called 22 different stands and didn't call in a single coyote. Sorry for the long read but I'm a little frustrated because of the good success I have had in the past.
 
Welcome Eastex, I don't have the type of ground you hunt. I just hunt small farm lots here in Indiana so it's a whole different game so I won't be of much help with your questions. But welcome to Predator Master, whole lot of great information and help. I use the search function at the top of the page if I am looking for something specific. Lots of nice people here!! Good Luck to you!
 
Welcome sir.
As for the lack of coyotes called....Maybe you are doing something wrong, and maybe you are not. It goes like that sometimes....where you might go several trips (even weeks) w/o seeing anything.
There are varying opinions on pre-hunt howling.
I have never done it myself, so I cannot give you a true opinion on doing it.
I have always kept my howling solely during stands.

You said that you gave your area a "2 month rest" before the tourney. I am just curious if that "rest" also included not doing any pre-hunt scouting for current sign (like say, a couple weeks before the planned hunt?

Obviously, I am assuming that you have called coyotes there before.
But, you never know. Something might have happened during those 2 months, that changed the habits of any resident coyotes.
Or, they might have simply just not been in that part of their territory when you were there.

Whatever the case may be, I wish you much success in the future.
 

Welcome, I agree that you may not be doing something wrong. With your past success I would think that you are just going through a down period, sometimes the animals just move off or you call where they are not.

I would not change too much of what you do, if it has been working in the past it should work now. Make sure there are coyotes in the area by scouting and looking for sign before you call the area. Remember you can't call em IF they are not there!

Good Luck
 
Welcome to Predator Masters.....You might be educating the Coyotes,change it up,use different sounds or techniques and maybe even try going in and only use a few sounds or even just Coyote Vocals?
 
Sounds to me you're covering your bases. I've never found it necessary or productive to crank the volume. Coyotes can hear amazingly low volume sounds from great distances. In fact I suspect many people cause them to become cautious by using volume that could not realistically be made by the animal being impersonated. Simply because your not getting a response doesn't mean you aren't being heard. Coyotes are very territorial and for the most part will not cross that line which is invisible to us. They've learned on a frequent basis by getting a severe butt whoopin. While I move at least one mile after shooting, I frequently move 1/4 to 1/2 mile if no shooting occurred and at times that has paid off simply because, I believe I had chosen to set up, unknowingly, near an extreme boundary between rival packs. You didn't mention how far from your vehicle you set up. I know at times some folks hunt in or close to their vehicle in daylight hours and have a modicum of success, but generally you may find better success in your area by making sure it's not visible from where you set up. Entry into your planned area is extremely important IMO, no slamming doors, bumping guns against truck or dropping tailgates, you must stalk your intended stand as if it were your query. If you cover yourself with these actions and include those you mentioned, you've done all you can do. Some days chicken, some days feathers. Keep at it, each set whether successful or not is a learning experience.
 
Lots of good advice already, the main thing is don't get discouraged. I also hunt east Texas and I can say it can get very frustrating at times. A few tips I could add is after you've called places multiple times you are less likely to get them to come out into wide open fields. Call a little thicker areas where they have cover to come in. Second call open areas in the woods on windy days, we call a lot in this way with nutty nuthatch. Third, try and always call close to cattle, I can promise you you'll have more success on places with cattle than acreage without. Lastly keep changing things up and trying new sounds. This time year I use a lot of whining pup sounds. Good luck to ya.
 
Welcome to PM! Where abouts in East TX are ya? Im central, NE of the Austin area.

+ 1 ! " Lots of good advice already, the main thing is don't get discouraged. I also hunt east Texas and I can say it can get very frustrating at times. A few tips I could add is after you've called places multiple times you are less likely to get them to come out into wide open fields. Call a little thicker areas where they have cover to come in. Second call open areas in the woods on windy days, we call a lot in this way with nutty nuthatch. Third, try and always call close to cattle, I can promise you you'll have more success on places with cattle than acreage without. Lastly keep changing things up and trying new sounds. This time year I use a lot of whining pup sounds. "
 
Thanks for the great advice, I kinda got discouraged and gave it a rest but I'm about to get after them again. I hunt in smith county which is about 80 miles East of Dallas. If anybody around me would like to go on my land I would like the knowledge. And to answer some of y'all's questions, I hunt mainly in the day and I park my vehicle in a hidden location and make a pretty good walk. I don't hunt much at night because I have had horrible luck at night, there have been numerous times where I would start calling a stand at night and have the dogs going crazy but never came in, so I kinda just figured I was wasting my time. But I am a welder and built a pretty nice high rack for my truck so I would like to get better to justify the rack.
 
Welcome!

Couple questions for you.......
1) Are you using mainly distress sounds or are you using any vocals/pup sounds? Are you using the same sounds?
2) Your approach to the stand is VERY important, so your approach in your truck and as you walk in to your stand Im assuming is well hidden from the place you are calling?
3) Is the area you are hunting heavily wooded or open areas?
 
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sometimes they respond, sometimes they don't. I believe it is just that simple. you have called them before, you will call them again, if you keep after them.
 
Calicoyote-
Most of the places I have permission to hunt are huge pastures I have a couple places that are heavily wooded. When I say big pastures I mean 1 mile long and half a mile wide or so. Should I focus more on hunting the woods or maybe find a small opening surrounded by woods. I usually hunt the big pastures and walk down a tree line to set up.
 
Old cat I'm hoping it is simple as that but after going out the last 15 or 20 times calling multiple stands I can't help but thinking it is some thing I'm missing.
 
Also, I am changing up the sounds. I have yet to call in a coyote using pup distress sounds even though I have heard many of people have the best luck with. I do some lone howls and such but mainly use rabbit distress sounds with some bird sounds mixed in.
 
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