Coyote Hunt Planned - Pointers?

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Blown6L

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I'll profess, I've not done much hunting in my time. Never Coyote. I've killed a lot of targets though.

Anywho I have a hunt planned next week in NE Mississippi. Myself and my 12 year old son. I've been working in the area the last few months and a kind fellow has offered to let me hunt his and some family land for coyotes. Approximately 400 acres in total. The land owners say they hear and see Coyotes all the time.

Gear we've got. Good camo, scent blocker, Foxpro electronic caller and a descent set of binoculars. I'll be hunting with a Remmy 700 BDL in 22-250 with a 6.5 X 20 Leupold, my son a CZ 527 American in 22 Hornet and a 3 X 9 Leupold.

General plan is to not disturb the area much, find some back cover with the wind in the face and put the call in open fields. Call a bit and move on if nothing appears. Scouting for sign and dens as we go and possibly fall back to these later in the week if we don't call many in.

What are the best times to hunt? Thinking early morning and late evening. I've been watching some shows. They usually stop the yotes with a mouth call, which I don't have. Any other way to do stop them if they are charging in?
 
sounds like you got a good starting point there, easy on the calling, louder is not always better, and pay close attention to your left and right-they are very smart will try to circle around you downwind if they even suspect a human. Les Johnson shows/and videos are the best.
 
I rest my rifles on the hood of my pickup and wait for them to walk out in the open, got bunches of them, usually got some dead hogs laying out too, good coyote bait. sometimes use a caller. a .22-250 or my .17 hmr are resting on sand filled gun rests.
 
THis is a good time of year to give it a try......they just finished up breeding. They are hungry and extremely territorial this time of year. They are getting ready to drop their pups soon. Dying rabbit screams work good. Play on the territorial aspect by incorporating dog barks as well. I even bring my english setter with me for the added dog sent. They will come in and try to push the dog away from a den sight. Coyotes den in the same location year after year if they are not disturbed.

Good luck and happy hunting.
 
Thanks for the info and chuckles guys.

Went to the range today to make sure the rifles were still dialed in. Wrapped the guns up in Camo and had to remove the scopes to get them the way I wanted. All okay it turned out.

Giving second thoughts to toting around the 700 around all day. It's a heavy barrel and real chunk. Might bring along one of my other Hornets just in case.
 
My experience with calling is that shots are commonly inside of 100 yards, so a Hornet should work fine.

I've mostly used an old Olt mouth call, doing the wounded-rabbit call. Start sorta loud, and then back down on the volume. If you see Wily coming in, blow very softly.

I once saw two coyotes begin their approach to the Olt call--and they heard it from well over a quarter-mile away.

Coyotes tend to make a final approach with circling toward the downwind direction, so using a brush or tree line to make them come more crosswind to you helps. An electronic call set thirty-ish yards in front should reduce the odds of their smelling you in your stand.
 
Start at he edge of the property and try to call them from outside of the area you have to hunt. While 400 acres may sound like a lot, you can cover it very quickly when coyote hunting. Stay in your stand 15-20 minutes and move on.

Art is right, when calling coyotes my shots have been well under 100 yards.
 
I used to live in NE MS, still have friends & family that live in Columbus, West Point, & Starkville. - i personally Spend at least 2 trips a year up there to hunt annually

Some land is much better than others for Coyotes. Here are a few tips:
Try to identify what type of land you hunting - Is the land in agriculture with pastures, fields, etc, or is it young planted pine "plantations", or is it natural hardwood/ swamp. Are there cows/ calves/ livestock on property that might "help" in the hunt?
Try to look on google earth, or somehwere on line, and get a good aerial view of the property. Talk to the landowner with the map in hand.
Go out night or two before hunt, and see if you can hear them yelping, howling, barking, etc...

Distress calls work great. I have called them in on accident with a fawn bleat during deer archery season, and hen turkey calls in spring.
Bottom line- use a call of some sort. get in area where the coyotes are, where you can stay hidden, and use the calls to your advantage.

If a dead cow/ calf is available, then the bait might also be used to your advantage. these are just some suggestions, and others can offer better tips.
 
Before leaving a set-up to try a new location...take one last good look around. I have missed a few opportunities because I gave up, stood up, and started gathering up the gear.....and ol' Wiley was coming in.
 
Thanks again guys for the tips. Leaving tomorrow and starting to get excited. My son is downright giddy. Bought my hunting license online Monday and arrived in the mail yesterday. 7 Day, Non resident, $125 + some fees.

Guess I'm going to stick with my 700. The original intention for taking it was for the longer range shots. Honestly the trip and hunt is for my boy, If we're lucky and call some in I hope he shoots them all. It's good to here you can call them in that close.

I do plan on using mostly distress calls. Primarily the whitetail rabbit. It, from the hunting shows, appears to be the most common and successful. At least I'll start with it and use some others the longer we sit in one place.

Cob mentioned some good points and ones I'd considered. The landowners primarily work a few head of cattle. The property, from talking with them, is a mix of pasture and wooded pine areas and a few ponds and creeks. The one farmer mentioned an area where he drags the dead cows and I thought that area would be a good place to focus on. Question is, you can't use bait in MS hunting Coyote, could this be considered baiting?

Art, I've seen the circling you mention from the hunting shows, I guess keeping your head on a swivel and some barrier at the crosswind would be key to keep them from getting downwind.
 
I know Coyote are listed as Nuisance Species in MS ( along with nutria, beaver, wild hogs, etc...) Rules can be accessed thru link:
http://home.mdwfp.com/wildlife/Species/Nuisance/Default.aspx

You may be able to use the "dead cow pile" to your advantage, if coyotes are used to it.
( set up within 1/10th mile or so, on a good vantage point, and you still may not be directly over bait.) Some farmer's dispose of carcass'es by dragging/ carrying them to a remote location that is accessible by vehicle/tractor -(generally back of the field, on a remote fence line that won't blow torwards the house) The coyote's will use cover for trying to sneak up on call... here open areas/ Pastures can be used to advantage, but can blow your own cover as well.

It would be in your best interest to talk with a local game warden for that area:

MDWFP NE REGIONAL OFFICE:
272 CR 995
Tupelo, MS 38804
(662) 840-5172
BTW... You can get the small game, 7 day licence for less than $40 bucks... this licence allows you take hog, probably coyote as well. You might could have saved yourself about 80 bucks... In some situations, Nuisance species taken on private land do not require a license... call the local game warden for best info...
 
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Blown6L said:
The one farmer mentioned an area where he drags the dead cows and I thought that area would be a good place to focus on. Question is, you can't use bait in MS hunting Coyote, could this be considered baiting?
Click to expand...

I'd contact the local warden. Since the carcass was deposited by someone else and not in a location chosen for hunting over, this sounds like a "interpretation" call, and may vary from warden to warden. It may well be, that even if it's deemed illegal, that you could still use it as a locator and hunt a legal distance from it. Odds are, it is a good distance from the den site and the dogs will have to travel to get to it. Distress calls should work well along those corridors, especially if there has not been a new carcass dumped lately. My experience from calling 'yotes is that they seldom come from where you expect them. Depending where they are when they hear the call, how hungry they are and the amount of calling pressure they've experienced will determine how fast and warily they will respond. Most of the time, if they're in hearing range and they're gonna come, they'll be there within a half hour, generally much sooner. Setting up against a bluff, creek or other obstacle will limit the direction they will approach from. Start loud and then get very subtle as they get closer. The last few years I've shot most of my dogs while turkey hunting, either in the spring or fall. Here, it is illegal to be in the woods in camo and using a turkey call, unless one has a valid permit/license.
 
One less coyote

kbbailey said:
Before leaving a set-up to try a new location...take one last good look around. I have missed a few opportunities because I gave up, stood up, and started gathering up the gear.....and ol' Wiley was coming in.
Click to expand...

We live in West Texas where there are abundant coyote. On more than 3 occassions my wife has said: "Um dear, there's a coyote by the horse fence" at 6:30PM and still quite light out. Grab my Mini-14 ranch rifle (currently loaded with 55 gr .223), step out of the garage, aim and......

Coyote2-1.jpg

Have had em as close as 50 yards and as far away as 150...Only thing I can think of that brings em so close to the house is the 14 pecan trees or the scent of our cats and dogs and horses?
 
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One down!

a904dfc0.jpg

There pretty early this morning. Mostly flat open pasture where we are at. Skirted a big pasture and set the call out. Nothing, aside from a herd of cattle coming to it. :) Got up to move on and topped a little rise. Saw a couple of spots way off in the pasture. Put the binoculars on a couple of yotes on the opposite side of this big field, slowly walking from our left toward the right. At least 600 yds away. We basically walked across an open field, cattle in there to kind of cover us. Wound up meeting up with them about 300 yds off and down wind. Sat down, no cover, and turned on the call. This one charged at us like on a rope, a distressed whitetail call. It came to within about 125yds and stopped. Looking right at us. Told my son to shoot it, says he didn't hear me. It just sat there for a few seconds and I pulled the trigger on him.
 
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Learned the keep the head on a swivel thing this evening. Same field but nearing dusk. Set up on the same spot we shot the one above. Called for about 1/2 hour and I was about to give up. My son and I were focused straight ahead and I happened to look to my right. One coming in on the run. About 100 yards away and had already covered about 200 yards of open field. Quietly point him out to my son and he pulls the rifle up on him. About that time the yote made us and stopped. I hear a click from the son's rifle. When he'd worked the bolt on the rifle it hadn't pulled a round from the magazine :( Yote takes off running from which he came. I shot once at it in a dead run and missed.

Missed that one but still a lot of fun. It's amazing how quick they can be up on you and you really do need to be looking in all directions. A distressed coyote pup is what peaked this ones interest.

Back at it tomorrow. First day hunting's count. Three seen and one down.
 
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Sounds like you all had a good time. I can't wait till my son is old enough to hunt. He can barely mount the 22 cricket we have for him.
 
Yes, a great time! My boys Cricket is relegated to a spot in the corner of his room. I remember when he had a hard time shooting it. Man time flies!

Hunting is out today. Raining and worse heading in. Time to visit the sites in Tupelo. :)
 
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