Yotes Responding to Howl?

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Olon

Olon

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Howdy,

Every coyote I've shot has been taken while I'm out baling hay, checking cattle, etc. It was a "happy accident." I've moved and I don't do that ranch work anymore, but I've taken to coyote hunting. The challenge of calling them in and trying to best them in their own game is alluring.

After 3 or so months of unsuccessful hunts with no sighting, I'm beginning to wonder if there's something I'm missing. I've probably watched hours of youtube and learned things like checking the wind, using cover, not skylining myself and even types of calls. When it comes to the hunt, I just can't seem to outsmart those wiley critters.

I use a coyote howler (a FoxPro open reed type deal), and hunt the areas I go to for small game. There is coyote sign galore. Picked apart carcasses, tracks, scat, you name it. It's all there but no yotes to show. Beginning to think that they go to those areas at night and steer clear during the day. It's public land, but even so I've only seen human tracks in that particular area twice in my 6 or so months of hunting that ground.

My question is this: will coyotes respond to an "invitation howl"? If I make a decent howl within earshot of a coyote, is there a good likelihood they will respond, or do they just come in for you guys? I'm thinking if they respond I can figure out where they are and aren't during the day, wheras it's a bit more of a crapshoot if they just silently come in.

Any pro tips from you seasoned coyote hunters? I'm hunting in Eastern Nebraska. Lots of grassy pastures, some rolling hills and the occasional creek with trees all along it.

Thanks for your responses,

Olon
 
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Art Eatman said:
I always used a wounded rabbit call. Mostly an old Olt mouth call; sometimes a Burnham Brothers cassette tape. About equal success.
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Jack or cottontail? Or does it really matter? I've never seen a jackrabbit around here, but I've heard hunters using wounded jack rabbit electronic calls. Seems weird but I don't have a clue.
 
Both jacks and cottontails. There's not really all that much difference; cottontail "complaints" are a bit higher-pitched.

Some mouth calls, you can do a sort of stutter to imitate a baby goat or a fawn.
 
Art Eatman said:
Both jacks and cottontails. There's not really all that much difference; cottontail "complaints" are a bit higher-pitched.

Some mouth calls, you can do a sort of stutter to imitate a baby goat or a fawn.
Click to expand...

Oh alright. One particular video I watched made it seem like cottontails made more of a grunting noise and jacks more of a "crying" sound. I was a bit skeptical but didn't know any better. Never heard either of them in real life to tell you the truth. Thanks for the info...
 
Olon said:
My question is this: will coyotes respond to an "invitation howl"?
Click to expand...

I’m not sure whether my call is a dying jackrabbit, or a dying cottontail, but I’ve had pretty good luck with it – for both coyotes and foxes. Although, sometimes the darned magpies come in first. That’s okay though, because if I sit real still, and don’t scare the magpies off, it seems like their squawking sometimes actually helps.

At any rate, I don’t know why a coyote “invitation howl” call wouldn’t work well too. Years ago, my wife, our oldest daughter, and I were deer hunting in an area where we had to walk about a half-mile up a private dirt road, just to get into. I don’t remember who, but one of us killed a small buck late that afternoon. It was dark by the time we got the deer down to the dirt road. That meant we still had a half-mile of dragging to do – after dark.

I don’t think 5 minutes had gone by before we heard the first coyote cry. And 10 minutes later, there was at least 3 of the darned things talking to one-another, and circling around us as we dragged that dead deer down that dirt road. We never did see any of the coyotes, as they seemed to be circling just outside of the range of our mini-mag flashlights, but we could sure hear them. It was kinda scary to say the least.:eek:
 
Coyote vocals are exceptionally hit or miss for calling coyotes. I've called hundreds of coyotes in my life, the overwhelming majority were called with a simple cottontail distress sounds.

Whenever I go afield, I typically take a lanyard with the following (I'm from Kansas, and I dig the sound of buffalo horn!):
  • Jered Brisby Buffalo Horn Coaxer
  • Brad Gainey Yote Hunter Buffalo Horn & Box Elder Cottontail Distress
  • Doug McCarty Ironstone Blue Acrylic open reed Distress
  • Will Horting NCK Pronghorn Double Reed distress
  • John Ryan Lights Out Buffalo Horn Howler
35961531210_e3aba7673a_z.jpg

Those calls can make any sounds I could need to lure every coyote in the country. Of course, I don't expect every caller to carry such a lanyard. A Primos Double Cottontail, Verminators Syco Tweety, and a Primos Hot Dog (with the anti-seize block mod) will call any coyote you want, for a total price of around $50.

When I'm calling with a partner who isn't as experienced on the gun, I typically use a FoxPro Shockwave, but have killed hundreds of coyotes over an older FoxPro Spitfire (precursor to the Wildfire, which is the precursor to the Inferno).
 
It might not be your call, if they see you first, you won’t see them.

A thermal and calling at night puts the odds in your favor.

So does a chicken coop and an IR motion sensor that can radio you that they are in your backyard.
 
According to the internet guru hunter types, challenge howls are most effective in mid January to mid late February during their mating season.

I’ve only coyote hunted with calls a few times with modest success. For whatever reason the coyote population seems down here. Used to hear them about every evening, but not so any more.
 
Oh, The other thing I read is that woodpecker calls sometimes work better than rabbit calls simply because so many guys use rabbit calls and the coyotes get wise to hunters using rabbit sounds
 
I know a friend who hunts them at night, baiting with a live chicken. Uses a thermal scope on a .17hmr. Shoots them from his back porch after dark. So far, he’s shot and confirmed 66 kills. Usually gets the yote before it gets the chicken, too.
 
drband said:
I know a friend who hunts them at night, baiting with a live chicken. Uses a thermal scope on a .17hmr. Shoots them from his back porch after dark. So far, he’s shot and confirmed 66 kills. Usually gets the yote before it gets the chicken, too.
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Sadly a thermal scope it out of my price range though I'll admit that would be pretty awesome
 
IME, 'yotes become educated very quickly. Public land, unless it's huge tracts that get little pressure, can be a hard row to hoe when it comes to calling 'yotes. The evidence of chewed carcasses, tracks and scat shows the song dog are there, but are just reluctant to come to calls. Could be they have been educated and thinned before you started to hunt them by others attempting to call them, or the amount of human pressure during the day, may have them strictly nocturnal for most of the year. The amount of human pressure may make for their prey to remain nocturnal too.While they may still be called, they may come in very slowly and cautiously, and require more patience,stealth and perfect setups in order to even see them. Yopu need to find those areas where others don;t go.....far from roads and trails. Around here, houndsmen use howlers to get a 'yotes to respond so they can determine if there is anything in the area before they let the dogs out. A response also means odds are there aren't any wolves in the area also. I use a electronic caller with a wide range of different calls. I try to hunt a completely different area each and every time I use it, regardless if I had luck there before. Good spots don't stay good spots if you use them too much. Sometimes, what call works well today, don't work at all tomorrow. I have good luck with rabbit distress, fawn distress/ pup distress and turkey distress calls, but not all work every time. The thing with the distress calls, is they bring in other predators like fox. The rabbit distress calls also work very well for calling in crows.
 
I’m old school. I use an old closed reed jackrabbit and a closed reed cotton tail and lip squeaks. I’ve seen howls work but I don’t use them. Some things about coyote calling are very non intuitive for a deer hunter. The main thing being that coyote especially a weary coyote will always try to circle downwind of a call.

I always set up to call and face straight downwind when calling. My call in ratio is pretty good. The secret to having a productive calling session is multiple stands. Sit, call if nothing happens within 10 to 15 minutes move at least a mile away and set up another calling stand.

For coyotes my call pattern is sit and call immediately hard and loud for about 45 seconds. Wait a minute or two and repeat the hard call. Wait for 6 minutes and do a very short call but fairly loud. Wait 1 minute do a soft call. Wait for another minute or two, if nothing has come in move to your next stand. The more stands you can hit in a session the better.

An old government predator control guy showed me this a long time ago and it continues to be extremly successful.

For cats you need to sit and call much, much longer. Like 30 to 45 minutes.
 
Depends on the area. The prospect of a meal is good incentive for a yote. Around here there is a
lot of brush, and they use it. They rarely expose themselves, especially at close range. The two
I saw first, I nailed both, well out past 100 yards. Under 50 yards, they can tell you what you had for
breakfast. Last Tuesday. Out west they rack up dozens of coyotes in a day. Here they seem either
a lot better hidden, or a lot more cautious.
 
redneck2 said:
According to the internet guru hunter types, challenge howls are most effective in mid January to mid late February during their mating season.
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I think that's true; BUT, PLEASE don't shoot female coyotes in or shortly before their mating season. This is because only the Alpha female of a pack comes into heat. If you shoot her, all the other females will come into heat before a new Alpha is established, and the result will be many more coyote pups come spring.
 
redneck2 said:
According to the internet guru hunter types, challenge howls are most effective in mid January to mid late February during their mating season.

I’ve only coyote hunted with calls a few times with modest success. For whatever reason the coyote population seems down here. Used to hear them about every evening, but not so any more.
Click to expand...

Generally, three things drive coyote behavior in relation to calling 1) food interest 2) territorial challenge 3) curiosity

As the months progress from Sept to Feb, for example, in less temperate climates, the easier sources of food diminish, so cotton tail/rodent distress calls become more impactful in theory but, if you are hunting populations under pressure, so does wariness about such calls. So, challenge type calls or the fox - coyote fighting calls may offer higher returns. Nevertheless, there's no reason not to start with a 'food call' in virtually any situation. If that produces no results, moving on to the challenge/fight calls may appeal to the other main drivers.
 
I've had good luck with distressed rabbit, howling calls, and whimpering female. And to be honest, I'm not sure why it works when it does. The whimpering female worked one day when I was sitting in my vehicle fooling around with the call experimenting with distance from the call__seeing how far away the remote would work. Called out the biggest male I've ever seen. Mostly though it's the distressed rabbit combined with brief howls and barks.
 
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