Hunting coyotes in high pressure areas

[tuffcrk14]

I recently hunted in an area that has a lot of coyotes in it, but there are a fair number of other coyote hunters that know that too. Consequently, these coyotes are a student of the game and either won’t come in to the call or will come in, but stay out of sight or out of range and bark/yip at you. All I’ve tried are a few different rabbit sounds with a coyote howl mixed in there. What sounds/sequences do you go to when calling to previously educated coyotes? My thought is to just use coyote vocals with coyote death cry or pup distress in the mix, but I’ve got a variety of bird, deer, rodent, domestic animal sounds to try too. I’d like to hear some success stories that anyone has had to calling in higher pressure areas and achieving success.


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[redneckbmxer24]

Best way to do it is to invest into NV/Thermal and hunt them at night. Most people are out hunting during the day so it's a great way to go hammer them.

 

[MJB]

Lure with a dog or record some ankle biters from the neighborhood
Can you bait?

 

[tuffcrk14]

I’m in Mt and I think that you can. Not a ton of rule and regulations when it comes to hunting coyotes here.


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[dirtytough]

If you are MT it's a free for all there. Almost everything is legal. Heck a non res doesn't even need a license to hunt coyotes.

I would try off the wall sounds and vocals. No rabbit, bird, fawn, etc. Raccoon, fox, vocals, are the sounds I would try. I would also try and get tight to cover and even in the cover. Or just find a different area.

 

[justin davis]

Try a different area. Highly pressured coyotes are tough. Coyotes can be pretty darn smart

 

[tuffcrk14]

I doubt anyone has ever hunted them at night there and I like the idea of that to throw them off. It’s an area that has stubble fields with rolling hills leading into coulees and they go out into the stubble to hunt mice and other rodents at night and then work their way into the coulees for the day after first light. A lot of what happens I think is in the morning when you go to hunt them, you have to drive in the wide open to get there and they see you coming while they are in the fields or on the fringes. It’d be easy to go find another place, but trying to outsmart them is my goal. Thanks everyone, I appreciate the input!


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[Skerhunter]

I doubt anyone has ever hunted them at night there and I like the idea of that to throw them off. It’s an area that has stubble fields with rolling hills leading into coulees and they go out into the stubble to hunt mice and other rodents at night and then work their way into the coulees for the day after first light. A lot of what happens I think is in the morning when you go to hunt them, you have to drive in the wide open to get there and they see you coming while they are in the fields or on the fringes. It’d be easy to go find another place, but trying to outsmart them is my goal. Thanks everyone, I appreciate the input!


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Hunting pressured coyotes isn't very productive, but it it gives you a nice fuzzy warm feeling when you finally trick them! I am stuck hunting very educated coyotes most of the time, but I still kill them. Hunting at night they will still behave the same way, but it does open up a lot more opportunities for stand locations.

You are on the right track in your thinking. The coyotes can't know you or anyone else is there and you can't call like everyone else did. I have found it's better to wait for the right day/time/conditions vs. just going because you want to. I might locate a pair, but not actually hunt them until the next week.

Your set up is the probably the most important part. You need a good door way that is in range/view, good wind and cover for them to safely approach. Have to remember the first guy already screwed that part up.

Getting closer, without bumping them will help. Give them more time - normal coyotes will show up within ~15 minutes - educated coyotes can take 30+.

Don't overcall, don't blast rabbit distress on the loudest level, find sounds no one else in your area is using. You can kill educated coyotes with one open read call (vocals, prey distress, pup distress), but you usually need a buddy in the right spot to make the shot. Using sounds available on the cheapest e-callers available usually isn't going to work. Message me if you want to discuss sounds more in depth.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Call from a different location than what would be obvious. Most people will call from the most obvious spot, and that's great if you're the only one hunting. Wait for a day with an odd wind direction so you can call from a direction most people wouldn't.

As mentioned above, use different sounds. Get online and buy a few sounds you think others may not have tried.

 

[TheGDog]

Also make sure to park a distance away from the area you're trying to setup in. If it's in a high pressure area, they certainly aren't going to come in if they can recognize hearing a human conveyance machine approach beforehand. And as you leave the car, know where you're going to go first and go there using terrain to keep you out of their view and out of their wind. And I'm just starting out here... but it sure seems like those areas where they've been subjected to callers before, that they know that the decoys are part of it. And will just stay where they are and bark out the decoy. So I'd say try calling without the decoy if their educated like that. But do try to stuff the eCaller up onto a branch a bit off the ground so they don't see the caller and the sound carries better. And remember how they are going to approach, being cautious and all they are going to want to be fully downwind of where the caller is emanating sound from. I mention this because you'll think they'll come out someplace farther from you, but their level of cautious just might have them looping around and trying to enter the scene very nearby you.

Or for some additional "realism" before you start your caller, blow your mouth calls for a bit first. Use similar type of call to what that first sound is you're going to try to play, so your eCaller just sounds like a continuation of your hand-calling. So that way the first thing that caught their attention CAN'T sound like all these eCallers they might be used to already.


EDIT: And yeah... don't blast volume at first. Gotta remember one could be very nearby without you knowing it just yet. Be COMPLETELY ready to Rock and Roll BEFORE you Press Play! Every once in awhile you'll get surprised by one that comes in super early!

 

[tuffcrk14]

You know, one time I was getting settled down on my stand to do a little night calling in some coulees and before I was 100% ready, I dropped my foxpro remote. This, as many people who have the foxpro remote with the “fox bang” feature activated, know what happened next. Before I got into my first sequence of rabbit distress calls like I had game planned for, coyote death cry (my last sound I play before I pick up and leave) emanated the hills and coulees around me. All that went through my mind was a slurry of swear words as the death cry continued it’s violent high pitch yelps. I thought this stand was ruined and the coyotes wouldn’t even bother, but I figured since it started this way I was going to lean into it and let the sound finish playing. Once muted, I shined my light around and there at 50 yards stood a coyote. When the light her, she whirled down the coulee going briefly out of sight until she crested the other side. I gave a howl and she stopped at 200 yards, which was her last mistake. Sometimes things don’t go quite how you imagine it happening, but the prize was still the same.


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[Overdrive]

The best thing I've done in high pressure areas is go back to hand calls, seems everyone these days has an electronic caller. I'm sure the coyotes have the sounds and cadence memorized by now. I like to change it up and use hand calls, a guy can really put some emotion into them. I switch back and forth with hand calls and electronic through out the day, if it's an area that looks good for a cat I'll usually use my electronic so I can sit still and call for 1-1 1/2 hours. If it's a coyote spot I'll use the hand calls for 20-30 minute set up.

 

[WCB]

Hand calls and avoid howls and rabbit sounds. I don't think I have called in a yote with any sort of rabbit sound in the last 5 years.

Another thing that has upped my success and other guys I know success is when possible avoid cold calling spots just because. On those perfect days when you go out calling..you know sunny, cold, light north wind etc....I spend time behind the glass and spot coyotes sunning themselves or even out cruising then work in on them before calling. Success went from on average of 1 coyote every 5 or 6 sets to probably 75% of my sets being successful.

There are obviously spots to cold call and it is still something I do. But even just last week in ND I spotted 6 or 7 coyotes that 99% of guys would have driven by or not even thought about calling those areas because there was "better" looking areas near by. Too bad I was deer hunting and not coyote hunting as they were all in easily approachable areas to set up and call.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Best way to do it is to invest into NV/Thermal and hunt them at night. Most people are out hunting during the day so it's a great way to go hammer them.

do you coyote hunt with nv/thermal. I can tell you with a ton of firsthand experience that just because you spend $4K on a thermal scope that doesn't mean every coyote in the country will coming running to your calls. Best advice given so far is from @Justin Crossley. Waite for an abnormal wind and set up in the weirdest toughest place to get to the property and use some crazy sounds that nobody in your area has been dumb enough to use. Also, loud crunchy snow can & will bust you long before your calls ever due to their impeccable sense of hearing.

 

[couesbuck22]

Like others have mentioned, I’ve had better success on the same stands using hand calls in the higher pressures areas.

 

[manitou1]

Hunting pressured coyotes isn't very productive, but it it gives you a nice fuzzy warm feeling when you finally trick them! I am stuck hunting very educated coyotes most of the time, but I still kill them. Hunting at night they will still behave the same way, but it does open up a lot more opportunities for stand locations.

You are on the right track in your thinking. The coyotes can't know you or anyone else is there and you can't call like everyone else did. I have found it's better to wait for the right day/time/conditions vs. just going because you want to. I might locate a pair, but not actually hunt them until the next week.

Your set up is the probably the most important part. You need a good door way that is in range/view, good wind and cover for them to safely approach. Have to remember the first guy already screwed that part up.

Getting closer, without bumping them will help. Give them more time - normal coyotes will show up within ~15 minutes - educated coyotes can take 30+.

Don't overcall, don't blast rabbit distress on the loudest level, find sounds no one else in your area is using. You can kill educated coyotes with one open read call (vocals, prey distress, pup distress), but you usually need a buddy in the right spot to make the shot. Using sounds available on the cheapest e-callers available usually isn't going to work. Message me if you want to discuss sounds more in depth.

This.
Back when I hunted them, I used to have good luck with distressed non- rabbit and non-canine calls. Everybody was using rabbit in distress.
Start with lower volume and vary it.

Also, a lot of guys think coyotes spend the day in dens. Dens are for having pups. Coyotes are layed on top of hay bales, in fence rows, and on pond dams and they can and will see you coming.
Park out of sight and sound.
Sneak in with the wind in your favor and use available cover, even if it means extra hiking.
Set up is important. They WILL try to circle downwind but will favor cover. Set up on brushy points jutting out to open fields, grassy drainages isolated and terminating in open fields, etc. I found they will try and stick to the cover as long as possible instead of exposing themselves in the open. Often killed them cruising in the cover to the end of the points where I was set up.

They can be smart. I never hunted the same area more than once in 7-10 days to avoid "training" them and burning a place out. If you are hunting the same spots regularly and using the same walk in approaches and same calls, forget about it. They know you.
This has been my experience anyway.

There are more knowledgeable folks on this and am sure there will be more to follow.

 

[Legend]

To kill high pressure coyotes the best sound, without question, is that of a well tuned snowmobile.

 

[Skerhunter]

To kill high pressure coyotes the best sound, without question, is that of a well tuned snowmobile.

Ha, very true! Dogs are also very effective here in nebraska, where you can access everything with a truck. A few guys run them on snowmobiles when we get bigger storms.

 

[tuffcrk14]

To kill high pressure coyotes the best sound, without question, is that of a well tuned snowmobile.

Up and in with the fade away jumper to put the thread on ice! Thanks for the good laugh!


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[tuffcrk14]

Well, I hunted in the area of educated coyotes this last weekend and learned that coyotes can hear much further than I could have imagined when it’s windy. The wind was blowing 15-25 mph and I had the call on max volume with zero pauses. Started with woodpecker, but I could hardly hear it from my spot 30 yards upwind of the call. Switched to lightning jack, which I thought was the loudest call I had and let it play for 5-8 minutes. I catch movement in the stubble field 800-1,000 yards below the knob I’m sitting on and it’s a coyote coming in on a string. So fast, in fact, that he ran right by my 100 yard shooting window and wouldn’t stop when I howled at him. He continued out of sight below me and around the knob downwind of where I was sitting and I figured the jig was up and he was going to catch my wind. For some reason and what felt like an eternity later, I see his head bouncing around back into view from the way he had disappeared from moments earlier. He hadn’t gotten my wind, but he wasn’t convinced enough to come closer up the knob to where my call and decoy were situated. All he would give me was a headshot at 75 yards, so I took it and he dropped like a stack of bricks. Ended up killing three that day in the wind and it was something that I would have previously considered a waste of time. It seems like the wind and calling from a different spot were enough to convince them to come get an easy meal. If it’s windy outside, never count yourself out and bring some chap stick!