Walking in to your stand

[snafu]

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.

[possumal]

Yeah Snafu, it is downright sneaky of those coyotes to watch where they can't smell and smell where they can't watch.

[Okanagan]

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!   

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.   

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.   

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


 

[snafu]

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   

[snafu]

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 ) 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.

[snafu]

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.

[CCP]

 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.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

[snafu]

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.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

"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.

[snafu]

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.

[snafu]

Down-wind

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[Okanagan]

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.      

[JohnP]

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.   

Nothing more needs said.

[FinsnFur]

Awesome captures, Snafu. You make it look easy

[snafu]

60x optical zoom helps, Jim.

[snafu]

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.

[FinsnFur]

I got 50X optical  ...I'm almost there