What would you have done? (yesterday, N. Central Orygun)

Hellgate

Member
The day before was windy 15-20mph. Called twice where we have seen dogs 3 of 4 times in years past. Saw no deer either. A bust. Everything (including ground squirrels hunkered down) Next day much calmer.
9:30AM & Sunny. We drove to just below the crest of a stubble field on a gentle ridge. Got out, walked over the hill 100yds, walked down a fence line toward a canyon below. Wheat on top, sage on the slopes and an old homestead with cottonwoods below. Set the caller on a fencepost 50 yards farther down the hill aimed downhill. Canyon goes N>S. Wind N>S (crosswind maybe 5mph). Bottom of canyon is probably 400yds below and 1/2 mile across top to top. I started out with Female Coyote invitation howl. 1/2 mile downstream, upwind and across the canyon about 3 coyotes start a howling frenzy on the side of the canyon. I never saw them but was called all kinds of names. No barking though. I went into jackrabbit distress, woodpecker, fawn distress and ended with pup distress over a course of 25 minutes. Never saw/heard a thing. We had great visibility other than directly above us. We proceeded back to the rig, drove on the backside of the ridge about 1 mile and set up 1/2 mile below where I heard the howling. Used bird distress, cottontail, hare, fawn and pup distress and not a thing. So, did I just educate a bunch of coyotes I've been after for 2 years? What would you suggest? Where'd I go wrong? I'm wondering if they were high enough on the far hillside and spotted us come over the hill on the first call. We kept the rig below the crest so as to not show ourselves.
 
I'd of gone home and relished in the fact you live out west and can still enjoy this great sport.

One night this winter I had my truck well hidden behind me, a wind in my face and seven different coyotes barking and howling around me. I tried everything I could think of including mouth calls and nothing. Mind you, I was running a thermal scope and no moon, Just stars.


A beautiful night, clear and crisp! One of my best nights of calling last winter.


Sometimes it's just not in the cards. Fresh cougar tracks on the road in the morning may be in fact why they steered clear.


We are not the only predators in the wilds of the West..
 
Hard to say without hearing what the howls sounded like. However, they responded to a vocalization so I would have continued with some additional vocalizations. I probably would have gotten more aggressive depending on what they sounded like.
 
It is hard to say not being there, those could have been your busted calls that were spreading among the yodies in the area because they learned them as pups. The your busted call is something we all learn, at any rate they were schooled on what not to respond to now.

Here where i'm at everybody hunts coyotes and they (the coyote) know every single sound by the end of the first season or their dead,so you have to think way outside the box, use something that may not live within a 100 miles of there, it will be a sound they don't know and may bring them in to see what it is.
 
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Maybe I’ll try male challenge the next go round when I get a response. The coyotes sounded like typical yodeling rather than angry barking and was only one series from them. I got a similar response back in March about 2 miles farther up the canyon with about 13” of snow on the ground. I just figured it was too rough going for them to cross over to the call. I think I’ve been had and will need different sounds (baby pig squeals, feral cat?) and approach from a different direction. I’m probably going to be limited to the young dumb ones by this fall. Thanks for the critique.
 
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Originally Posted By: KirschHard to say without hearing what the howls sounded like. However, they responded to a vocalization so I would have continued with some additional vocalizations. I probably would have gotten more aggressive depending on what they sounded like.

I agree with Kirsch about being more aggressive with coyotes that you hear! Quite a few times I have seen coyotes and got to watch them through my rifle scope while I switched sounds.

I have seen coyotes get triggered into running my way after changing coyotes sounds back and forth when I am trying to make it sound like a coyote fight.

If the coyotes are challenging you or talking to you after they heard your coyote vocal sounds you started out with, they think you are a coyote or coyotes.

Check out the below link for a stand I made not to long ago. The coyotes in this story could clearly see my Foxpro, speaker and carry bag because there was no cover.
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/for...906#Post3193906

In wide open country with no cover from what I have seen, it is harder to call coyotes in close, using coyote vocals if your e-caller is sitting in the wide open in plain sight.

I think it is easier to call a coyote or coyotes up to a e-caller in plain sight if you are using a Rabbit, rodent or bird distress sound than it is to call coyotes up to your e-caller that is in plain sight with coyote vocal sounds.

When I can I always try to hide my e-caller or blend it in with some brush, weeds or rocks. You can get more coyotes to run right up to your e-caller if it is harder to see. If the e-caller is real easy for a coyote to see quite often they will stop to look at it.
 
Originally Posted By: HellgateThe day before was windy 15-20mph. Called twice where we have seen dogs 3 of 4 times in years past. Saw no deer either. A bust. Everything (including ground squirrels hunkered down) Next day much calmer.
9:30AM & Sunny. We drove to just below the crest of a stubble field on a gentle ridge. Got out, walked over the hill 100yds, walked down a fence line toward a canyon below. Wheat on top, sage on the slopes and an old homestead with cottonwoods below. Set the caller on a fencepost 50 yards farther down the hill aimed downhill. Canyon goes N>S. Wind N>S (crosswind maybe 5mph). Bottom of canyon is probably 400yds below and 1/2 mile across top to top. I started out with Female Coyote invitation howl. 1/2 mile downstream, upwind and across the canyon about 3 coyotes start a howling frenzy on the side of the canyon. I never saw them but was called all kinds of names. No barking though. I went into jackrabbit distress, woodpecker, fawn distress and ended with pup distress over a course of 25 minutes. Never saw/heard a thing. We had great visibility other than directly above us. We proceeded back to the rig, drove on the backside of the ridge about 1 mile and set up 1/2 mile below where I heard the howling. Used bird distress, cottontail, hare, fawn and pup distress and not a thing. So, did I just educate a bunch of coyotes I've been after for 2 years? What would you suggest? Where'd I go wrong? I'm wondering if they were high enough on the far hillside and spotted us come over the hill on the first call. We kept the rig below the crest so as to not show ourselves.

May not have been the YOU did anything wrong. Weather patterns can cause shifts in predator patterns.

This time last year we were knocking down coyotes left and right at night and in the mornings. This year, we are getting a lot of howling but not a lot of takers. Why? Hard to say. Could be weather, ours has been cooler for longer with a lot more storms lately. Could be Russian collusion. Aliens are also a possibility.

Sometimes we as predator hunters get too far inside our own heads. If your calling good locations, which you are. And using good call sequences, which you are, knuckle down and grind it out. I use what we call the 3 strikes rule. 3 Stands the same way, nothing works, switch something. NOT everything, but switch something, just one thing. Maybe volume, maybe change out a call to something different, but change something for the next 3 stands. That's how I lock onto patterns and when they shift.
 
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