Yeah and make it "real" mountains not those little bumps in the ground you easterners call mountains, let's talk real thick steep ones like we have here in western Washington. LOL

Jeff

It's kind of funny that we humans talk about using common sense but do so little of it, I'm guilty too.For Krusty taking on a mountain is a challenge he relishes with gusto. It takes a great deal of strength and uses a lot of energy.Man tackles a challenge head on, ANIMALS DO NOT!

It doesn't matter whether we are talking about a western ky mole hill or rocky mountain high, animals travel the same in such territory. They travel the path of least resistance. They use the more gradual slopes and the shallow saddles in the ridges. Animal trails never go straight up a hill, always at an angle to it.If you set up asking the animals to come straight up hill to you , your wasting your time. Set up in or next to the saddles.Use the terrain to place your scent over open hollows if you can by setting up just below the crest of the hill.This also gives you backround for camoflauge.

GC and I have discussed soem other theories I intend to put into practice next month. We will have to wait and see how well they work then.Jimmie

Jimmy wrote:

For Krusty taking on a mountain is a challenge he relishes with gusto.

There has never been said a more true statement.

Recently when my brother and I were at Elk Camp we did a bit of callin too, and saw a lot of trails and sign. We were hunting in the Rimrock unit just to the southeast of Mt. Rainier. The country there is very steep and mountainous. The ridge behind camp (ele. 5200ft) was 6500ft tall.

In our 1000 ft of climbing to the ridge we must have crossed and weaved back of forth following fresh tracks on a hundred different trails that mostly traversed the hill (which was over 35° the whole way up), never did the deer, elk or cats go straight up. But many did go straight down, in obvious flight, the place was crawlin' with human beings... by the end of the week they were out in the brush blazin' new trails because all of them were stunk up by people.

But you are absolutly right the terrain there definitely showed us that anything comin' to us would be comin' in from the sides not from below.

To tell the truth I am glad we didn't shoot one of those huge elk up there anyway, it would have killed me to help carry the thing down the hill.

Jeff

Wow, lot's of good info guys.

Here's my two cents.

E-callers- Handy tool at times. Not needed for coyotes in my opinion but I use them. I post a lot of pics with the e-caller in them but that is only because I carry my camera in my e-call bag. When doing serious calling and traveling light, e-caller and camera stay home. When windy, e-callers can be real handy. When it gets later in the season (like now) I put the e-caller away and use handcalls alone for the smart coyotes that are left. For me in my area, the handcall out performs e-callers most of the time. Of course with other predators it is a different story. Certain species I prefer an e-caller over handcalls.

Decoys- Sometimes they help, most of the time it would have made no difference though. I rarely use them anymore. Almost never for coyotes. I find them to be more trouble than they are worth. Just another burden to carry.

Coverscent- Waste of time. I don't care if you have a BBQ with lamb cooking to cover your scent, the coyote is leaving when he gets downwind 99% of the time.

Crow sounds- I've talked with Jerry Malbeck about this several times. Neither of us have ever had crow sounds help call a coyote. Not once. I don't get it. Always hear how great it works. Must be a regional thing because I know many have success using it. We have tons of crows and ravens but using the sound on my e-callers or mouth call has never called a coyote for me. In fact, me and Jerry both observed that all the stands either of us have had crows respond, coyotes did not respond. I'm not making this up. I hear all the time how crows help the stand. The crow sounds call crows great, just not coyotes in this area.

Camo- It helps but you can get by with neutral clothing and good stand tactics. Q calls more dogs than anyone I know in plain ol' faded Carharts. (which by the way has worked great for me too in the stubble fields)

Years ago I used to turn calling into a science project. I found myself carrying so much stuff into the field it was sucking the fun right out of it. There is a point when a caller becomes over-accessorized I think. I had to do a 180 turn years back. Once I got the confidence to leave most of that stuff at home, and just doing some old fashioned calling, the coyotes started stacking like cordwood and it was fun again.

Take care, Curt

I'm going to downshift the conversation a bit by back-tracking. I got a question about the tattle tales that's been stumpin me for a while.

Can the crows bust you and give up your legitimacy to the coyotes?

The reason I ask is because a group of fellows came up here a couple of months ago on a crow hunt. The Hoss of the group had a little sheet of plastic he laid out on the ground with a red dot painted in the middle of it and a black back ground :rolleyes: Road kill in the woods I guess.

Anyway, Hoss is telling these guys that once the calls commence to make sure they take out the first responder or they are busted. He said crows always send in a single investigator, take him out and the rest keep comin in for what seems like forever.
I laughed but by god he was right for what little time I spent watching them.
When the stool pigeon was missed or not even seen no more crows came. When they took him out, they kept flockin in for 20 minutes.

I couldn't tell you RR. I freeze solid when they show up because I'm afraid they will bust me. I let them mill around and leave of their own accord.Theres nothing noisier than a bunch of crows that have your number.

It doesn't matter what comes in. I treat them all the same.I will continue calling if it's hawks or owls. They leave wihtout a whisper.Sometimes ,like this morning , I wish I carried a camera. Sparrow hawk lit in the field looking for me. After another series on the call it lit within five feet of my head. We stared eyeball to eyeball for a few minutes before it left. That was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen with the sun rising behind that bird.Jimmie

Interesting post! I've spoken with Bob Bartz. He's from N. Dakota. That man has shot more yotes in one year than I'll ever shoot in a lifetime. He purposely calls downwind. Especially in a woodlot. He feels that they're going to circle downwind anyway why not set-up for such an approach. Sometimes I feel that my setups are too good. In other words the coyote can't sneak down-wind because I have an open field behind me. I just wonder if a coyote is that sneaky that if he can't approach down-wind without exposing himself he won't come-in at all. I'm from Michigan. What do ya think?

Unpredictable as unpredictable can be.

I've seen them walk out of a ravine and crest a hill looking for me. I've had them step off a wooded island and walk across the wide open frozen river looking for me.

OK... Here's a question for the pros. I've varmint hunted for over 40 years but have trouble with coyotes and bobcats...

I can't hold still worth a hoot and often get busted when I move.... <sigh>

Is anyone using the portable "tent blinds" that pop up in seconds and provide a camo blind that hides your movement?

Other suggestions?

$bob$

Camoflauge is one point we only just touched on I guess. Movement kills more good set ups than anything. How well your camoflauged doesn't matter if you move at the wrong time.

Only two things I can think of that would help the hunter that just can't be still.Decoys and a ghillie suit. The decoy gives the coyote something else to lock in on. The post about a strange reaction on the predator board is a good case in point on decoys.It is a very good post and brings up some interesting thoughts.

The ghillie suit is a walking blind. I made a pair for me and My son. He has the same problem of can't be still. The poncho type ghillie I made hides a multitude of sins.Instead of seeing individual body parts move you see a ripple affect much like the wind blowing the leaves.I had a three year old buck at twenty feet yesterday before it figured something wasn't right.Had I been sitting against something instead of standing in a road bed I would have gotten away with it.With this type of ghillie your basically wearing a blanket of cover.Made out of burlap you can even toss leaves on yourself and they stick adding to the affect. It would be worth a try. Jimmie

Hi IDhunter, welcome to the board.

I have some of those blinds you are talking about but have not had the time to check them out yet. They go up and down easy enough but extra to carry around if you have to do a lot of walking. If you own your land and they could be set-up and left,now that would be a real deal just like a deer stand.

My problem with ghillie suits, especially walking around with one on, is that other hunters don't recognize you as a hunter. This is good and bad.

The bad side can be dangerous.... Especially if someone thinks you are some kind of swamp creature... <G>

The type of blinds that I'm talking about are typified by the Ameristep Outhouse (Basspro and Cabelas both carry it) and fold down to a very small package and "pop-up" in seconds providing a blind.

I'm aware that they could be just something else to carry and the run and gun hunter would have little use for them but for an eastern hunter that ends up with most contact with predators at under 100yds or even 50yds where even the slightest movement can be detected.... They seem logical but then I haven't tried one yet.

$bob$

Just want to say thanks to everyone contributing on this thread. When I get done reading everything, I intend to read it again.

Idhunter, that's the reason for the poncho type of ghillie.I can darn near throw it in the air and stick my head through it. It comes off just as easy.It rolls up to about the size of a football and tucks under the arm easy enough or into a pack if you carry one.I too worry about others in the fields.Not all of them are legal or sane Jimmie

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jimmie in Ky:
[qb]Idhunter, that's the reason for the poncho type of ghillie.I can darn near throw it in the air and stick my head through it. It comes off just as easy.It rolls up to about the size of a football and tucks under the arm easy enough or into a pack if you carry one.I too worry about others in the fields.Not all of them are legal or sane Jimmie[/qb][/QUOTE]Ain't that the truth?... <snicker>

I ran across www.ghilliesuits.com and these look very affordable and practical.

On the note of the portable pop up blind... I just ordered one from www.natchezss.com because they just lowered the price of the Ameristep Outhouse blind from $119 which is what everybody has been selling them for for years to $59 which is a steal.

I'll report back with my first impressions.

Supposedly setup is in 5 seconds and take down is in 10 seconds guaranteed. It looks like you just grab it in one particular place and shake it and it just springs into a full dome and takedown is just pressing in one place and it collapses into a "ring shape".

$bob$