Coyote dry spell continues... What are your setups like?

[Pete112288]

I started calling coyotes when I was 17 on our family's 40 acres and a couple places just outside of town. For the first 4 years I remember each stand I tried and each time I had coyotes come in. Since then I have been lucky to call one in a year. Now I dont get that much time to do it a lot but I am still going at least as many times a year as I used to. For those first 4 years 3 of every 5 times I tried, I would get one to come in, now I am not saying I connected with em every time but I got them to come within 200 yards. A lot of the first year or two I know was because of uneducated coyotes. I was hunting small pastures that were outside of city limits by a few hundred feet and then it went to farm land. Now the city limits have expanded and I cannot hunt there anymore so I have had to shift to calling the timber country in adition to our family property. Our family property is small enough that you only can do one set up and cover all of it. I used to get in quietly as possible, sit for a half hour in my calling spot quiet before calling, call for an hour or more, then sit another half hour. I have had most of my yotes come in either in the first 5 min or after 45 minutes from the first call. Since then I have picked up a montana coyote decoy, a motion fur decoy, a handfull more calls and a gun I bought just for coyotes (Steven's 200 .223). Now I cant seem to get one coyote a year for 20-30 setups. I have only put down 1 coyote with that .223 that I bought just for that. I am starting to get discouraged, coyote hunting is the first hunting I was able to do alone and really fell in love with it. In the beginning it was almost like all I would have to do was stubble through a crappy setup or two and I would get some action. Now I dissect the wind, the layout of the land, the sequence of my calls, the type of calls, and everything else I can think of but come up with nothing. This year I have 10 setups under my belt and the only coyotes I have seen have been in the headlights on the way home. I think in hindsight I am getting a little sloppy with a few things now because of my frustrations. Taking the stepson out for a day of coyote hunting, his first year hunting and will be his first time coyote hunting on the 30th. Hopfully we can get something to come in.

What are your setups like? What I mean is what is the process you go though? How far away do you try to park? Do you wait after you setup to let things calm down before you call? Start loud? Start quiet? Fly by the seat of your pants? Use more distress calls? More howls? Mix of both? Decoys? Maybe hearing what steps others go through might show me a flaw in mine.
Happy Hunting. Merry Christmas. Happy New Years.

[Heredoggydoggy]

I know what you are talking about.  Places I will go to one time are loaded with coyotes, and the next few times in the same place, nothing!  I think with coyotes, it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time.  I also think that with the popularity of predator hunting these days, coyotes are a lot smarter than they used to be.

I've come to the conclusion that the reason I'm not more successful at coyote hunting is that in my old age I don't like to walk very far from my vehicle any more.  I think to be a successful coyote hunter you have to do a lot of walking, cover a big area, and do lots of stands.  I've tried ecallers, decoys, cover scents, everything, but the best response I've gotten is with mouth calls.   

Stands to reason that the more dumb coyotes you kill, the smarter the gene pool gets! 

[pd]

Pete, I don't hunt coyotes, so I cannot give any specific advice.  However, I have faced the exact same problem in the past, so I might be able to give some general suggestions.

For some unknown reason, I decided to teach myself fly fishing (this is going back more than 30 years).  I come from a non-fishing family, and none of my friends fished with flies, either.  I have to tell you that I really struggled for about 10 years.  I spent a LOT of time in the field, I asked thousands of questions to every fisherman I met (including gear salesmen), and I bought a lot of gear (turns out, much of it unnecessary).  I finally cracked the code--can you guess how?

I started fishing with a group of guys, sometimes with one of them, sometimes as a big group.  We would fish 2 to 5 times a year.  I learned a tremendous amount from them.  Not so much about the fishing (casting technique, &c.), but the minor details (the approach, the stalk, where to stand, where to wade...).  Everything that I learned from them was stuff that I was doing wrong, but never knew it.  After fishing with these guys for a few years, it finally clicked, and I really started to catch fish (and enjoy myself so much more).

I don't fish much at all these days, I kind of got fished-out, if you know what I mean.  But I am a much better fisherman because I finally admitted to myself that I couldn't teach myself everything.

I hope this helps you even a little bit.

[billythekidrock]

The wetside is hard to coyote hunt no matter what tactics you use.

Very seldom do I sit for more than a minute or two before calling. I try to scan the area for a minute prior but I don't want my scent to disperse or chance that the wind will change. I use more distress than howls and sometimes I use decoys.

I try to cover most bases (parking, stand location, decoy location, wind) beforehand by scouting. Either with boots on the ground or from the pc.

I try to keep vehicle noise down. Definitely no alarms or beeps and keep door opening/closing to a minimum. No keys clinking around in your pocket.

It may sound silly or trivial, but I also try to drive slow when approaching a stand location if it is near the parking area. I try to drive on hard pack gravel and stay off the loose stuff that makes more noise. I also try to go slow through mud puddles and avoid iced over puddles.

[PolarBear]

Took my daughter and her buddy out and got him his first coyote this morning.  We set up down wind from my PM4 caller and all hid behind a big maple log in head to toe (even ski masks) camo.  St up the caller about 80 yards out and within 15 minutes of on and oof caling with a chicken squaller call, she came running in and the boy dumped her!

[Pete112288]

Well gonna give it a good try monday for a few setups. Take my stepson out for his first coyote hunt and it will be with his first gun too  and he doesent know yet, he will get it on sunday, his birthday. I am more excited for him than I am for myself to go hunting. I am having flashbacks to my first coyote calling experiences and am hoping I can pull in one for him

[Weehunt66]

Good luck. Your not the only one struggling through a dry spell.   Just keep goin!!!!

[YoteSlayer61]

Try doing a little more scouting. Go out just before dawn or at dusk and use an interrogation howl and serenade howls. These are typically preloaded on most electronic callers. If using hand calls try an easy friendly howl, lasting 3 to six seconds. Make sure to practice before going out! Coyotes can cover quite a large area for their territory, several miles and are almost constantly on the move. I've talked to people who said coyotes on their property were heard on a fairly consistent schedule coinciding with moon phases. Meaning they would hear and see Yote activity approx. 2 to 4 times a month as the dogs roamed their territory. Also look up solunar tables and try locating during peak activity periods, especially if they coincide with sunrise or set. I can't tell you how many times I've heard dogs during these periods. Just last night I awoke around 2 a.m. To coyotes talking, curious I checked my app and the major period had ended 20 min prior. Several weeks ago my wife and I had just gone to bed around 11 p.m. when I heard a serenade, we sleep with the window open. A serenade is when you hear what seems like 20 dogs yippin and hollering like they are at a country boy Bon fire after a few drinks. The next day I decided to check my solunar tables after mentioning the previous nights racket to my dad...sure enough the major period was from 11 p.m. To 1 a.m.  Song dogs are scavengers and will take easy food over hunting anytime. I see and hear the biggest concentrations of dogs on badlands areas next to orchards and farms. Especially calving and dairy operations or where they raise sheep. Agriculture brings water and food as well. Hope this helps....Remember if you don't hear or see any dogs after a couple stands in an area they prob aren't around. Also try animal distress sounds other than rabbits. Everyone has a rabbit squealer. Try cats, birds, pigs, turkey, and fawns at the right time of year. If hunting near a cattle ranch use calf distress especially this time of year when most are calving

[BOWHUNTER45]

The wetside is hard to coyote hunt no matter what tactics you use.

Very seldom do I sit for more than a minute or two before calling. I try to scan the area for a minute prior but I don't want my scent to disperse or chance that the wind will change. I use more distress than howls and sometimes I use decoys.

I try to cover most bases (parking, stand location, decoy location, wind) beforehand by scouting. Either with boots on the ground or from the pc.

I try to keep vehicle noise down. Definitely no alarms or beeps and keep door opening/closing to a minimum. No keys clinking around in your pocket.

It may sound silly or trivial, but I also try to drive slow when approaching a stand location if it is near the parking area. I try to drive on hard pack gravel and stay off the loose stuff that makes more noise. I also try to go slow through mud puddles and avoid iced over puddles.

No they are not ...as long you call using the Hiccups 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Which just gave me an idea ... I may need to change my user name to that 

[stevemiller]

Just gonna throw this in here,I love coyote hunting.Have been having a bad year of it so far this year,but thats the main reason I do it.TO GET TO A POINT WHERE THERES NOT SO MANY OUT THERE.

[bear hunter]

I went out last weekend and all I saw was a set of tracks 50 yards down the road from my truck walking a way. LOL   It is slow out there right now for some reason. I think I is to many people hunting them and they have smartened up. I will try again this weekend. Good luck ever one happy hunting.