Public Hunting Areas Strategies - Calls

OhioPredatorHunter

OhioPredatorHunter

Member
Public Hunting Areas Strategies – Calls
Hey guys, this post I’ll be talking about hunting Public Hunting Areas and strategies. Call sounds and Ecallers.
First off, I’m not going to bash any manufacture of ECallers. In my opinion, most of the ECallers on the market today get the job done. As all you know, the sole purpose is to get the caller out away from you so the predator focuses on the sound and not the hunter. All the ECallers have a library of different sounds, push a button and your good to go. Well almost. When I started calling predators, I used a mouth call. You can change tone, volume and really put some feeling into the call. I still use a hand call. I may start off with the hand call then switch over to my ECaller. My point is this. You need to play sounds that no other hunter has tried. Let me explain. As you know, everybody and their brother hunt on Public Hunting Areas. If you want to be successful, you need to change your game. The Department of Natural Resources here in Ohio release pheasants on most of the Public Hunting Areas during pheasant season. These birds are basically pen raised. They may fly, or they may just run when you kick them out. While hunting pheasants a while back I saw a bunch of pheasants that were eaten by coyotes/fox. This made me think. DNR releases pheasants, and it’s an easy meal for coyotes/foxes. I started hunting coyotes/fox on these Public Hunting Areas and used my ECaller pheasant in distress sounds. I ended up being very successful. Think about it. The coyotes/fox are used to getting a free meal. You setup, play your pheasant in distress sounds and wham you start dropping them. Be careful, pheasant hunters are in the fields. I found if you can hunt during the week at first light, you’re all by yourself, forget hunting these places on weekends it’s an army. Guys, I’m assuming you are all rehearsed in predator hunting. Entry points, wind direction, setup location etc. If you’re not familiar with the basics, it doesn’t matter what calls your throwing at them. I think you get my point.

I won’t get into night calling. That’s a whole different game. I will say this. If you want to be successful hunting Public Hunting Areas you have to start hunting at night. I hunt both night vision and thermals. There are plenty of YouTube videos, and skinney has Podcasts on night hunting and equipment. There are many different types at many different price ranges. Do your homework, pick what you can afford and start hitting the Public Hunting Areas at night. I started out using a head mounted Wheat Light with a red lens. I scanned the calling area with the lower of my beam. When I called in a coyote/fox I would make out the eyes and all I had to do was lower my head and shine the main beam on them and pull the trigger. That worked for me many years. So, if you can’t afford a night vision system, you can pick up and headlamp and start night calling. I missed quite a bit as well. I couldn’t see the bead on the end of my shotgun barrel. I put together an led red light, mounted a toggle on/off switch, installed a little battery and sip tied it to the end of my barrel. Now I could see the end of my barrel and my shot placement improved. I wish I could take credit for that invention, but it was Dennis Kirk who told me how.
Years ago, I would wonder around and shop local Sporting Good Stores. All the stores carried FoxPro ECallers. So, I figured most of the predator hunters in my area used FoxPro ECallers. Makes sense, right? So, back then I bought a Wildlife Technologies ECaller. I used that ECaller a long time with great success. Both ECallers are excellent callers. But my advantage was I had a library of different sounds. Most hunters in my area would play the FoxPro rabbit in distress and every coyote/fox would run the other direction. Again, my point is this. If you want to be successful hunting Public Hunting Areas, you have to change your game.

I personally use an Icotec Outlaw ECaller. Like I said, most ECallers on the market today are all excellent callers. I like supporting guys from Holland Ohio, so I bought an Icotec. I have a lot of sounds I accumulated over the years that I use. I digitally re-recorded my sounds from cassette tapes and downloads from many websites over the years. I like the fact I can download my sounds on my ECaller and have my own unique sounds that no one else has. Like I said guys. If you want to be successful hunting Public Hunting Areas, you have to change your game.

Another example. I hunt Public Hunting Areas where there is a lot of wetlands, marshes etc. During winter months coyotes/fox travel these frozen areas. Most guys, including friends of mine would call these areas using rabbit in distress or numerous other distress calls. Guys, again think of where you’re hunting. Wetlands, marshes etc. I have some really good muskrat in distress calls that I use and put fur in the truck most of the time. If you’re hunting by farmers who have chickens. Chicken in distress calls work well. I think you get the point. However, I will throw this in. My old buddy used to use a Jack Rabbit in distress with good results. As you may or may not know, we don’t have Jack Rabbits in Ohio. But it worked. I can only guess it was a different sound that they never heard that pulled them in. Don’t be afraid to change up your calls.

Another example. Sometimes if I can’t get anyone to hunt with me, I may go out at night by myself. I usually sneak into a Public Hunting Area before it gets dark and set up. I have a couple of places that have a higher elevation overlooking a frozen lake and marsh. I can see for long ways. I will use my thermal and scan the whole area. I leave my calls at home. The purpose of this stand is to get the high pressured, smart coyotes/fox that are call shy. They all have to hunt for food. You will eventually start seeing coyotes/fox out hunting. I use my night vision with my rifle and drop them before they know what hit them. I usually stay for long periods of time, so dress warm. Guys, you have to scout the areas your hunting prior to going out or your wasting your time. I know where they are and how there traveling. Most of these coyotes/foxes are extremely pressured. They will not come to calls, so waiting them out works.

I’ll end here for now. I have other strategies that I’ll post later, Public Hunting Area entry points, use of cover scent, decoys etc.

 
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Good stuff OPH, thanks for posting. I hunt exclusively public land, so I know where you're coming from. Late in the year, you gotta get way out there where few folks venture or you gotta mix it up like you say. I've been using a Shockwave for years, so I have all the "usual" sounds. Those work great early in the year. As the coyotes get fewer and smarter though, I may throw some different sounds their way. I have a large library, so I can mix in more birds, rodents, or even critters from other continents. And, at times, nothing can beat the old hand calls. I have a bunch of those, mostly customs from guys who do or did sell them here. When the coyotes slack off in the wide open areas where the ecallers and rifle hunters do their damage, I switch it up by bashing the brush. Get in there where it's thick and set up with a shotgun and a hand call. It's a hoot to call them virtually into your lap where you can see the surprised expressions on their faces!
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Thanks DesertRam,

Yep. If you get out early season you can pick off the young ones. Sounds like your well rehearsed in Public Hunting Areas. Since that is all I've hunted most of my life I have some good strategies for Public Hunting Areas entry points. Like you stated, sometimes you have to take the hard road and hike in further. Also, think about parking spots. Everyone and their brother usually park in the designated parking areas. Not always a good choice. Newbies parking, slamming car doors, talking etc. I have some good strategies I'll post for getting in and out.

Thanks again
 
Originally Posted By: GCTritium front beads are readily available for shotguns and are inexpensive.

Thanks GC. Modern technology. I made my rig back in the early 70's. That's all I had to work with. A trip to Radio shack and $5 later I was in business.
 
I haven't hunted private land in probably 10-12 years, and that's a story for another day.

When I hunt public, State Wildlife Areas (SWA), for coyotes, I hunt the edges, and call to the private land. If you walk a SWA shortly after a snowfall, it's hard to walk 100yds without cutting a fresh coyote track, so you would think the SWA is loaded with them.

I've found that the coyotes usually do not spend the daylight hours on the SWA, most likely due to all the small game/waterfowl hunters using it. But at night, the coyotes come into the SWA to hunt.

Recently, I read a study about Turkey's along the South Platte River. The turkeys that spent their summers on SWA's, migrated to their wintering areas about 2 weeks ahead of the turkeys on private land. The suspicion was the increased human activity for small game/waterfowl hunting.
 
K-22hornet,

You are right. If you want to be successful hunting Public Hunting Areas you have to hunt at night. I usually get there before dark and hike way back in. Coyotes usually don't get called that far back. Most hunters are lazy. They park in the designated parking areas, hike in a few hundred yards and start calling. So your chances of calling a sly one is somewhat in your favor. Change it up with a call they haven't heard before and your putting fur in the truck.
 
Originally Posted By: skinneyGreat information.

Thanks skinney. Our hunting here in Ohio is a tad different then yours. But we all hope for the same results. Fur in the truck!
 
Great post.

Another public lands hunter here. I hunted a number of WPA's and WMA's in northern MN, WA and MT and yes in the winter cattail rimmed ponds and marshes are great.

Late in the season places that no self-respecting coyote hunter would call can really produce. Most callers are looking for a hillside with a great view. Or they will bypass areas that are remotely difficult to access. I have a section of public lands that is in sight of the Interstate that has produced for 11 yrs and it is just a few miles outside of a major city, I've called a double and a number of singles on it and have yet to use the same stands always trying a different place along the road.

One of the stands is about 50 yards behind me.
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I hunt along paved roads that have tight barbwire that you can't crawl under or through. A set of T-Post steppers give me access to lands nobody bothers with.

I had a place in WA on the Desert Wildlife area that was at the junction of two paved roads it was just a jungle we hunted quail and pheasant in it and found there was an opening in the middle of it and late in the season after they'd been harassed for awhile you could sneak in and usually more than one would come in, killed the oldest coyote ever in that spot. In fact, I've found spots like that all over. I wrote about a spot alongside a main traveled road in NV that we only got off the gravel enough to heave a popcan into the truck bed
and called quad the first day and a single later in the week and a single again the following year.

We have a phenomenon down here I'll call mesquite dunes, sand dunes that form around mesquite bushes and they can get 10' high 20' across, they can cover acres or square miles. Ground squirrels and jackrabbits make them there home squirrels burrowing into them and eating mesquite beans and the rabbits munching on the bark. It is a spot hat coyotes can just appear out of nowhere, exciting hunting. I a favorite for a combo gun as sometimes the will climb a dune for a looksee.
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Using a boat or canoe can get you into place that a coyote might have never head a call.

I used to run traplines along rivers in WI and MN out of a canoe and called a number of reds along the river while checking traps. Large impoundments are great too. My old trapping partner would hunt the shores of Fort Peck. I still want to hunt the shores of Lake Mohave, load the camping gear in the canoe or boat and spennd a week hunting up the AZ shore and back along the NV side.

Thinking outside the box will put fur on the boards.
 
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Originally Posted By: K-22hornet.When I hunt public, State Wildlife Areas (SWA), for coyotes, I hunt the edges, and call to the private land.


Shhhhh… we are just trying to feed them… not fatten them:)
 
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