Handling coyotes on a stand

Wiley E

New member
Handling coyotes Part I.

The ability to handle coyotes properly on a calling stand is one of the most important elements to your success. Experience really pays off when handling coyotes. Coyotes can be very unpredictable at times in how they approach and react at a calling stand. You should always attempt to anticipate their next move. Multiple coyotes can add to the challenge. Here are some rules of thumb that I use to try to optimize my success.

1. Once coyotes are spotted, I prefer less calling and less volume.

**I use handcalls, advice for electronic calls may differ.**

- When using hand calls, less volume and less calling makes you less detectable and is more intriguing to their curiousity.

- It also allows you time to move into shooting position.

- As long as they are coming, don't call! Your continual calling will usually just make them stop and get a better fix on you.

- If they stop, coax them with hand squeaks and squeakers.

- Always check around for additional coyotes to get in the game mentally and to calm yourself.

- Remain calm and use your head.

2. Moving into shooting position

- when you first sit down, you should always point your rifle towards the closest place that you anticipate them to come from. It's harder to swing your rifle towards a coyote standing 30' away from you than it is to move it towards a coyote that is coming in at 300 yards. Always point your rifle towards the closest blind spot so they don't bust you when you try to swing over to them.

- Slowly move into shooting position when they are moving or when they are out of sight.

- If you need to move into shooting position when they are close and standing, move slowly and deliberate.

- You can get away with quite a bit of movement at times if your movements are slow and steady.

- Coyotes have more confidence in what they see while standing then while running.

- Try to avoid direct eye contact if they are close. Look at them through your periphial (sp?) vision until you are ready to shoot.

- Check for stability in your rest and for tall vegetation in the path of the shot.

- Many game animals have what I call a "confidence zone". Their reaction when they are really close is not like their reaction when they are 100 yards away. I call it disbelief. You can't believe what you can get away with because of this "confidence zone".

To be continued.......Wiley E




[This message has been edited by Wiley E (edited 04-22-2001).]
 
Thanks Wiley, looking forward to the next installment.
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Greenside- I think Wiley meant when they are standing still. It's quiet and they can focus better than when they are running thru the brush and trying not to step on a cholla ball.
 
Coyotes have more confidence in what they see while standing then while running - Wiley (original post)

Greenside, It's been my experience that when an apporoaching coyote is running in at, let's say a distance of 100 - 300 yards, if they see something out of place, they usually will stop to focus on what they saw. They don't seem to be able to focus on an object while they are running like they do when they are standing.

Let's say you have a coyote running in towards you at 200 yards and you have your gun pointing to the side. When he is running, you can slowly move your sticks and gun towards the direction of the approaching coyote. The coyote may stop if something doesn't look right. If you freeze while he is stopped and staring at you, many times he will keep coming and you can presume moving into shooting position.

If you move while they are standing there, they may shy and bust you. Move when they are moving, stay still when they are standing still and looking at you. This is providing that the sun does not show any glares and that your outline is broken by the cover of your stand. A coyote may shy of glare and you may blame it on a coyote that has spotted you. Coyote's that shy from glare usually just turn and slowly retreat.

I have had my bipods and gun pointing to the left and suddenly see a coyote that apeared like a phantom standing 30 yards to my right broadside. When they looked away, I made my move. When they stared at me, I never moved. Many times I have pivoted all the way around and shot them. Continous slow movement is hard even for a coyote to detect. At 30 yards they will see you blink. Most of my missed shots in recent years can be blamed on vegetation in front of my gun that I failed to notice until it was too late. Wiley E
 
The only way I know how to handle em is to call them in to range give em aloud WHOOOOOP and shoot em,oh I almost forgot the most important part,you gotta have the wind at your back.LOL right Wiley.
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radams. . .

Hooooowdyyyy!

Welcome to Predator Masters...

I hope you become a regular here at our humble home.

I also must add that I stopped by and checked out your personal web page...excellent job.

The best to you and hope to see more of you in the future...
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http://www.predatormasters.com
 
Wiley, Excellent, Excellent post! Well written. This should really help the guys just starting out! I wish I could have read this when I first started, would have saved me few headaches and questions. I'm sitting on the edge of chair for part2!
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Steve
 
Wiley E.- I was also starting to wonder when part deux was on it's way- I have first part printed out- it would make a good poster to have in the fur shed.....trappnman

I hear you are pretty much taking it easy this summer, so whats up? LOL

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Your American Heritage- Fur Trapping, Hunting and Fishing
 
I would add one more thing for people using handcalls by themselves. Never call while the coyote is staring at you. This may sound obvious but you would not believe how many people I have seen just lay on the call from the sec they saw the coyote till it ran off. I like to wait for the coyote to be looking in another direction. As Wiley mentioned they just don't have as much "concentration" while on the move. I also will chime in right when the coyote begins to move again with just a couple squeaks to keep him interested. They usually won't come to a stop. They remain a little more "lost" for lack of a better description. It seems to keep their curiosity up. Even though the coyote pretty much has you pinpointed from the first time he hears your calling, I think it helps not to confirm his suspicions. Usually, unless I'm howling, as soon as I sight the coyote, use of the the call ends. Then I switch to the hands free, quiet and subtle, "lipsqueak". Don't think they won't hear it. It carries for hundreds of yards. Every time that coyote stops and locks his stare on your position, stop all movement and calling. Once he starts moving and is looking away, you can get away with a lot of movement. That's the time to adjust aim. Anyway, that's my 2 cents for what it's worth.
 
Curt,

In most situations you are right in saying not to call if the coyote is staring at you, but like Wiley E stated you must use your head. Evaluate the situation for what it is worth.

Last January I had a coyote that locked up at about 300 yards and wouldn't move. He was facing me and all I could see was his head and neck. He was standing at the edge of some head high grass so he could be gone in a flash. Lip squeaks and a bulb squeaker did nothing due to a stiff crosswind. I figured that he had lost track of the calling due to the wind and having to manuver his way through the grass so I opened the flap of my jacket and called into it(with a jackrabbit call) to muffle and distort the sound a little. After I ended a series of squeals this way he broke into a slow lope towards me and stopped at about 250 yards broadside in the open-his mistake. All this was recorded on video.

A guy has to be flexible when calling. Once in a while try doing the unexpected. If I ever get around to putting together a video I will call it 'Breaking the rules for coyotes' because that is what I do much of the time. But when I break the rules, there is always a reason.

I have one area that I call that is so wide open that in some places there is nowhere to hide the truck. I park the truck in the best hiding place that I can find(even though it is still very visible from most directions) and walk out about a quarter mile and set up by sitting next to a rock, laying on a mound of dirt, or sitting next to the only bush for miles and start calling. My hunting buddies think I am nuts until I start calling in coyotes, sometimes getting them in on every stand. Nobody else calls this area because it is so open. You would be surprised how close these coyotes get without them seeing me. And I am also surprised sometimes at how close they can get without me seeing them!
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Calling this type of area requires a guy to do things a little differently. Knowing the country helps a lot, and being able to handle coyotes with a call is a must because they are often in site for a mile or more.

Good luck and take care,
Daryl


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[This message has been edited by Daryl (edited 05-15-2001).]
 
I guess I made the mistake of using the word "never". Like the advice just given and all before it, no technique is set in stone and will not apply to all stands. Predator calling is a very fluid, ever changing situation. Being adaptable is a positive trait that will add to your success. Predators are like people and each has their own stimuli that will motivate them more effectively. If a caller gets in a rut and use's the same calling sequence over and over, that caller will most likely see his or her success drop off. Coyotes have a better memory than most of the people pursuing them. Change ups are mandatory for continued success. Calling virgin areas and having coyotes run over the top of of a guy can give himself the impression he is a real pro. Dumb coyotes can be ridiculously easy to call sometimes. It's fun but not very challenging or fulfilling. The true challenge is the educated livestock killers with a full belly. Taking a educated, problem coyote only adds to the feeling of accomplishment.
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Later, Curt
 
Wiley, great advice to anybody that calls predators, I'm not so sure there are rules to this game, but there is good advice and you just gave it. Wiley, you said something about a disbelef zone, I know I'm not alone by saying this, you ever see a coyotes eyes when he figers out he's been taken? A look like (holy S--T did I mess up) I know lots of guys have seen that look hehehehe, GOOD HUNTING TO ALL.
 
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