Late summer strategy

Z

Zcustom

Member
Trying to get in a few days of coyote hunting before deer season starts. Made a trip up north and definitely a different landscape than winter. Between the full foliage on the trees, the thick underbrush my winter strategy got the boot.

I focused on mature timber stands that had as little undergrowth as possible. Brought in one coyote to 20 yds and dumped him with the shotgun, the second one came in behind me 30 seconds later to pup distress. He spun around just as I did and slinked away dodging the two rounds of #4buck I sent his way.

This strategy is definitely more confined, my entire view was less than 50 square yards. I have struggled with limiting myself to such a small landscape but it is working so I'll stick with it.
 
It's tough to hunt the thick stuff, there's just no way around it. If you know exactly where the coyotes will come from you can set up to maximize your advantage, but they can come from anywhere and often wind you before you ever knew they were there. Persistence is obviously important, because you're not going to call them in every stand, but most importantly I believe you really have to have confidence in your calls, because you'll doubt the entire ordeal when you don't see anything in your 50 yard field of fire, even though you may have had one approach just out of sight. It's important to recognize just how difficult it can be, and truly savor and appreciate those occasional successes
 
Originally Posted By: ZcustomTrying to get in a few days of coyote hunting before deer season starts. Made a trip up north and definitely a different landscape than winter. Between the full foliage on the trees, the thick underbrush my winter strategy got the boot.

I focused on mature timber stands that had as little undergrowth as possible. Brought in one coyote to 20 yds and dumped him with the shotgun, the second one came in behind me 30 seconds later to pup distress. He spun around just as I did and slinked away dodging the two rounds of #4buck I sent his way.

This strategy is definitely more confined, my entire view was less than 50 square yards. I have struggled with limiting myself to such a small landscape but it is working so I'll stick with it.


This summer was the first time I got into the thick stuff with a 12 gauge, and like you had one come in real close (but I missed). It's such a rush that I actually enjoy it more than the cold winter nights scanning desolate fields, waiting for them to break cover. It's definitely made me rethink a lot of my winter hunting, and has me contemplating more thick timber when the snow flies.
 
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