Who Has Been Coyote Hunting Lately?

[Ezana4CE]

The coyotes around me have been going nuts over the last week and I’m getting the itch to get after them but I simply don’t have the time. They’ve been waking me up howling and barking between midnight and 3 am. So this evening I heard one open up around 7:30pm and I couldn’t take it any more. I fetched one of my cheap diaphragm callers and started talking to them. I located one and got it to talk back. We chatted a couple of times over the course of 15-25 minutes. I then went in, grabbed a .357 Bulldog, put a little more air in it, loaded two slugs in a mag, grabbed my Trigger Sticks, and went outside hoping one would do something dumb. Shot in the dark, I know, BUT either it’s mating season or there are some young and dumb coyotes around here. Either way, I’m getting anxious waiting for an opportunity to take time off to hunt. If I can get a good 3-4 weeks in that will be lovely.

What have the coyotes been doing in your area as of late? What type of behavior(s) have you encountered? Have you been successful in hunting any lately? Are you day or night hunting them? Which gun and ammo combo are you using? What sort of nighttime setup(s) are you running: thermal, night vision, or torch/spotlights?

 

[N2 Shooter]

You must have been reading my mind!!!

I am going to try and give it a go this weekend for either coyote or raccoons. I have a permission with a big problem with both, so I am waiting on my new thermal scope to arrive tomorrow, and hopefully I can get some range time in with it on both my Bulldog and Maverick. I know what the Bulldog can do with raccoons with the NSA 110gr, but I also want to give the .357cal FX Hybrids a go, as I'm certain they will work great on both pest.

The biggest question for me, is do I try to improve the accuracy of the JSB Knockouts from my Maverick .30cal? I know if I can hold a 1.5" group, they will hit a yote with enough power for a headshot. But I feel better putting +150fpe behind a shot and going for the boiler room. I may run the ATN X-Sight 5 LRF with the IR Lamp for the raccoons, and do scanning with my AGM Taipan Thermal Monocole.

I may try and do both in the same night, as the permission is vast. I may bait the raccoons with tuna, and use my FoxPro Patriot predator call and decoy to bring in the yotes. I'm going to be shooting from my SUV, as there are other abandoned vehicles there so that will give me good cover and I can feel a more secure.

 

[DirtyGator]

I was talking with my wife earlier and she was telling me about hearing some song dogs earlier at the house. Never really hunted them as a focus, but just might here soon.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@N2 Shooter Which range can you expect them to show up in? How far do you post from your decoy? How close is your call to it?Have you had any luck using decoys? I don’t sit still long enough to use one.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Duplicate post

 

[Ezana4CE]

I was talking with my wife earlier and she was telling me about hearing some song dogs earlier at the house. Never really hunted them as a focus, but just might hear soon.

@DirtyGator What would you hunt them with? Do you have a nighttime hunting setup? They are a challenge to hunt, but it’s fun. I’ve learned a lot from listening to them and watching them. I also have a couple of coyote hunters that I listen to for tips and advice. I’ve found that it’s really important to find someone that hunts them in similar weather conditions and terrain if you’re seeking advice.

 

[DirtyGator]

I think my Bulldog would serve well in that role. My sumatra .25 would get the job done fore sure, just too loud. I don't have a dedicated night set up, might have to do some research.

 

[N2 Shooter]

@N2 Shooter Which range can you expect them to show up in? How far do you post from your decoy? How close is your call to it?Have you had any luck using decoys? I don’t sit still long enough to use one.

The coyote have come quite close to the residence. I'm going to place the decoy and call a foot from each other, and around 75 yards from my stand. That will put the tree line around 300 yards from the decoy. I hope to be able to pull them in and stop them within the kill zone. I feel confident that I can make an accurate shot with the Bulldog to 125 yards with the FX Hybrids, but I may have to use NSA slugs, as the Hybrids can go supersonic and give away my position.

 

[Deleted member 49222]

Recently had one right out in the backyard just setting and watching our dog at night. Most likely after leftover dog food or water. I have heard that coyotes do hunt in packs? Don't know... I just bought a Taipan Veteran Compact in .22. Is that enough to take out a coyote under 50 yards?

 

[karl_h]

The coyotes around me have been going nuts over the last week and I’m getting the itch to get after them but I simply don’t have the time. They’ve been waking me up howling and barking between midnight and 3 am. So this evening I heard one open up around 7:30pm and I couldn’t take it any more. I fetched one of my cheap diaphragm callers and started talking to them. I located one and got it to talk back. We chatted a couple of times over the course of 15-25 minutes. I then went in, grabbed a .357 Bulldog, put a little more air in it, loaded two slugs in a mag, grabbed my Trigger Sticks, and went outside hoping one would do something dumb. Shot in the dark, I know, BUT either it’s mating season or there are some young and dumb coyotes around here. Either way, I’m getting anxious waiting for an opportunity to take time off to hunt. If I can get a good 3-4 weeks in that will be lovely.

What have the coyotes been doing in your area as of late? What type of behavior(s) have you encountered? Have you been successful in hunting any lately? Are you day or night hunting them? Which gun and ammo combo are you using? What sort of nighttime setup(s) are you running: thermal, night vision, or torch/spotlights?

They come and go around my place, sometimes they hang around a couple weeks, other times just a few days. Sometimes they disappear for months on end, other times just a few weeks, completely random. In the past when they were around, I'd put out chicken bones I kept in the freezer in a draw behind my house to bait them a few nights in a row, then go sit in a blind for several hours at night with some light calling on electronic caller, I haven't done that in a couple years now. I had a little success but mostly drew a blank, but everytime I got one or two it energized me to try again and not get anything for a dozen outings. Not a thing I would intentionally use any pellet rifle for, I always used thermal trijicon scope, 300 blackout suppressed, 20 round mag full of handloaded 220gr nosler ballistic tips meant for subsonic use. Most rounds I popped off on a group was maybe 6, killing a couple, missing a couple, and sometimes poorly hitting one who likely became dinner for his buddies later. I can't stand them, they are non-native here and have decimated the turkey population since I moved to my place, I used to see several flocks feeding in my yard every month the first couple years after I bought my place, then the yotes moved in. I've also found remnants of several fawns eaten by them on my place. Don't care how they die, slow and painfull is fine with me. I've actually killed as many if not more as targets of opportunity over the years standing on my front deck smoking a cig, My 25 cricket has taken 2 that way over 120 yards trotting accross the bench at the edge of my property, and wounded 3 others(heard the hit), took a few shots with my 22 uragan compact but never got the lead right and no hit, took a couple below the bench 20 yards closer with various PB rifles at least one of which is always loaded just inside the front door when I'm home. Took a few and wounded a few walking my woods with whatever handgun I had with me at the time as targets of opportunity. And a few more deer hunting over the years here, actually killed more yotes deer hunting my property than deer by a longshot.

 

[Nealgl1985]

100 yards! He didn't even move! Sorry does this count?

 

[Ezana4CE]

Recently had one right out in the backyard just setting and watching our dog at night. Most likely after leftover dog food or water. I have heard that coyotes do hunt in packs? Don't know... I just bought a Taipan Veteran Compact in .22. Is that enough to take out a coyote under 50 yards?

@chickendumpling I’ve heard all sorts of things, but only seen them solo or in pairs. I hear them communicating with one another in the woods. When they do, it sounds like large numbers throughout the woods. Again, I haven’t seen them in person or on a game camera in a group of more than two.

 

[karl_h]

@chickendumpling I’ve heard all sorts of things, but only seen them solo or in pairs. I hear them communicating with one another in the woods. When they do, it sounds like large numbers throughout the woods. Again, I haven’t seen them in person or on a game camera in a group of more than two.

lucky you, most I ever saw at once was a minimum of 15, and no safe shot. Not too long ago, at least 3 packs were howling at each other across the road along the cattle field, when one group got real close to a crossing point they like to use right along my property line, no go for high power rifle and about 2 hours after sunset. Grabbed my blackout, went into the woods accross a drainage and sat down on a ridge with a good view and waited while watching through the thermal scope. A long line of them came trotting fast but followed the property line up and over the ridge I was on instead of going down the drainage, couldn't shoot through a property line even though the line of yotes ran by me not 25 yards away. If they had gone down the drainage I likely would have waited till half passed me and emptied the mag. Biggest pack I saw around here, about twice as many as the most any of my game camera's ever saw. The yotes around here notice game camera's going off even though they are "invisible IR" and skirt around them, normally only get a very few pics of them, only time the camera's get more than a single/double is when I move them. After moving I may catch 6 or 7 of them first time a pack goes by, never again. They are smart and don't go by the camera's more than one time except the odd single here and there.

Here is one I actually watched, along with 4 others trotting up the ridge late december last deer season, this one went in front of the camera, the other 4 made a jog a few feet earlier and went behind the camera through thicker stuff, and then jogged right back in the clear after the camera. No shot as I was in a climber in the draw and my property line is 40 feet give or take behind the camera. They were all sky as background from my vantage point. Only a dangerous idiot would shoot. I wanted to be on the ridge that morning, but wind direction was the worse it could be if I was, and if I was up there 20 feet behind the camera, they never would have shown up. Wind would take my scent right down the ridge line they were coming up.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@karl_h Well that explains a few things. That may account for why I only see one or two on camera. I’ve seen them look at the camera and carry on as if it was not there. Some of the same ones return. I’ve seen guys in the Dakotas on YouTube have several come in to a e-caller from hundreds of yards out. In my neck of the woods I don’t see many areas of open space where there are places to view beyond 300 yards unobstructed especially without crossing property lines. I’m used to seeing them hug tree lines and draws. In these areas I have never seen yotes as thick as you describe. Seen hog sounders that thick, but never coyotes. So I’m not sure why that is. Perhaps the environment just doesn’t support the numbers. I really can’t say. I’ve heard of them attacking cattle in other regions, but not to my knowledge around where I live. A lot of folks keep donkeys and horses with their livestock. They will run dogs down and stomp them if they can catch them.

 

[karl_h]

... Seen hog sounders that thick, but never coyotes. So I’m not sure why that is. ...

I hunted several years in an area with a decent amount of hogs, coyotes were rare there, go a few miles and up in elevation away from the drainages/swamps, the hog population was less and the coyote population was more. Maybe they don't get along, just a guess, I have no clue.

 

[Ranchibi]

Ezana, I hope you anchor some of them!

 

[Bhuntin]

Any of you hunt them with a Vulcan 3 or an American air arms evol .30

 

[Hal4son]

@karl_h What is the brand (and model #) of your "invisible ir" game cameras that coyotes are noticing?

 

[markT]

lucky you, most I ever saw at once was a minimum of 15, and no safe shot. Not too long ago, at least 3 packs were howling at each other across the road along the cattle field, when one group got real close to a crossing point they like to use right along my property line, no go for high power rifle and about 2 hours after sunset. Grabbed my blackout, went into the woods accross a drainage and sat down on a ridge with a good view and waited while watching through the thermal scope. A long line of them came trotting fast but followed the property line up and over the ridge I was on instead of going down the drainage, couldn't shoot through a property line even though the line of yotes ran by me not 25 yards away. If they had gone down the drainage I likely would have waited till half passed me and emptied the mag. Biggest pack I saw around here, about twice as many as the most any of my game camera's ever saw. The yotes around here notice game camera's going off even though they are "invisible IR" and skirt around them, normally only get a very few pics of them, only time the camera's get more than a single/double is when I move them. After moving I may catch 6 or 7 of them first time a pack goes by, never again. They are smart and don't go by the camera's more than one time except the odd single here and there.

Here is one I actually watched, along with 4 others trotting up the ridge late december last deer season, this one went in front of the camera, the other 4 made a jog a few feet earlier and went behind the camera through thicker stuff, and then jogged right back in the clear after the camera. No shot as I was in a climber in the draw and my property line is 40 feet give or take behind the camera. They were all sky as background from my vantage point. Only a dangerous idiot would shoot. I wanted to be on the ridge that morning, but wind direction was the worse it could be if I was, and if I was up there 20 feet behind the camera, they never would have shown up. Wind would take my scent right down the ridge line they were coming up.
View attachment 387185

The coyotes around here are the same. No go around trail cameras. After killing a few they wont even eat or go near he bait I put out.. They are incredibly smart and adaptive..

 

[Emu]

Any of you hunt them with a Vulcan 3 or an American air arms evol .30

I have taken with Vulcan 2 .30 Cal and Hades. With FX Bobcat 44 grain and FX Indy (pumping action) in .30 Cal and Hades, with .25 Cal. And Baracudas, with .357 Cal.....

I hope this year the Sidewinder. 30 Cal show coyotes it's powers.