Locating Coyotes

[keekee]

Well with all the new info here on all the topic's, I had talked some about locating coyotes. I thought I would drop a few lines on how I locate them....................


I do allot of my locating in the spring and summer, during this time I am looking for new calling areas. But this can be used  at any time of year. With diffrent results. In the spring in denning season this will give you the denning area site, and may come in handy at a later date. This also give you a good idea of howl many coyotes are in the area, and how many groups. If you get allot of diffrent group responces then your close to the Territorial lines.

I'm not big into locating right before the hunt, I spend most of my time hunting then, I do most of my locating and scouting in the off season. From time to time I find that it may help to locate in a area to find a group I am looking for but most of the time, my scouting and stand selection are all ready done before hand. In these cases the coyotes have moved from a area for some reason, be it food or pressure or what ever reason, I have found that here the coyotes will move with the food souse, and from time to time I haft to find them, they are spending more time in one area than the other in there territory, remember as the standard rule there has to be coyotes in the area to call coyotes!

Next remember that locating coyotes at night can give you just the idea that the area hold coyotes. More than likely if you locate them at night they are in a feeding area, this don't mean they will be there if you call the area at noon. So, this just helps you find the coyotes and the area they are in, it also helps you gain access to areas that you know has coyote's! And lets you expand you calling areas.


The first thing I do is get my maps togeather, you haft to have some way to keep all this info strait. And have a reference to go back to later. Have some kind of idea what area your going to check out and the general lay of the land and roads. Plus later you will need these for reference to gain permission to hunt or refer back to you maps for locations of groups you have found. I am a firm believer in records. They will help you later on down the road, but we can talk about that later in another post.

Once I have my maps and a area I want to check out I leave out of the house in time to put me in the area about 30 min before dark, once I get to that area, I kick back and let the coyotes do there thing, sometimes they will give away there location with out me provoking them. They like to howl right before dark! And if they will do it on there own thats fine with me. If they don't then lets give them a reason to do so...............


Remember this before you start.......Some times coyotes just are not vocal! For what ever reason sometimes they just don't howl or answer! And there is nothing we can do about that! So just because you don't get a answer tonight don't mean there are no coyotes in that area! Sometimes I may haft to visit a area several time to get a resonce there. Remember coyotes have a big territory and may not even be in that area for what ever reason, or just not feeling vocal.

Next we will talk a little about what kind of vocalization we want to use this to me is important. We don't want the coyotes to come to the call we just want a vocal responce. So we will use a group yip howl to locate, doing this we want to provoke the coyotes into howling by making them think there is a strange group of coyotes in there territory or in the area close to them. We don't want to use a Lonehowl because we don't want the coyotes to respond to our calling we just want them to give up there location. With the group yip howl we will prey on there instics and Territorial feelings. Sometime no matter how hard we try we may still get a physical reponce from the group, so.....

Were we call from will help keep this from happening. I like to pick a spot with some elevation, so I can hear well and I know my sounds will travel well over the terrain. Just off the side of the road is fine, but I try to stay away from the area I think the coyotes will be. I don't want to park right on top of them and I want my sound to cover allot of area as well. If I can stay a 1/2 mile or so from them then I'm good. My sound will travel well to them and any other groups that are around that area. 

Once all this is done and I am in the area I want to be with a good spot to locate from, I let loose with my yip howls on my howler. If I have a partner we run two howlers, if not, I just use mine alone, or with a good locating sound on the FoxPro will work as well, and some use a siren, they will all work. The main thing is to stick to locating sounds. Once I have run a yip howl series I just kick back and wait. Sometimes they will cut you off before you even finish your series and some times not......

I always stick around that area for 15-20 minutes after I howl. The reason is sometimes they don't answer right away. Depending on allot of diffrent things and resons, maybe they don't feel comfortable responding vocally from the area they are in, they will move to a safety zone or core area before responding vocally.

If I don't get a vocal responce in my time frame I move on. I may come back to that area later that night or several days later, depending on how sure I am the area holds coyotes. I make sure I mark my maps with all my info, no resonce or 1 group, 2- groups or more. I also document the time, moon phase, number of coyotes I THINK there are there, and time of night and weather condishions. If I have a GPS I log the location and add a note on it.

If I have a area I know or am very sure has coyotes and I cant get them to get vocal or a group has moved and I want to find them and need to cover allot of ground quick then I howl from the truck. I find a road that goes around or threw the area, I slow the truck way down to a crawl. With a partner we roll down the windows and yip howl as I drive real slow threw the area. I think the coyotes think that there is a strange group of coyotes moving threw there area, and they respond vocally to let the group know this territory is occupied. ( Just my opinion) I don't think you ever say for sure what makes coyote do anything, we just all have our ideas or theories.

One thing to keep in mind when locating or when someone tells you there are a ton of coyotes howling in a area. You can take the number you think that you hear and cut that number in half. Most of the time a group of three or four sounds like there are 10-20 when yip howling. Sure is fun to guess though!

Well, that about sums things up. Just a few tactic's I use to locate coyotes. Feed back or your tactic's you use are welcome!


Brent

[centerfire_223]

Great post Brent. 

I think this is the part of coyote hunting that I am the most slack in. In the spring and summer I am either to busy or to lazy to get out and find a lot of new ground.

[Jrbhunter]

The main reason I locate is to get a feel for the numbers in an area.  Coyote populations are very turbulant around here, some years are booms and others are busts.   Right now my region is down from previous years but 150 mile north they are increasing... without locating we could only guess from the number of callups and rumored sightings by farmers.  I have one really strong pocket of coyotes (1mile by 4 mile section) in this area that I'm about to unleash on... the crops are finally coming out and the moon will be right in another week.  I've listened to them for two months without hunting.

One of my secrets around here is to time the trains... we have a few that come through just after dark everyday.  I'm able to follow those trains about 10 mile down the track... listening at every crossroads for replies.  More often than not they'll answer that train, and are non-the-wiser to my locating attempts.

[paint]

Cool post. Ya'll keep posting and I'll keep learning.

[Jerry Hunsley]

The main reason I locate is to get a feel for the numbers in an area.  Coyote populations are very turbulant around here, some years are booms and others are busts.   Right now my region is down from previous years but 150 mile north they are increasing... without locating we could only guess from the number of callups and rumored sightings by farmers.  I have one really strong pocket of coyotes (1mile by 4 mile section) in this area that I'm about to unleash on... the crops are finally coming out and the moon will be right in another week.  I've listened to them for two months without hunting.

One of my secrets around here is to time the trains... we have a few that come through just after dark everyday.  I'm able to follow those trains about 10 mile down the track... listening at every crossroads for replies.  More often than not they'll answer that train, and are non-the-wiser to my locating attempts.

Your a sly one there , On the similar lines when the 10;00 PM whistle blows in my home town the coyotes cut loose. Very similar with the train going through. We don't have many cross-roads but I'm sure they would cut loose here also. That's a very good idea you got there. 

[KySongDog]

Cool post. Ya'll keep posting and I'll keep learning.

Same for me!   

Semp

[Greenside]

From a locating standpoint, I don't think you'll find me chasing to many trains.

KeeKee
Any chance you could post a wav file of you doing a yip or a group yip howl on one of your howlers?   Thanks!

[FinsnFur]

He's got one...a nice one too.    I'd like to save that for the vocalization thread coming up in the next day or two.

[pilot teacher]

What sometimes is a help is a satellite photo of the area. Google/maps are excellent. The only condition encountered is areas that look like long range shooting, devoid of lots of trees, is really brush. It could be very dense. But the picture might give you some locations to scout out.