Crash Course on Coyote Calling

[Chamacat]

Yep...first let me say that I'm not a caller...But I'm gonna have to be one pretty quick...I would like to ask of you callers what DVD would you recommend that has very good information about do and dont's?...If you were going to take someone out for the first time calling..{During the day}...what is the one thing that you recommend to the green caller?...Any help is appreciated..thanks..Carl

[lb]

There are a few instructional DVDs out there, but a lot of the coyote videos are strictly entertainment, advertize 50 kills, etc. I hear that Mark Zepp has good instruction, Idon't know, never been real interested in hunting videos, or even outdoor TV for that matter. So, I'm not the best one to be recommending these things. I watched a Vern Howey video that almost put me to sleep. Randy Anderson is a talented entertainer. Even the Coyote Gods video has some instruction and theory but it's sold out, no more being made.

That's a hard question: one thing. I guess it comes easy to some people and some others never get it. Patience and sitting still. And, then knowing when you are working a dry hole, getting up and moving on and doing it again and again. It's a percentage game, the more stands you make, the better your chances. LB

[Chamacat]

Yep...I saw on the other forum where it's been stated about the moon phases..what is it about the moon when it has risen till it set's that has a disadvantage for the caller?...we have a new moon..half moon..full moon..etc..I have never called at night..or much during the day for that matter..so I find this interesting..I know some of you are accomplished caller's and know what your talking about..I'm not challenging the voices of knowledge...could you please enlightning us to why.."Half the month is dead"...I just walked outside and the moon is full on the west horizon...which causes me to have just one more question..If it is a cloudy nite like when a cold front rolls in..and the moon is covered with clouds Am I still dead in the water?..Thanks..Carl

[JHughes]

I won’t go into which moon phases cause predators to be more active vs. inactive, because I don’t have a clue what they are thinking, and I’ve had decent luck (day and night) coinciding all the different phases. But, what the phrase “half the month is dead” is referring to is for those of us who hunt with the aid of an artificial light, particularly out of the back of a vehicle. They can SEE you.

On the contrary, hunting with no artificial light and snow cover, the bright moon is obviously an advantage. I wish it snowed in my area. That sounds like a lot of fun to me.

“Half the month is dead”, is an overstatement, however. First of all, like Leonard pointed out in the thread you reference, you still have the cover of darkness before the moon gets up or after the moon goes down. In addition to that, it is possible to have decent luck with a bright moon. A key is to working the light correctly. I am no expert on that, in fact, I prefer just to stay home when the moon is up. But, it can be done, and there are some that do it quite well. Also, like Leonard stated, bobcats aren’t quite as wary as coyotes so in cat areas you can pay less attention to the moon, although if given a choice, I’d still choose the dark phase.

As for cloud cover, in my experience…it depends. I think how thick those clouds are makes a difference as to how bright it is out. I’ve been out on some nights with total cloud cover and it seemed actually brighter than if they weren’t there; I guess due to the light spreading across and through the clouds? Then again, there have been nights when the clouds were so thick that you can barely even tell where the full moon is in the sky. So, if the clouds allow for darkness, then I’ll hunt. If not, I still stay home.

[lb]

Thanks Joel. I suppose I could have been more "illuminating" in my remarks? You explained the problem quite well. They can SEE you. It has nothing to do with the amount of predator activity due to gravitational influence or tides.

When the moon is low on the horizon, and the coyote is under it, you, in the vehicle are lit up like daylight, for the coyote. Other situations, not so dramatic, but the reason we hunt on a dark night is because they cannot detect our movements in the vehicle, which are going to happen, particularly before you can get a light pointed in their direction. If you can get the light in their eyes before they spot you, that's good. And, by "in their eyes" I do not mean directly in their eyes, you have to keep them in the halo, just under the beam. That's pretty basic to night hunting.

Good hunting. LB

[ksboy99]

1. be quiet on the approach.... don't blare radio.. don't slam truck doors...
2. watch teh wind
3. don't go too far into the location... they will come to you
4. sit still
5. early am and late pm... keep back to the sun

[trappnman]

on a trapline a bright clear night under a full moon, just about always seems to be less action.

I always felt this meant less movement-

but you callers are saying you get just as much movement during such periods?

so maybe the movement, is more localized (travelling less but still travelling?)

[lb]

I'm not sure of the question and a quick review of the previous comments was not particularly "illuminating".

First, I avoid hunting at night during a full moon, if at all possible. There are some nights that you can hunt with moonlight and total darkness. It is a situation where you are out there, so you might as well hunt until the moon goes down. But you see reasons why a moon overhead is not as productive as when it is down. Touching on your question, I am careful to not make any estimates on animal activity that are influenced by whether or not the moon is up. That's a subjective issue and a very stinky can of worms. I'm not saying that on any given night, there will be ten percent more animal activity when the moon is up, or 100% more, I just don't want to address the issue. It would be like doing a survey and concluding that animal activity is higher on Saturday night and that nocturnal animals tend to stay home on Tuesdays.

The question is too vast for us to contemplate. All we can do is make judgements and opinion based on results. My experience clearly indicates that I do better when it is dark than when the moon is up. But when you want to divide the night into segments, yes it's up and then it's down, I think any rational observer would see the influence in how successful they are, once the moon rises and it has something to do with overall activity, but it's mainly remembering that coyotes get particularly spooky when you are hunting them with moonlight. A good descriptive word is "frustrating". I choose not to use the word "movement" but maybe you can apply it instead of activity, by which I mean that these animals are out and actively hunting for food. Traveling? I do not believe that predators move from one county to another after it gets dark, in the case of "transients" which are those animals without a home territory, literally, wandering, and my guessm is that they do as much of this during daylight and save the darkness for hunting rather than (for instance)crossing from one drainage to another. But it makes sense to me that they can more easily see what looks promising and where they want to go in the daytime, rather than night.

The moon has an influence on animal behavior, that's all I can tell ya?

[trappnman]

lets see if I can make it more clear-

as a trapper, I find that generally, long term patterns, show that bright full moon nights give me fewer canines than other type of weather. Other factors are important of course- wind, temps, etc

but everything being equal, I and many trappers feel that animals don"t "move" as much under a bright move. And thats based on catch numbers the next day.

I've thought it because prey doesn't move around as much, therefore predators hunt closer, and don't cover as much territory as they usually do in a night. Studies from NY to the west, including here have shown that on an average night, the average coyote covers from 7-10 miles per night.

on bright moon nights, my conclusion, again based entirely on catch ratios, was that they didn't cover that much ground on such nights, and traveled far less than that 7-10 mile range (and that can be linear or not)

that on a good travel night, I get more coyotes crossing locations, thus a higher catch ratio, and visa versa.

Now, reading this thread, I got the impression that the only reason moonlit nights were less productive was the visual factor of the canines seeing you-

my thought would have been- less out and about, less action for the caller-

but I get the impression that those here, felt just as many out and about?

so my question was- do you feel canines travel the same amounts, on a moonlit night vs other type of nights?

[lb]

I do not know. I don't know because I don't hunt very much at night, when the moon is overhead. Most of my habits were developed many years ago when it finally sunk in that coyotes see you moving when they have the advantage of moonlight. Therefore, why fight it? I prefer to invest my time on those nights that are dark. It is those first and third quarter nights that reinforce my opinion. The opinion is not based on counting the number of coyotes moving around, it is primarily based on tangible results, dead critters in the truck.

Now, if you want a different slant on the issue, I think that there is a limit to how well a coyote can actually see, when there is no moon and there is cloud cover. In that case, not having done any emperical studies, I do not think they are AS active when it's really really dark as when there is some starlight or illumination from any source. That has caused me to consider that they do a lot better in their hunting when it is bright moon conditions and therefore, PERHAPS they do not need to spend all night chasing rabbits, they can see them better and catch all they need in an hour or so, so that COULD be the reason why your studies tell you the canines MOVE less under bright moonlight. I'm saying, it could be leading you to false assumptions? Or not?

Good hunting. LB

[ksboy99]

lb,
that has always been my "assumption"

more light means they are more efficient in finding prey.... there fore they hole up more during the daytime..

less light means they have to work for food during the daylight hours..

[trappnman]

interesting-

[ksboy99]

ever drive back roads on a warm, dark night???
lots of rats.. bunnies scurrying around.... easy pickens

warm spells and full moon.... terrible calling conditions

[trappincoyotes39]

I notice with flying as well they aren't as active in the mornings of a full moon versus some other moon phase or cloud condition, I have come to the same reasoning as some others, full moons or "bright" nights lead to more productive hunting and means less time spent out and about covering a larger area.

The warm part I pay little attention to and I don't do much night calling but have called coyotes in mid day at 90 degrees in the summer, I know different set of circumstances but the warm aspect I don't worry about.

[trappnman]

now- something I've always read, is that prey species, move far less on a bright night.

do you consider this true?

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

I'll answer that one Tman. When I worked at the Desert Experiment Station out on the NV/UT border we did small mammal surveys.

We'd set a grid of 400 box traps out on the flat desert and monitor.

On dark nights we'd get numbers like 380, on bright nights we'd get 30.

Very very very conclusive data about rodents in that particular area.

But I can't say that I've been able to come up with as hard and fast idea about predators. Or even Muskrats for that matter.

[JHughes]

Wow. That's pretty good stuff right there. Yea, I'd say that's conclusive! Thanks. One more reason for me to stay in bed on bright nights.

[lb]

I wonder if they can see the box trap and are able to more easily avoid it, when it's bright? I'm just saying.

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

Who knows? Like I say that is the only thing that I can link to the moon but I've never kept real good records of other endeavors.

I doubt that Kangaroo rats are trap shy though.