Utah Coyote Hunters
I decided to share the areas I have hunted for years. I will not be come back to Utah to hunt coyotes so here you go.
I have been seeing MANY of you complaining about not getting coyotes in the heavily hunted areas around Cedar Fort, Skull Valley, Tooele Valley, Cedar Valley, Utah lake area, Loft Green, Vernon, Dugway, Delta, etc.
You go out and see tracks, you see the scat of the coyotes and fox but you are not seeing the coyotes and fox when calling.
Well I have hunted these areas for 26 years, till the summer of 1999. I know that allot of the areas have built up allot since then and the coyotes and fox are still there. You can bet they are there and getting fatter too.
Yet you can not get them to come into the stand you are doing.
I have seen on other boards many hunters in other states having the same problems. Well I am going to state what I had seen in the time I was there in Utah and how I remedied the no show on the coyotes and fox.
One:
Every Tom, Dick and Harry there in Utah has a distress rabbit mouth call. In their truck or around their neck. They think that all they have to do is camo up and sit down in the brush and blow the call to get coyotes/foxes.
Because of this, you as a coyote hunter have to change your ways.
Just like the coyote and fox have done.
Because of all the hunters blowing the calls the coyotes and fox now know not to respond to these calls. The coyotes and fox will sight hunt for the rabbits but not respond to the sound.
You need to CHANGE as the coyotes/fox has. Change the sounds you use to get the coyotes/fox to come in to your calling stand. You also need to change the placement of your calling stands too (I will cover this more farther down).
Check out the areas you are calling. SEE what pray is in the area for the fox and coyotes. If you are near a body (Lake, pond, river) of water. A regular duck/goose mouth call blown not as loud, as while hunting for the ducks or geese will bring in coyotes/fox. Plus you need to blow the call with one Quack, quack then stop same with the goose call. Remember you are in the western flight way for the water fowl. I have seen the ducks and geese in the dry wheat fields during the winter. If the stubble is above the snow or near (within 100 miles of water) the water fowl calls will work.
If you are in an area (within 5 miles) where there are some houses with chickens, ducks, turkey, goats, sheep, etc.. Use distress calls for these animals.
A turkey call (any of them) use NOT like you were trying to bring in turkeys. Make it sound like you are a lost turkey looking for a companion.
If you have an electronic caller (home made or a commercial) get the sound of the farm animals in distress. These sounds will bring in the coyotes/fox.
In the spring use the pup in distress calls or the fawn distress calls.
Remember with the seasonal changes so changes the diet of the coyotes and the aggressiveness of the coyotes/fox. In the spring and early summer howling works great too.
All the call shy animals in the area have not heard many of these calls. So they will respond BUT THEY WILL BE VARY LEARY in their response. Because they have been shot at by hunters using distress rabbit calls. They were suckered out to the open and got shot at. Remember the old saying, wonce burnt twice shy. This applies to these very cunning animals.
CHANGE WERE YOU SET UP YOUR STANDS:
Two:
STANDS
Most of you set up where you can see for along ways off. Hoping to see the coyotes/fox coming in
You see nothing so you stop calling and head out to a new area too early.
STOP!!!
You have just educated another coyote or fox.
Why you think.
The coyote and fox will watch the area from the washes and heavy cover to see if the sound is really a human. Some will sneak in by the washes and the sage. They will take allot longer to come in. When you get up and leave after 15 to 20 minutes, they (coyotes/fox) think yup more humans and leave.
I have made stands and called for 15 to 20 minutes. I thought that there was nothing in the area. So I too got up. But I went walking and looking for sign.
When I went into the washes and heavy cover I found places where the coyotes had laid down and watched either me or the area. When I got up they left thus I had re-educated them. So I changed the duration on my calling and the placement of my stands.
I set up in the washes or the edges of the washes where the coyote/fox felt safer responding to the distress sounds.
In some places I even got in the wash and used a hand gun or a shot gun.
If you make a call with a different sound and in the area that the coyote/fox feels safer. Plus for a longer time. For 45 minutes to an hour.
You too will start getting the call shy coyotes/fox.
Just remember you too have to change the way you hunt when the coyotes/fox will not respond.
Think like they would.
Would you want to expose your self to the open areas?
If you were shot at responding to a rabbit call would you respond again?
Now this is not gospel like the good book. Each area in Utah is different. So you have to change for the areas you are hunting.
In the mountains coyotes/fox will respond better to one call than the other then the season will change and you have to figure out which call to use again. You have to make your stand closer so you will probably have to use a handgun or a shot gun for the close shots.
In the desert coyotes/fox you will have to change to the washes and the heavy sage. Use a shot gun with a back up for the longer shots.
Now hunting around the sheep herders out in the desert.
Get permission to hunt around the sheep. You can get permission from the herder or the owner that the herder can contact for you.
Do not use a distress call at all.
Use a piece of sheep hide and a lamb call. Some times the herder can supply a piece about one foot square. (if you offer them a trade of a case of bud) They use the sheep hide for insurance means of proving depredation to the sate.
No distress.
Just a tape of a lamb bleating. Tie the sheep skin piece to the top of the sage but out in the open set up away from the skin. With a long range rifle. And wait.
I have done this many times, for the herders when the coyotes were giving them problems. You can sit all day watching the bait (skin) playing the lamb sounds and not get a thing. Then there were days I ran out of ammo and get over 25 coyotes too.
Doing this can be a fast or famine way of hunting but the herder and owner of the sheep will thank you.
Now this is just what I have seen in the 38 years in Utah hunting the hunters.
HONEY HOLES
Coming in from the north end of Skull Valley towards Dugway Proving Grounds. On the main road On the South end of the Skull Valley road before the “S” curve. There is a road to the right take it to where you drop down to the bottom in the saddle there. Stop and walk to the edge of the step down to the valley floor. Set up and call the valley. I have pulled more than a dozen coyotes off the valley floor in the past years.
Follow the Skull Valley road to the north the first paved road to the east, before the Indian reservation turn to the right. This road will travel across the valley to the Johnson Pass road in the mouth of the canyon. Along this road is great hunting from the vehicle just before the storms and after.
From the Johnson Pass road in the mouth of the canyon there is a road that goes to Look Out Pass, Pony Express and Erickson Pass. You will drive on this road through Whites ranch. If the gate is closed when you get to it make sure you close the gate when you go through. If it is open leave it open when you go through.
All long this Lookout pass road is great road hunting in the morning and evening. As you get nearer to the Pony Express you will see many camp grounds. If no one is in there camping call the open areas to the west of the camp grounds.
Following the road farther to the Pony Express make a left on the Pony express road. About ¼ up the Pony Express turn off the road to the right. Take it . This road goes up and over Vernon Mountain and drops you down to the Erickson Pass road by the Mormon Ranch. Call around this intersection. There is allot of cattle there and the coyotes love the caves and the fawns in the area.
Turn left on the Erickson Pass road (4x4 needed in winter or when it is wet). Follow the road to the south. There are numerous places to call. All your standard calls will not work for the coyotes are called allot in this area. It is also an area where people dump the house pets (cats and dogs). You will need to use a cat or pup distress tape or a gray fox distress tape to get the coyotes to respond in the Erickson Pass area. In the spring, a fawn call works great in the area. For a lot of the mule deer fawn in the pass. Because of the water and the feed that is there all the time.
Go over the pass to the Delta valley to the south. There will be a ranch on the right after you get to the bottom. It sits about a mile back in towards the west. Calling this area is good but there is allot of callers that come in there. From the Little Sera Sand dunes state park area.
This area is called very heavily /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif and if you do not use an electronic caller you chances are very slim on getting any response. With an electronic caller use a distress tapes of a sheep it works the best.
Going down the road from the ranch you will come to a fork in the road. The sign if it is there Cottonwood springs, Coyote springs to the right. If you take Coyote Springs route you will go around Simpson Spring Mountain to the south. When you get to cottonwood spring park in the trees of the spring. Walk to the end of the drainage to the south. Set up in the willows. Call the flats you will get good response with any bird distress calls.
After the cottonwood springs area travel around the mountain to the south. As you travel you will see a loan cedar standing along a wash. The wash should (usually) have a trickle of water in it. JUAT AS YOU GO THROUGH THE WASH YOU WILL COME OUT AND SEE A TRAIL THAT COMES OFF THE ROAD TO THE NORTH. It will go through a gap in the hill just to the north of the road. Take this road up to the miners canyon. There are many silver mines and cabins in the canyon. In the winter you can camp in there and call the whole canyon. There is allot of bobcats and lions in there and around the mouth of the canyon there is allot of coyotes that use the area to get out of the winds that always blow out there. Rabbit and fox calls work great in this canyon in the winter.
After calling the miners canyon, follow the main dirt road to the south. It will hook up with the road from the north that comes in from the Simpson Springs Camp ground. It will continue to Delta power plant to the south.
Head north back towards Simpson springs. If there is any sheep herders out there. Stop and talk to the Herders (Basks) they will tell you where the coyotes are coming in from after the sheep.
Following the road on to Simpson Springs camp ground you will get up in a step next to the mountain. About two miles from where you get out of the flats from the south part of Simpson Mountains. You will come to a well traveled road to the East (Dead Mans Canyon). Go up this canyon (box). There is an old mining town in there and several small canyons that the coyotes hold up in to get out of the weather.
There are over 10 great places to call along this road so stop and call all that you come across. The area is called a lot by others but a good call of a jack or cottontail will bring in coyotes from the flats and the canyons all along the road. During the winter, fawn and lamb works great too in the spring.
The road will keep going north back to the Pony Express, just west of Simpson Spring. To the west from the intersection you will see a knob of a mountain with the top that is flat. This is called Table Mountain. At the base runs a LARGE WASH. It is called Big Wash on any maps.
This is a great place to hunt when the sheep are in the area. Set up on the ridges and watch the sheep you will see the coyotes and be able to get quite a few of them. JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION FROM THE HERDER FIRST. For they will come out shooting if you do not. A case of beer helps to get you permission.
Turning to the East on the Pony express you will get to Simpson spring. Keep on the Pony and you will hit the road you turned off form on the Pony. You will see many good spots to call. BUT call the less obvious areas then the best looking. For almost everyone uses those area too so the coyotes do not respond to calls in those places.
This is enough for now. You all get the idea that there are many places out there you can call. I feel it is not the places that are called but the calls used in those places and the caller making the calls.
So get out and explore Western Desert areas and call the less obvious areas.
Mountain Calling: Now remember I have not been there for over three years so some of the roads have changed.
Calling above Heber, Deer Creek, Strawberry and Wolfcreek pass areas:
After you top out on the top by Strawberry there is a road to the north called North Fork of the strawberry river.
Take this road north. When I last hunted this area there was no homes or cabins there.
Follow the road along and you will come to some corals with a fork to the East. Take this fork and you will get in to the quakes. Stop there and hike the tree line and call the valley’s. There is allot of prim coyotes in October through to May.
You can then continue north on the Strawberry river road and climb to the top of the mountain. Up there is many small valleys you can call in the spring calf distress and fawn distress works great. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
At the T junction turn to the left or west. Follow the road along and you will see many great places to hunt up there. As you follow the road you will come to a sign that say wolf creek pass /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif to the right or east take this road.
There are many areas there along this road that is great for calling.
Get to wolf creek you can go to the right (east) or to the left west. West will take you down to Kammas area. Right will take you too Roosevelt, Venal area.
Heading to Kammas you can turn off to Soap Stone Basin there are hundreds of good calling areas up there.
I just hope all the fires up there are out by now or it will be a great loss too all. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I hope this helps some of you Utah hunters find and get some more coyotes.
I decided to share the areas I have hunted for years. I will not be come back to Utah to hunt coyotes so here you go.
I have been seeing MANY of you complaining about not getting coyotes in the heavily hunted areas around Cedar Fort, Skull Valley, Tooele Valley, Cedar Valley, Utah lake area, Loft Green, Vernon, Dugway, Delta, etc.
You go out and see tracks, you see the scat of the coyotes and fox but you are not seeing the coyotes and fox when calling.
Well I have hunted these areas for 26 years, till the summer of 1999. I know that allot of the areas have built up allot since then and the coyotes and fox are still there. You can bet they are there and getting fatter too.
Yet you can not get them to come into the stand you are doing.
I have seen on other boards many hunters in other states having the same problems. Well I am going to state what I had seen in the time I was there in Utah and how I remedied the no show on the coyotes and fox.
One:
Every Tom, Dick and Harry there in Utah has a distress rabbit mouth call. In their truck or around their neck. They think that all they have to do is camo up and sit down in the brush and blow the call to get coyotes/foxes.
Because of this, you as a coyote hunter have to change your ways.
Just like the coyote and fox have done.
Because of all the hunters blowing the calls the coyotes and fox now know not to respond to these calls. The coyotes and fox will sight hunt for the rabbits but not respond to the sound.
You need to CHANGE as the coyotes/fox has. Change the sounds you use to get the coyotes/fox to come in to your calling stand. You also need to change the placement of your calling stands too (I will cover this more farther down).
Check out the areas you are calling. SEE what pray is in the area for the fox and coyotes. If you are near a body (Lake, pond, river) of water. A regular duck/goose mouth call blown not as loud, as while hunting for the ducks or geese will bring in coyotes/fox. Plus you need to blow the call with one Quack, quack then stop same with the goose call. Remember you are in the western flight way for the water fowl. I have seen the ducks and geese in the dry wheat fields during the winter. If the stubble is above the snow or near (within 100 miles of water) the water fowl calls will work.
If you are in an area (within 5 miles) where there are some houses with chickens, ducks, turkey, goats, sheep, etc.. Use distress calls for these animals.
A turkey call (any of them) use NOT like you were trying to bring in turkeys. Make it sound like you are a lost turkey looking for a companion.
If you have an electronic caller (home made or a commercial) get the sound of the farm animals in distress. These sounds will bring in the coyotes/fox.
In the spring use the pup in distress calls or the fawn distress calls.
Remember with the seasonal changes so changes the diet of the coyotes and the aggressiveness of the coyotes/fox. In the spring and early summer howling works great too.
All the call shy animals in the area have not heard many of these calls. So they will respond BUT THEY WILL BE VARY LEARY in their response. Because they have been shot at by hunters using distress rabbit calls. They were suckered out to the open and got shot at. Remember the old saying, wonce burnt twice shy. This applies to these very cunning animals.
CHANGE WERE YOU SET UP YOUR STANDS:
Two:
STANDS
Most of you set up where you can see for along ways off. Hoping to see the coyotes/fox coming in
You see nothing so you stop calling and head out to a new area too early.
STOP!!!
You have just educated another coyote or fox.
Why you think.
The coyote and fox will watch the area from the washes and heavy cover to see if the sound is really a human. Some will sneak in by the washes and the sage. They will take allot longer to come in. When you get up and leave after 15 to 20 minutes, they (coyotes/fox) think yup more humans and leave.
I have made stands and called for 15 to 20 minutes. I thought that there was nothing in the area. So I too got up. But I went walking and looking for sign.
When I went into the washes and heavy cover I found places where the coyotes had laid down and watched either me or the area. When I got up they left thus I had re-educated them. So I changed the duration on my calling and the placement of my stands.
I set up in the washes or the edges of the washes where the coyote/fox felt safer responding to the distress sounds.
In some places I even got in the wash and used a hand gun or a shot gun.
If you make a call with a different sound and in the area that the coyote/fox feels safer. Plus for a longer time. For 45 minutes to an hour.
You too will start getting the call shy coyotes/fox.
Just remember you too have to change the way you hunt when the coyotes/fox will not respond.
Think like they would.
Would you want to expose your self to the open areas?
If you were shot at responding to a rabbit call would you respond again?
Now this is not gospel like the good book. Each area in Utah is different. So you have to change for the areas you are hunting.
In the mountains coyotes/fox will respond better to one call than the other then the season will change and you have to figure out which call to use again. You have to make your stand closer so you will probably have to use a handgun or a shot gun for the close shots.
In the desert coyotes/fox you will have to change to the washes and the heavy sage. Use a shot gun with a back up for the longer shots.
Now hunting around the sheep herders out in the desert.
Get permission to hunt around the sheep. You can get permission from the herder or the owner that the herder can contact for you.
Do not use a distress call at all.
Use a piece of sheep hide and a lamb call. Some times the herder can supply a piece about one foot square. (if you offer them a trade of a case of bud) They use the sheep hide for insurance means of proving depredation to the sate.
No distress.
Just a tape of a lamb bleating. Tie the sheep skin piece to the top of the sage but out in the open set up away from the skin. With a long range rifle. And wait.
I have done this many times, for the herders when the coyotes were giving them problems. You can sit all day watching the bait (skin) playing the lamb sounds and not get a thing. Then there were days I ran out of ammo and get over 25 coyotes too.
Doing this can be a fast or famine way of hunting but the herder and owner of the sheep will thank you.
Now this is just what I have seen in the 38 years in Utah hunting the hunters.
HONEY HOLES
Coming in from the north end of Skull Valley towards Dugway Proving Grounds. On the main road On the South end of the Skull Valley road before the “S” curve. There is a road to the right take it to where you drop down to the bottom in the saddle there. Stop and walk to the edge of the step down to the valley floor. Set up and call the valley. I have pulled more than a dozen coyotes off the valley floor in the past years.
Follow the Skull Valley road to the north the first paved road to the east, before the Indian reservation turn to the right. This road will travel across the valley to the Johnson Pass road in the mouth of the canyon. Along this road is great hunting from the vehicle just before the storms and after.
From the Johnson Pass road in the mouth of the canyon there is a road that goes to Look Out Pass, Pony Express and Erickson Pass. You will drive on this road through Whites ranch. If the gate is closed when you get to it make sure you close the gate when you go through. If it is open leave it open when you go through.
All long this Lookout pass road is great road hunting in the morning and evening. As you get nearer to the Pony Express you will see many camp grounds. If no one is in there camping call the open areas to the west of the camp grounds.
Following the road farther to the Pony Express make a left on the Pony express road. About ¼ up the Pony Express turn off the road to the right. Take it . This road goes up and over Vernon Mountain and drops you down to the Erickson Pass road by the Mormon Ranch. Call around this intersection. There is allot of cattle there and the coyotes love the caves and the fawns in the area.
Turn left on the Erickson Pass road (4x4 needed in winter or when it is wet). Follow the road to the south. There are numerous places to call. All your standard calls will not work for the coyotes are called allot in this area. It is also an area where people dump the house pets (cats and dogs). You will need to use a cat or pup distress tape or a gray fox distress tape to get the coyotes to respond in the Erickson Pass area. In the spring, a fawn call works great in the area. For a lot of the mule deer fawn in the pass. Because of the water and the feed that is there all the time.
Go over the pass to the Delta valley to the south. There will be a ranch on the right after you get to the bottom. It sits about a mile back in towards the west. Calling this area is good but there is allot of callers that come in there. From the Little Sera Sand dunes state park area.
This area is called very heavily /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif and if you do not use an electronic caller you chances are very slim on getting any response. With an electronic caller use a distress tapes of a sheep it works the best.
Going down the road from the ranch you will come to a fork in the road. The sign if it is there Cottonwood springs, Coyote springs to the right. If you take Coyote Springs route you will go around Simpson Spring Mountain to the south. When you get to cottonwood spring park in the trees of the spring. Walk to the end of the drainage to the south. Set up in the willows. Call the flats you will get good response with any bird distress calls.
After the cottonwood springs area travel around the mountain to the south. As you travel you will see a loan cedar standing along a wash. The wash should (usually) have a trickle of water in it. JUAT AS YOU GO THROUGH THE WASH YOU WILL COME OUT AND SEE A TRAIL THAT COMES OFF THE ROAD TO THE NORTH. It will go through a gap in the hill just to the north of the road. Take this road up to the miners canyon. There are many silver mines and cabins in the canyon. In the winter you can camp in there and call the whole canyon. There is allot of bobcats and lions in there and around the mouth of the canyon there is allot of coyotes that use the area to get out of the winds that always blow out there. Rabbit and fox calls work great in this canyon in the winter.
After calling the miners canyon, follow the main dirt road to the south. It will hook up with the road from the north that comes in from the Simpson Springs Camp ground. It will continue to Delta power plant to the south.
Head north back towards Simpson springs. If there is any sheep herders out there. Stop and talk to the Herders (Basks) they will tell you where the coyotes are coming in from after the sheep.
Following the road on to Simpson Springs camp ground you will get up in a step next to the mountain. About two miles from where you get out of the flats from the south part of Simpson Mountains. You will come to a well traveled road to the East (Dead Mans Canyon). Go up this canyon (box). There is an old mining town in there and several small canyons that the coyotes hold up in to get out of the weather.
There are over 10 great places to call along this road so stop and call all that you come across. The area is called a lot by others but a good call of a jack or cottontail will bring in coyotes from the flats and the canyons all along the road. During the winter, fawn and lamb works great too in the spring.
The road will keep going north back to the Pony Express, just west of Simpson Spring. To the west from the intersection you will see a knob of a mountain with the top that is flat. This is called Table Mountain. At the base runs a LARGE WASH. It is called Big Wash on any maps.
This is a great place to hunt when the sheep are in the area. Set up on the ridges and watch the sheep you will see the coyotes and be able to get quite a few of them. JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION FROM THE HERDER FIRST. For they will come out shooting if you do not. A case of beer helps to get you permission.
Turning to the East on the Pony express you will get to Simpson spring. Keep on the Pony and you will hit the road you turned off form on the Pony. You will see many good spots to call. BUT call the less obvious areas then the best looking. For almost everyone uses those area too so the coyotes do not respond to calls in those places.
This is enough for now. You all get the idea that there are many places out there you can call. I feel it is not the places that are called but the calls used in those places and the caller making the calls.
So get out and explore Western Desert areas and call the less obvious areas.
Mountain Calling: Now remember I have not been there for over three years so some of the roads have changed.
Calling above Heber, Deer Creek, Strawberry and Wolfcreek pass areas:
After you top out on the top by Strawberry there is a road to the north called North Fork of the strawberry river.
Take this road north. When I last hunted this area there was no homes or cabins there.
Follow the road along and you will come to some corals with a fork to the East. Take this fork and you will get in to the quakes. Stop there and hike the tree line and call the valley’s. There is allot of prim coyotes in October through to May.
You can then continue north on the Strawberry river road and climb to the top of the mountain. Up there is many small valleys you can call in the spring calf distress and fawn distress works great. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
At the T junction turn to the left or west. Follow the road along and you will see many great places to hunt up there. As you follow the road you will come to a sign that say wolf creek pass /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif to the right or east take this road.
There are many areas there along this road that is great for calling.
Get to wolf creek you can go to the right (east) or to the left west. West will take you down to Kammas area. Right will take you too Roosevelt, Venal area.
Heading to Kammas you can turn off to Soap Stone Basin there are hundreds of good calling areas up there.
I just hope all the fires up there are out by now or it will be a great loss too all. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I hope this helps some of you Utah hunters find and get some more coyotes.
