Night bait pile shooting

Darknight

Darknight

Member
For those of you who shoot coyote at night, do you see any trends on what time most of your coyotes show up? Does wind tend to cause coyotes to not show up?
 
Waaaaaayyy too many variables to place a time on it. Done a ton of shooting over bait piles,..weather, coyote population in the area, pressure on that particular area,...etc..

If you have a few areas you bait in,...throw a trail camera on em and keep daily weather logs to match up with the pic's. Might get ya some idea...
 
Very sporadic for me. No real pattern that I could ever tell. I would say if you broke the night up in 3 segments, the middle segment is when the most would come but you are still looking at least 4 hour window at that. I think 6mm06 keeps better records than I do, maybe he will chime in.
 
For me it seems the colder the better with lots of snow, so they are burning up alot of energy. When the weather is mild I have watched them walk right by a bait pile but when the weather is cold they will travel to a bait pile at all hours of the day just to get something to eat.
 
My best luck has been 12am to 3am. stick the bait close to cover and use a blind. For what it's worth I've seen a bait go untouched for 3 weeks, but once they hit it they will typically keep hitting it regularly until it's gone.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. It's snowing sideways with 30 mph winds & the coldest temps of the year. I'd be curious if they hit the bait tonight.
 

Darknight,

My experience has been that coyotes can show up most any time of night. I do see patterns "sometimes" with particular coyotes. For instance, recently I had a coyote visit the bait site a few times, all in early morning, something like 4:00 to 5:00 AM. Every time it visited it would come around that time of morning. Particular coyotes seem to have preferences when they visit, but I have seen them on a schedule and then suddenly change and come earlier.

I have had a lot of coyotes hit the bait one night and then not return for several days or even weeks. You can never tell, and while sometimes there is a pattern, many times you can't tell when they might show up. I cannot figure why they would leave a bait site knowing bait is there, but they do and may not return for a while.

Trail cameras are your friend and it's best to check them regularly for any pattern. But also, if a coyote hits my bait site one night, then I try to stay at my cabin the following night and sometimes even a second consecutive night. I go early in the evening and get settled in before dark. I don't want to arrive after dark since I might spook one if it happens to be in the area. My most productive method is to stay at my cabin the following night once they hit the bait, but I have experienced many times when they would not return the next night.

When coyotes are in the area and actively hitting the bait, that is the best time to hunt. They may stay in an area for a few days and then move on for a while. They will return sometime later but it could be weeks. I currently have a good bait pile and it's now been close to two weeks since a coyote last visited. Go figure. It will most likely show up again unexpectedly, but may only come one night and then be gone again. That makes for some difficult hunting.

I have also noticed that coyotes tend to visit at certain time frames, though you can't always count on that, but I have seen it enough to keep those hours in mind. Good times have been around 9:00 PM, 11:00 PM and from 1:00 AM to around 5:00 AM.

Having said all of this, one thing you can count on is that you can't count on coyotes being consistent. Bait hunting is not as easy as most people think. It's actually a lot of work keeping a site baited and cameras checked, not to mention time spent in the cabin, as well as disappointments.

Just be prepared to stay the entire night when you do hunt, which means having a warm and comfortable place to lay your head for some rest.

Hope this helps.



 
Originally Posted By: DarknightThanks for the tips guys. It's snowing sideways with 30 mph winds & the coldest temps of the year. I'd be curious if they hit the bait tonight.

I'd imagine I'm having the same weather here too. Got up for a snack middle of the night and figured I'd scan the bait pile and the field behind it. Had a big ole dog in the middle of the cut corn field mousing like crazy. Showed no interest in the bait pile and never came any closer then 200 yards. Got alot of it on film with the new dvr/photon xt set up...I'll try and upload it and share it here later.
 
Thanks for your post guys, I knew you did a fair bit of bait pile hunting so thanks for that. Also liking that photon video. I'd be curious what the 6x looks like.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
 
From an Old coyote hunter getting back in to it with a new Photon. I use to hunt over fresh dead livestock and whitetail gut piles when available. Never could see any real system to why and when the coyotes hit them. Came to the conclusion that a warm meal is better than a frozen hunk of meat until they don't have that warm one. Knowing the bait piles around and them being high on the food chain they can always come back and get a bite when pickins are slim. Also Weather will obviously always be a factor with any quarry you hope to outsmart.
 
If you want to up your odds, "call" off your bait pile, this will rile up the local dogs that think that your bait is their personal McDonalds drive through. They will throw caution to the wind to come and inforce their territory, especially here in the east where there are so many family groups shoe horned into small territories.. make sure you use those coyote vocals with a little prey distress, make it look like there is a yote party in progress.
Remember coyotes above all care about territory more than anything else...Just like your dog, he could be starving, but when a strange dog walks by your house what does your dog do?
 
I've often wondered on windy inclement weather nights if a bait pile gets more attention since it's easier to go to the "burger king" than it is to find it/smell it & kill it in the wind. Just thinking out loud to see what others think. Thanks for all the sharing!
 
BAYSTATE YOTE said:
If you want to up your odds, "call" off your bait pile, this will rile up the local dogs that think that your bait is their personal McDonalds drive through. They will throw caution to the wind to come and inforce their territory, especially here in the east where there are so many family groups shoe horned into small territories.. make sure you use those coyote vocals with a little prey distress, make it look like there is a yote party in progress.
Remember coyotes above all care about territory more than anything else...Just like your dog, he could be starving, but when a strange dog walks by your house what does your dog do?
Click to expand...
Friend of mine tried that calling over bait told all the dogs in that area we're here!
 
I see this 7 year old thread has been resurrected. Good to keep discussions going.

I will add to my previous statement. In the last few years I have noticed a new trend. I can’t explain it and don’t understand it. First, my most productive time to hunt has been on the 3rd or 4th night, meaning the night of the hit is #1. I am now finding that most of the time they do not return the following (2nd) night. So, when a coyote hits, I plan on hunting a few consecutive nights, and as I mentioned, my best success is either the 3rd or 4th night. A couple years ago I stayed at the shack for 5 consecutive nights and killed it on the 5th. Nothing etched in stone here, but just a pattern I have been seeing over the last three years. As with coyotes, that can change at any time.

Something recently I have noticed is that coyotes will be on the farm, sometimes even as close as 75 yards of the bait and will not hit the bait. I suspect, without knowing for sure, that it was a previous female that got away after I shot the male. This year this event has happened several times, which leads me to believe those particular coyotes are educated.

As to calling at a bait site, I have tried that numerous times to no avail. However, a coyote has to be within distance to hear the sound, and since we don’t have a big population of them, there’s a good chance none heard the call.

One last thing that I am beginning to see more frequently is that for some reason, coyotes are attracted to skunks. I have shot a couple of skunks and had coyotes on them the next night. This year I shot one and put it at the bait site. Hadn’t been seeing coyotes for while, and the very next night two coyotes were on it. They drug it around the site, and rolled on it numerous times (trail camera video confirmed).

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
I see activity around moonrise/set and wind/weather front changes. During bright moons, I want to be in the blind when it starts to snow. Or the hour or 2 before gusting winds(over 15 mph) when it is below zero. Back on the 10th-12, New moon according to my tactacam. I had visits during daylight at 2 locations. Going to watch for that in the future.
 
Almost every new bait setup for me, the first evening after they have fed on a bait(sunset-2 hours after ) I will see a coyote. I usually go into stands at least an hour before I expect coyote activity. Shoot or spook a coyote at/near a bait usually pushes other coyote to visit later. If I have some on camera hitting the bait 2-3am or after, if I can shoot one or 2 the rest will usually try to hit the bait earlier. But seems like they won't be consistent, each evening visits will get later.
 
Last year I had a fishing buddy who knew I had thermal gear ask me if I would show it to a friend of his. That guy was 86 and using night vision. I helped him order a scope and scanner as he doesn't have internet. He has been baiting for about 14 years. Started hunting by moonlight then rigged a security light to shoot out of his living room widow. When I met him he was using a Sightmark set up. He also has a deer hunting hut about 15 ft in the air on his 25 acres. He has kept in depth records and weighs each one he kills, male or female, weather conditions and such. He has killed over 400 coyotes since he started. He helped me get started last year. I set up a bait pile 97 yards from the upstairs window of the log cabin on my buddies 300 acre farm. I have a driveway alarm on the bait. I have killed a few there but more opossums than coyotes. This year I set up a bait pile on my BIL's farm just 65 yards from his grandsons shooting shack which sits on the ground. I started there Jan 2nd with 2 deer. I have shot 11 coyotes with 2 of them being runners that I couldn't find. I've had one 3 dog night and two 2 dog nights and 2 singles. I have a Tacticam cell camera on it to monitor times they show up. I'm seeing a pattern of good activity on a falling barometer and no shows on rising. With the help of opossums, crows, buzzards and now 2 golden eagles the've nearly eaten 5 deer. I'm having a ball and so far my call has not been turned on in 2024. There are a ton of guys here calling at night and it got real tough calling. I'm going to start a journal to keep track of the info.
My only fear now is keeping enough bait. I think I need to keep a journal about when deer get hit a lot on the highways. By the way that now 87 year old guy has become a good friend. I'm 67 and I told him I want to be just like him when I grow up!
 
Back
Top