Coyotes...

[foxman]

The other day i had some spare time and went for a walk on the levee system. I found a spot where a drainage ran through a cut corn field.. Brought my predator quest brush country cottontail closed reed call. I wanted to practice so i sat on the side and called and called changing level of noise and what not.. Next thing i know a coyote bust out over the rr tracks and into the field, he stopped and hung out milling around. In my excitement i kept calling wanting him closer for a picture. To top it off another coyote came barreling in from the west running full speed towards me. I have little experience with calling and just wanted to share my first experience with calling in a double. It peaked my interest and i think inbetween trapping the river i will try and bust a few coyotes! Thanks for reading my ramblings.
-matt

[trappincoyotes39]

Those corn fields hold a lot of coyotes and add in the fact of a travel way through it and the RR tracks sounds like a great place to try a stand.

[foxman]

I spoke to a landowner with around a 1000 acres on the other side of the tracks. There is a feed yard half a mile to the west.. The rr tracks a few hundred yards away then it goes corn, levee and the kansas river with a tributary to the east. I would trap it but in dedicated to the river this year. He gave me the ok to call so i will let you know how it goes. -matt

[trappincoyotes39]

Dang good for you! A feed lot is coyote calling card ! It says dinner is served 24 seven if it has any size to it at all. Had a sheep feed lot in South Dakota I trapped and called great location with all those sheep making noise! Plus something is always dying it seems on the larger ones.

[foxman]

thank you, i am hoping it turns out well. The coyotes down here are as thick as i have ever seen them. It is mind blowing. The feed yard is not huge by any comparison but i would estimate it to hold a good 5 thousand head of cattle. In nebraska i had seen several that had been confirmed as holding 150 thousand head. The whole location is easy peasy to figure out. I will set up on the rr track bank where this a low spot due to a culvert. Facing the north with a creek to my right, hills up ahead and the feed yard to my left(west). The low spot goes on for over a mile and seems to be a solid travel route. I do have a question... When you call do you call and pause or call for a while? I called softly for a good 30 seconds paused for 10 called softly again for about a minute then ramped it up to full scream for a few then down to soft without a pause. I did so for a total of maybe 10 minutes before the first coyote came into view. This was around 5 pm.

[trappincoyotes39]

Sequence and time seems to matter little, some like to call as much as they can others like to give breaks, with mouth calls and calling many sets in a day seems the caller needs the break more than the coyotes at times LOL.

I use electronic a lot and also mix in mouth calls at the same time with distress sounds has helped in areas called heavy. With electronics I call for 2 minutes and then break for for a few and then keep my next series at a minute or so. At the end if nothing showed yet I will let it play for 3 minutes or so and sit 5 more and then I pack up and leave if nothing is coming .

[foxman]

For coyotes what sounds do you find work best? I also have a western rivers electronic call. Do you mix distress in with howls? Or other animal noises. wow! I thought it would take longer than that. So you only stay for around 20 mins max?

[trappincoyotes39]

Yep most of the time. There is a difference between thinking there are coyotes where your calling and knowing they are there. Locating your coyotes will really up,your stand success! I hardly ever cold call.

Calling sounds and sequences vary with each person you ask. If I am calling to the bulk of a population early fall - fall I will use a lot of distress sounds and any howls are going to be higher pitched not some rough ol male coyote. What distress? WOW been asked that lot I say if your calling virgin ground rabbit and hare sounds are great if your calling areas that have had others working coyotes then I use other sounds. Out west I have a ground hog distress sounds on my FP that worked great, no groundhogs for many miles the coyotes don't know that they hear different in sound and pitch and worked really well. Late in the winter deer,antelope distress and more coyote interrogation type howls. Still more female than male. Spring denning then I use howls and pup in distress on the high majority of my stands. I have a sound that is money during denning season a real killer of a sound. When I had pairs coming in and shot one the one sound I used was to get the other to stop for a shot if not dead yet and a very high majority of the time it would stop the majority of them darn fast!

Bottom line don't be afraid to experiment and see what works best for you in your area. As far as stand time I have and will stay longer if I can see coyotes or if I know for sure they are in the area. This would be in areas with more pressure applied and if I need to kill them. What works well then is to sit tight no calling for 15-25 mins and just scan with my binocs.

[trappincoyotes39]

Calling was a very important tool for selective removal of coyotes on sheep men. Plus it is darn fun to boot! I have an extensive sound library and with new technology can add and change sounds on my caller in a few minutes time. yet most of the time I stick with 8-10 sounds and the darn thing holds 100's LOL.

I have been fortunate enough to try just about every e caller brand on the market made in the last 10 or so years. I wouldn't trade by FP CS-24 for nothing yet! I also liked a minaska unit I had as well. The best remote function on the market on the unit I had.

[foxman]

Thank you for the overload of information tc, i really appreciate it. I will give it a whirl and see where it goes.