Howling

[Randy Roede]

Canine, you hit the nail on the head, much of the cover is gone in the east after harvest, unless you are in timber country, my favorite time is right after bean harvest using the bean stubble to call those cornfield coyotes onto. Trouble is in most places after the harvest and come first snow the pickup boys get everything fearing for their lives and the old dogs have learned from the year before to lay low come daylight.Holes, flow tubes, or just plain shy and timid! Hunt them as hard as you can before the first snow.

Canine I locate all year long, and often all day long. If I had a perfect time to it's any dead calm low moon lit night.

There is no one sound that will locate coyotes year round that I know of, I use different howls depending on many different things, time of year, when I want to hunt certain areas, wind, etc. all factor in.

My advice to you in your country is to listen to your coyotes and how the naturally start sounding off and how it kicks in the others. Also listen to what shuts them up and keeps them quiet.

Single lonesome howls with a hand call, electronic call, voice howls, sirens etc. and patience to let them answer, it won't happen right away all the time it may take 10 minutes or more, they may answer the third time you try in the same area. Why well maybe now you have gotten between two groups and it sounds more natural, and maybe just because.

I guessing Canine your in farm country? Ever notice once you get all the farmdogs barking coyotes will suddenly chime in. Use bridges, aban buildings etc. to hide you while locating and don't over do it. Maybe three howls or sequences and shut up, and once I get them howling I never howl again. I don't challenge them in any way. I think less when locating leads to more vocal responses.

[canine]

Fortunately we don't have pickup boy's runnin and gunnin around my parts. To many potential witness's. Honestly, I don't feel even if we did have, that it would effect a coyote as far as responding to a call. They are two different situations. A coyote that will cross an open field here will do so in a way he still feels secure, low spot in the field or by putting a knoll of somesort between it and the sound source and sneeking to the top for a peek. Then it's just a matter of coaxing them just enough more for the shot. So wether they are shot at from houses or pick ups or not shot at, they will still be cautious.

Coyote populations here have risen to the point that smaller territories have been established and coyotes are far more vocal, with provoked howling responses becoming more common during the daytime.

Hunting in the early season is a struggle here, to damn many bow hunters! I'm guilty there too every woods has someone perched in a tree waiting on a monster buck, by the way there are not that many monsters in Ohio like everyone thinks

Coyotes here, unless effected by moon phase or weather typically sound off on there own starting with the dominant coyote rally call with the rest chiming in. Both in the evening and morning, basically saying hello and good bye.

Farm country exactly, your right, when it's dead silent at 2 AM and I let out a couple barks or howls or a group yip howl and the dogs start goin nuts across the country side, it isn't long before a pack will light up followed by another pack, kinda like a domino effect

I mostly go out at night just to hear them howling, listen to there vocals to learn from, to incorporate somethin into a stand. If I run into a coyote that threat howls at me at night I will challenge him right back, there again a learning experience. I like to see what I can and can't get away with, of all the ones both daytime and nighttime I have coaxed into a yelling match have not approached close enough to wind me. They usually stay there distance. Although a couple daytimers weren't quite far enough, the 250 still reached them I am not hunting to put up great numbers, mostly because we don't have them in the first place, When it comes to howling season I wanna be able to control them more efficiently.


JD

[Coyote Dr]

Its just my opinion and I may get a lot of bad responces for saying this. I feel that howling is over rated. In my area if you howl it tends to push coyotes futher from the location. I have used fawn distress and got the coyotes to howl. I have even tried pup howls with no responce. So I guess its safe to say that it depends on the area that you hunt. I dont want to stir anything up just have to use what works.

[keekee]

I locate in the spring, summer and early fall just to find areas that have coyotes. This cuts my leg work way down. After I have found them or areas that have coyotes. I then go get the permission I need in that area to hunt. Then put in my leg work to find the sign, travel routs, thickets and such. Its all private land here, farms from 30 to 500 acer lots. I don't get any big chunks of land to hunt, I haft to piece them together. They will move, but not far. I have allot of water here, and its not hard for them to find food at all. No need for them to go to far. I'm just looking for the general area and how many groups are in the area. I do the rest of the work on foot.

I live in the timber, but the area is very diverse. Strip mines, clear cuts, hard wood, swamps and cattle farms. I can drive 20 min and be in flat land, crop fields, river bottoms. Just about what ever I want to hunt.

The numbers are getting better every year. But we are a ways away from having big numbers, in a few years things maybe different. JD is three and half hrs from me and you would not believe the numbers difference between here and there. KY is right across the river from me, 20 min. I can hunt places over there that have good numbers. There are areas in KY that I can cold call and know that I will call coyotes. Here in my area, not as good of a chance but its getting better.

What I meant on the coyotes being tolerant to trespassers, is this. In denning season it all different, they will defend the core denning area. After the pups are grown, they are less aggressive to other coyotes and will tolerate more. Small blocks of land, roads, rivers, large creeks help keep territorial boundary's in check here. They are not going to go to far till they haft to cross one of them. Very seldom do we get a coyote that comes charging in barking and threat howling. Most of the time if we do, its in denning season. Later in the fall, or early fall they tend to lay back in a bit of cover and bark and threat howl. But there is no competition for food, just about any were they set up territory's they got good food and water. Deer, rabbits, mice, birds, squirrels are plentiful here.

I work hard doing my home work so that I don't haft to call the same place more than a couple times. I put together enough land to get me threw the season with out over calling a area or calling it more than a couple times. Not to say that if I have a good area that I wont call it more if it is producing well.

I didn't say that they would not answer lone howls. Just that I preferred for locating reasons not to use them. I go with the group howl or siren. I want a vocal response from them, not a approach. And with using lone howls your just as likely to not get a vocal response and they just slip in silent and your busted. I agree a 100% on the waiting part. Sometimes it take as much as 20-30 minutes to get a response after locating. I think the reason for that is the coyotes move to a safety zone or core area before responding.

I howl year around when hunting. I like to incorporate vocalizations into my stands when calling and it works well for us here. I don't howl on every stand but I would say 95% of them. And many times after a stand of distress crys, I have switched over to coyote vocals and drew out coyotes. Pup distress is a sound I run on every stand. I almost always end my stands with pup distress. And many times that's what pulls them in. If I have a ace, why not use it? I maybe back to this spot later in the year maybe not, but if I can take that coyote on the first go at this stand I would rather do that. This goes back to the amount of time I spend finding areas to hunt, to make sure I have enough to get me threw the season. Plus fact is we like to howl. I enjoy seeing the coyotes reactions, getting vocal responses and learning from them. Seeing just what it takes to pull them that little extra. We are not going to put up big numbers here anyway.

I haft to agree with JD, we have found that the cold, snow, and nasty make for much better calling than the early fall time frame. The colder the better, and some snow never hurts, not allot just enough to make them work for there food.

Different things and tactics work for different people, in different areas. You just haft to find what works for you in your area and then use it the best you can.

[Jerry Hunsley]

One point Randy stated about getting a response right away is right on the money. It may take ten minutes or more, but when they do respond , you generally get different groups to kick in. Our coyotes up here respond to howls all day long .  Not always but quite a bit.

[ohiobob]

OK,,here is what works for me

Bob

[Greenside]

Even though I know that it can take some time to get a vocal response out of coyotes, I seldom stay and wait for more than 5 or so minutes.  My approach is more like the run and gun method used by some callers.  I'll pull over and let things calm down for a bit and then give a short series of lone howls and if no response in a couple of minutes may do another lone howl or just a single howl and give it another minute or two.  If I get a response, I usually give it another minute or two to listen for distance howls  and then get back in the truck and silently drive away.  And I never play with them under any circumstances , things like trying to see if I can make them them howl again, challenge bark etc. Then I'll drive a few miles down the road and repeat the process. In a couple of hours, if the night is right and their howling, It's possible to locate a heck of a lot  or coyote in a short amount of time. Very handy when hunting a new spot far from home and you need a starting point the next day. When staying in out of town motels I definitely spend a couple of hours after sunset and also before sunrise locating.
One of the reasons I don't spend much time waiting is the fact that I mainly use lone howls. And I always go on the assumption that close coyote are going to be less vocal(depending on how close) and are more than likely to come to the call.

Just some of my thoughts on the subject.

On the siren issue, I don't use it very often in my area. Seems like it brings out the nosey farmers wondering why a siren just sounded off down the road. It's happened too many times that soon after using one, out of the farm yard here comes a pickup and you have no choice other than to hang tight and wait to tell him what's up. When in more isolated areas i have the tendency to use one more often and also use on occasion to relocate coyotes that I hope to be going in on in a short time.  BTW:  On a couple of occasions,my  howls were followed by gunshots. Heads down or stay behind the truck when howling tight to farm yards.

Dennis

[Jeb]

OK,,here is what works for me

Bob

[ohiobob]

On the siren issue, I don't use it very often in my area. Seems like it brings out the nosey farmers wondering why a siren just sounded off down the road. It's happened too many times that soon after using one, out of the farm yard here comes a pickup and you have no choice other than to hang tight and wait to tell him what's up. Dennis

Thats exactly why I stopped using a siren too,,but when I did use a siren I never got a reply,,but when I went to the Locator sound on the FX 5 I got quite a few responces,,it may have been a coincidence,But I do NOT know enough about the Coyote to decide this on my own
Bob

[Randy Roede]

BOB-Dennis, a siren or howling or just being out at three in the morning may get people curious and rightfully so.

Brent, whatever ya got to do to get it done. I believe why eastern coyotes are more difficult to call is not that they don't come it's just with the cover and terrain available you are unable to see when and where stuff happens.

I'll bet rarely you see coyotes running from a howl at a half mile away or more. Or see how timid and shy coyote react when they see a coyote like here. You really see this when you run decoy dogs. Over and over I see adult coyotes leave pups when a dog is around. Some don't but some do. Some come up on a ridge 400 yards out and watch, some run right thru you!

To work a coyote you see coming in from a mile away as he hangs up using distress. It may happen on occasion if the land lays right there but not like here in the open, but it is happening there.

Many times in that thick cover the eyes of the coyote are on a person long before he ever sees the coyote, if he ever sees the coyote. I've hunted them with the ecaller upwind in the timber and killed coyotes I would have never seen using hand calls. They tend to use their nose more than their eyes. Many times a caller never knows he was busted. Cornfields will do the same, some come charging out others sit three rows in peeking out and if anything is out of place or if you move thinking nothing is watching well your done. Much of the time it's just a head peeking out, especially if it is a return trip.

This country you call, are you the only one calling it? If you only hit each tract once or twice a year the importance of sounds is not what it would be if a person only had limited acres. But coyote vocalizations in Nov. wouldn't be my first choice but hey if it works for you.

I assume you start hunting in Nov.? If this is so the ones you bring in with pup distress, I guess are mostly adult coyotes ?Are you calling in many multiples?

I would again assume pup distress in Nov. heard by YOY coyotes after dispersal would be a negative there, it would be here unless the family group is still intact. Another fact I may learn by locating that time of year.

If a family group was in a drainage and come Nov. it sounded like the had dispersed I would expand the number of stands up and down the drainage because you new the group scattered out or just made that assumption because of the time of year.

C DR. I agree with you, howling done certain ways at certain times is deadly. At other times well not so good!

The pup distress craze, KIYI etc. is not always positive and sometimes down right one of the worst things a coyote wants to hear, sometimes, fall with YOY coyotes after dispersal one of the worst.

[Greenside]

Randy

I agree with you totally on the KIYI craze. My thoughts are pretty much based on Bill
Austin's train of thought that a times of year most coyotes could care less about some coyote getting its ass kicked and are not real excited about getting their own kicked. It definitely does help with stopping one for a look,after the shot, when dealing with multiples but it might be a poor choice for a primary call.

Back to the siren issue or the howling attraction attention to you can be a factor in my area. I have a tendency to crowd farm yards and farm groves rather than crowd good cover for locating. Those barking farm dogs will run down the road to meet you and they aren't always friendly

Dennis

[Randy Roede]

Dennis, LOL your posts make me smile and bring back some memories.

I tend to believe the commercialization and the Internet information highway along with the $ involved has swayed beliefs and methods. It's gotten to be not who or how but with what and where can I get one.

[keekee]

Your right on target with the statement that allot more Coyotes show than we see, that's allot of the problem here for sure. Not so much in the northern part of the state but here were I am, we spend allot of stands every year with a shotgun in tight cover. And the e-caller helps allot to we use it allot to try and position the coyotes were we want them or to give us the shot, but putting those down wind coyotes on film is a different story.

We don't get the chance here to see some of the things you get to see out there in the open for sure, but I have spent allot of time out west hunting with Rich Higgins and several other guys and have been lucky enough to get to hunt with decoy dogs and also seen some of the coyotes reactions, so I have had the chance to see allot of it out there. And we even hunt the thick cover with shotguns out west as well. So I got a good idea on what your talking about.

No, I'm not the only one calling here, but I hunt allot of private ground so some areas have no pressure from callers and some do. I haft to sort that out before season or before I start calling areas. But Bow hunters, coon hunters, small game hunts apply pressure to these coyotes as well. And we haft to take all that into consideration as well.

I start hunting hard here in Nov, but we get out some all threw the year, just depends. We call about as many multiple coyotes as we do singles. And we also get our fair share of yoy coyotes every year as well. Using the pup distress we get more adults than yoy coyotes, but we put several yoy coyotes on film last year that came into pup distress, wines and crys, and a couple to howling as well.  Don't get me wrong, I change my calling to meet the different times of year, food source, and do what we need to do to change things up when needed. And I may not howl at the beg gins of a stand, it maybe at the end of the stand or in the middle, just depends on what info I have to deal with at that point and the time of the year.

I may run a 10-15 min stand with distress sounds, and if I am sure I am in a good area that is holding coyotes, I may extend the stand with howling, or pup distress. I may run that stand for 30 min or more total. Just depends on the circumstances.

If a family group was in a drainage and come Nov. it sounded like the had dispersed I would expand the number of stands up and down the drainage because you new the group scattered out or just made that assumption because of the time of year.

I would do the same thing. We do that allot here. If I get the ground to make multiple stands in that area. If I don't then I haft to try and pull them to were I am and have access to. I don't have than option here in the east allot of the time, private farms that I can not hunt may break that drainage several times. This might also be a area that I may hit several times before I get the coyotes in the area I need them at the time I can call that spot. I would change my calling to meet my needs in a area like this.


Brent