Scouting...What to look for.

[FinsnFur]

What characteristics to you look for before you decide to scout it?
And what do you look for while your scouting?

[Bopeye]

My most reliable source is landowners telling me that there are coyotes there. They can generally tell you when and where they see or hear coyotes.
Secondly I look to see if there is adequate cover, food and water that would make a coyote want to stay relatively close to the area or if this is just a place they travel through occasionally.
Thirdly, I look at the lay of the land. I've been to places that may be covered up in coyotes, but is so thick or houses too close or whatever that I disqualify it as an acceptable location.
Once I've decided that these prerequisites have been met.........then I start the scouting part. I try to find travel lanes where they are using a fencerow or maybe it's an area where the hardwoods and evergreens meet. My best indicator is the presence of fresh scat. By picking through the poo, I can determine in general what the coyote is chosing for his diet.

I then start looking for good places to ambush him..........hopefully someplace where I can stay relatively concealed and he has to show himself somewhat. I try to have several places predetermined for a stand site to compensate for wind direction. In this area, we try to make sure the wind is blowing our scent out over a field. Seldom will the coyotes cross an open field around here.
While doing this we try to locate in an area that has more than one travel lane. Hopefully two or more will meet where we make our stand.

I'm sure I have left out a bunch of stuff, but this is basically how we do it.

[centerfire_223]

I would have to agree with Bopeye, talk to the land owners. They can tell you several things that are definitely good to know. First they will tell you where the see and hear them. Another thing to find out from them is when they are seeing them and hearing them. If they are hearing them right at dark, then that means they most likely are bedding somewhere close by.

The first thing I look for when scouting a new piece of ground is logging roads or fields. I am a field hunter, I hunt by myself most of the time and I have found out that I can kill more of the coyotes I call in by hunting the field edges. Rather than hunting the hardwoods.

I will walk these roads or field edges looking for scat, though if I don't find any, that don't make me not hunt it. Some of my best farms, you will be hard pressed to find any scat to amount to much. But I still kill coyotes there on a regular basis.

Another thing I look for is funnels and saddles, those are two more good places to find sign. I also like to walk any creeks that are on the property. Places like the ones I have mentioned pay close attention to which way the tracks are going. I have found places that you will only see track going one way and others you will see them going both ways. just another thing to keep in mind while scouting. It can make a difference in how you set up.

[THO Game Calls]

Here's something I do that has found me some really good hunting spots.

a few times a year I will cruise the subdivisions around here that are situated near woods.  We have a lot of them.  I drive through and look for signs that say Lost Cat or Lost Dog.

No kidding, if you find a place that has a couple of these signs on telephone poles, you might have found a pretty good calling spot.   My favorite sound for these places is a Kitten Distress.  You can make it on an open reed but some of the E callers have it on them too and  Johnny Stewart has it on one of there CD's.

You can laugh, but this really works and takes very little leg work.  It's the lazy mans best scouting tip.

Al
THO Game Calls
www.thogamecalls.com

[centerfire_223]

Al, how do you make a kitten distress sound on a open reed call?

[stevecriner]

My most reliable source is landowners telling me that there are coyotes there. They can generally tell you when and where they see or hear coyotes.

Man thats it right there. Thats what i do also. I ,make phonecalls every week checking on coyotes.

And Al i second the kitten in distress...

[FinsnFur]

Ronnie...tell us more on the tracks. Good stuff.
So you find tracks heading one direction. (Coyotes wondering through?)

And in some areas you find them going both ways (travel lanes?)

[THO Game Calls]

The kitten distress sound is best made on an open reed call that is capable of a high pitch.  More like a Tweety or Long Range Tweety for commercial calls.  The Critter Calls and Tally Ho's don't make it as well.  I start out at the tip and slide my teeth up and just make a high pithced changing to medium pitched Meow sound  It is not constant.   There is a break in between each meow.  The cadence is the most important part.  It's more choppy than a rabbit distress.  Try it on one of your calls,  you will be able to do it with very little practice.  It's also a soft sound. not too loud, but in areas where they have a taste for cat's, it sure works wonders. 

AL
THO Game Calls
www.thogamecalls.com

[fuzz624]

    Ok guys,i have a question about travel lanes.I have one new spot with some really good coyote runs,wore to the dirt.I think that this is a travel lane back to their bedding area,but all tracks are going in one direction.What do you guys think? This is a really heavily traveled run,and i dont think it could be made by coyotes just passing through.

[centerfire_223]

In my opinion, Jim just about hit it on the head. I think that when you see tracks going both ways your are looking at a main coyote highway so to speak. I feel like coyotes have a certain circle in their home turf and they make their loops in on a regular basis. At one time I thought it took them several days to make these loops but after paying more attention to it. I am thinking it could be a daily routine.

It is sort of like us going to work every day back and forth the same way most every day. Then one day the wife calls wanting up to go by and pick up a loaf of bread. So we make a detour and go grab the bread. That detour would be where the tracks are going one way. Maybe something caught the coyotes attention over that way or that is his preferred way he goes to get to his bedding area. He goes this way to make himself feel comfortable that he hasn't had any intruders in or around his bedding areas.

Then after we go get the bread we come back to our regular route to get back home. Does this make sense? It is easier to think about it than to write it down. Now this is all just ole Ronnie's theory, I could be way off base. But that is how it seems to work for me. Anyone else got opinions about this?

[CCP]

You guys make it hard to follow up very good info here. I pick D all of the above

[bowjunkie]

old broken down fencelines seem to work well out here I look for em and try to check em out well before late fall another thing I do is howl at night

[bigben]

agreed on above statement on asking landowners.  but when I scout for fox which is mainly what I have in my hunting area.  I first look at fields and large tracts of land.  mainly anything over 100 acres.  then I look for shelter food and possible funnels and good calling locations.  I mainly do this with a tax mapper that the govt provides.  that is where I got the map for the setup help.  then I go there and walk the property.  while doing this I look for sign and hawks.  the reason that I look for hawks is if there is hawks then most of the time there is enough food for fox also.  I normally scout using overhead maps before even getting permission on a property.  mainly to see if it is worth my time to ask.  and of course places where I can park the truck that it is hidden.  some spots I walk a couple hundred yds to call and then if I am lucky I go back to the truck and drive closer.  I hunt 90 % at night for fox.  the other 10 % is dusk and dawn times.  I also look for spots that i can hunt while it is a full moon.  if you try to walk out in a field on a full moon night good luck on calling anything in that field.  I use fencerows by walking on the oppisite side of the fence from the field.  if I am looking for grey fox territory I look for fields that have a decent sized fence row atleast 20 ft wide to calle em out of.  around here seems that they really like the brushier terrain.  but pretty much any field in the areas I hunt in has a fox travel through it during the course of the night.  the biggest thing about hunting at night is getting the lay of the land.  because at night with a red light it is hard to see features.  the next thing that I figure out is setup locations and how to get to them.  clear the leaves hay whatever you need that you can stand there and if you have to move around to get a better shot.  

[Greenside]

Well I guess that 90% of my scouting probably takes place in my pickup while driving 50 or so miles per hour. I'm looking for sections or area's that have a good roll in  the land and some or all the elements of pasture ground,CRP, hay, woods,brush corn ground etc...  The more  varied the better. In my areas that's the type of terrain that holds coyote. I also on occasion when I want to get a quick census or population count in a area, I will  use a howler.

I seldom get out of my truck but at times will check exterior gates for tracks and might jump a fence or two to check some end rows that Parallel a fence for tracks.

I don't think I have ever actually walked a section with the sole purpose of scouting for tracks or scat because It would be unnecessary, if I did  my windshield work, I'm confident that I will find "sign" in that section. To be honest, with the coyote population in some of the area's and home ranges and coyote shuffling around I'd be amazed if i couldn't find tracks in just about every section.

If I'm going to walk into a section, I'm going to call it.

Dennis

[Jimmie in Ky]

I am a bit like greenside, I check the country from the truck. I am looking for possible travel lanes and how they all connect and to what.Then check them later with a howler at sundown or shortly after. If I can get permission I go in and call it cold and look the ground over .

But once I am in there and see some of that sign Ronnie was talking about , it will dictate where I go from there. Sign going in one direction says they are going somewhere else and just using this road to do it.Then I look in that direction for a cause. Is it a feeding area such as a crp field or a thicket or wooded hollow they would use for bedding. Since all my calling is done during daylight hours the bedding area is what I am looking for.

I know I am near that bedding area when tracks go in several directions and I find a good deal of scats along trails and crossings. Then its simply a matter of calling it at the right time. Jimmie

[RShaw]

My scouting is the same as Dennis's. However, I am going 40 miles per hour.

Randy

[Jerry Hunsley]

This is just a few things I do and what to look for. I realize a lot of guys hunt back East where farms are a little smaller and lots of trees. Where I hunt there is very little trees and wide open places. That makes a big difference in the way you go about things. One of the things I look for are coyotes on prairie dog towns. If you get out early you can determine a lot from looking in dog town. Ideal spot is dog towns  and long draws funneling up into these towns. Coyotes will have trails beat down going to these towns. Another thing that stands out like a sore thumb is game trails or hunting trails. Coyotes use these day after day. You can bet that on just about every finger that ends up in a major valley or draw coyotes use. Saddles are another good spot coyotes use. They choose to get from one spot to another concealed as much as possible. Old dirt ranch trails are another runway coyotes use all the time. If you spot scat on these roads, you can bet they are using  for traveling to and from hunting areas. Check corner fence posts as these are good scent marking spots . Old bone piles are another good spot to find scat. Usually if you see quite a bit of scat on roads you have some pretty good hunting areas. Another place I check is stock dams along waters edge and across face of dams. Old cow trails are used quite a bit out here in the Midwest. This may sound kinda dumb, but when you can drive around on a ranch or public land and see coyotes right in the middle of the day , you got coyotes and lots of coyotes!!!!! Of course everybody has already said talk to the rancher or farmer which is good sound advice. He knows his land better than anybody. I use the same system of locating coyotes when I put snares out. One more thing that is helpful after a snow fall get out and scout for tracks.
T hey don't lie. Sometimes you just can't believe how many tracks a guy runs into after a snowfall, and after a few days there are tracks everywhere. I imagine back East you can apply some of these principles also.

[FinsnFur]

I realize a lot of guys hunt back East where farms are a little smaller and lots of trees.
Where I hunt there is very little trees and wide open places. That makes a big difference in the way you go about things.

Man... Jerry, truer words have never been spoken. I don't know too many folk East of the drink that just flat out admit that. Your starting to grow on me 

[Ladobe]

No doubt predator hunting in the more densely populated and landscaped east is a bunch more challenging than here in the wide open spaces of the desert southwest and on the down slopes of the Rockies.   Sure there are times I get in the real thick stuff too – pine/aspen, hardwoods, cedar, mesquite or scrub oak clogged canyons and hills (mostly for cats and lions).   But most of my predator hunting has been either on the high desert sagebrush scrub rimrock country or down in the lower desert scrub and arroyos.   Also unlike in the east, most of our ranches/farms and populated areas are scattered fairly thin in these habitats.    The ranched or farmed private lands being islands in the middle of nowhere do tend to act like a magnet for wildlife for sure, and are great hotspots to do the ADC on for the land owners.    In those places the land owner themselves is always the first stop for information.   But with millions of square miles of open public land to freely hunt and such a large population of all species of predators that they are literally everywhere, you do spend more time on your own scouting and hunting public land too out west though.   You just have to learn how to hunt the habitat and the weather of each situation you might encounter.   And although it may be deemed unsociable, when I call predators I always hunt alone.

Look for –
Maybe mine is a different approach than most folks use, but it has worked very well for me for something like 48 years of predator hunting.   I look mainly for information based around the prey species rather than the predators at first.   Cover, food, water, tracks/scat/trails, etc.    I look for predator sign too, but more so for prey to get an idea which species are present and how populated they are in the area.   Volumes could be written about what tracks/scat can tell you.   Rest assured if there is a lot of prey sign, there is a lot of predators using the area too and their sign/trails will soon be found as well.   Once a good likely spot is found, all my efforts go into the most important single item in predator calling... setup, setup, setup.

Scouting -
I pre-scout first, then scout any new area and well before I actually hunt it, usually a couple of weeks to month at least.   With thousands of miles of backcountry dirt roads, 2-tracks and trails in the west, I've done most of my pre-scouting by truck, ATV or horse back.   You sure can cover a very large chunk of new real estate in a day that way.    I watch for any kind of sign crossing the roads/trails/washes and stop often to glass at points or into washes, ravines, canyons or draws for what looks to be good habitat.    Any place that looks like it might hold a good population of prey and deserve a more thorough check I take GPS coordinates of, mark maps and make field notes on.   Then I assemble all the possibilities into "stand routes" with several possible jump off points per route at least ½ mile apart.   I go back to scout these places and for each I make notes of where to hide the truck, then slowly walk in looking for sign to get an idea of what the current usage is of any predator and prey species using the area, what their local routine appears to be, etc and note them.   When I find a good place, I look for call stand locations taking into account the prevailing wind directions, sun relationships, cover and best way to sneak in and out of each stand.   Might have 2 or 3 places I could sneak in and setup at each spot depending on wind/sun/weather.   On the day of the hunt, I pick a stand route with several stands for the dawn to mid morning hunt, a place to relax and recharge at midday and another route of stands for late afternoon until dark hunt.

Starting almost 3 years ago I upped the ante by going back to traditional muzzle loaders only (36 caliber RB) for predators and some times also for varmints.   I wear my rondy leathers/clothes (no camo), only use hand calls I made myself and my decoy is a feather on a string.   It has proved to be near the ultimate challenge in predator hunting - honestly pitting my own outdoor skills against some very smart critters in their own back yard.   Don't score anywhere near as often cause with a traditional smokepole they've got to be really up close and personal, and that's not as easy with no camo or cover scents to hide behind.   But when you do get it right and score, what a rush.

[keekee]

Scouting is big on my list here, but no so big if I am on the road in a diffrent state hunting. Here in Ohio, KY and WV the coyote population is not what it is in other states yet. Not every spot you call will hold coyotes, cold calling here is tough!!!

First I spend my time driving old roads with my maps finding areas I think will hold coyotes, and looking for sign, one thing about coyotes is they love to shit in the road! And this is a big help. It lets me know I have coyotes in the area. At this time I also talk to as many farmers, deer hunters, rabbit hunters, mail men, school bus drivers as I can. They all give you good leads.

Next I head out and pull some all nighters! Group yip howling in diffrent area to find the coyotes. Then I mark all of it down on my map and head back latter to find out who owns the land and see if I can get permission to hunt it. I find 60% of my land this way!

After that, I take a walk threw the area, looking for tracks, scat, thick cover, and all the good stuff to hold coyotes. With small tracks of land here, dont expect to call a coyote on every trip to the spot. If I am hunting or scouting a 40 acer spot, I may haft to call that spot several times before I call it when the coyotes are there. Coyotes have fairly large home ranges. And at times may travel a long ways to get to food, water, or whatever.

I like to see tracks going both directions, That tells me its a travel lane to and from something.....Feeding area, bedding area. These are the areas I want to make my stands, Territorial areas or boundary's can be hard to hunt, there my last pick. If I find these areas, I try and break my stands up and hunt both groups and not call from the Territorial lines. Or I try and get down in there core areas with them. This makes my odds better for calling more coyotes from each area.

Scat tells me what they are feeding on and thats can be a help as well, it also may tell you if your on a boundary or not, and how often they have been in that spot, by how fresh the scat is and how many piles are there. From real steaming fresh to old piles that have turned colors.

Terrain features mean allot to me, this gives me a good idea of were the coyotes will approach from and some idea of the lay of the land will give me key features to watch for there approach. I always try and give the coyote a good approach lane, this makes them feel comfortable in comming to the call. I want them to have some kind of security of cover to use to get to me.

I also like the edges, I'm not wanting to call them accoss a 100 yard field, but just to the edge for a look or let them work the edge to me. I use a decoy here allot, set the decoy were they feel they can work the edge of the cover to get down wind of the decoy and put them right in my lap!

Then I make sure I got good wind direction to get into the area to call, and then pick several stands in there for my return.


Brent