Wind and Calling

[HunterLee]

I was reading on another site, which is all about predator hunting, they say that alot of times they call with the wind, as in at your back, they figure that the coyotes will come better, they also figure you know where they are going to come from, and they also figure that they won't smell you til its to late, I somewhat agree, but i know that they can smell you farther they i like to shoot, but in the moonlight this last week i had a some come from behind me/down wind, and smell us, but some that were at 75yds and just stood there. But like they always do they were circling us to get our wind, one caught it at 200+ yards and started to take off, so i guess i try to call into the wind,but do any of you guys call with it to your back. On the other site it seems quite popular to call backwards to me.

[poutpro]

I would try some more scent control items.

[CASTnBLAST]

Might get away with it in the open country but for the most part not a good idea hereabouts and especially after dark. Always stick someone downwind of caller if your not by yourself.

[HunterLee]

We always call into the wind, but i just thought that was odd on how they did that. Anyway will these cold temps those coyotes should be moving and hopefully hungry. Going to give it a try in morning.

[roosterslayer]

If i were you dont even waste your time and money on scent control items, this would be like wearing scentlok and hiding from your dog, he can still smell you. What i would reccomend is call with a partner. have the caller sit with the wind in his face with good visibility and have your partner 75-100 yards down wind to cover the down wind side. this has worked quite well for me and another guy last week and we left with two yotes that night. One of which i seen from over two hundred yards and lipsqeaked him into about 50-60.

[poutpro]

You have to have better scent control with coyotes than you do with deer. If they smell human scent they are gone. Coyotes are more often then not come in on the downwind side because they are trying to smell whatever is making the noise. If they figure out that its something unnatural making the noise, they are gone, and you probably wont even see them.

[gorrilla]

I don't worry about scent control, its all about calling upwind IMO. I always try to position a large open field downwind to drill 'em in while they circle.

[RBuker]

Don't call down wind. I know that under a few conditions, it's better than not calling but I don't believe it's ever a good choice if there's a better choice.

I call across wind. Picture the stand like a baseball diamond with your coyote cover being second base. Wind if blowing right to left from 1st to 3rd base (or the opposite). You park your truck at home plate, go sit down on the pitcher's mount and hike you shooter out to 3rd base. The critter hears your call, leaves cover and attempts to swing down wind. (toward's 3rd base). Of course that's where your shooter is and the coyote gets a nice little lead surprise.

Coyotes are too good with their noses to be fooled for long when you call down wind. My hunter parter once said, "God put that little black thing on the end of their faces and then he taught them how to use it."

[Rost]

I am wondering about the wind as well. The last few years, I have been calling cross wind just as Randy explained. However, this last weekend we went out west and I had some second thoughts about calling with the wind.

In Eastern SD or MN, often times we are calling to a specific target such as a slough, grove,draw or a CRP field. Therefore, (more than likely) the coyotes will come from that area and you don't have to be as concerned about what could be circling behind you.

Out west, the coyotes can come from any direction. For example: We set up to call a large draw last weekend. We called it cross wind, just as we have been taught. And, we actually shot a coyote!!

However, afterwords, we walked about 500 yards behind us to call another river bottom. We approached the spot and noticed a fresh set of tracks that came to the top of the hill to where we would have been visible while making our first stand. The with a dusting of snow and a breeze, we could definately tell these the tracks were only minutes old. I believe this coyote came into our call and and busted us from behind.

Anyways, the point I am trying to make here is that if the coyote is going to come in, it will circle down wind. If you are in an area where coyotes can come from any direction, maybe it would be easier to call with the wind and kill them before they have the chance to wind you????

Legendary coyote hunter Ed Sceery only calls with the wind for these reasons as well. Bottom line, there is more than one way to skin a cat. I think each situation is different.