need some setup help

[bigben]

here is somethin I need some help withth is the field that is beside my house that had coyotes in it.  My house is the blue dot all the way to the right.  the red dot was there living room.  all the baby blue dots was where I had setup in the last two years for em.  spring summer fall and winter.  tried everything  green spot is where I allways parked the truck. the purple lines are the way I walked in  all the time the I was walkin with my down wind headin away from the red dot.  the field from the green dot to the most left baby blue dot is appox 1 1/2 mile.let me know what you think could have been a better way.  takereasy.

[straycat]

  Maybe tryin to park in a different spot instead of the same all the time?,maybe they have learned to run when a vehicle stops there?

  Looks,from the pic,that you are crossing alot of open area,maybe you are running them out ahead of you?

  I'm no expert by no means,just my .02 .

[browning204]

yeah I was thinkin your truck is to close, it looks pretty flat? maybe they see the Bigben mobile?

can you park along the foliage above where you normally park???

[bigben]

right beside the green dot is the farmers house.  so the vehicle coming is not the problem.  it looks like there is a lot of ways to spot me.  but the lay of the land they cannot see me till they come atleast out of the woods.  normally I give it around ten minutes to settle down.  the only spot they could have spotted me is the middle dot that is all alone.  other then that they have to skyline themsleves or walk around the field in the woodline.  which is what they have done 90% of the time.  I have called these coyotes in 4 times so far.  this post was on another site and I was wondering what you guys would do.  I pretty much have a handle on this farm now.  but keep the sugestions comin.

[FinsnFur]

That is a beautiful little diagram ya got there Ben.

I gotta think that the stand on the far lower left side would have been your most productive. But I would have come in off one of those lower roads...a little more concealment.

By the way...which one of em was/is your most productive?

[bigben]

the closest road was where I parked at.  the green lines are the tax property lines.  also the spot where I park the truck is behind a barn

[CCP]

Good pic and layout. I hunt a little  different than some that being said I see all your blue dots out in the open. Why?   How large of an area are the woods where the coyotes hold up? meaning how big is that finger sticking out into the field.                     

I would take a guess were the coyote backyard is there is a thicket? Is there a open spot in the woods next to the thicket? I like around 500 yards from the thicket to an opening in the woods prefer the field on my down wind side. One of the largest obstacles I see is getting in without being seen. I have had a few where I had to have the farmer drive me in and drop me off quickly.

I have killed coyotes in the open like the setups you have already made but have killed triple that by being in the woods.

[bigben]

 the finger is about 300 yds top to bottom at the widest points.  the best spots that I have called these coyotes where I could have shot but did not.  was the top left dot and the bottom left dot.  they followed the wood line and then saw the decoy I had set out and sat down.  sat for about 10 min and got bored and left.  I have only called em at night once and it is the dot closest to the green dot.  I have wondered about going into the woods behind em and setting up but visibility is 10 yds at the most.  also most of the time the wind is goin from left to right.  west to east.  I have called em in twice at the bottom left dot.  i figured maybe this post could help out a new guy some time.  two of the times I called em in was dawn, one time at dusk and another around 9 at night.  the two dawn times where one a piece the top and bottom left spots.  the dusk one was at the top left one and the one at 9 was the closest dot to the truck.  the reason why I did not shoot any of these was because they were cooperitive.  they taught me alot about hunting coytoes.  everytime they came in from up wind and then sat there.  did not try to get down wind of the decoy or me during the day.  at night it seems like they did not have a problem comin in to the field.  also at night in this field on this peticular instance they teamed up so to say.  late september.  was the time  one sat in the field and two other I am assumin pups cam up along a field that was not harvested to around 20 yds from me.  nailed me because they basically got spooked when I got spooked.  ran back out in the field and started howlin at me.  got my heart pumpin real good.

[bigben]

one more thing the day time encounters they stayed inside the woodline at all times never exposing themselfs.

[THO Game Calls]

If you want them to come out of the wood line, so you can see them, it is going to have to be an evening stand where the shadows give them some comfort.  More than likely they will come right to the edge of the shadows.  It is the same as cover for them. 

But if it were me, and i was going to hunt this in the day time, or morning, this is what I would do.  First, I would use a tree stand, or a ladder.   If they are bedded where you say they are. and they are coyotes, then coyotes are going to do what coyotes always do.  So I would make it easy for them.  Wait for a day when the wind is blowing more out of the north west to the south east, as the big fuzzy arrow in the pic shows.  Then sneak in and set your caller where the big fuzzy light blue dot is, next to your neat little blue dot.  Then I would take a stand where the orange fuzzy dot is, again, I would get in a tree stand or on a ladder.  Doesn't have to be high, 10 to 12 feet should do it.  Then I would let  'er rip.  The coyotes want to use the tree line for cover, so they will.  On the way to your caller, you should see them approaching and by the time the get down wind of you, it should be too late.  Heck, if you are up high enough, they might not even ever smell you.

For me, this would be a spot I would put a hang on or ladder stand and just leave it there for ever LOL.   Once you kill one, another will move into takes it's place so you should have a steady flow of coyotes to shoot at if you dont over hunt it.

I think every eastern coyote hunter should have a tree stand.   You will be surprised at how many more coyotes you see once you get up in the air.  The point is, when you are calling to the woods from the field, you are asking the coyote to do something he doesn't normally do, expose himself in the day light.  So you need to either wait until the shadows give him comfort to come out in the field out of the tree line, or go in after them. 




If I did not have a tree stand, I would take a stand INSIDE the wood line where the red x is.  I would put the caller in the same spot as I did before.   THey are going to use that EDGE cover to move in.  This is a shotgun set up, and if you play your cards right, you wont have to walk far to pick him up once he is down.
BUT - and this is a big BUT, if there is a trail inside the wood line set up on the field side of it.  If you cross that trail to take a stand on the other side of it, and they use that trail, they are going to pick up your scent and be gone before you can get a shot.  Inside the tree line does not have to be more than 5 feet, because they are going to travel close to the edge so they can see out into the field. 



Al
THO Game Calls
www.thogamecalls.com

[RShaw]

Here is my opinion. Where you park is fine. Coyotes are used to cars coming and going at all times at that position. Your approach is fine. If the brush is fairly thick, the coyotes are not going to see you unless they are bedded right on the edge of the brush.

If you have an electronic caller with a remote, here is how I would attempt it. I would start at the bottom blue dot and work my way north. Placing the caller about 50 yards out in the field, I would then go downwind to the place where a coyote could approach the sound undetected as he tried to get my wind. I would be waiting for him at that point. There are at least 3 places you can do this as you work north. Remember you are downwind of the caller and just inside the brush where you can still see the caller, but are waiting at that ambush spot. Forget the decoy and take a shotgun. Use something they have not heard before.

Randy

[Hawks Feather]

This has been a very informative post.  I like it.

Jerry

[bigben]

yes it is very informative.  the only problem with als interpretaion of the diagram is that where he would say to setup is in a draw and you would not see anything.  hard to tell on a overhead photo but all around this field right inside the woods anywhere from right at the edge to 50 yds in it drops off into ravines.  I will post a pic of the two spots that have been productive for me and how they approached.  also al I did use a tree stand.  if you do not you would never have seen them.  so the dots are a little off but they tree stands are ones that the farmer uses to hunt deer out of.  they are both setup on the edge of the woods. 

[bigben]

the light blue lines is the supposed travel route of the coyote.  I say supposed becuase there is some spots I could not see from where I was.  the way I stopped em was a mixture of turning the decoy on and off and the caller on and off to different sounds.  like I said I could have nailed atleast three of these coyotes but I wanted to see what they would do if i did not pull the trigger. 

[Mallardsr]

Bigben, on my laptop screen that "v" shaped penisula appears to have a ridge running east and west through it. If so I would try to utilize that. Getting in? I would try to setup close to the west prop. line waiting for anything but a west wind. Put yourself between the caller(on property line) and the coyotes. The idea is to ambush them before they think their even close to sound source.

[THO Game Calls]

If there is a ravine, that further restricks their travel.  I would set up the same way.  It's a clasic funnel.  Just get out of the field and realize that you have a better chance of letting them do what they are used to doing than trying to force them to do what they don't want to do. 

I can tell you that I would have a permanent tree stand somewhere along that back end.   

I have stands like that here, where there is a big field and it drops off into a ravine.  They travel there because it is safe.  It's their comfort zone. 

If you really want to draw them out into the filed for a shot, I would wait until the evening and the shadow start to get long and hit them hard with aggrevice coyote vocalizations.  Get them riled up and mad and they may make a fatal mistake. 

Al
THO Game Calls
www.thogamecalls.com

[sleddogg]

Bigben, read what THO wrote..

No need to overthink it, place a few treestands in transition cover and call. Coyote will repond all day in this "comfort zone". Just don't blow your scent through the forest entering. Watch the prevailinfg wind, and set up an entrance accordingly.

90 percent of all the coyotes I have shot were from a treestand in broad daylight. I have 18 active stands out right now, just for coyotes. Same place year after year. Dogs die, year after year on the exact same spot.

Eastern hunters better make friends with that idea!!!!! This ain't North Dakota

Put up some stands, and post pics of your kills

[bigben]

so far I only go on that farm this year if I have a good idea they are in the area.  the end of summer they seemed to have dispersed.  no matter what I am gonna haft to wait until after deer season.  which is another week and a half.

[Jimmie in Ky]

It looks like the travel lane runs up the left side of the photo, from what I can see in it. To me the better setups would be any of the inside corners or points along that woods edge , depending on winds that day. Particulalry the one where the blue and black dot sits down to the lower left.

And I would work on getting permission to work that one directly blow it in you photo on the next farm.Jimmie

[paint]

Very good post. I would have loved to seen something like this a few years ago when I first started. I think all newbies will benefit greatly from this, and I liked all the different stradagies that all seem like could work. I'm also gonna have to try using my treestands. Thanks everyone for the great tips.