Okay, I need to get serious

Mojo700

New member
I finally saw a deal I couldn't pass up. Foxpro via Amazon dropped the price of the Hammerjack to $253 today, so I am gonna hunt coyotes. I had a Johnny Stewart call way back with cassette tapes that I purchased primarily for snow geese, but I had a coyote cassette that I played a few times and got a few long shots at coyotes, but I never tried too hard. The Hammerjack is a pretty good deal, has a decent remote with decent range, comes with a decoy, has dual jacks for auxillary speakers if more volume is needed, comes with 100 sounds, and 111 free downloads, and holds 300 total - so I can use it for snow geese as well as coyotes.
I have a coyote spot that needs some thinning not too far from the metro area in MN, I also have some spots in northern and central WI. This new spot has multiple coyotes literally on the roof of the homeowners house at night. The house is on the side of a hill, and the snow on the uphill side gives them enough height to jump onto the roof - terrified the homeowners, they have kids and pets, they also have turkeys, pheasants and deer that they want to help protect from coyotes, and asked about culling the pack. I volunteered. At the bottom of the hill is a small lake/creek that has hundreds of tracks crossing the ice in the wide open, they cross 400 yards of wide open ice with zero cover. I have to assume these coyotes have never been hunted. I want to thin them a bit, but don't want to completely burn this spot, the homeowners said they'd be happy if I could keep from hanging out on the roof. I'll be using a shotgun with TSS shot (I load my own for waterfowl hunting already) and I promised I wouldn't shoot before sunrise or after the kids bedtime at night.
So I just bought the Hammerjack, and I need to know which calls to purchase and when to use which one and why.
This is a pretty cool opportunity, so I would really like an education on how to go about this. I'm counting on you guys. I would ideally like to hunt this spot a few times each winter and a couple times in the spring. What do all of you recommend?
Thanks for any help.
 
First off, welcome to the insanity. Be ready for a tough learning curve. It takes a bit more than getting a call to be a caller.

Coyotes are pattern oriented and it can be tricky to get locked onto the pattern. I live by the 3 strikes rule. Run a stand 3 times the same way. If nothing shows up you change one thing. Change a call, volume, then run the new calls 3 times.

The problem you're going to have is that you're not going to be able to call those locations more than a few times eaxmch season. So you're going to need a lot more areas. I would start basically with prey calls, birds, bunnies, pup distress.
 
Thanks SnowmanMo.
I agree that it takes way more than just getting a call, which is why I came here to get advice from experienced hunters.
Maybe folks here don't like to share their hard-earned knowledge with a new guy, that's fair since you earned it, but I have to say I'm disappointed in the lack of replies.
 
Welcome Mojo. First let me say some of us aren't on here every day so you're not being ignored, we just didn't read you yet. When trying a new spot I usually start with something like nutty nuthatch, titmouse tantrum or rodent sounds. Won't start up the local farm dogs, and you can move up to the louder distress from there. Maybe the turkey calls will draw them. Barn cats might be a good next move.Then throw anything. Foxpro has about 30 or so sounds you can download for free. Good luck and don't get discouraged it'll happen.
 
Watch the wind, make sure the coyote will have to be kill able on your downwind. Even if you think they haven't been hunted, they probably have(their territory is several square miles). General pattern Fall-prey sounds,winter coyote vocalizations/coyote distress,spring fawn sounds. Localized conditions may require special sounds, I have used chicken,pheasant,barn cat even raccoon /fox distress. I see more people educating coyote than killing, watch the wind, movement,be quiet setting up.
 
I've been having luck with female coyote vocals over the last week, I haven't heard much howling in the last few days though. I called in 6 that I know of over the full moon, 4 of them with female howls and a rabbit distress bringing them in within 6 minutes, one of them came from far off and i had played a few sounds before it made it to me (I followed his tracks a half mile to within 200 yards of my front door) and the last one I never knew was there until I saw the tracks.

If you learn how to call them in during daylight let me know. I've called them in twice during the day, once while turkey hunting with turkey calls and once kind of on purpose, mostly on accident, I just sat down and heard a flock of crows in the distance and I thought it would be interesting to have a flock of crows flying around the call as I played a distress. So first I turn on a crow call to get the crows over me and next thing I know 10 seconds later a coyote jumps out of the weeds 25 yard in front of me, first it looked at the call then at me when I lifted the rifle and it was gone again. I was busted before the crows even made it overhead a minute later.

I was just out with a friend this morning, no luck, we actually saw a coyote run into some weeds only 75 yards away as we walked into one spot. But daylight hunting, good luck, from what I have seen they are 10x less likely to show up and they are going to be 10x more jumpy.

Like Spotstalk says, be quiet, if you can sneak a call in right under their noses they get excited about it, if they have a chance to circle, think and get down wind it makes the game a lot harder with all the vegetation and micro terrain in this area.
 
Just a little to add. I don't night, well not since I left MN 40 yrs ago, we used to call fox on the snow with moonlight back then. It is much easier to call coyotes during the day in the cover than to try and call them out of it. Figuring how to call in the cover is more difficult, a remote caller helps a lot.

As far as what calls to get, the ones on the caller already will do nicely for quite awhile, if you can wait to collect on the free ones until you have some miles under your belt and get to know what others are having success with. I still use just the same basic distress calls that I've used for years. If they are going to come in just your basic rabbit, bird and rodent call are going to work.
Sure "Lightning Jack" or some other popular call might be burned in your area but there are lots of different rabbit, bird or rodent calls on the caller.

I would hunt some other areas first to get the hang of it before heading to where you want to try and pull off some control. Learning to work the wind, sit on a stand, handle your firearm on a stand. No sense going into a good spot and find you can't get your gun on target when the first one comes in.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction.

 
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Originally Posted By: Mojo700Thanks SnowmanMo.
I agree that it takes way more than just getting a call, which is why I came here to get advice from experienced hunters.
Maybe folks here don't like to share their hard-earned knowledge with a new guy, that's fair since you earned it, but I have to say I'm disappointed in the lack of replies.


Oh no, I think there are plenty of folks who are more than willing to "share" advice. But most are not going to walk you step by step through what to do/not to do.

That being said, I agree with the guys to watch the wind. I tend to set up with the wind across one shoulder or the other. I set my call out 60-85 yards when I'm hunting with a rifle. Most coyotes I see approach from down wind but will often approach from the sides/rear of the call. So if you set up this way you will get the most opportunities to get a shot on a coyote.

In terms of what calls to use, it really depends on the weather and time of season. The colder the weather, the hungrier the coyotes will be. So prey calls will work good. But when they shift to breeding, then howls work better.

Again, get out as much as you can. The more you call the better the odds. I usually call 10 or more stands per day. I usually call in a coyote every 3 stands on average. Of course I still have blank days, but then I also have those days where every stand calls in multiples.

Take what advice you can, and give it a try. Then come back and share your experiences and you can build on them with the input from the other hunters here.

Good luck.
 
Wow. Now that's more like what I was expecting. I guess since I see over 100 people viewing this forum at most times, I thought there would be quite a few responses right away. Sorry I doubted you guys.
Now that we're in mid February here in MN/WI, I assume I should be using calls geared for mating season? Can you give me ideas on how you would put together a calling sequence for this? Do I want to sound like a female looking for company to start, or do I want to start with more subtle prey sounds and build up to something like Tony Tebbe [beeep] in Heat? Is there a point where I should start to sound like an aggressive challenger? male or female? When do I transition from mating to denning season here in MN and WI? What kind of sequence for that?
Unfortunately, I won't be able to work this particular location in the dark much, but I asked the homeowners to give me details on when & where they see/hear the coyotes and tracks - especially after new snow, and they are eager to share info.
Sorry to have so many questions, but realistically I will probably only get a hunt per season, maybe two, at this location, so I'm trying to do it right the first time. I don't want them to get educated before I do.
Thank you for all the help.
 
Welcome to PM. If you stated size of the property, I missed it. The smaller the property the fewer times you should hunt it to prevent burning it out. Watch the wind, sneak in to your stand and change setup as many different ways as size/shape of property/wind direction dictates.

This time of year, I usually start out w/a couple of female invitational howls (Foxpro). Pause a few minutes and then let female whimpers run a couple of 5 min. or so sequences w/pause between. If that doesn't produce I try a short distress, pause and pup distress just before moving on.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: Mojo700Wow. Now that's more like what I was expecting. I guess since I see over 100 people viewing this forum at most times, I thought there would be quite a few responses right away. Sorry I doubted you guys.
Now that we're in mid February here in MN/WI, I assume I should be using calls geared for mating season? Can you give me ideas on how you would put together a calling sequence for this? Do I want to sound like a female looking for company to start, or do I want to start with more subtle prey sounds and build up to something like Tony Tebbe [beeep] in Heat? Is there a point where I should start to sound like an aggressive challenger? male or female? When do I transition from mating to denning season here in MN and WI? What kind of sequence for that?
Unfortunately, I won't be able to work this particular location in the dark much, but I asked the homeowners to give me details on when & where they see/hear the coyotes and tracks - especially after new snow, and they are eager to share info.
Sorry to have so many questions, but realistically I will probably only get a hunt per season, maybe two, at this location, so I'm trying to do it right the first time. I don't want them to get educated before I do.
Thank you for all the help.

I would try BOTH a male AND female call sequence. You really have no idea what gender or how many coyotes you have. Both have been successful for me.

Throw a howl out and let it sit, and don't make a sound for several minutes. I usually get them howling back to me with the same howl. I respond in kind then give them something to focus on, like rodent squeaks or puppy distress.
 
I feel pretty good about my chances now, thanks guys.
From the homeowners reports, the coyotes always come from the far end of the lake along the shoreline or from over the top of the hill, and spend quite a bit of time in their small yard. I was thinking that if I place a caller out in one of the many small clusters of cattails on the ice, pointed down the lake, the sound should get to any coyotes in the area. I would hide in another cluster of cattails just downwind on a day when the wind is coming from down the lake, so I stay downwind. If they come from over the hill, I'll see them picking their way through the woods, and if they follow the shoreline, I should get a shot when they get to the shoreline with only tree cover.
The property is adjacent to a meandering waterway that goes for about 3/4 mile, with 2/3rd cattails 1/3 trees for shoreline (trees are primarily concentrated at the base of the large hill). Nearly all the adjacent land is flat farmland and cattail slough, except for the area near the homeowners who gave me permission, they are midway up a large wooded hillside, it's one of only 3 houses for about a mile along the waterway.
I'm sure I could burn this spot quickly, but it's not far from home, and I should be able to learn from it, plus if the coyotes learn to stay clear of that property, the homeowners will be happy, and hopefully I'll save a few turkey lives, so I'll have more of them to hunt in spring.
 
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