nybirdman
Super Member
.223's are good medicine for coyotes. Easiest way is a bait pile for sure.We have friends that run them with hounds,great fun ,but a lot of work and money.They took 51 last year in our area.
Any coyote hunters
- Thread starter wmonroe
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farmer2009
Elite Member
Also been wanting to get into hunting dogs. Been looking at .223's and 22-250's. Just can't decide which one. Have a buddy that is trapping them with snares and using .22 shorts.
westcliffe01
Veteran Member
Coyotes are tough to put down. Yes, a 22LR might kill it in time, but don't think you are going to be tracking them down in 20 or 50 yards... I have hit them good at 250 yards with a 55gr Vmax from a 223 and they have run over 100 yards to get out the property and into a neighbours property where I do not have access.
In addition, if you tend to have wind in winter and are shooting over 150 yards with a 223, you may miss many shots due to the way the wind blows those light bullets all over the place. Less than 150 yards is a good range for a 223. With the 243, I can extend the range to 600 yards no problem from prone with the bipod. I don't want the coyote to be running off wounded and Im not wasting my time with hides so a heavier caliber shooting the heaviest highest BC bullet I can get is the way to go. Only way to step it up more would be with my 6.5x284 with 140gr VLD's. Some use a 7mm Rem out west...
For the OP, calling in coyotes in the western US is a totally different deal compared to the Eastern part of the country. You can forget just about everything you see in the videos from the Western US. In CO, MT, UT, CA etc you could call in and shoot more coyotes in 1 day than you are likely to get to see in an entire year in MI, OH, IN or PA... That does not mean the coyotes are not there, their are plenty of them, but they behave differently compared to in arid regions where competition for food must be much harder.
In addition, if you tend to have wind in winter and are shooting over 150 yards with a 223, you may miss many shots due to the way the wind blows those light bullets all over the place. Less than 150 yards is a good range for a 223. With the 243, I can extend the range to 600 yards no problem from prone with the bipod. I don't want the coyote to be running off wounded and Im not wasting my time with hides so a heavier caliber shooting the heaviest highest BC bullet I can get is the way to go. Only way to step it up more would be with my 6.5x284 with 140gr VLD's. Some use a 7mm Rem out west...
For the OP, calling in coyotes in the western US is a totally different deal compared to the Eastern part of the country. You can forget just about everything you see in the videos from the Western US. In CO, MT, UT, CA etc you could call in and shoot more coyotes in 1 day than you are likely to get to see in an entire year in MI, OH, IN or PA... That does not mean the coyotes are not there, their are plenty of them, but they behave differently compared to in arid regions where competition for food must be much harder.
texasjohn
Super Member
Seven shot on my place last year. I got one, buddy who hunts coyotes in preference to deer got 6...he has over 200 total to his name from numerous locations. Both of us use 223. Agree, it works out to 200 yards, less with wind. He hunts sitting with safety off when alone...says he has spooked them just slipping safety off. I, too, lost one that way once from sound of cocking a hammer on lever action rifle. Be still, be cammo, be downwind from where they come from. Hunting over guts is great. They are attracted by other carrion eaters...crows and buzzards. I agree with Eddie, for me best time is between dawn and 9:30. I like to sit with rising sun at my back so early rays light the kill zone. Yes, they will come to a call, but if busted, never again to that call.
westcliffe01
Veteran Member
It is true that the coyote cannot be eliminated. But by hunting them, you change their behaviour and their desire to have contact with people. I think it is a wise decision to kill any coyote that wants to close the distance to people and children. I have not killed that many coyotes on the farm, but it has always been the boldest that have been eliminated. Thereafter one can go several months before seeing another. The summer time is a hassle because they are active between noon and 3pm and that is an issue since I am at the office... There were 9 sheep kills in s single month. I am convinced it is the adults teaching the pups hunting skills on "safe and stupid" critters since hardly any of the kills were consumed. Of course within 3/4 of an hour the vultures and crows have picked the bones clean.
Western
Super Member
Not sure how to respond and not try to sound arrogant. I started hunting yotes around 1979 for "sport" then later did allot for $. Probably have taken 600 or so, with 95% in traps/snares. I would bet I missed an opportunity on 3x's that many.
I started out with a very accurate .243, then went to bull barrel 25.06, then to rem 22-250 and back to the 25.06. I prefer a 100grain or so, fast bullet that will get it done. Hunted during the daytime and at night. I was fortunate to have a gentleman back when I was young that retired from the USD as a Federal "troubleshooter" trapper teach me allot, also was fortunate to rent out a small farm house to a smart Texas state trapper who also taught me a few tricks, he was also one of the best mouth callers I have ever seen. I have an M$ Colt and wold have no issue shooting a yote with it, but I'd personally rather be "gunned" enough for most any situation. I can't control the wind and weather, but I can control what I take to the field.
Built my own caller for about $50 with "stuff" from radio shack in the early 80's, still have it in a bag somewhere. Electronic calls work, but IMO get very overused by the "weekend warrior", so you end up with smarter yotes. Mouth calls are harder to use (need some lung) but you can add sound deflection that an electric caller can't. If I had trouble with and electric caller, or missed an opportunity on a dog with it, I never used it in the same spot with-in a year or two, I would return with a couple mouth calls. If I did take a yote with the EC, then I had no problem going back in a month or so and using it again.
Few things to remember IMO
Don't do it if you aren't serious, yotes are smarter than most any thing with legs when it comes to survival, they know every stick in their territory, educate them and they have a PhD. and will be all the smarter and much tougher to eliminate. That is the reason traps where so important for me, landowners would harass them with calls or otherwise and the dogs where **** smart.
Learn to use a cottontail mouth call properly, both a baby and adult call. Cottontails are normal anywhere in the country. Use it for fox, bobcats too. If you have jackrabbits, those calls also work. Woodpecker calls work better for cats. A squeaky door will nearly call in a grey fox, they are easy. Main thing about mouth calls that I did wrong early on and most also do incorrectly, is sound deflections. You have to put personality, pain, anguish, fear, lost in the call. Good duck callers know exactly what I'm talking about.
Park and walk as far as you can, if the wind is wrong, hunt another day, when the wind is right, expect the yote to come from down wind or close to it, especially an older dog. youngsters are usually what most folks kill since they don't yet have the skills of an old yote. You can not eliminate your odor from a yote, "aint gunna happen". Helps to have an idea where they spend their daytime and set up in sound range down wind.
10-20 minutes a set for yote, 30+ for cats.
Start the call at as low a volume as you can and still sound good, then build for range, they will have you pegged (the call location) almost the instant they hear it. There are calls for low and high volume, C3 was mentioned already and that is a great call. Yotes have killed enough animals, they know what doesn't sound right.
If you think you can't make the shot, don't even try (if your serious about end results) Trust your equipment and know your personal abilities, some shots will be marginal, say a running yote at 3-400 yards. But if you have already missed, you have nothing to loose at that point, that dog wont fall for that again.
Don't always hunt the same spot on the same property if you can avoid it.
Want a real challenge? get into proper trapping, try getting one to put his foot on a 2"x2" square in the middle of a 1,000 acres!
Coyotes serve a vital ecological purpose and most often get blamed for stuff they had nothing to do with, they usually kill for need, where as domestic dogs kill for "sport". I like having them around to a point , they are part of our history and will be here long after I'm gone. I let 2 young pups (3-4 months) walk this year behind the house, they where after a dead coon I took of my deer feeder. Maybe I am getting soft, or just don't hate them as much anymore, they looked at me with that "Oh sh^T" stare with a mouth full of coon, I just put the rifle down.
Quick funny story; In 2001 while living in Colorado, my brother came up to go yote hunting with me. His right leg was in a cast to the thigh (broke leg), so we where limited where we could go. Finally got to a spot that was easy to get him and gave him my rifle, I had my 12 gauge. I used my home built call, set up and started. Within 10 seconds, 2 yotes appeared from the Pinons about 700 yards away, they came at a dead run. I told my brother to hold, since they would likely stop and look, **** no, they came full throttle and disappeared below us in a gully (we where sitting in the pinons on top of the gully) Before we knew what was happening, both yote come over the top! one even jumped my brothers extended leg with the cast! All 4 of use freaked, they got away and my brother kept saying (he doesn't cuss) That was cool as s#it!" I swear on my mother this is true.
Sorry for hijacking your thread
I started out with a very accurate .243, then went to bull barrel 25.06, then to rem 22-250 and back to the 25.06. I prefer a 100grain or so, fast bullet that will get it done. Hunted during the daytime and at night. I was fortunate to have a gentleman back when I was young that retired from the USD as a Federal "troubleshooter" trapper teach me allot, also was fortunate to rent out a small farm house to a smart Texas state trapper who also taught me a few tricks, he was also one of the best mouth callers I have ever seen. I have an M$ Colt and wold have no issue shooting a yote with it, but I'd personally rather be "gunned" enough for most any situation. I can't control the wind and weather, but I can control what I take to the field.
Built my own caller for about $50 with "stuff" from radio shack in the early 80's, still have it in a bag somewhere. Electronic calls work, but IMO get very overused by the "weekend warrior", so you end up with smarter yotes. Mouth calls are harder to use (need some lung) but you can add sound deflection that an electric caller can't. If I had trouble with and electric caller, or missed an opportunity on a dog with it, I never used it in the same spot with-in a year or two, I would return with a couple mouth calls. If I did take a yote with the EC, then I had no problem going back in a month or so and using it again.
Few things to remember IMO
Don't do it if you aren't serious, yotes are smarter than most any thing with legs when it comes to survival, they know every stick in their territory, educate them and they have a PhD. and will be all the smarter and much tougher to eliminate. That is the reason traps where so important for me, landowners would harass them with calls or otherwise and the dogs where **** smart.
Learn to use a cottontail mouth call properly, both a baby and adult call. Cottontails are normal anywhere in the country. Use it for fox, bobcats too. If you have jackrabbits, those calls also work. Woodpecker calls work better for cats. A squeaky door will nearly call in a grey fox, they are easy. Main thing about mouth calls that I did wrong early on and most also do incorrectly, is sound deflections. You have to put personality, pain, anguish, fear, lost in the call. Good duck callers know exactly what I'm talking about.
Park and walk as far as you can, if the wind is wrong, hunt another day, when the wind is right, expect the yote to come from down wind or close to it, especially an older dog. youngsters are usually what most folks kill since they don't yet have the skills of an old yote. You can not eliminate your odor from a yote, "aint gunna happen". Helps to have an idea where they spend their daytime and set up in sound range down wind.
10-20 minutes a set for yote, 30+ for cats.
Start the call at as low a volume as you can and still sound good, then build for range, they will have you pegged (the call location) almost the instant they hear it. There are calls for low and high volume, C3 was mentioned already and that is a great call. Yotes have killed enough animals, they know what doesn't sound right.
If you think you can't make the shot, don't even try (if your serious about end results) Trust your equipment and know your personal abilities, some shots will be marginal, say a running yote at 3-400 yards. But if you have already missed, you have nothing to loose at that point, that dog wont fall for that again.
Don't always hunt the same spot on the same property if you can avoid it.
Want a real challenge? get into proper trapping, try getting one to put his foot on a 2"x2" square in the middle of a 1,000 acres!
Coyotes serve a vital ecological purpose and most often get blamed for stuff they had nothing to do with, they usually kill for need, where as domestic dogs kill for "sport". I like having them around to a point , they are part of our history and will be here long after I'm gone. I let 2 young pups (3-4 months) walk this year behind the house, they where after a dead coon I took of my deer feeder. Maybe I am getting soft, or just don't hate them as much anymore, they looked at me with that "Oh sh^T" stare with a mouth full of coon, I just put the rifle down.
Quick funny story; In 2001 while living in Colorado, my brother came up to go yote hunting with me. His right leg was in a cast to the thigh (broke leg), so we where limited where we could go. Finally got to a spot that was easy to get him and gave him my rifle, I had my 12 gauge. I used my home built call, set up and started. Within 10 seconds, 2 yotes appeared from the Pinons about 700 yards away, they came at a dead run. I told my brother to hold, since they would likely stop and look, **** no, they came full throttle and disappeared below us in a gully (we where sitting in the pinons on top of the gully) Before we knew what was happening, both yote come over the top! one even jumped my brothers extended leg with the cast! All 4 of use freaked, they got away and my brother kept saying (he doesn't cuss) That was cool as s#it!"
I swear on my mother this is true.Sorry for hijacking your thread
SandburRanch
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
- 1,418
- Tractor
- NHtd75
I had to get up yesterday morning at 2:30 to calm my resident coyotes down just outside my bedroom window. Dam things sounded like 2 female soprano opera singers. Maybe I'm not too old to hunt them anymore after all. For a call I may try the duck quacker on my iphone just to confuse them.:confused2:
drizler
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2007
- Messages
- 718
Woodsman, I think you do have the PHD on those things. I only wish I had enough open space to get a rifle shot at the things where I am in Northern NY. They vermin seem to stick to the trees and tree lines and don't like to come out and play around here. I get therm within 200 yards of my house and they just have a grand party but won't come out to get a shot most times. So right about the young ones. Those are the only ones I ever lay eyes on and then it's pretty rare.
I read an article once by some pro hunter about using a Snoopy Doll with a call. He said those things would rather kill a beagle than anything else. Too bad those things are so damned expensive with trademarks ect.
What about Fisher? Those nasty little tomcat sized black or brown ferrets are all over and you never even know they are around till all the small animals like rabbits and squirrels are completely gone. Then they go to work on your house pets including small dogs and they have no qualms about grabbing them right off your steps. Not really hard to trap but you likely won't get to shoot at one. The last one I got had that deer in the headlights look on the Interstate as I swerved over and smashed him with my Jeep. Most people see them sitting in a tree and don't even know what it is thinking it was a freakishly large squirrel.
I read an article once by some pro hunter about using a Snoopy Doll with a call. He said those things would rather kill a beagle than anything else. Too bad those things are so damned expensive with trademarks ect.
What about Fisher? Those nasty little tomcat sized black or brown ferrets are all over and you never even know they are around till all the small animals like rabbits and squirrels are completely gone. Then they go to work on your house pets including small dogs and they have no qualms about grabbing them right off your steps. Not really hard to trap but you likely won't get to shoot at one. The last one I got had that deer in the headlights look on the Interstate as I swerved over and smashed him with my Jeep. Most people see them sitting in a tree and don't even know what it is thinking it was a freakishly large squirrel.
luvmexfood
Silver Member
Did you ask him if they tasted like chicken? Ha. Guess you didn't go over for dinner at his house after that.
Ha. Guess you didn't go over for dinner at his house after that.Western
Super Member
drizler, You might try putting a few hay bales in that field as a make shift blind, let the coyotes get used to them. Then one day out of the Blue (when the wind is right) go try to call them in. Might try hanging some white feathers, or a piece of coon skin on a string along the edge of the field as an optical attractant and to keep them focused off you. May even get a cat out of the deal.