Decoys, effective or not???

[Frogman]

The thread "Alscalls has fur down"  has prompted some interesting discussion about the effectiveness of using decoys to hunt coyotes.  I am really interested in hearing what you more experienced hunters think.  Wiggling rabbit type decoys??  Coyote look alike decoys??   Do you use them?  How do you set them up?  Are they effective for you?  

Jim

[alscalls]

Coyote Decoys and rabbit decoys Really work...........

but you already know that........
I could not resist ..............

[Frogman]

Al,
     Ha Ha Ha!!!  You must have missed the part of my request for information from more "experienced" coyote hunters.        

    I like your new avatar!   

Jim

[canine]

Decoys can be effective. I believe, it all depends on the coyote at hand and has everything to do with it's personality. Shy, cautious, older coyotes may not charge right in to a decoy. A young bold coyote may run right in and grab right ahold of it. Hell an adult bold coyote may run right in and grab it to.  It can work the other way to I believe, young timid coyotes may just sit down and stare at the decoy from across the field. My beliefs are from observations and experiences with singles.

When dealing with young doubles, if they are both aggressive they'll race to the decoy, man what a sight!

Older late season, paired up coyotes I have seen, one will sit tight while the other works downwind. I usually try and shoot the female in this situation because the male will hang around longer waiting on the female, than will the female waiting on the male.
These observations were from using the jack in the box and whirling woodpecker.

I haven't used a coyote decoy to much, I have had them turn away from my mounted coyote I take to the field sometimes. I believe the posture of my mount has to do with that. I hear, tail posture has alot to do with positioning a coyote decoy so as to not show aggression and intimidate other coyotes.  I have used live dogs and that's a whole nother ball game.


JD

[CCP]

  There Are so many different things to say on this subject there is no way I would be able to say all I wanted or relay exactly what I mean on a computer screen but will try from my point of view.

Do decoys sometimes work yes. Do they sometimes not work yes

I have seen coyotes charge to a decoy and I have seen them spot the decoy and react more cautious and circle when they would other wise charge on in. I have seen them charging toward the decoy and see them run right past it on the way to the sound.

For those that hunt fields weather it be there style of hunting or because  of summer vegetation it can help pull a coyote farther out into the open. They are effective in getting a coyote to pause for the shot also.

We have all seen how a coyote will come into a stand looking for the source of were the sound came from. He is excited and is contentiously searching. That same type setup with a decoy sometimes causes him to stop at a safe distance from the decoy and work his way toward it. Alot of bad things can happen during this slow approach time.

I have found hard charging coyotes are just that hard chargers. I have had hard chargers when using no decoy and hard chargers while using a decoy. I believe in the case of hard chargers it would not matter the type distress or decoy. In the case of a pressured or educated coyote it could very well mean the difference in him committing or not.

I do like the concept of the newer coyote decoys but still believe they could have as many negatives as positives. I think I will try one in certain situations. I have not used one and would have to have many coyotes called in with it before I could give an opinion on them. I will save that to people like Rich Higgins he has been using one alot here lately and seems to be having great success.

I like this subject an eager to hear others opinions and will surly add more of my feelings.(getting past my bed time)

I will add my favorite decoys are the one on my Minaska caller because it is always with the caller. My favorite store bought decoy for hand calling is the whirling woodpecker. My #1 decoy that I have used most my life and I always have it with me is my fingers. Many coyotes have went to the big pasture in the sky by a lip squeak and my fingers fluttering.

JD I type to slow you beat me to it. Good post

[Rprince]

Decoys can be effective. I believe, it all depends on the coyote at hand and has everything to do with it's personality. Shy, cautious, older coyotes may not charge right in to a decoy. A young bold coyote may run right in and grab right ahold of it. Hell an adult bold coyote may run right in and grab it to.  It can work the other way to I believe, young timid coyotes may just sit down and stare at the decoy from across the field. My beliefs are from observations and experiences with singles.

+1

I've said a thousand times that I want a coyote to keep moving to the sound when I'm calling, if he hangs up a doesn't move there is a good chance that I'm going to get busted. Most of the coyotes that I call come running hard, if they don't there is probably something going on that has him on high alert. If he hangs up & doesn't move he will probably see me before I have a chance to see him.


If I'm going to hunt wide open spaces I will use a decoy every now & then but honestly it's not worth the extra carry weight.

I tend to use a e-call & put the speaker in a tree or bush, most of the time they will head straight for the bush that the sound is coming from.

On the other hand I do have a bird decoy that I look forward to trying out on bobcats. I won't use it all the time but I do have some areas where I target cats & I can see where it might help on them.

[yucca]

Good subject!

I have tried to use various decoys over the past few years. Really the only suucess I have had with them have been on the young coyotes in the early fall. As the season progresses I just leave the decoys in the truck unless we see some good cat sign. I have seen coyotes spot decoys and just turnaround and run off.

I have never tried a coyote type decoy.

[canine]

LOL..Thanks Rich..I wholeheartedly agree with what you said.

Sometimes, I see where an e-caller and a decoy combination just isn't fair...LOL Thems the kinda coyotes I like..LOL

Especially when using vocals, them dominate pairs can be a blast. The coyote decoys are prime during denning season through summer, while pups are being raised. I believe they'll spook more fall and early winter coyotes than they will attract??
Pretty much same philosohpy as a decoy dog..

JD

[coycaller]

My probably worthless thoughts on decoys for coyotes.

I can honestly say that I can't think of any coyote I've ever called and killed, while using a decoy, that wouldn't of been killed anyway (if NO decoy was being used).

But I can think of several times I have been calling and was using a decoy of some type and didn't manage to kill a coyote because of the decoy.

Decoys are fun to use. It's great to see a coyotes reaction to a decoy sometimes.  I've laughed MAO at some coyotes that have come running in and seen a decoy. I've cussed myself for setting a decoy out at times. There's been times I swore I'd never use a decoy again. Seems like there are always 2 or 3 times a winter I just HAVE to try a decoy again  ...

I've got some video on a VHS tape I took years ago. (I wasn't calling to kill this particular day).... It's of a small motorized pink pig that kinda bounced around in one spot. I got one piece of video with that pink pig bouncing around by the caller where there were four different coyotes that came in and each one had a very different reaction to the little pig. I still get a good laugh out of watching that video.

Larry

[Jrbhunter]

Best decoy I've ever had...

[Frogman]

Coycaller,
      I'm curious?  Where are you located?   

Jrb,
     Is that a dead coyote, a live pet, a tanned hide, or a mounted coyote??

Jim

[Jrbhunter]

No, its a coyote.

[wv_yoter]

Cool. So that's what one looks like.

[Bopeye]

Ole CCP and a few others pretty much nailed it.

Do decoys work? Sometimes yes and sometimes no
Do handcalls work? Sometimes
E-callers the same way.

Nothing is a sure thing. Everything we use is just another trick in the bag, but never a sure thing.

When Chet and I called in my first coyote we had a "Mickey Mouse" hand puppet mounted on a weasel ball and it was giving it heck.
We were using a Johnny Stewart JS512 with cassette tapes. Can you imagine that? Just for the record, all the new digital calls have better sound quality than those old cassette calls did, but somehow we still called coyotes in.    Makes ya wonder how critical sound quality really is. 

That female coyote that came to it didn't care. She was within 10 yards of the call and decoy when I anchored with my shotgun.

Wind, setup, location have more to do with calling them in than calls, decoys, fox piss or anything else in my humble opinion.
However, I still like using decoys. I am in the process of building myself a coyote decoy out of an old coyote hide. Will it work? That will be the fun of it........now won't it. 

Guys, it's about doing your own thing and enjoying it the way you like to do it. If I hunt the way someone else wants me too.........I won't last long. Have fun fellas and always take your medication as prescribed. Did ya hear me JRB.......always take your meds. 

[FinsnFur]

JRB, you call over a trapped coyote?

[coycaller]

JRB, you call over a trapped coyote?

I'm figuring he just leads it around from stand to stand with the trap chain, puts it where he wants it and gives the command "stay boy, stay".. That coyote looks pretty tame to me.  Look how cute and innocent he looks laying there with those big puppy dog eyes. Probably just a big ole lap dog when JRB ain't using him for decoy duties.

[CCP]

I'm figuring he just leads it around from stand to stand with the trap chain, puts it where he wants it and gives the command "stay boy, stay".. That coyote looks pretty tame to me.  Look how cute and innocent he looks laying there with those big puppy dog eyes.

  :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: I just spit tea everywhere reading that. I definitely  loved it.

[alscalls]

 :roflmao:

[coycaller]

frogman (Jim)  I live in CO... The southestern part.  The friggin DRY part this year.
Larry

[Bopeye]

You know where Sterling is Coy?