This thread is for all of you guys out there that have posted about lack of success, hunting pressure, and whatever reason for not killing coyotes.
Yesterday morning I left just after feeding the horses, right after daylight. It took me 2.5 hours to get to a spot that I have had great luck calling in the past couple of years, but success earlier in the season, not December. There was an inch of fresh snow on top of 4 or 5 inches. There were tire tracks down every blm and county road. I did two stands that should have, and in the past years have produced coyotes. The wind was perfect, the weather was perfect, I got into the stand with minimal exposure. But, both stands were blanks. Last year I called in roughly that area the same week, that time I called in nothing as well. Suspecting that the area had been called extensively this late in the season, I continued on to my primary destination, another 45 minutes drive north west.
I arrived at the area I wanted to try, it looked great on the map, it was at least a 45 minute drive to the nearest small town. The area is approximately 40 miles square with no private inholdings, BLM as far as the eye can see. There were no fresh tracks from that day, but tracks in the snow from previous days. It was a huge wide sand wash, about 2 miles across in places. Tributary washes of sage and high desert dumping into the main wash. It is probably what every person back east thinks of as coyote country when the say "out west". It looked great, but after 8 miles of road I found only one set of coyote tracks crossing. In 8 stands I only cut one set of coyote tracks from that day, but it was now after noon. I did 8 perfect stands, the wind was right, the terrain was right, the sky was overcast, I set up in good cover calling vast areas of sage with ravines and gullies.
I never called in a thing! I never saw a coyote run off after the stand. I never had a coyote hang up at 500 yards, or any distance. I saw nothing but one jack rabbit and a handful of tweety birds.
I left that area to go to another spot that I have had great success calling coyotes. An area where the first time I hunted it I called 5 and killed 3 in 2 hours, and killed 8 in a weekend. I got 3 stands in before dark, on the last stand I saw a truck turn its lights on about a mile across the highway, presumably a hunter. Not much else to do in a sea of BLM in December. I spent the night in a spot where I could hide the car and make a couple of stands without driving in the morning.
In the morning the sky was clear to the north and high clouds to the south. I did the first stand about 300 yards from the car, that was not visible from any area I was calling. It was a wash about 400 yards wide where it reached the river and went about a mile and a half to the north east. The wind was straight down the wash, the stand was perfect. I called on in there years before. I was set up a little before shooting light so I waited until I could see. That stand produced nothing. I walked up the road about 1/2 mile and then off to the south and called another was that was about 1 mile across and 3 miles long to the east, the wind was straight down that wash too. I have called and killed 4 coyotes in that wash in the past. I approached my that stand walking in a 15' deep ravine, being only exposed long enough to set the caller and sit down. I handcalled the first 8 minutes and then switched to sounds I rarely use, sounds that most people would not think to use in the high desert, and then back to normal sounds like snowshoe hare. Again, I saw nothing. Nothing hanging up at 500 yards, nothing running away at 1000. There was complete snow coverage and sage that is not real dense, they are not that hard to see with quality binoculars even at 600 yards or more. Stand 3 for the morning was calling to the east, no sun as the clouds were covering the sunrise, with the wind in my face again, I saw nothing, anywhere. Stands 4 through six of the day were all great stands, in areas where the night before I had found a couple of tracks down the road, they were snowed on but tracks nonetheless. That entire morning from about 8:30 to 11:00 I was hearing a helicopter to the south, changing to west and then within a couple miles to the south where I could see it. I thought they were doing game counts for deer and elk, it is the time of year they do that. By the way it was flying that also made sense. But, during one of my last stands I thought I heard a shot from that direction, and I heard the helicopter set down. Through the binoculars I could see the helicopter idling with two people outside it about 50 yards from it. A few minutes later I heard a shot again, this time no mistaking it, and then the chopper sitting on the ground again. They were hunting from the air.
So not only were there tire tracks down every road, presumably predator hunters, as there is nothing else to hunt out there except the pretty scarce rabbits. There was also someone shooting coyotes from a helicopter. No wonder I could not find anything to shoot!
Its pretty hard to call in coyotes, when there aren't many around and those that are around are being called by hunters for the previous month or more.
I have been very successful in those same areas, but NEVER after Thanksgiving. Its a small window to get out there and hunt before the pressure has taken its toll.
Quite frustrating to take two days off and drive 3.5 hours one way to do stand after stand after stand, in great looking country, doing good stands, and never seeing anything!
I did see two coyotes along the highway on the way home, both on private property.
Yesterday morning I left just after feeding the horses, right after daylight. It took me 2.5 hours to get to a spot that I have had great luck calling in the past couple of years, but success earlier in the season, not December. There was an inch of fresh snow on top of 4 or 5 inches. There were tire tracks down every blm and county road. I did two stands that should have, and in the past years have produced coyotes. The wind was perfect, the weather was perfect, I got into the stand with minimal exposure. But, both stands were blanks. Last year I called in roughly that area the same week, that time I called in nothing as well. Suspecting that the area had been called extensively this late in the season, I continued on to my primary destination, another 45 minutes drive north west.
I arrived at the area I wanted to try, it looked great on the map, it was at least a 45 minute drive to the nearest small town. The area is approximately 40 miles square with no private inholdings, BLM as far as the eye can see. There were no fresh tracks from that day, but tracks in the snow from previous days. It was a huge wide sand wash, about 2 miles across in places. Tributary washes of sage and high desert dumping into the main wash. It is probably what every person back east thinks of as coyote country when the say "out west". It looked great, but after 8 miles of road I found only one set of coyote tracks crossing. In 8 stands I only cut one set of coyote tracks from that day, but it was now after noon. I did 8 perfect stands, the wind was right, the terrain was right, the sky was overcast, I set up in good cover calling vast areas of sage with ravines and gullies.
I never called in a thing! I never saw a coyote run off after the stand. I never had a coyote hang up at 500 yards, or any distance. I saw nothing but one jack rabbit and a handful of tweety birds.
I left that area to go to another spot that I have had great success calling coyotes. An area where the first time I hunted it I called 5 and killed 3 in 2 hours, and killed 8 in a weekend. I got 3 stands in before dark, on the last stand I saw a truck turn its lights on about a mile across the highway, presumably a hunter. Not much else to do in a sea of BLM in December. I spent the night in a spot where I could hide the car and make a couple of stands without driving in the morning.
In the morning the sky was clear to the north and high clouds to the south. I did the first stand about 300 yards from the car, that was not visible from any area I was calling. It was a wash about 400 yards wide where it reached the river and went about a mile and a half to the north east. The wind was straight down the wash, the stand was perfect. I called on in there years before. I was set up a little before shooting light so I waited until I could see. That stand produced nothing. I walked up the road about 1/2 mile and then off to the south and called another was that was about 1 mile across and 3 miles long to the east, the wind was straight down that wash too. I have called and killed 4 coyotes in that wash in the past. I approached my that stand walking in a 15' deep ravine, being only exposed long enough to set the caller and sit down. I handcalled the first 8 minutes and then switched to sounds I rarely use, sounds that most people would not think to use in the high desert, and then back to normal sounds like snowshoe hare. Again, I saw nothing. Nothing hanging up at 500 yards, nothing running away at 1000. There was complete snow coverage and sage that is not real dense, they are not that hard to see with quality binoculars even at 600 yards or more. Stand 3 for the morning was calling to the east, no sun as the clouds were covering the sunrise, with the wind in my face again, I saw nothing, anywhere. Stands 4 through six of the day were all great stands, in areas where the night before I had found a couple of tracks down the road, they were snowed on but tracks nonetheless. That entire morning from about 8:30 to 11:00 I was hearing a helicopter to the south, changing to west and then within a couple miles to the south where I could see it. I thought they were doing game counts for deer and elk, it is the time of year they do that. By the way it was flying that also made sense. But, during one of my last stands I thought I heard a shot from that direction, and I heard the helicopter set down. Through the binoculars I could see the helicopter idling with two people outside it about 50 yards from it. A few minutes later I heard a shot again, this time no mistaking it, and then the chopper sitting on the ground again. They were hunting from the air.
So not only were there tire tracks down every road, presumably predator hunters, as there is nothing else to hunt out there except the pretty scarce rabbits. There was also someone shooting coyotes from a helicopter. No wonder I could not find anything to shoot!
Its pretty hard to call in coyotes, when there aren't many around and those that are around are being called by hunters for the previous month or more.
I have been very successful in those same areas, but NEVER after Thanksgiving. Its a small window to get out there and hunt before the pressure has taken its toll.
Quite frustrating to take two days off and drive 3.5 hours one way to do stand after stand after stand, in great looking country, doing good stands, and never seeing anything!
I did see two coyotes along the highway on the way home, both on private property.