Tips for yotes in thick woods and clear cuts.

[Slideshow86]

I am a month or so into hunting yotes and need some info on hunting the "Wet-Side". I dont know anyone who owns farm land around me and have mainly been hunting weyerhaeuser land and a few open fields close to town. It seems like there arent half the signs of yotes like there was in previous years.

In the past month ive been scouting, hunting and driving around at night (not night hunting) and letting out locator howls and only gotten a response from yotes a few times.

How do I position stands in
-Thinned or thick timber
-Around known trails
-On skidder/ gravel roads
-In clear cuts that dont offer clear shots.

It just seems like if I find what looks like a good spot, I cant ever get a good clear shot.

[tomy salami]

Great questions.............

Been tryin to figger it out myself.

Still never had one come out to say hello. Getting frustrating.

[LittleJohn]

My experience on the wet-side is make lots of sets. I like hunting swamps and creek bottoms. Clear cuts are tough. If they are open enough and u can get some elevation and a vantage point you can pull it off. I carry my shotgun and my rifle to a couple of my dark timber spots, some of the shots are 20yds or less. When me and my brother go we take turns with the shotgun and rifle from set to set. Just get the wind right and find some sign in an area that isn't getting hit too hard and make lots of sets. The Wet-side it tough. Send me a pm if u have any other?

[PolarBear]

Treestand just a few yards into the timber over looking a clear cut or open area.

[carpsniperg2]

i don't hunt the west side, but for bear and cougar we do call heavy timber and very brushy area. if you can i would carry a shotgun i like 4 buck but 00 buck works fine also easyer to get threw the brush with muti pellets. as far as calling and stands we make allot more stands in the heavy areas because the sound don't travel as far. when you set up you should always try to find a spot when set up you can have atleast a few windows to shoot threw. i know this can be hard but sometimes you have to hunt for the right spot before you can hunt if that makes any sense. also we do use roads and skidder trails allot of the time the bears "and many other animals" will walk them they like easy walking and to be able to see. i hope this helps and good luck

[hoytem]

check out green water , i called one in while "calling for bear" a few years ago. he was gone before i had a shot though

[littlebuf]

bets advice is pay attention to detail. by that i mean study the clear cut hard. there tuff to see to say the least, the darn things can hide behind a tuft of grass over here. the one i saw i picked up with just my eyes at 250 or 300 yards just because there was a little bit darker spot than there was before. and they can literally pop up out of no where, don't give up

[Slideshow86]

Thanks guys.

 I live in a small town so I went out scouting on bicycles with my wife today. I live close to some huntable area so thats the direction we went. We only saw a little scat ( they are well fed) and a bunch of tracks. There are a few creeks and a river where we were and we saw yote tracks of what looks like a large male and smaller female in the sand but only at one location, just seemed like there was soo many other places I "should" have seen tracks. We also saw a LOT of bever dams on the creeks and lots of fresh signs of bever in the area (im not suggesting hunting the beaver, but there may be cats in the area?) Beavers sure are cool to see though, they are busy little guys.

I guess Ill keep scouting areas for signs and places for stands and marking them to my GPS.

Also, I do have a 12ga but dont know how I would carry a 12ga and an AR-15 through the woods (backpack maybe?). I was thinking if I did this I could have a good chance at many different stands along my hike.

Question, How far when hiking do you go between stands around here?

[Slideshow86]

bets advice is pay attention to detail. by that i mean study the clear cut hard.

I am having issues with wind lately. The wind would expose me when I would try to hike to the "highest" ground and to get the best shot path and line of sight seems to leave me exposed.

I think more scouting will tell me the better clear cuts. But im really interested on how to hunt in the timber on there trails or on skidder/ gravel roads. Seems like a tree stand is the way to go but now I have 2 rifles and a pistol and a tree stand, stealthly making my way through the woods?

[shoot-em-dead]

This really works well on the wet side- I have done it many times. Get a doe bleat and pick a logging road that preferably is in some type of canyon. Walk slowly enough that you get pissed if you can hear your own movement. Blow on the call a couple times every five or ten minutes or around every corner. Be ready. You will have less than two seconds from when you hear them coming till you see them and then they are gone. Use a shotgun as you will not have time to scope them. I have also just sat and called from one spot with the doe bleat and called in yotes and bobcat. I will also say that all the animals I have called in like this were within 20 feet of me and I never got a shot off. This was always during archery deer season and I didn't have time to draw. I tried it again last time I was over during thanksgiving and it worked. Called in a coyote and he came in hard and left before I got the scope on him so that is why I say to use the shotgun.

[carpsniperg2]

i am like you i use my bushmaster special varmit which is a very heavy ar 15 when i call and i 90% of the time carry my 12g browning bps with me along with all my gear i carry the ar in my arms and the 12 on my back at a 45 angle over the neck. as far as how far i am willing to go depends on the cover in open areas good sound carry i will go a .75 between in bad weather and such higer winds about .50 miles if going from canyon to canyon i will call each even if they are .25 miles because sound won't carry over them with the wind very well

[stumprat]

I have better luck on timberland. If I get in the brush with them.
I look for small meadows in the middle of the thick stuff. Your shots will only be about 50 yards doing this. And they take longer to come in(up to 45 min. to an hour sometimes). Clearcuts will give you some action. Try not looking for a whole Coyote or Bobcat in clearcuts. Usually I can just pick out small movements or the white hair in thier ears(small white triangles).

As far as wind on the west side. On farmland I play the wind. But out in clearcuts,canyons, and small drainages and draws. The wind seems to change direction about every 5 minutes. I worry more about keeping the sun at my back these days on timberland.


Fawn distress calls work great in clearcuts. Also try a decoy to pull them out of the timberline.

[TheHunt]

Great thread... 

Thanks for posting,  I suck at getting those rats out in the clear.  I do like the idea of a moving decoy. 

[Slideshow86]

Thanks for all the good tips guys.

-Treestand
-Decoy ( Ive been checking out the mojo critter over on the PM forum)
-Doe bleat
-Fawn in distress
-Extreme slow/stealth/silent walking with shotgun
-Make lots of stands

Keep them coming!

[LastCat]

Over here on the West Side it can be so thick, they can come in and you would never see them. Here's a few events that p-wee and I have had last year. Just when you think you have figured them out, they go and change the rules.

Just like some have already said here, the more stands you can make your odds improve and your chances go up. We usually just hit the woods, look for clearcuts, open meadows, open areas, long logging roads. Any area that you gives yourself an advantage to see a long distance, at least 75 yards. Some areas we set up in, we can see for 1000 yards. And low grasses or at least low brush, ya gotta see them to shoot em.

Overall we make sure we are set up at high, and with good coverage, staying off the horizon, and staying still. That we have a wide open shooting lane in front of us. We watch the tree line, and the edges of the shooting lane. Sometimes we howl first, sometimes we start out with rabbit.

We have had groups howl back, be would never adventure out. Some places have so many people that travel the area, they avoid coming out. One time we were in a field, sitting in the tree line, up on the bank. We did 3 lone howls on a diaphragm, waited about 30 seconds, then about 15 seconds of rabbit. 3 came in from the far edge of this field. We got all 3.

Then my buddy went back 2 days later to the same spot, and setup in the same place. Here's the part where they start to break the rules. To get to this area, we take an asphalt road. Park, walk down the hillside, cross a creek, and then up a small hill, then you are facing the field that is about 200 yards long by 180 wide. So he howls, gets 15 coyotes to respond from 3 different groups. Waits, does a rabbit, and here comes the coyotes. But they cross the road, pass his truck, down the hill, over the creek, and all 5 run past him on the right, he got the last one. You would think the coyotes would be spooked by his truck, pick up his scent and leave. Nope, they just kept coming.

Yesterday, we set up on a hillside, looking west, the wind was coming from behind us, (the wind kept changing). After 15 mins. I look over to  my right, and her comes this charging coyote pup. See's me, and takes off down the hill. Took 2 shots, but it was gone. But, it came in up wind.

I was sitting on a hillside, overlooking a clear cut, about 500 yards long, and 180 yards wide. After 20 mins, I see a coyote across the clearcut, about 175 yards. Couldn't get it to cross over, but it took off to the left about 350 yards, crossed over a road, and up on the hill where I was sitting. Came within 30 yards. Knocked that one down.

Last year between p-wee and I, we have called in about 25 dogs, and got 12 of them. Most of the times the rules apply, watch your wind, get good cover, don't move, don't slam your doors, etc.. But then again the dogs are careless. When p-wee called in 5, two days before, we got 3 in the same spot. Plus all 5 ran past his truck, came down the same trail, and passed by him at 10 feet. And we don't use cover scent. But we do have full camo. But we have knocked them down with out camo and no face masks.

Yesterday, we had one come from across the road and down a trail. It winded us and went back where it came from. It passed our rig twice, and followed in our muddy footsteps.

Man I wish I could say, hide the truck, and "They will never walk down the same trail as we did", or they never come from up wind. But they do.

I think the best tip I could give is, "Just Try".  "You can't call them in, if they are not there". We hunt all day, and make as many stands as we can. We hide our rig, the best we can, walk in sometimes 30 feet, then sometimes 500 yards. Get into good cover, and stay still. We watch the road for tracks, and scat. We stay quite and listen. In a stand we just stay ready and keep scanning the area. We always change things up, using hand calls on one stand, and then the next use a FX3. Some sets are 15 mins some are an hour. I wish I  could say these are the rules, but the coyotes break them all the time. 

We learn from our mistakes, and never out guess a coyote. Get out and try that hillside, that dirt bank, that fish pond, that old logging road, you never know, you might call one in.

Lastcat

[saylean]

I like to call swampy areas/creek bottoms too.

Normally, I like to find a stump or brush pile I can climb on (to get a better view). MOST of the time, I hear them before I see them...pay attention to the squirrels chirping. Often times they have tipped me off that something is coming in.

Here is a pic of where I was calling last spring bear season, I was about 15 ft off the ground on an old stump. The trees were about 20ft all or more/brush was thick. This yote came in about 3 minutes (you could hear him)...had something else coming on the other side too, but I shot the yote first. I havent called in a ton, but I have got a few to show themselves.

Yote was like 20 yards or less away when I shot. This was just on the border of a swamp.

Good luck and dont give up. You never know what your gonna get!

[tomy salami]

The dog is smiling..........guess he was glad to meet you.