I'm gettin' a hankerin' to go coyote hunting. Stopped by Gart's yesterday on the way home and picked up a Sceery howler. Need some practice getting the sounds right but after watching the video am getting pretty pumped about trying this. I live within about 200 yd of Pike National Forest and plan to give it a try in the morning. Don't have a lot of hope for the first time out but practice makes perfect. I think trying this out on South Park sounds like a good idea too as I've heard more 'yotes out there than about anywhere I've been in Colorado. Plan to use my 270 with Rem 130 gr CL as I'm not too interested in hides.

Could some of you experienced coyote hunters fill me in a little on techniques that have worked for you? Do you keep skins or is it worth the trouble? How worthwhile are the Sceery line of calls? What do you recommend for a call?

Bart

Sceery makes good calls. I've been doing the coyote thing for about 45 years now. Never used a howler. Got a bunch of rabbit calls and use a little squeeker as a stopper call when I get one in range. I've tried several of the electronic calls with so-so results. Just seems to me a lot of money when a good mouth call seems to work as well.

I do wear como and always try to find a place to sit that will break up my outline.

I shoot a 243 with the 55 grain Nosler, but any of the 224's, that will reach out to 300 yards seem to work well. If you are gonna harvest hides the .17 Rem, the 204 Ruger, 222, 223 work best as they don't rip such big holes in the hides. Lots of times when my son and I are hunting togather we take a 3 inch 12 gauge with hot # 4 loads for that sneaker that gets into shotgun range unnoticed.

I see your in Colorado so you should have pretty good hunting down there.

I usually set up and call one place for no more than 30 minutes. If I don't get one in by that time they are not hearing the call or they are educated and won't come in at all. If I'm after bobcat I call another 30 minutes. They are a lot slower to come in than a yote.

Check out this site. Al has calling sounds you can download and listen to and a lot of good coyote hunting/calling info. www.varmital.com/ahunt.htm (http://www.varmital.com/ahunt.htm)

I can tell you one thing for sure this is more fun than anyone has a right to have. As far as selling the hides the prices here in the northwest have gone down the tube the last few years. I'm just doing my best to keep the population down.

Big fun!

Can't say I'm an expert, but I like doing it. A couple of observations:

Mid-morning is a great time. If they didn't catch anything for breakfast, they're hungry!

They will, if they have the slightest bit of sense, try to circle downwind from you. So that's the directly I pretty much set up to face, try to find a clearing where the wind is blowing straight away from you and you can see a bit both ways.

Movement isn't the killer you'd think it will be. After all, they DO expect to find something thrashing around. However - get the gun up, and be ready to shoot. Once they smell you, they're gone.

To get them to stop moving, one more little squeak on the caller works wonders! Sometimes that's more of a problem than you think; the really young / dumb ones will sometimes come in at full throttle!

Have fun. No idea on the fur prices. Shooting them with a .30-06 leaves pretty big holes, anyway.

Great off-season practice for your deer rifle.

couple of things I forgot to mention is I use a pair of shooting sticks. Keeps the gun up without strain on you and gives less movement when you get ready to shoot. Mine are made for the correct hight to allow for shooting from a sitting position.


Varmit Al has a plan if you need it. Mine are just a couple of pieces of 3/4 inch hardwood with a small bolt to keep them togather and some leather wrapped around the upper part to protect the finish on my rifle. I put on an old belt clip from a broken knife so I can carry it easy.

Like MikeG says mid morning is a great time to call. I have several places I hit early and by mid morning have worked half a dozen or so "good spots". By then it's time to head home for lunch.

I have really good hunting within between two ten miles of where I live so's it's not to far to go.

"I'm just doing my best to keep the population down."

Bob,
Since I grew up in your area, I know that those coyotes up there are plenty educated. If one didn't take off at full run when a vehicle stopped, it didn't stay in the gene pool very long. In high school, my friends and I used to drive around a lot on weekends getting a lot of trigger time (OK, I'll come clean, we still do). And back in those days, you could get $20 for an unskinned coyote!

Several winters ago, the coyotes were being especially hard on the deer population up a side canyon close to my house. I started hiking up there on weekends early in the morning and ended up getting 5 in the one small canyon. I think of myself as a conservationist.....for deer.

Shawn

I hunt on the breaks of Big Canyon out of Peck. I've found a couple of active dens that I can call from several places. There are also lots of little draws and treed up places up on top that consistantly hold coyotes.

This has been an exceptionaly mild winter and my son and I have only totaled 19 so far this year. I've found you need a really cold winter to make the hungry enough to come to the calls consistantly. Seems like the last bunch of years has been a lot warmer.

Shawn

I hunt on the breaks of Big Canyon out of Peck. I've found a couple of active dens that I can call from several places. There are also lots of little draws and treed up places up on top that consistantly hold coyotes.

This has been an exceptionaly mild winter and my son and I have only totaled 19 so far this year. I've found you need a really cold winter to make the hungry enough to come to the calls consistantly. Seems like the last bunch of years has been a lot warmer.

Bob,
I've only actually sat down and called one time, on a cold clear bright moon night on the Prairie near Graves Cr, and we didn't get any to come in. That was years ago, and I haven' tried it since. Maybe I don't have enough patience, but everyone I've talked with that does it regularly really has a blast at it. "Only" 19 so far...you must be bored stiff! :-) What's a regular winter like?

I know what you mean about being warmer. I've live here for 16 years, and -20 and occasionally -30 was to be expected, but not for the last 5 years or so. What are pelt prices these days?

Happy hunting!

Shawn