Southern MN

bembeaver

New member
Anyone from Southern MN on here? Just wondering where you guys hunt and how you do hunting in this area. It seems it is a tough place to hunt and to call them in. I am still fairly new to coyote hunting but I have made many stands and have yet to kill one but have called some in just couldn't make the shot. I do not know if I am just bad or if others experience the same thing I do.
 
I have heard/read numerous reports that say a lot of locals in southern MN do a lot of road calling and are too stupid to realize that this is tremendously unproductive AND it educates the coyotes in the process so they become super call shy.

If you're seeing coyotes, you aren't doing things wrong. You may be doing them about as good as is possible if the coyotes are super wary and call smart.

A couple of ideas:

1. Don't be afraid to ask for permission on private land. Especially with cattle or dairy farmers as no one with cattle sees coyotes as a good thing to have around. If they seem hesitant, it may help your case if you tell them you'd be willing to hunt only with a shotgun as many cattenmen are wary of anyone shooting a rifle in areas where there are cattle. If you ask at 3 places, you will most likely get permission at least at 1 of them.

2. Forget open ground calling. This isn't Nebraska or Oklahoma with tons of coyotes who are used to living in the open. MN coyotes know if they get out into open ground they are going to get their #sses shot off. All over the state, what I hear is that coyotes in MN overwhelmingly like to stay in the cover and are very wary about crossing fields, etc.

So the bottom line is instead of trying to lure coyotes out of an old shelter belt or river bottom, go very quietly into the cover. This may involve quietly cutting some approach trails and sight lines so you can get into position quietly.

3. Get away from the truck and approach from the "back side". Basically, whatever the average guy would do, you want to do the opposite. For example, a WMA out in western MN where I hunt has a big parking area. Everyone parks in this area and then walks in from the same direction.

Fail! Epic fail!

Obviously, it takes coyotes about 8 seconds to learn this behavior. The slightest noise from the parking area sends them scrambling out the back of the WMA. I've seen them run out across the fields.

So do everything backward. Park way down the road and walk the edge into the "back side" of the area and then call from there. Do whatever you can to "break" from the pattern that every other guy has established.

4. Do everything else "backward" as well. Most guys call too loud and too often. Call quietly and only a little, then completely shut up.

Most guys use a limited set of standard go-to sounds. Mix it up! Try bird sounds. Try sounds from critters that don't even live here. I've had good luck with jackrabbit sounds in far NE MN. Where there are no jackrabbits.

Hunt in bad weather. Sunny days with low wind are when everybody else wants to get out there. Hunt when it's snowing. Hunt when it's windy. Hunt when it's raining.

Whatever you think the average guy is doing or likely to do, do the opposite or something different.
 
Grouse that is well put and I agree with you I think it is too many people calling from the road or just road hunting in general. Do you think night hunting would help a lot and the coyotes would come out in the open a little more at night as well?
 
Originally Posted By: bembeaverGrouse that is well put and I agree with you I think it is too many people calling from the road or just road hunting in general. Do you think night hunting would help a lot and the coyotes would come out in the open a little more at night as well?

Hunting anytime is better than not hunting. Only trying night hunting will tell you.

But I wouldn't give up on daytime calling. Since you are seeing coyotes, as I said, you're doing SOMETHING right. Now you just need to figure out the other pieces to the puzzle.

First thing I'd try is that I'd suspect I was over-callng and the yotes were getting suspicious that it sounded too good to be true. If a lot of calling is turning them off, give them just a little taste and see if they can't resist coming in for a look.

I'd even try mouth calls. Keep in mind, an eCall is TREMENDOUSLY LOUD when you have ears like a coyote. Smart yotes know that too loud means too good to be true.

Other thing you might have to try is a decoy.

One more thing to try would be to buddy hunt and have one guy call while one guy takes up a position along the most likely travel route either in the cover or from where you suspect the coyotes are hiding. Get them before they get close enough to get suspicious of the call. If their "safe zone" seems to be that they will come 300 yards away, get someone within that zone.

Keep at it, you will get them.

Grouse
 
Thanks for the tips! I have mainly done mouth calls from the get go and just have a little ecall to use in case one does come in to get the sound away from me but it isn't too loud so maybe that is helping me out like you said. It is very hard to find a buddy to hunt with because most people I know just road hunt for them and don't want to waste their time calling.
 
Are you saying I shouldn't be out locating coyotes at night from the road? I will scout/locate dogs the night before a hunt so I know where they are and where they aren't. It works pretty good for me. The little time I have to hunt I want every edge I can get. I don't want to waste time hunting spots that no dogs are around.

It has also worked well once when I located dogs on property I could not hunt. I was using a female invatation howl and they were responding good. The next morning I drove through the area again and seen 3 sets of new tracks that came across the field back into some property I can hunt. Almost like they came looking for me after I left. I then snuck in and made a set and called in 2 of them.
Has this happened to anybody else before?
 
Originally Posted By: The Famous GrouseI have heard/read numerous reports that say a lot of locals in southern MN do a lot of road calling and are too stupid to realize that this is tremendously unproductive AND it educates the coyotes in the process so they become super call shy.

I will second that around the Kasson area. I wish they would stop and get out. Put then they might have to carry there beer with them.
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Originally Posted By: wargeAre you saying I shouldn't be out locating coyotes at night from the road?

Like anything else, it only becomes a bad idea when it's been done enough that the coyotes catch on. If just YOU were doing it, it wouldn't matter. But how many other loacals are out hitting the yotes with every sound in the eCaller juke box from the very same road?

I think the hardest piece of knowledge for me to get my head around was that Minnesota coyotes are more like fox or bobcats in terms of how wary they are. Compared to places like Nebraska, MN has a much greate human population density and that means that coyotes have had to learn to avoid and evade just to survive their first year. Anything hunters do to educate them like calling from the road and getting busted makes what is already a super-wary coyote even more wary.

I've had numerous people tell me that hunting this/that area was a waste of time because there were no coyotes there. And then I average 1-2 coyotes called per day on that property. Why? Because MN coyotes are like rats or mice. If you see 1, there are at least 10 you'll NEVER see.

Grouse
 
Is there a ton of hunting pressure on Coyotes in the Kasson/Byron area of Southern MN? While I am not new to hunting, I am brand spanking new to predator hunting and hunting of any kind IN Southern MN (I am a transplant).

So if calling from the road is not recommended, will getting land permission and just doing some sitting in the woods have the same negative effect on the dogs?
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Just looking for some guidance.
 
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Originally Posted By: OrangepeanutIs there a ton of hunting pressure on Coyotes in the Kasson/Byron area of Southern MN? While I am not new to hunting, I am brand spanking new to predator hunting and hunting of any kind IN Southern MN (I am a transplant).

So if calling from the road is not recommended, will getting land permission and just doing some sitting in the woods have the same negative effect on the dogs?
scared.gif


Just looking for some guidance.

All I know is that area gets hammered pretty hard even on moonlight nights.
 
Grouse, I agree 100% with the things you are saying. You make good points.
Maybe some or most coyotes have gotten used to being howled at from roadsides. I'm not sure how many guys call in my area, most set up drives or run them with dogs. I agree that coyotes are very cautious and every time you make a stand or turn on the caller you are educating them.
 
I personally think the locating the night before the hunt is a waste of time and gas. Do you really think that hungry coyote is going to wait for you 8-10 hours when you finally come to actually hunt? Night time is when they are most active, they are moving because they are burning calories through their hide. I am from Nebraska,don't under estimate the pressure on Coyotes here. With a rifle rack in the back window of every ranchers truck. they get shot at a lot. Lots of calling pressure here also. And then we have the Pickup hunters with the CB radios that can't get out to hunt because you can't shoulder a rifle and hold a Beer at the same time.
 
I've had more luck under the moon in Southern MN. But that doesn't mean you can't call em in during the day, you just gotta stay at it and treat every stand like its the first one of the day!
 
Just south of you. Same problem here. I've come to the conclusion that the coyote's are simply to educated for hunting tactics. The only thing I've managed to call in was one red fox last winter. Between everybody trying to call them and then the Dip****s chasing them with 5-6 trucks through fields across sections calling their buddies on the cell phone, this has just made it virtually impossible for us true sportsman to effectively hunt them. Don't get me wrong the only good coyote is a dead one, but how can it be fun to chase them down for miles like that? That's not hunting. I'm seriously considering making a special trip out by pierre,SD just to finally call one in and shoot it. I can trap them all day long around here, but I cant call even one in. It just doesn't make any sense.
 
Originally Posted By: OrangepeanutIs there a ton of hunting pressure on Coyotes in the Kasson/Byron area of Southern MN? While I am not new to hunting, I am brand spanking new to predator hunting and hunting of any kind IN Southern MN (I am a transplant).

So if calling from the road is not recommended, will getting land permission and just doing some sitting in the woods have the same negative effect on the dogs?
scared.gif


Just looking for some guidance.

The only negative happens when you do something that is likely to teach a coyote something that makes them more successful in evading hunters in the future.

Sitting in the woods and calling certainly COULD educate a coyote if he busts you. But it's FAR less likely to do so than sitting in your truck on the road and calling, which is what a lot of dumb@sses in MN try to do. It's almost certain that as the coyote approaches the road, they will already be on high alert because they know roads are "danger zones" already. So they will sneak in and if they see or smell the danger, they just got a prime education in how/why to avoid anything that sounds like free lunch if it comes from a road.

If you read my other posts, what I strongly believe is that you have to get into a coyote's comfort zone to have any chance at all at success in high-pressure areas. Calling from near roads is NOT a comfort zone because 100% of coyotes already know that roads are known "danger zones". You want the coyotes to feel as safe as possible and to feel like they are on their "home court".

That's why I say you need to do things backwards. Get into the cover, away from the roads, call quietly and sparingly, and use the wind to avoid detection. Don't take marginal shots if they coyote hasn't busted you. Hunt at night and in bad weather. Do everything you can to hunt when/where the coyotes don't expect a hunter.

I've even gone so far as to ask my rancher firends to please stop shooting at coyotes themselves. Yanking out Grandpappy's .30-30 iron sight deer wounder from behind the seat and blazing away at yotes 350 yards out in a field only does one thing: Makes them [beeep] near impossible to kill. So far my randher friends have all agreed to let the coyotes think that the ranch is a coyote sanctuary. Let me do the killing quietly and where they least expect it.

Grouse
 
one way to locate them at night is a police siren, some ecallers have that on them or download, it is a sound that they will howl at anytime.
Good luck!
 
A friend of mine says every time that a cop, fire truck or ambulance leaves town, he says the coyotes go nuts.

Famous grouse, youd be proud, I got one with a shotgun at 20 yards this weekend. In cover of course.
 
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