Having observed the behaviors of a few thousand coyotes on hilly farm country. Best NOT to walk in to your stand. With the wind in your face on hilly terrain. Coyotes spend the vast majority of their time on the down-wind slopes. While there, they spend a great deal of their time panning to their down-wind & angled down-wind areas. Sometimes panning their cross-wind areas as well.
Some hunter walks in with the wind in their face & gets away with it. Then they are fooled into thinking that is a "great tactic"...really? I mean really? Then they pass on their info to a newbie. As if they should be informing anyone in the 1st place. Note; key word being fooled. One fool teaches another.
Yeah Snafu, it is downright sneaky of those coyotes to watch where they can't smell and smell where they can't watch.
Good info! Knowing such characteristics allows the hunter to take advantage of the animal's instincts and tendencies.
That is the essence of calling anything: using the animal's hearing/senses and instincts against him. They have superior senses but humans are (supposed to be ) smarter! :innocentwhistle:
FWIW I'm likely in a minority but I walk into more stands straight downwind than any other direction. Terrain & cover factors may change that but that is my general plan. I don't call a lot in wide open prairie country however, and I usually set up to bring things very close.
Then I set up to see and shoot most critters downwind of me. I deliberately encourage any animal that responds to the call to approach on the downwind side, even if that means the critter will circle to get to that quadrant. Again, terrain and cover may modify that to a cross wind and once in a rare while even to expecting an animal upwind of me, but those are not the norm.
I make sure that I can see downwind, and especially a little to both sides of directly downwind. I use terrain and wind to offer the critter a deal: I'll let you smell me if you let me see you. My intent is to shoot the critter before or about the time it gets my scent.
The good part is that where the animal will appear is more predictable. A down side is that you spook any animal that was directly downwind on your approach, but that is only a few degrees out of 360. For animals approaching from anywhere else, I expect it to circle downwind and I have to spot it and shoot before it smells me and scoots. Especially with coyotes, that process/sequence happens quickly. :biggrin:
I think I gave away too much hard learned info in this post, but most people either don't get it or don't believe it. :biggrin:
Actually, it is mostly hunting style and preference. I suspect that the majority of callers prefer more open views from a stand and are comfortable with longer shots.
edited: had to go back and untangle my upwind/downwind terminology :doh2:
Quote from: possumal on May 31, 2014, 01:23:19 PM
Yeah Snafu, it is downright sneaky of those coyotes to watch where they can't smell and smell where they can't watch.
You just won something Al. Not sure what? but you won :biggrin:
Okanagan, I've walked in on most wind directions. Including the old wind in my face routine. I did so because I had no other option.
In a perfect World. I prefer to walk into an area from the angled-up wind direction. ie; 10:00 or 2:00 angle. A coyote up ahead. Would play heck seeing, scenting & if I'm quiet enough, hearing me. Because that bedded coyote will be on the down-wind slope. And I would be angle cross-wind to it. A hunter pulls that off(walking in I'm talking about :laf:) They've just beat le' coyote's senses.
99% of the time. A bedded Red Fox or a coyote. Will be situated where the wind or any residual wind. Is NOT blowing onto it's face. They'll angle their body so the wind is at their backside. The stronger the wind, the more in alignment they'll face to their immediate down-wind.
Say a ridgeline runs West-East. Wind from due North. Bedded coyote on the down-wind slope may be/will be facing any of the down-wind directions...ie; South West & East.
Same ridgeline, same bedded coyote on the Southern slope. But the wind is a stout NorWester. That coyote will be facing SouEast. I've seen this hundreds & hundreds of times. 99% accuracy.
The only time I can recall seeing a coyote on the up-wind. Was when it was in transit. Otherwise they spend the vast majority of their time. On the down-wind.
The "down-wind" can be a creek bank/slough bank, fence line, bush, tree, rock pile, ridgeline, ect...ect. Anything that assists in blocking the wind.
Each stand/situation is a little different for me. Most of the time I move in with the breeze in my face and keep something between me and where I believe the coyote is. Has to do mostly with scouting an area and knowing where my quarry is bedded. I usually never walk in with it at my back. Line of smell seems farther than line of site in wooded and hilly areas I hunt. Probably the best approach is the one that has been working for each individual.
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Quote from: CCP on June 01, 2014, 05:41:58 AM
Each stand/situation is a little different for me. Most of the time I move in with the breeze in my face and keep something between me and where I believe the coyote is. Has to do mostly with scouting an area and knowing where my quarry is bedded. I usually never walk in with it at my back. Line of smell seems farther than line of site in wooded and hilly areas I hunt. Probably the best approach is the one that has been working for each individual.
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"Has to do mostly with scouting an area and knowing where my quarry is bedded."
Key point, right there CCP.
On hilly terrain most all coyotes. Will bed down either right below the ridgeline to around 1/2 down the side of the hill. Very few will bed down on a low spot when elevated areas are available. On average, coyotes prefer to be elevated & have a view. To their down & cross-wind areas. A hunter walks in from a low area. With the wind in his/her face. Stands an excellent chance of being seen. Before they ever get to their stand. Game over for the hunter.
Another aspect for the canines preferring the down-wind is. Even on stout windy days, their hearing is pretty much unobstructed. As they are in a wind brake area. Best, if a hunter uses terrain features to buffer his/her walk in noise on the way in.
Where I preferred to hunt coyotes. Is on the open hilly areas. Sometimes I hunted the edges of timber. Over my hunt yrs I averaged out. Coyotes prefer bedding in/adjacent to cover 9:1. Any given day. Even in cover, they will bed on the down-wind side of that cover.
Such as a tree or bush in that timber. Down-wind, down-wind, down-wind. No matter if I hunted the open or cover areas. That is where I focused my main attention. As for finding the coyotes.
Down-wind
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p692/incipiant/P1000495_zps3f120ea02_zpsd0ec7208.jpg) (http://s1346.photobucket.com/user/incipiant/media/P1000495_zps3f120ea02_zpsd0ec7208.jpg.html)
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p692/incipiant/P1000672_zps95d3c5fc1_zpsd7b97744.jpg) (http://s1346.photobucket.com/user/incipiant/media/P1000672_zps95d3c5fc1_zpsd7b97744.jpg.html)
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p692/incipiant/P1000228_zps41a300bd2_zps9d897d84.jpg) (http://s1346.photobucket.com/user/incipiant/media/P1000228_zps41a300bd2_zps9d897d84.jpg.html)
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p692/incipiant/P1000438_zpsb91d9eb11_zps9b55d2d7.jpg) (http://s1346.photobucket.com/user/incipiant/media/P1000438_zpsb91d9eb11_zps9b55d2d7.jpg.html)
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p692/incipiant/P1020363_zps828afa391_zps33ed5215.jpg) (http://s1346.photobucket.com/user/incipiant/media/P1020363_zps828afa391_zps33ed5215.jpg.html)
Quote from: CCP on June 01, 2014, 05:41:58 AM
Each stand/situation is a little different for me.
For me also. That's the key. That is making the best use of what nature gives us to work with at that time and place rather than trying to make nature fit some pre-conceived ideal plan. :biggrin:
Quote from: Okanagan on June 01, 2014, 10:56:43 AM
Quote from: CCP on June 01, 2014, 05:41:58 AM
Each stand/situation is a little different for me.
For me also. That's the key. That is making the best use of what nature gives us to work with at that time and place rather than trying to make nature fit some pre-conceived ideal plan. :biggrin:
Nothing more needs said.
Awesome captures, Snafu. You make it look easy :madd:
60x optical zoom helps, Jim.
What all of the above "curled up" canines have in common is. Their all on the down-wind side. Facing a down-wind direction. As per usual.
I got 50X optical :eyebrownod: ...I'm almost there
For every decent pic I get, Jim. 20+ are crap.
I was reading what some hunters said a few days ago. One who knew what he was doing. Spoke of pausing awhile, if you make a noise while walking in. That is spot on. If you can hear your own noise. Expect a nearby coyote has also heard it.
A coyote that hears a distant noise. Will either bolt right away the opposite direction. Or stare in that direction for quite awhile in high alert mode. Waiting to see what made that noise.
When I walk in. I watch where I plant each step & walk slow & methodical. If its dry/loud, stepping lightly listening feeling for the snap/crunch under foot.
I've called with some young guys. Who lumbered in to a call area. Like an old blind cow. Snapping & crunching along the way. Never looking down as to where they step. Idjuts :doh2:
Quote from: snafu on June 02, 2014, 09:28:28 PM
What all of the above "curled up" canines have in common is. Their all on the down-wind side.
Down-wind side.... of what?
Quote from: FinsnFur on June 03, 2014, 09:40:27 PM
Quote from: snafu on June 02, 2014, 09:28:28 PM
What all of the above "curled up" canines have in common is. Their all on the down-wind side.
Down-wind side.... of what?
The "what" is whatever assists in blocking wind. eg; down-wind side of a fence line, ridgeline, mound of dirt, tree, bush, ect.
ahhhhhh :eyebrownod: , I'm picking up what your laying down nowwwww
If one square mile of land was table top flat. Fenced in & there was one small bale of hay placed in the middle. A coyote in that fenced area. Would bed down on the down-wind side of that bale 99% of the time. No matter if the wind was a puff or gale force. They seek the wind brake areas.
:confused: That makes sense
Fish do the same thing, by hanging out on down stream sides of dikes and rocks.
Quote from: snafu on May 29, 2014, 01:06:30 PM
Some hunter walks in with the wind in their face & gets away with it. Then they are fooled into thinking that is a "great tactic"...really? I mean really? Then they pass on their info to a newbie. As if they should be informing anyone in the 1st place. Note; key word being fooled. One fool teaches another.
As has been said, it depends on where you hunt. At LBL, which is where I hunt coyotes mostly, I have to have the wind in my face or at least a cross wind of where I think the coyote might be. If you hunt with the wind at your back in LBL, I think you will not be very successful. My 2 cents.
Quote from: KySongDog on June 05, 2014, 01:23:37 PM
Quote from: snafu on May 29, 2014, 01:06:30 PM
Some hunter walks in with the wind in their face & gets away with it. Then they are fooled into thinking that is a "great tactic"...really? I mean really? Then they pass on their info to a newbie. As if they should be informing anyone in the 1st place. Note; key word being fooled. One fool teaches another.
As has been said, it depends on where you hunt. At LBL, which is where I hunt coyotes mostly, I have to have the wind in my face or at least a cross wind of where I think the coyote might be. If you hunt with the wind at your back in LBL, I think you will not be very successful. My 2 cents.
2 worthy points to my observations are. Coyotes use the "up-wind" mainly areas as transition areas. Rarely do they spend much time there. Unless...they get involved in an activity. Such as feeding on a kill. Even then, they will use that kill to assist in blocking the wind. Otherwise when out in the open on a kill. They will angle or put their backside against the wind. They do not linger long on the up-wind. They spend the vast majority of their time on the down-wind areas. Most any given time of day, that is where they will be. I've hunted flat open areas, hilly open areas. Et hilly areas with stands of timber. Like clock work, this behavior is what I always see.
When on the "down-wind" they spend a good amount of their time. Panning to "their" down-wind & cross-wind areas. Unless they hear or scent something to their up-wind. They rarely look that way. Unless they are a "tresspasser" on a local's territory. Or... a local, in transit to the next down-wind area. As they slice/meander through a head wind getting there.
I don't dispute the down wind theory. What I'm saying is that where you hunt has a lot to do with your set up. If your shot vision is at most 50 yards (and half that a lot of the times) and your scent cone can go for 100 yards or more. Hunting directly down wind will not be as advantageous as when hunting open hay fields or even open timber.
Quote from: KySongDog on October 28, 2014, 06:31:06 AM
I don't dispute the down wind theory. What I'm saying is that where you hunt has a lot to do with your set up. If your shot vision is at most 50 yards (and half that a lot of the times) and your scent cone can go for 100 yards or more. Hunting directly down wind will not be as advantageous as when hunting open hay fields or even open timber.
I think I get what your saying now.
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Even the slighest puff of air the coyotes feel it. Et will utilize ground cover or any other structure, no matter how slight to "cut' that wind. From the front side of their face. Even when using those wind break areas. There is typically resiudual air/wind that is not blocked. So they will angle to that wind. When up-right or bedded down.
Out of all the bedded down coyotes I have observed. Only 3 or 4? were facing angled into a wind. Those Winter days were pretty warm with a slight breeze.
We make it sound like hunting and killing coyotes is the hardest thing in the world to do. It's not, don't over think it, just go out and do it.
^^this^^
Also, I get confused with some of the upwind downwind described in words alone. What is downwind of what? I get it scrambled enough that sometimes when I go back and read what I wrote off the cuff a year or two ago, either don't understand it or or don't agree with what I wrote!
Quote from: Okanagan on October 28, 2014, 06:50:41 PM
^^this^^
Also, I get confused with some of the upwind downwind described in words alone. What is downwind of what? I get it scrambled enough that sometimes when I go back and read what I wrote off the cuff a year or two ago, either don't understand it or or don't agree with what I wrote!
Pr of coyotes on the down-wind. Wind is blowing from right to left in this pic. They are useing the fenceline as a wind break.
(http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y403/incipiant/1502484_376914279120079_1948288526_n1_zpsb70ca6bd1_zps0ce93c60.jpg)
Clyde...upwind or downwind of yourself ...or the subject at hand.
For example if the wind is hitting you in your face, your facing upwind. If the wind is hitting you in the back, then your facing downwind.
Think of it as a river. Upstream and downstream.
Quote from: FinsnFur on October 28, 2014, 09:49:23 PM
Clyde...upwind or downwind of yourself ...or the subject at hand.
For example if the wind is hitting you in your face, your facing upwind. If the wind is hitting you in the back, then your facing downwind.
Think of it as a river. Upstream and downstream.
Bingo!
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I've seen quite a few coyotes bed down on flat open areas. Even in stout bitter cold Winter winds. They will bed down with the wind at their back side. As they face down-wind or an angled down-wind direction. The coyotes 99% of the time. Will do the same whether they happen to be using a wind break or NOT. Samo...samo, behavior.
Some don't have a problem hunting a critter. Et not knowing any or much of that animals behaviors. However, I prefer to know. To give me an edge over that critter. To each their own I reckon.
Thanks. Good explanations. It helps me when we say what the critter is upwind or downwind of rather than hanging upwind/downwind out there on their own. :biggrin:
Quote from: snafu on October 29, 2014, 04:26:11 AM
Some don't have a problem hunting a critter. Et not knowing any or much of that animals behaviors.
Many men hunt game all their lives without ever realizing that it is not the animal they are after.
(paraphrased by Michael Baughman from Henry David Thoreau's
Walden)
I have hunted them for well over fifty, pushing sixty years and have killed at least one maybe two. :wink: I think I know them pretty darn well and although I do pay attention to the wind it is not the only factor that comes into play. If you call out west and got overly concerned about wind direction you would never finish a stand as the wind changes often. If I start a stand and the wind is in my favor (whatever that means) and two minutes later it changes I don't concern myself about it I just continue to call. I may have killed one of them two coyotes when the wind wasn't favorable. :wink:
Next time you all kill a coyote, crack open it's skull - check out the size of its brain. We are playing checkers, not chess.
Ive killed alot of them with the wind not in my favor. I like playing the wind but sometimes a mans got to do what a man has to do.
Before someone calls me out on it, Baughman's paraphrase was about fishing and not hunting. I changed it.
OK. Back to regular scheduled programming..............
Here in East central Ohio the winds are constantly changing unless you want to hunt when they are 15MPH+. I just stay put til I'm ready to move onto the next stand. Otherwise my sets could only be about 90 seconds long. Gonna try calling from tree stands this year when all the leaves are off.
I share this info. To assist anyone in understanding about coyotes. On how they react to wind, terrain features & ground cover. From a slight puff of wind to high winds. Like you, I have also hunted in changing winds. Regardless, the coyotes will adjust accordingly to those wind conditions.
The terrain I hunt mostly(open rolling hills). Offers me views of the coyotes at various angles. My observations are not (theory), but what I have seen/observed over the last 50yrs.
One hunter one time. Claimed the coyotes I have observed are different than the ones he hunts. As for their behaviors, even though we hunt in the same state. He remarked they are different because his hunt areas have more timber. I thought how ignorant. A coyote is a coyote no matter where. Of course they'll adapt to various conditions. Their a coyote after all.
My latter day hunt yrs. Most often if I seen a bedded coyote early on. I'd pass on it & check back later in the day. Some coyotes because the wind shifted directions during the day. Would stand up in place, turn a little so the wind was at their backside. Then bed back down in the same exact spot.
Other coyotes would move a little ways(mere feet). Then bed back down. While other coyotes would move up to a 1/4 mile or so. From the original bedding spot. Then bed back down.
Point being, they all adapted to a change of wind direction. As they utilized their surroundings(terrain & ground cover). In cutting that wind from upon their face.
Speaking of wind direction. It is not all that uncommon. For a local/territorial coyote to use the same focal area to bed down. When/if the wind is from the "same direction on various days". Some local coyotes are more apt to repeat this behavior more than others. I often counted on this behavior to see the same local coyotes on those days.