SMOKING EASTERN COYOTES

How To Hunt Coyotes

Editor's Note: If you want to experience fun, off-season hunting this spring and summer, try hunting coyotes, abundant in most areas of the East. Very few other hunters hunt coyotes, landowners will look forward to your hunting, and they'll do all they can to aid your success.

Often two sportsmen can team up to hunt coyotes for the most efficiency. Many times a coyote won't come straight to the caller. Because of a coyote's keen ears, it can pinpoint the location of the sound it's hearing. If the coyote doesn't see the animal making the call, the coyote may circle downwind to attempt to sneak up on what he thinks is another coyote. If the second hunter sits 30 yards behind the caller and watches the opposite direction from the direction where the caller looks, then the team will find success. Don't expect the coyote to come in prancing like a high-stepping walking horse. Often a coyote will respond to a call by crouching low or crawling on its belly.

If a hunter tries to take a coyote single-handedly, then the wind becomes an important factor. The coyote has one the keenest noses in the predator family and may pick up human odor if the hunter moves downwind. Brad Harris, of Neosho, Missouri, with Fieldline, an avid coyote hunter, explains the tactics he uses to take the brush dog. "Hunting into the wind is the most critical key to successful coyote hunting," Harris told me. "These animals have extremely keen noses. If they smell the hunter, they won't come in to a call." Harris likes to take a stand with the wind in his face where he can see for 150 yards. If you're hunting with black powder, you must set up to call the coyotes within the range that you accurately can shoot your black-powder rifle. Setting up close to thick cover where you can see no more than 100 yards to the left or the right will prove an advantage for the black-powder varmint hunter. If you set up where you can see 200 to 300 yards, although you may spot the coyote, you still won't get a shot. Remember too, if you can watch the coyote at 200 to 300 yards, the coyote also can see you. "When I call in the East or in relatively thick cover, I call coyotes like I do turkeys," Harris explained. "I start off with soft calling, maybe with the mouse squeaker or very soft, rabbit squeals to possible lure in the close-by coyotes. If the coyotes don't come in quickly, then I increase the volume of my calling to be able to reach more territory and possibly pull in the coyotes from further away. Most coyotes will come straight in to the call and then circle downwind to pick up the scent of the animal the call indicates is in distress. You must be able to see the coyotes either when they come in or as they begin to circle downwind of you.

"I like to hunt coyotes on backwoods roads, farm roads, fence lines, power line right-of-ways or any type of opening where thick cover intersects either a clearing or sparse cover. You must have plenty of land to hunt to consistently bag several coyotes in a day. I may hunt from 20- to 30-different-stand sites, usually 1/2- to 1-mile apart in one day. Don't worry if you miss the coyote with your first shot. Lightning strikes often in the wild, thunder rolls, and automobiles backfire. Many sounds in the wild the coyote hears every day resemble shots. If you keep calling after you take a shot with your gun and miss, you can confuse other coyotes that may come in to your calls. Perhaps the coyotes become confused when they continue to hear the rabbit squealing after the shot. Maybe they're so keyed-in to finding the rabbit or mouse in distress they forget about the report. On many occasions, I've had shots at a second coyote after I've missed the first coyote when I've kept on calling. Once you shoot, don't move from your calling position. Instead reload quickly, and call."

Important factors for success when hunting coyotes also include:
* wearing a cover scent to prepare for the coyote coming in from downwind,
* wearing camouflage-a head-net, gloves and clothes just as you will to turkey hunt,
* breaking up your outline by building a small blind since the keen-eyed coyote makes its living by seeing everything that moves in the forest and fields,
* staying off ridge tops that silhouette you against the skyline,
* not walking across open fields,
* slipping around the edges of openings and
* moving as quietly as possible through the woods.

As the populations of coyotes grow and prey on livestock and wild-game species, the number of sportsmen, who hunt these critters also will continue to increase. Although most people see coyotes as a nuisance, coyote hunters say that as more people call and hunt coyotes and discover the challenge of the sport, we may one day see the coyotes considered trophy animals for hunters to take.