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Post by Mongojoe on Jan 17, 2009 9:43:43 GMT -5
COYOTE TIME
From: My Outdoors TV TipMasters...
To maximize your time in the field consider hunting prime times and ideal conditions. In some jurisdictions coyote hunting is allowed year round but in most situations the months of December, January and February are the best months to pursue these wild dogs. Pelts are in prime condition and the often snow-covered landscape can greatly improve visibility for the hunter while making scavenging for food more difficult for the coyotes.
Extreme cold temperatures with a slight breeze carry sound greater distances, increasing the effectiveness of calling. Mild and windy conditions can literally shut things down. Savvy coyote hunters recognize and capitalize on the best conditions.
Remember, breeding season is prime time. Females go into heat beginning in January and peak by mid-to-late February. During this timeframe, there is the added bonus of increased visibility. Just as ungulates drop their guard somewhat during the rut, so do coyotes during their breeding season. They can frequently be seen frolicking in open fields or along tree lines, creating great spot-and-stalk shooting opportunities. Males are on the prowl looking for females in heat and groups of multiple dogs are often spotted together.
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Danny
Assistant Administrator 
Hunter Education Instructor
Posts: 1,342
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Post by Danny on Jan 15, 2010 15:46:35 GMT -5
Good info. For me, Coyote Time is anytime I see one and I have a rifle in my hands. I don't care if it's 1 hour until the rut starts, a 'yote is in deep doodoo if it passes without 300 yards.
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bocephus
Button Buck
Smooth as the hickory wind that blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola
Posts: 23
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Post by bocephus on Jan 30, 2010 1:38:16 GMT -5
Yeah January Through Early Mar is the best times to hunt them. Like the article says this is when their breeding and their pelts are at their finest. Plus out here in the east this time of year is also the best time to get good results using your howlers to locate a yote. Their not as heavily populated out here so the don't have to howl to mark their territories like they do out west. They really don't have what you would call a territory out here, they just kinda roam around until they find food and then when they've got their fill there they move on. Ive been calling to some for the past week here at the house at night before I go to bed but I haven't had the time to get up there and get after them. Ive killed a lot of yotes in North Carolina, about a 20 minute drive from BIGTYME's place, right behind my house there on private property, and I go most of them in late spring and early summer. I had the best luck with my Primos Ki=Yi and Johnny Stewart distress calls but theres on thing I learned about these critters, their smarter than me lol!. After you get busted by a yote using a certain call it is extremely hard to call another yote in with that same call. You might as well put that call int he bottom of your call bag. Almost 100% of the time I would kill a coyote within the first 3 days of buying and using a new call. Ive really been thinking of making my own calls because it gets expensive buying new calls every week and I'm starting to run out of choices lol. But you can put a call up and not use it for a month or so and have a little bit of luck trying it again several weeks later. And decoys are great too! I went to the local craft store and bought a medium sized Styrofoam ball and a bag of white feathers, I took two fish hooks and tied them to a four foot piece of strong fishing line to one end. I put one hook in the Styrofoam ball and used the other end to hang it from a branch. I stuck all of he feathers in the ball and hung it about 3 to 4 inches from the ground and hid my radio behind it. Then I played the Johnny Stewart "Chicken in Distress" cassette and had luck with that too. Well I guess Ive talked too much for one post already lol. if anyone is interested I will post some how-to pics under a new topic on how to make cheap and easy decoys for coyotes, I'm from WV so I know how to rig stuff up lol.
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bocephus
Button Buck
Smooth as the hickory wind that blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola
Posts: 23
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Post by bocephus on Jan 30, 2010 20:37:11 GMT -5
I forgot to add something to my post last night and I dont know why I forgot this because it's really important to keep in mind while trying to hunt coyotes. Ok, 99.99% of the time coyotes wil always come in downwind so they can catch the scent of whatever it is their wanting to eat. So always remeber to set up to where you will be shooting downwind and try to set up where you can see the coyote coming in at a distance so you can get a shot on him before he catches wind of ya. Ive watched coyotes at distances crossing fields just to circle around to where they can approach from downwind. But ive come with a way to beat them on this. I will use my decoy and set it up near the edge of a field and then i will move about 75 yards to the side of it to where the wind is blowing towards the decoy and when the coyotes come in they run right by me and i get a good broadside shot.
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bocephus
Button Buck
Smooth as the hickory wind that blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola
Posts: 23
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Post by bocephus on Jan 30, 2010 20:47:24 GMT -5
one last thing im wanting to add about coyote hunting, if you ever get the chance to go do it then go. ive been hunting for 26 years (I killed my first grey squirrel when I was five) and ive hunted just about any kind of game you can in the places ive lived and theres nothing that even compares to calling up a coyote and taking him out. Its a HUGE RUSH because they almost always come in running and everything happens so fast. Its like the feeling of buck fever you get when your a kid and you see your first nice buck. When you do get the chance and you get your first coyote you will see what I mean.
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Post by Mongojoe on Jan 31, 2010 8:46:03 GMT -5
one last thing im wanting to add about coyote hunting, if you ever get the chance to go do it then go. ive been hunting for 26 years (I killed my first grey squirrel when I was five) and ive hunted just about any kind of game you can in the places ive lived and theres nothing that even compares to calling up a coyote and taking him out. Its a HUGE RUSH because they almost always come in running and everything happens so fast. Its like the feeling of buck fever you get when your a kid and you see your first nice buck. When you do get the chance and you get your first coyote you will see what I mean. To me, calling coyotes is a bigger thrill than deer hunting ever was...nothing else even comes close... I first started hunting back in the 1950's when I was big enough to follow Dad into the woods and carry his squirrels, and I've hunted everything around this area of Oklahoma and southern Kansas there is to hunt...but predators, and coyotes in particular, beats them all.... They may come in singlely, in pairs, or in a pack...they may sneak in quitely, or come on the run...but nothing beats the "rush" of hearing, long before you see them break out of the trees across that little clearing, a pack of barking, growling, yipping, snarling, slobbering coyotes on the hunt, trying to out run each other to the free meal, just at dusk, on your last stand of the day when it's still just barely light enough to see, as you set backed in to a patch of scrub blackjack making a sound like a coyote's dinner, and dearly wishing you could trade that scoped .22-250 in your hands for the pump 12 gag. you left back in the truck because you didn't figure you'd need it here......................... The first time it happens, you'd best have a knife handy, cause you are going to want to scrape out the seat of your pants when it's all over. |
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