Still struggling

KjBeachy

New member
Some of you may have seen my post about how i cant shoot one single cotton picken coyote.

Time after time after time they have defeated my buddy and i, and it is getting to my nerves.

We are hunting at night with a green spotlight.

We have seen two fox, and that is about all.

There is two main places that we hunt.
1. We have a field by our woods that we lay down in.
2. A tree line we sit in that overlooks a creek bottom.

And we cant get anything.

I usually start off with a rabbit distress, play distress sounds for about 20 minutes, then we leave. We know theres coyotes there, we can hear them. They howl all the time, but we cant get anything called in!

Have you got any tips for us?



P.S. There is other land I can hunt, i just haven't got around to exploring it.
 
My question is, how often are you hunting those 2 locations? If you're calling weekly on just those 2 spots then I'd say you're definitely over calling those areas and educating the critters.

I would suggest go explore other areas and give those a break for a bit. If you don't have a lot of places to hunt just go ask land owners/farmers in your area. I've had pretty good success landing spots that I never imagined and only because I'm predator hunting. Most people are really open to the idea of cutting down on the coyote population.

Also, we've been EXTREMELY slow here the last month or so. Since deer season came in full swing it's like the light switch went off.
 
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Originally Posted By: TN_predatorsMy question is, how often are you hunting those 2 locations? If you're calling weekly on just those 2 spots then I'd say you're definitely over calling those areas and educating the critters.

I would suggest go explore other areas and give those a break for a bit. If you don't have a lot of places to hunt just go ask land owners/farmers in your area. I've had pretty good success landing spots that I never imagined and only because I'm predator hunting. Most people are really open to the idea of cutting down on the coyote population.

Also, we've been EXTREMELY slow here the last month or so. Since deer season came in full swing it's like the light switch went off.


We were hunting them 3 times a week at the most, and we haven't been doing it but 3 weeks, so i have been coyote hunting for 3 weeks lol.
 
#1, IMO you're over hunting your spots. 3x a week for 3 weeks = 9 times. I don't hunt the same place that many times the whole season. You have probably educated the coyotes to the point that they will be all but impossible to call in.
#2. Ditch the green light. If you have to use a light, switch to red and hope for the best.
#3. Find more places to hunt. A lot more. You need places that you can hunt on different winds, different moon cycles, etc.
 
Originally Posted By: 1trkyhntr#1, IMO you're over hunting your spots. 3x a week for 3 weeks = 9 times. I don't hunt the same place that many times the whole season. You have probably educated the coyotes to the point that they will be all but impossible to call in.
#2. Ditch the green light. If you have to use a light, switch to red and hope for the best.
#3. Find more places to hunt. A lot more. You need places that you can hunt on different winds, different moon cycles, etc.



Heres the deal, if we never manage to call them in, and basically never shoot at them, then how are they getting educated lol. I have been running this around in my mind for a long long time.
 
Just because you have not seen them does not mean that they don't know that you are there.
They see you, and your lights, they hear you, and they smell you. Once they do any of those things, they will associate your call with danger.
They might circle around you staying inside the cover but they won't come out.
 
Originally Posted By: 1trkyhntrJust because you have not seen them does not mean that they don't know that you are there.
They see you, and your lights, they hear you, and they smell you. Once they do any of those things, they will associate your call with danger.
They might circle around you staying inside the cover but they won't come out.


I agree 100%. I will only hit one piece of land at most 1 time per month. Like to keep enough spots available that I'm not over pressuring and have plenty of options for different winds/moon phase.

Often times we'll get a call saying "Heard a bunch of coyotes last night on my property in case you want to come hunt". If we've hunted that recently we still pass up on them just for this reason.
 
Green light is much more visible than red from the side. A good friend and light guru showed me by pointing a green light at the sky straight up. If you look at it from the side, you can see the beam clear and bright as day. Do that with a red light and it's about invisible. Eastern coyotes are tough, especially when you have a budget like we do and cannot afford thermal and nv. Get a good set of lights and hunt with someone who knows how to use them. Less is more for the most part people use too much light and are not very disciplined when using them in the field.

I agree that you have over hunted your land. Don't worry about it, just give that land a break and knock on some doors. It will amaze you how fast you can get great land to hunt by just asking the right land owners. I have had coyotes howling and just won't budge only to have them sneak in the back door after an hour or so of silence to sniff around and see what all the commotion was about.
 
Been said, but You definitely Need to start bouncing around onto some new properties. There's some things that successful callers do differently, but other things that really aren't up for debate. Having Lots of ground to cover is one of them. Another, is knowing how to set up.

Personally, I think starting out concentrating on some daylight hunting might be more beneficial to a beginner caller. Once things start happening consistently and you really start to understand how responding predators act, then add night time setups to the mix.
 
Well, im gona be able to hunt some potential land soon. This man has cows that are calving right now, and he just recently found a 125 lb doe that was taken down by yotes, so he really wants something to happen, because a new born calf is easy prey for yotes....
 
Originally Posted By: KjBeachyWell, im gona be able to hunt some potential land soon. This man has cows that are calving right now, and he just recently found a 125 lb doe that was taken down by yotes, so he really wants something to happen, because a new born calf is easy prey for yotes....

Sounds like a potential honey hole!
 
Originally Posted By: 1trkyhntr#1, IMO you're over hunting your spots. 3x a week for 3 weeks = 9 times. I don't hunt the same place that many times the whole season. You have probably educated the coyotes to the point that they will be all but impossible to call in.
#2. Ditch the green light. If you have to use a light, switch to red and hope for the best.
#3. Find more places to hunt. A lot more. You need places that you can hunt on different winds, different moon cycles, etc.




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When I see people giving advice I often look up threads they've started to see if they actually kill anything. I don't need to do that with 1trkyhntr because his smiling face is standing with a critter all the time in this section. There's a lot of armchair quarterbacks but his advice is right on the money.
 
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I agree that you need to switch to a red light. Also, a light is a tool like any other tool, if your scan light is being used correctly it will not only act as your concealment but you will also be able to condition the predator to the light as it is approaching. If used correctly you will not need to lay down in the field you can actually sit or stand in the middle of a cut field and call predators right to you. Some things to keep in mind when using a light is light discipline and make sure you are using defused light to scan with. It is important while scanning to remember to keep the scan light on the approaching predator the entire time until you transition over to the shooting light.

I also agree that you are over calling the areas. I am out several nights a week and only call the same area 3 to 4 times in a season.

I have a lot of questions about how you are calling. How loud for prey sounds and how loud for vocalizations? Calling continuously or are you leaving silence in your call sequence? Is the call close to you or is it being placed out in front of you? Can you see down wind? Are you using the wind to your advantage?

There is way too much to put in this thread so if you would like feel free to give me a call between 9 AM and 7 PM and I'll do my best to get you on the right track.

Joe (814) 364-9660
 
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