Harold Money jr
Well-Known Member
I was thinkin back on the past several years of coyote hunting, what had worked and what didn't. When I started we hunted fields exclusively sometimes sitting in a truck always talking sometimes loudly and calling with the volume wide open. No surprise we did not kill anything. Then one August I was mountain biking with a pistol and a fawn bleat on my side. I quietly rode to the edge of a thicket with the wind in my face coming from the thicket. I called for about 20 seconds and heard a coyote howl on the other side. I grabbed the .22 Buckmark pulled the bicycle up to cover me and kept calling about a minute passed and I see a coyote coming in at a trot. It started by me on the left to get a whiff but, before it could do that I shot it through the lungs. Then I heard something in front of me and much to my horror I saw a second yote jump a log not 10 feet in front of me. It turned inside out getting out there.
I went the next couple of years and never changed my style. I hunted fields and open areas and didn't wait longer than 5-10 minutes. I didn't kill another called in dog during that time.
I decided to try hunting thickets like I do for bucks which is exactly where I find them. I have had great success by getting away from the fields at least by my standards, I'll call in a dog on average of every three sits. I call for a minimum of 30 mins and kill em mostly around the 20-25 minute time frame. Which is mostly when I change sounds on my caller.
I still try to hunt near fields but, have never called one in like the Western video hunts. I do however calla bunch down farm lanes that cut through overgrown fields. They'll either stick just their head out or come running nothing much in between. They are never more that 1 hop from safety. We either shoot them at 100-150yds or 10yards or less not much in between. I also hunt open hardwoods bordered by cutovers they will come out in open hardwoods just like it is a thicket. I call much quieter than in the past if nothing more than to be able to have multiple sets on the same small farm which is what we hunt in East Tennessee. I always have the sun at my back and try to have at least a quartering wind in my face. They want to come in down the sound cone and have the wind and cover at the same time. The key to us killing is using the wind/cover/sound against them and recognizing where to set up and how to position the speaker.
I really respect the guys on this forum and wonder what some of the rules y'all remember when you are hunting yotes?
I went the next couple of years and never changed my style. I hunted fields and open areas and didn't wait longer than 5-10 minutes. I didn't kill another called in dog during that time.
I decided to try hunting thickets like I do for bucks which is exactly where I find them. I have had great success by getting away from the fields at least by my standards, I'll call in a dog on average of every three sits. I call for a minimum of 30 mins and kill em mostly around the 20-25 minute time frame. Which is mostly when I change sounds on my caller.
I still try to hunt near fields but, have never called one in like the Western video hunts. I do however calla bunch down farm lanes that cut through overgrown fields. They'll either stick just their head out or come running nothing much in between. They are never more that 1 hop from safety. We either shoot them at 100-150yds or 10yards or less not much in between. I also hunt open hardwoods bordered by cutovers they will come out in open hardwoods just like it is a thicket. I call much quieter than in the past if nothing more than to be able to have multiple sets on the same small farm which is what we hunt in East Tennessee. I always have the sun at my back and try to have at least a quartering wind in my face. They want to come in down the sound cone and have the wind and cover at the same time. The key to us killing is using the wind/cover/sound against them and recognizing where to set up and how to position the speaker.
I really respect the guys on this forum and wonder what some of the rules y'all remember when you are hunting yotes?
