Question for all you coyote hunters

N

Nciyotehunter

New member
We are in the midst of several weeks of shotgun deer season here in Iowa. Obviously this is going to have an effect on coyotes during this time. My question is how long will it take after the season closes for the coyotes to get back to their normal routines again? Or will this effect them for the quite a while now. I haven’t even had any on my cameras the last few days although I’ve been hearing a few at night. Just wondering what you seasoned coyote hunters opinions were. Thanks.
 
They'll be active once you have a deep freeze. Just because they are not as vocal doesn't mean that they are not curious or hungry.
 
Deer season shuts them down for a while plus it takes the numbers down. Then Christmas will bring out a bunch of new callers, and with most seasons coming to a close everyone(ok not everyone) will be coyote hunting. Not impossible but it's going to get harder. Just don't give up!
MasterBlaster
 
Like MB said,the biggest issue is the population is decreasing with all deer hunters and the ones left have PHDs. For me December is tough, by mid January it picks up and then February and March can be real good because if you find them, they usually come in pairs or more at a time. It seems January and February is when they start to roam a long ways, and new coyotes fill the void left from the dead ones. But this past weekend, I saw coyotes each morning out doing thier thing so they are still callable. The odds of a response are just not as good as a couple weeks ago.
 
I highly suggest getting out and scouting.

I made a stand at first light this past Sunday, which Saturday was the last day of rifle deer season. Upon walking towards my stand I picked up on about 4 sets of human boot prints, and truck tracks in and out. I followed them the whole way to the top of field, loaded with goldenrods with a thinned out section running down the middle. Intermixed with human boot prints (no deer drag marks or blood) were TONS of coyote tracks. It left me dumbfounded, and was the last thing I expected to see. All the tracks were fresh (within 24 hours of each other).

It was 11 degrees, so maybe the temp had them moving. All I know is that I've been finding coyote tracks on top of human boot prints in places I least expected it. Also, a guy I talk to who hunts western PA just dropped 4 coyotes in 7 days, during our rifle deer season. He put in a lot of miles and hours, but he's still killing them. I'm too old to pull the 7pm-6am shift anymore. Ha-ha! I'll take what I can get and be satisfied.
 
You can go out and have a record day the day after deer season is over or make 20 blank sets. The only way to know is to go out and see for yourself. Everyone is going to have their own experiences and just confuse you anyway. Someone said that it gets better in Jan or Feb, in my experience the hardest time of year to be consistent is in late Jan or Feb. You want to get better at coyote hunting? Go hunting more...
 
Get off the couch and do some hunting.................


If & When you figure out a Coyote and their patterns - Send me a message..........


In the mean time ..............i am going hunting!!
 
Hunting during and shortly after the big game seasons is usually pretty poor for me. Why? Because of all the gut piles and wounded animals that die without being found, there is a large food source for a week or more.
 
I hunt coyotes all year round, even during big game seasons, and we do just fine. I would think that maybe an increase in people traffic occurs, which I know burns us on more than one stand, but I really don't think that coyotes shut down. They still have to eat. Maybe they go more nocturnal. But I don't think that there really is a time frame involved with being more successful after a big game season.

I would just stay at it. I think it's probably more likely that they change their prey preference than deer hunters really effecting them.
 
So a friend of mine and I got out right before dark tonight. Only had time for one stand because of a little thing called work. Anyway, we began calling right before dark and about 14 minutes into the stand a yote comes in at about 400 yds and just stops and looks around. We tried everything but apparently he was coming no closer. The guy I was with was itching to shoot his new gun chambered in 6.5 creedmore so he took the shot anyway. To my surprise down went the coyote. Definitely gave us some hope that coyotes would still respond during and after shotgun season. A lot of fun tonight! And it was a nice 38 pound male.
 
There is a huge difference in big game hunting in the Midwest and Western states.

I'm originally from WI and MN. Big Game seasons there are a week long and on opening day there can be 500,000+ hunters in the woods(2017 WI Deer license sales toped 774,000) and just about every piece of public land and most of the private lands have had red coated boots on the ground.

Out in the west most of the states sell far fewer licenses, many have draw systems for big game and the seasons are spread out. There are far more areas that hold coyotes that are not attractive for big game hunters. In WA I can hunt coyotes during big Game season and never see another hunter. In MT bird hunting during big game season I rarely see a big game hunter. I'm living in NM right now and while driving around I don't see cars parked along the roads in great coyote country, I could go out and never see a deer/big game hunter.

I suspect that during deer season in the Midwest coyotes become very nocturnal, if they don't they are dead. Most deer hunters see coyotes as competition and they kill everyone they see so night time is safe and with the abundant supply of food(wounded , unfound and gut piles) there is no need to be on the hunt, just stay hunkered down and survive.
 
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