Stape,
Distress sounds are the ones most commonly used for calling predators.
Howling is a social behavior, and many of the vocalizations are meant to run off the competition.
You don't want to do that, do you?
Howling is also somewhat a "local thing", you gotta know the local dialect to some degree.
In some parts of Washington, coyotes are very closed lipped.
Where others are very vocal, with howling and barking extremely common.
Howling might scare one off, and make the other come in lookin' for a fight.
If using your e-caller was productive, you'll want to mimic the way called with it, and if you can, even the sounds it made.
There are as many good all around calls, as there are good rifles.
Every caller likes a different call, and some guys love the ones other guys hate.
Take Rick, he's a big fat blowhard... that's not a personal insult, just the best way to describe his style.
He's a big dude, with a large lung capacity, and he really puts his diaphragm into it.
He'd like your Ki-Yoter, or the CritR Call Magnum, or the mouthpiece he used on some of his calls, made by a guy who made the Loudmouth electronic caller.
Me, I'm a wheezy little whiner, again not a personal assessment (other than my size)... it's my calling style, I "call small" a lot, sounding weak and near death is more important to me than sheer volume.
I like a call that takes very little air, and I don't wail from deep in my belly.
I like the CritR Call Standard, the Cartlon's Lonesome Cow elk call (making distress sounds of other animals, with it), one of Rick's calls with the mouthpiece Yellerdude makes, or one of my one piece wooden calls with a thin double-stacked reedset.
Calling waterfowl is very similar, yet very different at the same time.
You're somewhat right, in the "less is more" line of thinking.
You don't call when a coyote is looking your way, like you don't call birds when they are coming at you.
Generally, by the time you see the coyote, he already knows where you are, he's pinpointed the location of the sound with his ears.
Sometimes you might want to switch to a "kissy" sound, like you'd call your dog with, if it hangs up once in sight, and doesn't present a shot.
You'll want to call either continuously, or in intermittent series of calling and spaces of silence. And call 'til something comes, or you call the stand "finished" and move on.
This is a matter of personal preference, and lung power, new guys get dizzy.
Targeting coyotes, many callers quit at ten minutes or so, with cats it might go an hour, and with bears even longer than that.
On my best day, I cranked on a handcall for an hour and forty minutes.
Maybe you ought to step back a notch, and get yourself an enclosed reed call?
Much easier to use, and to learn to "be a musican".
Then you can apply those skills to your Ki-Yoter.
You gotta walk before you can run.
Iceman,
Working with antler with a high tool speed, will make it stink alright.
Most antler calls (and high quality wooden calls) are sealed inside and out, to lock in that stink.
But I can't speak for Rick.
Krusty
