Calling while floating a river.

Stub2

Stub2

New member
I have been thinking about floating small rivers in my area and calling coyotes. I would use a light weight craft like a small kayak so that I can lift over downed trees that block the rivers every once in a while.
I am thinking shorts and old tennis shoes would be the dress of the day, with a camo shirt. A low maintenance gun like a single barrel shotgun would be good for the wet conditions. A small e-call in plastic bag placed down stream and up wind along the edge would be used.
I would use rivers that flowed through public land. I would use sounds that would be natural to hear from distressed animals that live along rivers.
The rivers being small and brush covered would offer mostly close shots. I would hide in kayak along one edge of the river and watch for a coyote to stick his head out of the brush to investigate the sound coming from the call located close to the water.
Any of you hunt this way, or have a system to get coyotes along rivers and creeks?
 
I did a float hunt once for raccoons about 15 years ago. I did a trial run during the day so I could see the terrain. I played coon puppies the entire trip. It was a challenge to say the least. We got two coons and a grey fox. Didn't have many coyotes around here back then.
Joe
 
I ve been checking rivers in my area to float. The best rivers to canoe on seem to be getting a lot of use by people, especially on weekends. These rivers also seemed to have alot of the shoreline that is private property.
Rivers that tend to have more public property seem to be loaded with down trees and are smaller in nature. The small rivers twist and turn frequently making shots of any distance difficult.
I had a trapper in the area advise me that the biggest concentration of coyotes are near the smaller rivers in our area. At this point I think I will call near these rivers but walk into the calling site rather than attempting to float.
By walking in I will be able to set up on higher ground rather than at water level. I will be able to set up on land that I know is public rather than guess property ownership while floating where it is difficult to see.
If the river was open I could come into a stand very quietly, but if there is a lot of trees and brush blocking the river it will be impossible to be quiet. Also, I don't have to figure out how to get back to my vehicle if I walk. I would need to have a second vehicle down stream waiting for me when I was done which would be difficult when hunting alone.
 
I love calling Ozark river corridors. I have rivers that wind through hundreds of thousands of acres of public ground. In the fall and winter there aren't many folks on the water. A few fishermen and a few sucker giggers. Floating opens up the backside of a tremendous amount of ground that otherwise is extremely hard to access.

I've even done an overnight horseback pack in hunt. It was a fantastic hunt that I'd love to repeat.
 
I knew that if I started sounding discouraged someone would come on board to cheer me on, Iam not surprised it was you GC!
 
You can do it. It takes planning and preparation. It's easier with a partner, makes the vehicle placement thing easy. I'll tell ya though, when I'm in deep winter on a cold snowy gray day and way back in the middle of a big block of wild country and can't hear a man made sound all day, about the time I build a little fire and cook or warm some lunch up - I get a very selfish and warm sense of satisfaction. Right then I don't care one bit if I have fur in the boat, though I usually will. It's just the most peaceful serene feeling...
 
GC:
Now you are talking my language! Looking forward to the adventure. Preparing the tools and gathering the supplies. Advancing into the unknown, with a sense of confidence.
There needs to be a goal, maybe going for fur or trophy. Others understand a person trying to reach a goal. If one was to go into the unknown with no goal he would appear foolish.
But if they only knew, the adventure doesn't really begin until you develop a bit of confusion/boarding on being totally lost. When one sits, staring into the flictering fire made from a single match. Darkness settles in along with the brisk chill of night. Sipping tea boiled in a small metal cup hanging over the fire nourishes the soul and warms the body.
There are few that know, you have to be totally alone and lost in nature to find yourself. There lies the adventure.
 
"There are few that know, you have to be totally alone and lost in nature to find yourself. There lies the adventure".

I have been camping, less than 20 miles from home, and have felt this feeling. I have also been in the jon boat on the river, less than 10 miles from home, and had this feeling.
I have also been on my motorcycle and high in the mountains a 100+ miles from home, and had this feeling,,,,, Nothing like it.
 
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My mantra...

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
 
I agree it is not the distance from home that makes the difference. It is the state of ones mind.
When I was still teaching, I would start to school 2-3 hours before school started every day, walking several miles through parks and trails. Each morning I would stop and make breakfast on alcohol burning stoves that I made from empty pop cans. Most mornings breakfast was simple, usually tea and oatmeal. There were spots that had a roof over the picnic tables, which proved handy on rainy or snowy days.
There was a small town surrounding me but the parks are totally vacant at that time of morning. Most of the school year the parks and trails were dark. A cheap headlamp allowed enough light for me to see while walking and cooking.
When the snow was deep, snowshoes were the order of the day. When we had heavy rains there was a tunnel under a railroad track that would flood knee deep. It was a spot I had to cross each morning to get to school. On days with heavy rain I carried black garage bags and used them like waders to cross under the tracks.
I would arrive at school early enough to clean up and change clothes, before the buses unloaded. My school day started by being outside and greeting kids as they stepped off their buses. Mean while most members of the teaching staff would be inside the building waking up to their second cup of coffee.
The couple of hours of hiking around town was as good as being 50 miles into the wilderness.
 
I use a boat/canoe to access a lot of remote and some not so remote but non-accessible by road lands.

You might want to check your state laws concerning access, land below mean highwater line may be accessible on navigable water. I float rivers and set my caller on gravel bars and pull the boat in on the far bank. There is a lot of BLR & ACOE lands along rivers and impoundments that will give you access to lands that are a very long hike from a road.

I ran both fall traplines and spring beaver lines by canoe from remote tent camps for many years. I usually had literally months of comp. time in the winter.

I took a midlife retirement and spent three years living in a tent on a lake in northern WI, designed and built a retirement home for my parents, hunting fishing and trapping the whole area by canoe, I had about 40 miles of rivers and lakes all accessible from my parents land. After the house was done I moved the tent to northern MN and spent a couple more years doing the same up there. It was a great time in my life BUT it was tough, cutting firewood, working the beet harvest and doing odd jobs when the funds got low and I decided that I needed to put together a better grubstake to do it again and went back to work for 20 years and now I have Uncle Sam supplementing my grubstake and It is a much easier life.
 
AWS,
Wow!!! What a story. Let me make a wild guess, you aren't married? As a kid what you did was my dream. I think lots of guys dream of living off the land in some remote area the way you have. However, I don't think many women have the same dream, especially if they are going to have kids.
When you were alone out in the wild, how did you get back upstream to your camp? Do the coyotes come out to the gravel bars you called from or do they more often hang up in the brush along the river?
 
Jbl makes a blue tooth speaker that is 100 percent waterproof. Just tie a 1 foot lanyard and float to it. It will fit inside a 40oz beer can with ease and gets loud.
 
One of my canoes was a square stern with a 3 hp motor to help with the upstream work, some years I partnered with a guy that ran a land line and he'd pick me up at a bridge crossing in the evening. I've been known to leave my bike at the downstream pull out and ride back to the truck, a five mile bike trip can be a whole day on the river checking/setting traps, fishing, jump shooting ducks or getting in the back country for a deer hunt. I still own three canoes, my old sq. stern, a light trip canoe and a big double ender for ricing(store back in WI). Your right no wife at the time but I did meet a lady that grew up living like that her family moved back to town when the kids started high school she might still be out there somewhere.

My EX and I lived pretty much a subsistence lifestyle for 10 yrs before, both running traplines, gardening, hunting and foraging for wild foods while we had rural jobs. I've remarried and my wife of 29 years is very comfortable with me off doing my thing for months at a time as I am her traveling the SW in HER motorhome, most years now I meet up with her mid winter and we travel together.

The coyotes will come right out on the gravel bar, for most of them there is nothing to fear in the river bottoms.
 
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A large john boat, small motor will get you into some mighty rough spots, plenty of room for your gear. Have a plan with your hunting partner, and very good maps.

It may be illegal for you to shoot from a boat...check the regs.

Amazing how much game is on small islands.
 
I like your style. I wanted to try doing the same here in AZ. Yes we have water. I thought there can't be that many hunters on lake powell.

In AZ i have to get a hunting lic and duck stamp, to shoot ducks, and can do so from a boat.

I cannot shoot predators from a boat.. Go figure.

I just put the call out on a bar, and using the electric motor moved down the bank a bit, and stat at the edge of the brush line.

Worked well for me. The coyotes would come busting in, and most of the time it was a shotgun deal.
 
I've been looking seriously at hunting lake Mohave if the hunting north of Katherine's Landing is any indication of the rest of the east shore it should be awesome. Although rockier the west shore in NV should be great also as I've killed coyotes between the shore and the interstate working in from the highway
 
This is usually a shotgun deal and the best is a marine magnum or even the Remington 870 with the composite stock. Mine has been completely underwater with me twice. LOL Yep things happen when doing this exciting and fun stuff. +1 on getting someone to take the truck downstream or at least a partner to help with things.
 
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