Coyote Hunting Help!!!

[Duncan7709]

I have never hunted coyotes and I have a few questions. I have a rabbit in distress call and a coaxer is that good enough. I dont have a rifle so I am going to try with the shotgun. What type of load do you use? 3 1/2 BB? Slug? I dont have a clue. Another question what do I do if I happen to get a coyote? What do I do with the animal? Do you take them somewhere and sell them? When is the best time of day to go after them? Thanks

[mechanictim]

About this time of year most coyotes have heard several rabbit calls and tend to be a little call shy. A coyote yelp and howl call wil probably work better. Coyotes are very wary and good scent control and camoflauge are important. They are very good at seeing any movement and will turn tail at any thing that looks suspiciously like a human. One tactic I use is to keep an open empty field or frozen lake downwind, and the brushy cover in front of me , thecoyotes like to have a little cover close by.

I have killed coyotes at 30 to 40 yards with #4 shot turkey loads while turkey hunting in South Dakota's Black Hills. They came in to my hen calls and really liked my decoys. Slugs are probably not the best if you want to sell the hides. If you will be shooting at moving coyotes a tight grouping of buckshot or larger sized nontoxic shot will give you the longest range and highest probability of a lethal hit. The smaller shot tears the hide up less and requires less repair work and will get the best price.

You should be able to find a fur buyer in your area by checking with your local bait dealer or smaller sporting goods store. There may even be some in the yellow pages. Talk to them before you go to see if they will take the whole carcass or if they want them skinned.

The best time to hunt them is any time you can get out, with best results at dawn and dusk in my experiance.

[picksbigwagon]

+1, can't add much to that one.......

Duncan I would definately consider the howler, some even have cd's or tapes to learn how make different howls. Now, get out there and thin them out..........

[walleyes12]

My advice for a first time caller is to stick with the basics. your rabbit distress and coaxer will work just fine, infact I haven't switched to coyote vocalizations yet, the coyotes are responding very well to distress sounds. Remember the fundamentals and remember your have to crawl before you walk, keep it simple!

[ImissReeds]

Duncan, think about size 4 buckshot if you can track it down. I shoot it out of a modified choke and can whip a yote easily to 50 yards. I also suggest if you do go with turkey loads, MAKE SURE you use a very tight turkey choke since the pellets are smaller and therefore take more of them to kill quickly. Most importantly, don't try steel shot, you'll only wound them. Use lead, tungsten, bismuth, or maybe hevi shot.

As far as your calls, they've called more yotes into calling range than all the others combined. Do I use any howlers or others, certainly, but you have enough to start out with confidence. The key in my opinion is to use that rabbit call in short bursts and make it sound like the rabbits getting the tar beaten out of it, DON'T be shy. I like to call softly at first for close critters, then after the first 1-2 minutes series wait for a minute or two, then amp up the volume for the remainder. Vary your cadence often and wail up some tunes that make your hunting partner cry out of pity for that poor imaginary bunny. If one responds and hangs up, then use your coaxer and see if you can lure it in to seal the deal.

Always set up knowing that most responses will circle downwind like previously stated, and don't be afraid to set up in cover with a shotgun, especially on daytime calls. At night I prefer the wide open spaces downwind. Just don't allow your choice of set up to give the yote an opportunity to get in down wind a hundred yards or more, smell you, and skip off w/o you knowing he was there.

Beyond that, I can recommend early mornings are usually best, but give each stand at least 20-30 minutes when targeting coyotes and hit as many as possible. I didn't grow up in the best predator hunting areas, but if we could make 10-12 calls in a moonlit night and have sightings on 6 of them, it was a great night. Keep that in mind and don't get discouraged if you don't see one. Its probably not what you are doing wrong, but right place at the wrong time...

As far as selling hides, the easiest way is to skin them before they freeze. If you want to learn how to skin one, maybe leechman has some previous post on here??? If not, you can sell them whole and a good source for buyers in MN can usually be found in The Trapper and Predator Caller magazine. Just look up their HSOforum on google. I think if you buy the MN trappers association membership for around $30 you get the magazine for free.

[TommyJ33]

Good time to go, males are starting to cruise and call for potential mates. 3" bb will do the trick triple B or T shot is better. I got some 3 inch Buffered-lead Rem nitro-mags that work well. If you can still find them.

[Tom7227]

I read an excellent article about skinning coyote, but it was on another HSOforum. Perhaps you could do a search in google and see what you could come up with. The guy used a small piece of rope, a fence post and a modest size knife and said he could skin one in 5 minutes if he did it right after it was put down.