Coyotes

[Hombre0321]

I live in a somewhat rural part of Northern Alabama. I say somewhat because while I am in an area that is county and not city, the city part is real close by. Shooting here is completely legal here but I do have neighbors close by. We are absolutely over run buy Coyotes here. I see a dozen or so every couple of days in my back pasture. I would not use any rifle caliber on them because of the neighbors, but I sure would use a shotgun if it was possible to get them close enough.

While I have shot a few dogs over the years I am not a Coyote hunter and don't claim to be. The question I have for you "Real" dog hunters. Can a novice ever have a chance to call them in close enough to get a shot with a shotgun? Also--Is there an electronic call that I could purchase that would work for me ( The Novice)? Or is maybe some other way to do this Thanks Guys.

Roland

 

[K22]

I'm not an expert but what I've learn hunting coyotes in PA is the following:

1. I use a Primo's electronic call; it works reasonably well with a decoy but you absolutely have to pay attention to the wind since they tend to use it to their advantage when approaching the decoy. Accordingly, I've had my best success when there is little or no wind. I primarily hunt them very early morning or early evenings.

2. Even with heavy camo, I've spooked more than a few by not remaining still while calling.

3. I use a rifle (223) and most of my shot have been 100 to 150 yards. A lot of time the yote will hang up at these distances so for me, using a shotgun would not be viable perhaps because my calling skills are not good enough.

4. It sounds obvious, but the key to success is knowing that yotes are in the area. I look for tracks, scat, and any info that the farmers can provide.

5. The guys who are really good at it in my area hunt them a night with red light scanners and use rifles. The Foxpro electronic calls are very popular here.

I think hunting with a shotgun would be a real challenge but not impossible however since I've never used a shotgun I'll leave that issue to be addressed by other posters who have hunted that way.

It's a lot of fun, can be frustrating at times but there is nothing like the thrill of calling one in and making the shot. I encourage you to try it, especially since you said they are prolific in your area. Good luck.

 

[WindSurgeon]

I hunt in a "semi-rural" suburb of the twin cities and they only allow hunting/shooting with shotguns and rimfire .22 cal or smaller rifles. We started to have a coyote problem on and around my property about five years ago. They were eating all the fawns and the deer population eventually crashed. I tried for a couple of seasons to hunt with a shotgun loaded with either buckshot or BB magnum loads. Could never get them in close enough. Using a .22 I shot a couple, but they just ran (never recovered). I turned to trapping and had much better success killing quantity and now the problem is under control and I actually see fawns on my trail cameras.

If I could shoot yotes with any weapon of my choosing, it would be a centerfire bolt action rifle of the .17-.22 cal variety. In South Dakota I shoot a .223 or .22-250. This year I purchased the Savage B-Mag rifle in the new .17 WSM round. I was excited about the ballistics of this new round. The rifle is crappy, but the rimfire round is legal to shoot in my suburban area. It has done a good job of killing the two yotes I called in this year. One was shot at 75 yards and the other around a 100 yards. Both shot behind the shoulder, they did not run and the .17 WSM did not ruin the fur 8). If you are worried about neighbors, the .17 WSM is not as loud as a .22-250, .223 or .17 hornet, but scoots along at 3000 fps. As always, know what's beyond your target.

In terms of callers, I have tried hand callers, the Primos E-caller, the Johnny Stewart E-caller, and the Foxpro. NONE call in yotes like the Foxpro. Buy a Foxpro and don't look back. They simply sound better. If nothing is coming in to take a look using a Foxpro, there are no coyotes there at the time you are hunting. The Primos and JS calls were returned to Cabela's. Using hand/mouth callers can work, but takes a lot of practice, good lungs and an understanding wife.

Also, find yourself a fur buyer and sell them your furs. It has more than paid for all the calling and trapping gear I purchased. Fur prices are way up on Coyotes this year.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Pick up rabbit in distress call, and practice. They are cheap and you can decide if you like it before you buy and expensive call. The 17wsm looks like a good rimfire cartridge for the job.

 

[timeout]

I think shotgunning would not net many coyotes for your time afield. If you just enjoy spending time "in the woods" as I do, it is a win-win no matter. Do not take any chances by shooting a rifle where you are uncertain of what is beyond your target, just not worth the potential tragedy. This includes ricochets that may go away at whatever angle. I am not a fan of nite shooting, especially with a rifle. I tried it a couple of times in unpopulated areas and it makes me very uneasy. There is no way of knowing who or what may possibly be in your line of fire out beyond your vision. It is also very hard, if not downright impossible, to judge distance at nite. If you really want to remove some coyotes, learn to trap and snare. Removing coyotes is a temporary thing. They are perhaps the most resourceful animal in the U.S. When their population crashes, food supply increases and litter size goes up. I have spent a lifetime casually observing wildlife populations. I have no college degree in the matter, so my opinion is just that, opinion. As a boy and young man, we had Red Fox here so thick that it would be hard to plant your foot down in the winter without stepping on a fox track. At the same time, we had pheasants galore. Fox eventually got the mange and were very scarce. Pheasants became scarce as well. What happened? IMO man, or more to the point, a big change in farming practices. We had very few deer here in the late 40's, early 50's. The DNR hauled them in and populations boomed. Several years back, we became aware of CWD in the deer herd locally. Deer farms were blamed. May be, but I rather think it was a product of overpopulation. Being raised on a farm, doing some farming myself, and observing wildlife trends, has led me to believe that be it domestic or wild, disease it the net result of overpopulation. Have a ball taking out the local coyote population! Just know that nature has a master plan and all creatures have a role.

 

[Raythemanroe]

I haven't had much luck at night, Dusk and dawn seem to be when I get there attention..

 

[LCazador]

Get a rabbit distress mouth call and practice with it before going out. Just about any call will work, till you miss and educate them. The big thing is concealment, making the kill, movement, and wind direction. Once they start coming in try to keep still as possible, and look for a chance to call when they are not looking right at you. Even slight hand movements will spook them. Start calling in a soft tone and once you have sighted them call even softer and limit your calling to just a few wimpers. Calling too long or too loud will spook coyotes or reveal your position, causing them to hang up at a distance you can't shoot. Get into a place where you can see at least 50 yards all around you, if it's possible find a place where you can see for 100 yards or more. The key is to spot them before they spot you, then you can manipulate the calling to your advantage. Use Hornady #4 buck, 12ga. ammo. After you shoot the first one, don't give away your position, keep calling till you get as many as possible. Getting them into shotgun range requires patience and waiting till they are in range. With Hornady #4 buck, you can take them out to 50yards, with modified choke or full choke. I like modified choke the best.

 

[kochie]

shotgun with 4 buck will work very well out to 70 yds a shotgun will work great where you live you don't have to use a rifle if you don't want to

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

Yeow....novice hunter trying to get coyotes with a shotgun? Very difficult. You'll read many stories on the web about how they called coyotes to about 300 yards away, but they wouldn't come any closer. So try to get them in to 50 yards so you can take them with a shotgun will be very challenging.

1) Get a Foxpro electronic caller, Cabellas had the spitfire on sale for $150 recently
2) wind direction and where you setup, and where you place your caller. Very important. Often a coyote will want to circle around and approach the lure/caller from downwind. It wants to smell what it's been hearing.
4) 12 gauge with #3 or 4 buckshot...and the kind of gun that will allow a fast 2nd shot. (no single shots.) 20 gauge is probably too small. Fine for a 5lb bird....but not a 40lb dog.
4) camouflage and be very ......VERY still and quiet.

And be prepared to have several unsuccessful hunts. You either won't call them in, or they'll smell you, or you'll move and they'll see you. And not just quiet while you're calling/waiting. Walking TO your place of setup must be sneaky and quiet too.

 

[Raythemanroe]

Gray Fox, red Fox ya a shot gun is a go..I would use a small caliber ballistic tip

 

[ARW]

I see a lot of turkey hunters use some type of pop up blind and they seem to have turkeys come in very close. That might be a way to get the coyotes to come within shotgun range.

Alan

 

[Agney5]

This is very doable, the number of coyotes I have had within 50 yards is probably pretty close to the number I have killed at over 100. Most new hunters biggest problem is they love to crank the call up, coyotes have much better hearing than we do so keep the call low especially to start or as the coyote gets closer. Entering and exiting is very important keep quite getting in and out of wherever you are going to set up. This time of year is breeding season so matting calls are doing the trick in most areas but you probably can still have luck with regular distress calls. FoxPro is pretty much the standard that other calls are measured against so any of there line will serve you well. Also get a decoy they draw the attention off of you allowing for more movement, you can get by with very little camo if your primary color of clothing matches your surroundings. They pick us up the same way we usually pick them up, quick jerky movements so keep your movements slow, smooth and deliberate. And arguably the most important part play the wind you will never get a shot on one if the wind is blowing in their face, they will attempt to circle you and the call to get down wind plan for that. As someone else mentioned pick up some T or F or BBB or #4 buck and a decent aftermarket choke and pattern the gun. With the right set up you can get out to 70+ yards, but like a rifle try several different loads, dead coyote seems to do well in almost anything but is extremely pricey. Best of luck.

 

[xpilot]

"This is very doable, the number of coyotes I have had within 50 yards is probably pretty close to the number I have killed at over 100. Most new hunters biggest problem is they love to crank the call up, coyotes have much better hearing than we do so keep the call low especially to start or as the coyote gets closer. Entering and exiting is very important keep quite getting in and out of wherever you are going to set up."

Very good info. Have killed way more under 50 yards. #4 buck mostly, some 00. Both will do the job.

 

[Hombre0321]

Guys, Thank you all for the information it is appreciated very much. Yesterday I was speaking with a neighbor that lives about a quarter if a mile from me but on the same road. This guys wife raises Bull Terrier's as a hobby and to raise some money. Bull Terriers are the ones with the weird egg shaped head. She has a female that had a litter 3 weeks ago, and she had taken the pups and but them in a baby play pen and put this play pen about 10 feet out her back door so that they could get some sun. She heard crying coming from the yard and went to check, there were three Coyotes there and they had killed all of the pups and the female didn't live long enough to make it to the vet. One of the Coyotes was also killed by the female, but damn that is a loss.

This morning I decided to give it a try. I have a mouth call and another one that I don't know what you call this type of call, but it is like a long tube, is corrugated for lack of a better word and you squeeze it to make the sound. I still have my old ghillie suit from the Corps, and after reading what you guys said I wore it as well. Went into the back pasture found me a comfortable down wind spot were the brush behind me is so thick nothing would try and come up from behind me. Got out there very early around 4:45 and settled in. Started calling when it had just turned grey enough to see a little. Didn't and still don't have a clue what I was doing with the call, but I gave it a pretty good squeeze and just sat back for a time. After about 10 minutes gave it another gentle like squeeze and the first dog came running in at full throttle. He got in I later measured to 80 yds and just sat there looking. I didn't have a clue what to do next to draw him in, so I gave that rabbit call a very gentle squeeze it was so light I could barely hear it my self. The dog got pretty excited and paced around some but would not come any closer. As I scanned around the area I could see 5 other Coyotes in different places scattered around in the bushes, none of them would move.

If I had been in another place and was using my 6mmbr I could have had a very easy shot on any of these Coyotes, as it was they just would not come any closer. I sat there for about an hour after they wondered off and never got a shot.

My problem is I believe is I just do not have a clue as to how to use these calls, when to blow or squeeze or how much or how hard and when. I am going to buy one of the electronic callers and let it teach me how to do this calling thing. or maybe there is some kind of audio aid that shows the correct way to do this.

Thanks Again Folks.

Roland

 

[Agney5]

Good deal you have had some luck and sounds like you didn't get busted. As I said before get a decoy they need that to focus on. If you have even just a piece of fir on a stick and let the wind move it you'll be better off. Another option is mouse squeak, you can do it with your mouth and what is great about it is you don't need a decoy (but I suggest having one) since their used not being able to see them they will start to investigate. You can usually get them pretty close with that. Best of luck and clear out some coyotes.

 

[Trapper243]

I called my first coyote with a mouth call when I was probably 10. Missed him, but I still remember that coyote. My Neighbor was a trapper and showed me some of what he knew. That was a long time ago. As many as I have called over the years, you can not beat equipment if you need to kill problem coyotes. In fact for many years I considered calling a waste of time. In the time it took me to make a days worth of call stands, I could set a pretty good line and catch a lot of coyotes. Took 75 off a 400 acre field once in a couple of months. Hard as I tried I never did call a coyote there. So you have to ask yourself, do you want to call for fun? or do you need to kill coyotes?

 

[Hombre0321]

Trapper, That is a damn fine statement with a couple of good questions at the end. There is no fun involved in this for me, I need to thin these Coyote down plan and simply.

I spent most of my life in the Marine Corps, so I know just about as much about trapping as I do calling. No with that said I also am willing to learn what ever I can to get the job done. Steer me in a direction to look for the tools I need.

Roland

 

[Raythemanroe]

Ya, I think is just fun to call and shoot..A hole different game

 

[Trapper243]

You may want to contact your local Agricultural Commissioners office, Farm Bureau, Alabama Game and fish, and or the State Trappers Association in Alabama. I am a long ways from Alabama, so I am not going to be of much help, other than to say, the learning curve is such that it would be best if a trapper could help you first hand rather than reading about it in a book. Not that book learning is bad, but about the time you figure it out, your coyotes will probably have a Harvard class education on avoiding traps.

 

[WindSurgeon]

I agree with the statements on trapping. Much faster and efficient than going out and calling. I learned to trap reading books and on line forums. Then trial and error. Took me a season to get the basic hang of it, but I have taken many yotes off my 80 acre parcel since that first season. Enough to put a dent in the population and keep pressure on them.

Another suggestion if you don't want to put in time on a new hobby, would be to find a trapper in your local area. Trappers are always looking for new, good ground and will do it for free. To find an experienced trapper, contact a local fur buyer or a regional trapping supply. Fur buyers know the guys that bring them a lot of fur which equates to someone that knows what they are doing and working hard at it. Sometimes the buyers and supply houses are one in the same. Also, your local DNR officer may know of some in your area as well.