SUNTANS AND COYOTES

Brad Harris On Coyote Calling When You Don't Know How And Decoys

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you hunt coyotes at this time of year, not only will you get a suntan instead of frostbite, but the tactics you use will change. Because you'll deal with older animals, you can use territorial calls and pup calls along with distress calls. Here's what three of the nation's leading coyote hunters say about the techniques they use to take the song dogs during the long, hot days of summer. The director of public relations for Lohman's Manufacturing, a division of Outland Sports, in Neosho, Missouri, Brad Harris has called and hunted coyotes for many years.

You won't find calling coyotes nearly as difficult as most newcomers to the sport may believe. But to give the first-time coyote hunter more confidence in his ability to hunt, call and take coyotes, Lohman's Manufacturing has developed a new electronic caller, the Model 2000 Wildlife Calling System. "For years, many sportsmen have believed the coyote is invincible," Harris mentioned. "Those same people once thought turkeys were impossible to call. So, I'm convinced that once a hunter uses an electronic caller and sees that he can in fact call in and take coyotes, then he'll be more likely to use the other kind of callers available on the market. I believe that using decoys drastically will increase the number of coyotes you take, especially during the summer months."

Harris considers decoys extremely effective when you hunt areas where someone has called to the coyotes there before. "When you can use some type of decoy to convince the coyotes that he sees what he's been hearing, you're much more likely to bring him in to where you want him to come." Harris places a coyote tail on a little stick, ties a piece of monofilament fishing line to the stick and throws the stick over a tree limb. Then by pulling the string, he makes the coyote tail pop up and down in the grass like a coyote pouncing on a rabbit or a bird. "When an older coyote comes in that may have been called to before and hears some squeaking and calling but can't see anything, he'll be suspicious," Harris said. "But if he can see a coyote's tail, some rabbit fur or a decoy like the Rigor Rabbit, he'll come in on the run. For the most success with using a decoy, put the decoy where the coyote can see it. Also, a new technique that we're trying, particularly in the summer, is to use a fawn distress call and a fawn decoy for coyotes."

When Harris was questioned about what would happen when does came running in to that fawn distress call, he explained that, "Does help decoy the coyotes even better. Because with the does running toward the decoy and the sound, you add more realism to the scene you're trying to create." To paint a more realistic picture in the coyote's mind, Harris suggests you use some type of deer urine with a fawn decoy and rabbit or fox urine with a rabbit decoy. By using urine with your decoy, you appeal to the coyote's senses of sight, hearing and smell to lure him to within gun range. Harris names the shotgun as the weapon of choice for most hunters to hunt thick cover in the summer months. "I like to shoot a 12-gauge and No. 4 buckshot because it will penetrate the thick grass and still take the coyotes," Harris explained. "In the summer months, you'll get closer shots than in the winter months."

TOMORROW: DAVID HALE ON COYOTE CALLING