Coyotes

[Jigging Bob]

While out deer hunting I seen so many [commercial-or-naughty-word] coyotes or there were tracks. In one perticular grove of trees 10 ran out. The guys pushing the trees said there were even more in the grove that held tight or doubled back. These guys are really [PoorWordUsage]ing me off. I have been trying to make a good envirement for deer, pheasants ect.. I see there tracks all over but I have never really tryed hunting them. Any tips would help. I am told I need a call of some sort. Do I just sit in a stand and call them in or what? No idea. What does a license cost to hunt them?

[Gissert]

Jigging Bob -

Get yourself a subscription to "The Trapper and Predator Caller" magazine. I'll try and drop one off at your ice shack this winter.

Excellent publication, with lots of places to buy varmit calls from, and articles on calling and trapping 'yotes. I bet Scheels has books, and for sure, videos.

Calling 'yotes is fun, but the dumb ones can get weeded out pretty quick. They can be really paranoid, and it is fun to watch how hard they will sometimes circle to get downwind.

There seems to be an endless variety of mouth blown calls, and some great electronic ones with remotes.

As fars as MN goes, your small game lisc. should cover it. I dunno about ND.

[Jigging Bob]

Post deleted by protrapper

[Jmnhunter]

jigging bob, I plan on doing the same myself this winter to keep those couple deer/grouse in the woods up here in the Northland. I've hunted them once, it was pretty fun. I'm going to use my 30/06 for them too!

coyotes are considered a unprotected species here in MN and have to limit on how to shoot them. He must have a small game license, otherwise you can go to town on them. you can shoot anytime of the day, but cannot use any artificial light.We need Snow!!

-good luck

JN

[Cooter]

Don't get too concerned about weeding them out cuz it ain't gonna happen. Your only hope is to run the [PoorWordUsage] out of them in winter with hounds. Calling will get you a couple, but thats it. Lots of groups of coyote hunters here in west WI routinely kill 100+ coyotes each winter with hounds. It keeps them in check, is incredibly fun, and the decrease in coyotes with mange is noticeable.

[The Grebe]

There is no thinning Coyotes down with conventional tactics, especially calling and shooting them! It is not like you can blast a whole pick up load each time you go out! If you get one or two in an outing you done okay, cause them buggers are smart and cagey.

About the only thing that will bite into the Coyote population is unconventional methods, some or most of them illegal...Getter guns...poisoned baits...den digging are a few that come to mind.

Desease will also thin them down, rabies and mange being two of the most recognized.

Aside from den digging, poisons and getter guns effect other critters that eat carrion, birds to beasts, the poison residue gets them to...it is nondiscriminating!

The Coyote has been shot, trapped, poisoned and dug out by people that made a career out of killing them and they are still here.

They will populate a habitat to it's carrying capacity and then they police themselves by having smaller litters.

I don't know the nature of the mechanics, but I have read articles from biologists and Coyote killers alot more knowledgable then myself and I'm just repeating what I read.

I also read that in the event of a nucular war, 3 things that would be sure to survive, would be Cockroaches, Rats and Coyotes! Pretty daunting task to try to thin them down!

[kpj5br]

A couple of nice posts, very true.

I lived in Arizona for 20 years and hunted coyotes for about 5 of those. They really are amazing creatures. The best you can do with hunting them is to keep a fairly small tract of land in check with continuous pressure (and even with continuous pressure, you're just keeping them in check, not eliminating).

You will generally not see a deer management problem with coyotes around. Unless it is a young fawn or a diseased/injured deer, a coyote does not pose a threat to them.

Small game, upland birds, and waterfowl are a different story however. Coyotes can and do ravage those populations.

We used to hunt coyotes in groups, and it worked quite well. Gather up between 5 and 10 friends for a 10 to 20 acre hunt, and strategically place them. Make sure everyone is descented as much as possible (they can still smell you, but the pockets of vague scent help). I prefer electronic prey calls; don't go crazy with them, just a rabbit here and there, that will get them moving. With the guys placed in a somewhat oval configuration every 400 yards or so, you have a good chance of some of the shooters seeing them.

Just thought I'd offer that up...and it's usually not hard at all to find a good group of willing shooters, a post here would have them coming by the dozens.

Trouble is, you need to repeat this tactic regularly over an extended period of time. If you do that, the packs will most likely start to stay away...you push the problem to someone else, not necessary elimate it.

[mechanictim]

If you just want o cut the numbers of coyotes in you area and don't care abuot the pelt hunt them in April and May. In April they start denning and raising a litter makes them very terratorial and easy pickens. use the same care about scent, wind and approaching your blind unseen and unheard as a bowhunter after deer. I use a stuffed toy dog as a decoy in april and call with a loud whining whimpering pup call.I have had as many as 8 coyotes approach at once. This is good time to have a semi auto and use polycarbonate tipped bullets that disintegrate instead of richochet. I use an EA 15 by Eagle arms in .223Rem.(Of the eight I got two,but My best was 4 of 4.)let them come in as close as they will and make the first shot count.Safety first on follow up shots know your backstop and what lies beyond.

in late May early June swith to a fawn decoy and a real pleading painful sounding fawn bleat call. coyotes that hung up at 400 yards out during january with a predator call will charge a fawn in distress from a half mile away nonstop run. Both of these tactics work great in farm country and grasslands.

[Jmnhunter]

how about the woods up here in Bemidji Mn, all I know where to go is at some clear cuttings, but how about calling, how long till i move...?

I agree with teh spring hunting, I heard they are easier to call in.

-thanks,

jn

[FlyingV]

Check out Predatormasters.com. Loads of info on hunting coyotes. Some fun reading too.