First solo hunt, first coyote.....tips on hunting lbl in early winter?

[sdLBLhunter]

I've predator hunted LBL 5 times.  The first two times my roommate took me and got me started, however I never killed a coyote.  I went solo for the first time saturday night (my third hunt), made 9 stands, and on the 9ths stand at 4:07 pm I called in 3 dogs to a Haydel GHC mouth call.  I was able to take the lead dog in the group.  She weighed just under 40 pounds and had a full winter coat, so I caped her out and I'm getting the hide soft tanned.  I would post some pictures, but I can't quite figure out the format...can someone direct me on how to do it?

My main questions are with how I hunted.  I hunted some of the more steep areas I could find in LBL always setting up on the side of a ridge facing a creek or ravine below me.  I tried to set up into the wind or in an area that had a cross wind so the animals wouldn't smell me before I saw them.  I would stay at one stand for 10 to 15 minutes making 3 or 4 rounds of calling.  When I went to move, I travelled along the ridges at least 1/2 a mile from where my last stand was made. 

Any comments on how I could improve my hunting style?  I've been two times since, and called in coyotes both times, but neither time did they get within shooting range of my shotgun.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Also, if anyone can tell me how to post a photo, I'll definitely put some up!

I appreciate the help.

[fuzz624]

    Congrats on your coyote.You should find everything you need to know about posting pics here
http://finsandfur.net/forums/index.php?topic=777.0  If you still cant figure it out,just let me know and ill try to walk you through it.

[Mallardsr]

sdLBLhunter,  The method you describe IMHO can only be improved by a remote e-caller or better yet a second hunter on the opposite side of the ridge .There will be variations of this style based on the exact location and wind.Just my two cents.

[sdLBLhunter]

Yeah, I've thought about an e-caller, but to me it kinda takes the skill out of if.....personally I love the challenge of calling in game, and using an electronic calling system really doesn't seem like a fair game to me:)  I like the whole psychological concept in changing my mindset from the hunter to the hunted:)  The coyote came bounding over the hill looking around for the prey....it ran to my left and stopped behind a tree.  When I knew it couldn't see me move, I did a rodent call, and it turned on a dime coming right at me.  Stopping 10 yards from where  sat, it looked me straight in the eyes and I could see the hair on the back of her kneck raise as she realized that she was @#$%ed:)  I'm in it for the challenge as well as the love of nature as much as to kill a nuisance species....so I like mouth calls:)

How serious does everyone take scent in predator hunting relative to deer hunting?  Also, I've only used a dying rabbit and rodent call so far....I've heard people talk about bird and squirrel distress calls along with coyote howl calls.  Any recommended brands or calling sequences?  What about the length of time I should call and the amount of time to spend in one stand?  Should I wait longer for foxes and cats as opposed to coyotes?  Again, any help is much appreciated!!

[Mallardsr]

Yeah, I've thought about an e-caller, but to me it kinda takes the skill out of if....

Keep hunting! You'll change your mind.

[Smith]

Yeah, I've thought about an e-caller, but to me it kinda takes the skill out of if....

Keep hunting! You'll change your mind.

You did well! But a e caller will be one of your tricks up your sleeve some day. I was the same way the first few years I called but I am glad I got over that skill thing. 

[Jimmie in Ky]

If you want a cat and are hunting the Ky side, then mouth calls is all you can use up there. Your also going to have to stay much longer to get a response from a cat as well. I called for an hour to finally get a response.I wouldn't worry about using a howler just yet , distress calls from th mouth call work very well up there since most of the others are using the ecallers.

Your strategy is good. Keep notes on where the animals come from when you get a response from them. They all tend to hole up in the same or similar type of place. This will help cut down on the number of stands between animals and put you in more likely places to call.

But if you are after mainly coyotes, don't knock an e-caller ! You can use it to better effect to beat those crazy winds up there and pull more animals into th call at one time with the right sounds, mainly canine distress sounds. Jimmie

[sdLBLhunter]

You're not kidding about the winds....I hunted w/ my buddy, we had stands that weren't but about 200 yards apart, and we were both using a rabbit distress call.  We couldn't hear each other....it was a rough day, but my buddy did come out of it w/ a beautiful grey fox!!

[Jimmie in Ky]

I thought you might be the one working with Ranger. I take it he got tired of hunting the place alone Nice dog by the way. I haven't spoken to him since he first started up there. Always figured I would run into him somewhere up there but haven't yet. Yah'll still hunting south of Golden pond?

She come from behind and the others from the front? That pincer move is one of their classic moves up there.But I have seen the whole group come head on a few times.

Watch for the cat sign up on th ridges and in the thicker places, th old cutovers.Jimmie

[sdLBLhunter]

Yeah, thats my roommate down here at Murray.  He got me hooked, and I've been going every other day since.

No, they all came from the front...she broke left and the other two went right to circle around....I didn't wait for the two, she was huge compared to them so I took her.

Nah, I shot her a little ways off of 142.  I also found some good scrub brush on the tops of a few ridges that had good songbird pops...so I might try and cat hunt them.....cats just seem a little out of my league though, I might stick w/ coyotes for a while and hope to get lucky seeing a cat or fox.

[ranger518vx]

Hey there Jimmie...long time no see...I just came across this board by the way of sdLBL. Yeah Im suprised we havent bumped into each other out there...I spent alot of time out at LBL with another friend from back home last jan/feb and got a couple of nice ones including one awesome blonde yote. Hopefully this year will be good to us again. It certainly has started out with a bang! Maybe we'll have to head out to the LBL hunt with you guys this year...

[FinsnFur]

Welcome to the board Ranger 

[sdLBLhunter]

I'll give these pictures a try.....



This is the girl I shot...hopefully they come up :)

[FinsnFur]

Nice...she looks like a hefty one. 

[paint]

nice one

[Jimmie in Ky]

Hmmmmm, a corn field on 142  Don't bother looking for kitty down there on that end. They is just passin' through.They left enough tracks and sign post to fool me too. You watch those winds real close in that field right after the ford. Plenty of coyotes there but the winds can cause problems on occassion You won't believe. Jimmie

[sdLBLhunter]

That pic was taken back in Murray since I didn't have a camera w/ me in LBL and I was by myself    I was in the thick of the woods a good ways before those fields.  I've read a bit about LBL, and I've noticed that most people seem to believe coyotes won't cross open fields here....it makes sense, they have so much cover to use why go into the open?  Oh yeah, I've read somewhere about you talking about the "potty road" in LBL, some road where you can find yote scat a lot of the time, might you be able to tell me the road number?

[Jimmie in Ky]

They don't cross them but they will run up the sides of some of the more enclosed areas.

Potty road was code for where one of Keekees hot spots were and no I AINT A TELLIN  Might tick the runt off

But , the info wouldn't do you a lot of good now, it would be very hard to find. They are not leaving calling cards along there now since the population is down to more managable numbers. But since most of the scats contain honey locust pods it tells me they are spending most of thier feeding time down along th creeks where the grapes and honey locust grow.But they are entering those areas from the ridges and not through th bottoms where they might be seen . Almost all the sign was in a saddle on a ridge top everywhere I looked.Seems to be enough human traffic in there to keep them away from accesable areas. Some of my old spots for judging numbers and travel were worthless,few or no tracks in them.

And if you were on 142 there are only two places that female could have come from. The only reason I can think of for them to change habits in there so much is the amount of human sign I have found down below. Jimmie

[sdLBLhunter]

What do you mean by changing habits?  I've found that one pack off of 142, and I was able to call in another one of them in that same area (from a different stand however) .  I'm going to leave that group alone until our hunt in february I believe...... hopefully by that time they'll become oblivious again and I'll be able to call em in and rock another.  How many coyotes would you estimate in LBL?  It seems like there should be a pretty significant number....I've heard estimations as low as 500 all they way up to 2000...what do you think?  What is a general range size of a group?  Do they spend more time in groups or are they more nomadic, or does this depend on the time of the year?  haha....sorry, I've got a lot of questions.

[Jimmie in Ky]

You and I need to meet sometime, it would make it easier to answer all your questions. There are at least two groups along that road and possibly four, two on either side of it. I haven't been in there when I can get them to talk to me yet.

For numbers all we can get are estimates based on tracks and locator howls. I estimate th population to be around 300 animals in all the LBL. Populations may be higher in some places than others but averages seem to be four and five animals to the group this time. Population reached a peak of around 600 + two years ago. Since then , I believe some type of disease went through there the last two years wiping out the pup crop or at least cutting it drastically. If you take into account trappers records the population was cut by at least half last year. The one I know took 85 give or take a few, in 2003, 04, and 05. His take for 06 was thirty five coyotes and one big cat that I know of. Instead of the majority of his take being pups , it was half older animals .

Human activity in there causes changes in travel patterns. What they were doing is totally diferet now. Where you should find sign there is none because of human activity in that place, more than normal. Access for humans has been cut due to the wet winter we are having so the animals are working around that by traveling in diferent spots. Some of these they have always used but others have no traffic at all or very little compared to years past. One of the high traffic areas I used to use to get estimates is no longer used or used so very rarely that it's worthless to me. On one trip in there I found two pickups in what used to be a high traffic area. No trucks there yesterday but no tracks there either.Sign showed that another spot had had at least three trucks parked there since the rians this week. Even found a place where coyote sign should have been abundant but there had been squirrel or bird hunters camped theere over the weekend, a single set of tracks were along that field road at a saddle that crossed it. That is what causes changes in habits for the coyote. Jimmie