Mangy coyote

[finnbay]

This may not be the proper forum for this, but Steve posted a photo of a mangy wolf a few weeks ago. Had a coyote walk across the road in front of me and stop on a power line just long enough to get my camera out and turned on before he slipped into the brush. Steve, you must whisper in their ear to get them to stay long enough to get a shot! Bottom line, this guy was super mangy as well. Absolutely no hair on the tail or head, and just enough on the side to make it look a little fuzzy. He won't make it very long this winter.

[Steve Foss]

Ken, it's real life in the woods, and photo sharing is a good place to share these things. It's not for the squeamish, but that's how it goes. Post it or send it to me in an e-mail and we'll see how it looks.

[finnbay]

Camera out and turned on are the key words here. An actual shot taken? Nope, just missed him! Gotta find out how you keep 'em in range long enough to get a shot! You don't dart 'em, do ya? If I'd a had a shot, even a blurry one, I'd put it on. Must be a lot of mange goin' around.

[Steve Foss]

Ken, my camera's always out and turned on when I'm driving and sitting on the seat beside me.

Then, if I see something, it's only a matter of picking up the camera while hitting the brakes and rolling down the window at the same time while trying not to skid into the ditch, all fast enough so the critter doesn't disappear too soon. Simple!

[Griggs]

Do any of you use blinds and calls for Coyote or any other predators? I'm gonna be doing a bit of that, just looking for some decent land to use. And kind of wondering what time of day would work.

[finnbay]

I know a photographer has used blinds with DNR approved carcasses for some wolf shots. Even an internationally known Ely photographer isn't above shooting wolves over carcasses. I had a CO who would call me up and arrange to sit in his shed when he had carcasses stacked in back of his place. Unfortunately, most of the time it was getting pretty dark before anything would show up, so I never really got very good shots from that. I do have a varmint call and used it a little, but haven't had much luck with that.

[Steve Foss]

I used to hunt predators in N.D. with the white camo and screaming rabbit call with good success. Now I do it in the forests up here, with far less success. The wolves keep the coyotes down in most places, and the fox don't seem as willing to hop up and come running to the call, probably also because it's wolf country.

And wolves are very, very wary about such things. Three times I've seen fresh tracks after leaving a calling stand, tracks that showed wolves heard the call and came in but circled downwind out of sight first, caught my scent, and stayed away.

Ken, we'll have to get out and try some of that together this year.

As in hunting, tandem photography can work great, with the caller placing himself 300 yards away from the photographer and calling down a frozen river so if anything comes trotting along the river it'll get within photo range of the shooter long before it gets suspicious of the caller.

Shooting images of wild wolves over a carcass is one way to do it. It's a way I only think is responsible if it's done once or twice a year. One of the great likelihoods in that killing of the guy in Saskatchewan a couple years back by wolves is that they'd been habituated to being fed around people. Put out carcasses in the same spot too regularly and you are creating a BIG problem.

That's just IMO.

Calling works any time of the day. As a rule, I always had my best luck in N.D. in the first few hours of morning. Most predators are more nocturnal, so they were still out and about at that time of the day.

The one time I set up over a carcass, I had wolves coming in all night, but there were wolves coming in over the next couple of days during excellent shooting light, too.

One way to do this easily is to simply travel the roads and when you find a fresh kill, drag it into the woods 50 to 100 yards and set up within camera range downwind. You're not especially likely to get wolves that way, but coyote, fox, all three weasel species, marten and fisher too, not to mention a host of birds including ravens and bald eagles, will come in to situations like that. If you don't want pics of animals/birds with the carcass in them, that's fine. Lots of coming and going and chances to get shots with no blood.

You can also call your county highway department. Most of them dump road-killed deer carcasses at out-of-the-way locations, and ravens and eagles, not to mention the other species already named, learn to hit those spots during their regular rounds.

Wear full camo and watch the wind!

I've agonized over whether to spend some bucks and get images of free-ranging captive wolves. There are facilities that allow it. I've decided against it. I do have some images from the International Wolf Center that are quite popular, but more and more the top wildlife glossy mag photo editors are demanding wild wolf images. With the populations back up and wild wolves more accessible because of that (the photo editors think, anyway!), captive wolf images are not as marketable as they were 20 years ago, when 99 percent of wolf images on calendars and in magazines were captives.

I have absolutely nothing against captive wolf shots. As I said, I have some of them myself and am happy to have them. And I've only gotten shots of wild wolves (well, good images that counted) twice in nearly five years and thousands of hours spent out in the woods up here. One over the carcass and the other the black wolf I shot and posted a few weeks back.

Sorry that got so long, everybody. And it's all totally IMO. Your experiences may vary.

[Griggs]

Excellent info, thanks! I wonder if I'll be able to draw them in close enough for a picture. I know Coyotes are pretty cautious and people don't see them often for a reason.

One problem I'm having is just find a place that I could put a carauss and where I can set up a blind. All property is owned by someone so I don't want to just set up shop somewhere.

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, land ownership is a big issue where you are.

Coyotes circle downwind when coming to a call most of the time. Fox don't circle downwind much at all.

[picksbigwagon]

Griggs, head to the minnesota river bottoms, dress in full camo, go scent free and try calling in some coyotes this winter. I think you will be surprised how many coyotes reside in our neck of the woods

[Griggs]

I'd be very happy with seeing some Fox too.

picksbigwagon, are you talking like Shakopee area? I spent a few hours in my blind over the last two days near Valleyfair with my call and didn't see anything. Have you done this a bit before? Do you go full camo, no blind?

[Steve Foss]

IMO, full camo is much better than a blind. Lots of fooling around with blinds in predator calling situations, and you're moving from place to place so it's better to travel light. And unless you know the country intimately, it's hard to know if you'll find the right situation for a blind.

My autumn and my winter camo gear is all waterproof, and I've found it's much easier to hunker into brush in autumn or wiggle down into the snow in winter than to hassle with a blind. A blind also restricts vision to some degree, and that's a disaster for a photographer in these types of situations.

[buzzsaw]

Griggs, I've seen a fair amount of 'yotes in the river valley. I'd try behind the pond in Shakopee by Memorial Park/Dangerfields area, this area has open water year around as well as over by Blue Lake behind Valleyfair... I imagine if you put in the time and effort with a distress call you'll be successful. Let me know if you have any river valley questions... another very good place is over at Fort Snelling State Park near the airport (down Post Rd).

[Griggs]

Alright, I'm going to try the river valley area and probably the Carver Park Reserve since its so close. I was talking to some people at the Nature Center, he said he gets reports pretty often.

How do I go scentless?