Which is more important to you

Originally Posted By: borkonClose.
Shorter drag to the truck/faster to the next spot.

I like your reasoning!

Up close is more exciting, especially when they surprise you. But I want to be able to reach one out to 500 if needed. I just want them dead if they present any opportunity.
 
For me, the most important thing is that I'm calling and it tricked them into shooting range. If they are coming in I let them come to about the 100 mark and I try stopping them there for a shot, if they hang up farther out then so be it and I'll shoot them where they hang up.

In general I like them to finish good but sometimes they try working the wind or hang up and you have to take a longer shot.
 
Most important for me is to kill the varmint, short, long, or in between, I don't care.

I've said in the past, when I set up in more open country, I range landmarks at my 200 yard perimeter. When a coyote enters my hold-on-fur zone and gives me a standing shot, I'm taking it. The closer they get, the faster things can go south.

I'm not filming a show, so I don't need footage, I'm taking the 1st good shot.

You might get your rocks off on calling them close, but when they get too close & you get busted without a shot, that's a failed stand as well......
 
We have a shotgun on almost every calling stand we make. We don't try to stop coyotes for a shot. If they stop the rifle shooters shoots them. If they run right up to my Foxpro they get shot with a shotgun.
 
I usually carry à drilling or combo gun when I head into the thicker stuff so I don't even need to switch weapons in the close cover. The rifle barrel on the drilling will shoot sub-MOA to 200 yards and I can hold on fur, the combo gun will do that to 300.
 
Letting a coyote walk does not set well with me. Coyotes are much smarter than most would think, and they have a great memory.

If they circle at 250 yards, disappear, you have just educated a coyote. Getting coyotes in close also means that you maybe get busted by your scent cone....be prepared for this. So, letting one walk could set yourself up for a whole family unit of coyotes being told by the educated coyote that something is not right. 60% of the coyotes we kill are yearlings that have no clue. Then you teach them that your wounded animal call is a human, educating them, and they do not forget.

Population in the area you are hunting may create competitive coyotes running in from different family units. Sparce coyote populations are more cautious, in my opinion.

Terrain in the area you hunt in varies greatly in different parts of the country. I have seen coyotes come across my boot tracks on the trail I walked in on, and they are instantly running 70 mph back they way they came in! I have had MANY wind me at 250 yards, circle, and disappear.

If you like close in, learn masking scents where legal, they really work. Have an allegator clip with some sewing thread on it, 12" or so, and clip it on the limb of a bush where you can see it, and set up to see down wind.

A coyote can pin point your location to within 1* at 1000 yards, carving a hole in a bush and sitting on a small stool gives you one heck of an advange breaking up your silhouette.

Nothing beats hunting in a high density population area with lots of yearlings...late August and early Sept is a real bonus!
 
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Quote:Terrain in the area you hunt in varies greatly in different parts of the country. I have seen coyotes come across my boot tracks on the trail I walked in on, and they are instantly running 70 mph back they way they came in! I have had MANY wind me at 250 yards, circle, and disappear.

Never ceases to amaze me how they can be coming in at a fast trot, catch a whiff of an old track and switch directions 180* so fast they appear to have just turned inside out & never slow down.
 
From what I have seen coyotes, pigs, deer and elk all panic way more if they smell you than if they see you.

When calling coyotes on flat ground we try to walk straight against the wind or breeze from our vehicle to make our calling stands. Then set the e-caller straight against the wind. Keeping your vehicle, you and your e-caller in a narrow straight line decreases the odds of them smelling you, your vehicle or your e-caller.
 
When I hunt the thicker stuff. I use a lot of backing, canals, open fields, roads etc. I'm hunting them there because they are hard hunted in the surrounding open areas. Because they are hunted hard they will rarely enter into open areas during the day. Thus preventing being back doored.

Then there are the exceptions. I called a spot about 30 yards off the road and the first two ran right past my truck and down the trail I walked in on they veered off about 10yrds behind me and I killed one with the shot gun barrel. The third one came.from the direction I expected, I rolled him with the shotgun barrel, he got up and ran strait at me and I killed him with the rifle barrel at two long paces. I sat for awhile and decided two dead.coyotes and three shots more than likely soured The spot so leaving the rifles on my stool I walked out to get the caller and here came #4 from.the same spot as #3 oh well.

There is an open area about 100yrds down the road that I try and call all the time, never have been able to pull one out in the open but have taken a number of coyotes over the years from in the adjacent thick patch.
 
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Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobWe have a shotgun on almost every calling stand we make. We don't try to stop coyotes for a shot. If they stop the rifle shooters shoots them. If they run right up to my Foxpro they get shot with a shotgun.

When hunting as a team, we usually do this. My son loves to shoot them close with a shotgun, so we set up where he can do that and I can cover longer ranges with the rifle. When hunting with others, I'll sometimes run the shotgun for the close-in hard chargers. When I'm alone, I try to set the stand to give me opportunities at reasonable rifle ranges, which for me is less than 200 yards or so. I can and have shot farther, but much prefer them under 200, even under 100 if possible without blazing through and letting me miss them.
 
I hunt coyotes because I enjoy the challenge and want to improve my skills as a hunter. Killing a bunch of coyotes is less important to me than having a good experience. Being able to call them close is more important to me than being able to kill a coyote at long range. I just get more satisfaction out of watching them come in than shooting them. I have the ability to shoot far but if I can get them inside 200 yards I feel very confident I can kill them with a rifle. It is even better to have them 40 yards or less with a shotgun.

I have the ability to shoot long shots but rarely carry a rifle on a coyote stand that I feel confident in shooting 400+ yards. I've passed on many coyotes I've called to 400-800 yards because I haven't felt good about the shot and thought they would come closer. Often they come closer but sometimes they don't.
 
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobFrom what I have seen coyotes, pigs, deer and elk all panic way more if they smell you than if they see you.

When calling coyotes on flat ground we try to walk straight against the wind or breeze from our vehicle to make our calling stands. Then set the e-caller straight against the wind. Keeping your vehicle, you and your e-caller in a narrow straight line decreases the odds of them smelling you, your vehicle or your e-caller.

Skinney's tag line or whatever it is called says it all!
 
If you follow all the rules, you'll miss out on some great hunting. I prefer cross wind over in my face and if the situation is right, I have no problem calling down wind. The trick is to be able to see and shoot them BEFORE they get to your scent cone. In your face wind is a good way to get back-doored.

You need to think about each stand, the lay of the land, the most likely path the coyote is going to take to approach the caller and where you can get the shot.

That said I've seen any number of coyotes head straight downwind to the caller.
 
Originally Posted By: AWSIf you follow all the rules, you'll miss out on some great hunting.


Amen to that!

Know when you're breaking them. Know why you're breaking them. But break them!

We cold roll a lot. New country, random time of day, wind is blowing whichever way it's blowing and we're travelling whichever way we're travelling.

Much of the time, if we kept looking for that awesome setup, we'd just drive, and drive, and drive. But we don't, we look for any edge we can get. And usually, when the wind isn't in our favor - it's coyote sign, combined with terrain features, that trigger us to make a stand. Even when the wind is completely wrong.

Sometimes, we get burned for the bad wind. But just about as often, we get a coyote killed.

Like AWS said, it's all about taking advantage of what the situation is offering in terms of view and shooting lanes downwind. And, getting setup un-detected. That's a fundamental that always applies. But even that, sometimes, you break it and still carry one back to the truck.

If sound is in the air, you have a prayer.

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: DAAOriginally Posted By: AWSIf you follow all the rules, you'll miss out on some great hunting.


Amen to that!

Know when you're breaking them. Know why you're breaking them. But break them!

We cold roll a lot. New country, random time of day, wind is blowing whichever way it's blowing and we're travelling whichever way we're travelling.

Much of the time, if we kept looking for that awesome setup, we'd just drive, and drive, and drive. But we don't, we look for any edge we can get. And usually, when the wind isn't in our favor - it's coyote sign, combined with terrain features, that trigger us to make a stand. Even when the wind is completely wrong.

Sometimes, we get burned for the bad wind. But just about as often, we get a coyote killed.

Like AWS said, it's all about taking advantage of what the situation is offering in terms of view and shooting lanes downwind. And, getting setup un-detected. That's a fundamental that always applies. But even that, sometimes, you break it and still carry one back to the truck.

If sound is in the air, you have a prayer.

- DAA

Exactly.
 
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