hunting coyotes,,,

[280PLUS]

anybody want to give me (new to coyote hunting) tips or advice?

i have a friend who's losing about a chicken a day to them and i want to put an end to this as quickly as possible for him and then keep them culled back. (140 acres)

they are brazen (hungry?) enough to run out of the treeline in broad daylight, snag a chicken and high tail it back to the woods.

is there anything that works especially well as bait for them?

does anyone have info on a "wounded rabbit call"?

how important is camo and covering scent?

if i stay downwind is this enough to cover my scent?

is being dressed in green enough or do i need to break up my profile a little?

i thought they only see black and white and wonder if camo is not necessary.

eg, ive stood within 20 feet of deer herds in the past in street clothes for quite some time by remaning silent and motionless. they would look straight at me but not see me.

does the same hold true for coyotes?

these would be southern connecticut coyotes fyi

i'd be using the bushmaster and will have a sidearm as well in case things got dicey

thanx !!

 

[Bigjake]

why do you need to bait if the thing is running out in broad daylight?? seems you have effective bait right now couple years back the buggers were after my turkeys at night. i ran out in a pair of boxershorts with a maglight and beretta. the things is FAST. i popped 6 or so rounds off, with no apparent effect. couple days later smelled something real nasty and found mr coyote feedin the buzards while mowing a ditch.

 

[444]

Coyotes are very sly and wary animals. I would wear cammo and stay upwind. If you can get them in an open area, this will prevent them from circling downwind of you.
I have never tried baiting, only calling. Yes, I have used a wounded rabbit tape in a Johnney Stewart call. Works great. I have also used a mouth call with less success. It is fairly imporatant to be able to control the call and also not have the call speaker sitting right where you are. The coyote will come right to the speaker at a dead run; you being there makes the dog sighting you or scenting you much more likely since all his attention is focused on the speaker. Point being, trying to use a boom box or something like that is not every effective. The controls make noise, the speaker is right with you, and you have to move to control it.
280 has a good idea. I would at least start off by finding a hide somewhere near the chickens. The coyotes seem to be enjoying them.
If you give yourself away to the coyote, you will almost certainly never see it again. They are very intelligent. If they know you are hunting them, they will probably win.
Coyotes don't care if it is day or night. They take targets of opportunity; the easier the better. Penned chickens are easier than catching a rabbit. They love house cats.

I do most of my coyote hunting in heavy cover, at close range, with handguns using a call. The action is fast and furious; very exciting.

 

[hillbilly]

Coyotes are smart critters.

The fact that they should not be in southern Connecticut, but now are, should tell you something.

They are the only North American predator which has actually extended its range since the end of the frontier.

They can and will see you. They can and will smell you.

If they are taking the chickens in broad daylight, just stake out the chickens from a hidden spot.

But eventually, after you pop off a few shots at them, they will figure out what is going on and then change tactics.

Then, you will also have to change somehow.

Good luck with the coyotes.

hillbilly

 

[Redlg155]

Yep..as stated previously, just stake out a place near the pen and wait for them to come around. Try setting up just before the sun comes up. Take one of his chickens and stake it out a few yards away from the coop towards the woodline where they are coming out. Make sure it has enough of a lead to walk around and scratch naturally. Then hide in your ambush point. A good shotgun with some 000 buck will be just the ticket for some fast shooting.

Good Shooting
Red

 

[280PLUS]

looks like i got my work cut out for me,,,

i think you all are right about just staking out the pen,,,i'm not so sure i can talk the guy into letting me stake out one of his chickens,,,but it won't hurt to ask.

yes coyotes have been a problem here for quite a few years now, mostly cats and small dogs...

its the one animal you can hunt around here where even the little old ladies will cheer your efforts, and its all because of their cats and little yappy dogs...

my thoughts were to patrol the land and try to track them to their respective dens, but only after ive been able to snag a few as theyre headin' for the chickens,,,

can't blame em, i like chicken too,,,especially baked with some mushrooms and onions,,,and of course with a little wine in the pan,,,



say,,,what should i do with any dead ones (providing i actually get one)...

bury em,,,

leave em as a warning to the rest (stems from my italian background)

take them out and dispose of them ?

leave em to bait the others?

i mean, what if any others in the vicinity thought the thing just dropped dead, wouldnt they come to investigate and/or chow on it?

and thanx for the info!! greatly appreciated...

i forgot to mention these are "free range" chickens, evidently the coyotes missed the "range" part and think theyre just "free" chickens...

hah,,,so far i'd say they were right,,,

 

[Art Eatman]

Coyotes see in shades of gray, so camo isn't needed. Dull, earth-toned colors are generally best. Almost all wild critters are superb at picking up on any motion, which is why some sort of blind is helpful. Sitting in a comfortable chair, behind some bush, is a Good Thing.

444 misspoke about the wind: "Upwind" means the wind is blowing FROM you toward your target. You'd want to be downwind from Ol' Wiley, with the wind blowing toward you.

The coyotes are coming directly to observed prey. If you use any sort of call, whether tape or mouth-blown, they tend to come toward it and then circle to come in with the wind blowing from the sound toward them. "Tend" doesn't mean "always".

Coyotes are quick learners. Better not to take a shot than to miss. Just seeing you will not keep them from coming back another time and you can try another "hide". A miss can have them coming back when you're nowhere around--and they'll have another chicken.

Art

 

[kudu]

When hunting coyotes at close range use of a shot gun would be best. We use #4 bird shot for foxes and #2s or 1s for coyotes if you can find them in lead. They do a dandy job out to 60yds with a 12ga in full or mod choke. A lot easier to hit them if they are moving with a shotgun also. For a rifle make sure of a good varmint bullet that will expand and not end up a few miles away if it goes through the coyote. Our coyote season opens Oct. 15 around here, but you can shoot them all year if they are damaging property or livestock. Get the pelt tanned, they make a nice rug to hang up if the fur is good.

 

[280PLUS]

grrrrrr,,,

went to check out the property last night, after a 40 minute ride i find a note on the door about how the next door neighbor owns the surrounding land and this guy only has 6.5 of the 140 acres mentioned.

not enough in ct to allow hunting (10 minimum)

and the neighbor lady is not willing to let us on her property to kill the coyotes that are stealing his chickens. (he thought she would)

she admits to having both a deer and coyote problem on her land but (here it comes) she "doesn't like guns"

he tells me she has 2 little yappy dogs and some cats so we figure once the coyotes snag a dog or cat she may change her mind, but for now...

thanx for all the input though, i'm about 1000% smarter on the subject and i owe it all to youse guys...

im sure i'll be able to put it to good use in the future!

i did get to see one poopload of chickens though...

m

 

[ARperson]

What rifle caliber would one use for these critters?

I only ask because a fella on another board mentioned using .308. Seemed a bit much for me. Especially if he misses, and given the topography and population of the area he plans to hunt in.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

What rifle caliber would one use for these critters?

.22 mag with the right bullet is sufficient out to 100 yards. .223 or 22-250 is fine for long shots.

.308 would be dangerous in a populated area whether you hit or not.

Me? Well, there's nothing for several miles in the direction I usually shoot, so I use a 25-06 with 100 gr. ballistic tips. Like Art says: "Use enough gun".

Oh, and welcome to THR!

 

[444]

The caliber you or even type of guy you use depends on the location and the conditions you are hunting in.
As I mentioned, I hunt coyotes in the thickest cover possible. A long gun of any type would be a liability to me. For this type of hunting I use handguns. Usually a 1911. A shotgun wouldn't be a bad choice for the type of hunting I do, but I am more interested in the sport of using a handgun. I don't need to kill them, I am hunting them for sport.
On the other hand I have gone out numerous times and "hunted" coyotes by spotlighting. I actually consider this to be more shooting than hunting. When doing that I have taken all manner of rifles. Since I am not going to be eating them and usually don't try to skin them, there is no such thing as using too much gun. I don't care if it blows them to bits. But, I live and hunt out in the middle of the desert. One of my faviorite places to spotlight is probably 50 miles or more from the nearest house. The chances of hitting someone with a stray shot would only be a little better than hitting someone with a stray shot on the moon. Coyotes make a good practice target for my big game rifles prior to a big game hunt.
The best calibers for coyote hunting are the .22 centerfires with a highly frangible bullet. .223, .22-250 and the like. .243 is also a good coyote caliber. I personally wouldn't use a .22 LR and would use .22 WMR only at pretty close range. Coyotes are tough animals. I personally don't have a moral dilema with shooting them just to shoot them, but I don't want to make them suffer.

 

[natedog]

280PLUS: Your situation seems like an excellent one for an "engineered" dissapearance of one of her dogs, if you know what I mean

Back to coyote hunting...I'm in the Central Valley area of California, very hilly. You can only see a little ways from between the hills, but from atop a big one you could probably see 100yds. to 200yds. How accurate a gun do you need to make ethical kills at these ranges? I would be shooting a Mini-14 with 45gr. JHP at 3600+ FPS. With a scope and a rest the gun will shoot 2-3" groups.

 

[Redlg155]

Sounds like he doesn't want the coyotes killed off bad enough. Otherwise he would have never contacted the neighbor lady on her views of him killing coyotes on his property that were preying on his chickens. He would have just handled the problem. Techinically you would not be hunting. Just protecting property/livestock. Too bad you didn't get to hunt. It definitely would have been fun.

Anyway...

How accurate a gun do you need to make ethical kills at these ranges?

So long as you can put all your shots within a small pie pan sized area you should be ok. At 100 to 200 yards with a .223 you should be able to put all of your shots in an area half that size.

Good Shooting
Red

 

[280PLUS]

yes,,,

i am very sad about not getting to go in there.

now let's see, in "The Silence of the Clams" didnt that girl in the hole get the yappy dog with a half eaten chicken bone?

Just kidding, just kidding, I would never do that ,,,

moderators are you listening??



I think her (the big land owner) problem is she doesn't want a lot of doughheads running around her property shooting everything that moves and making it a big mess to boot.

I believe if I forward him(the small landowner with the chickens) my "credentials" copy of my BA and a few other things I can dig up and he shows her that I'm not Bubba from the backwoods of Greenwich, she may relent. (pssst, thats a joke, greenwich is where all the rich work in new yorkers live,,,funny huh?)

I also question his claimed legal inability to shoot them while they are in his property in the process of taking a chicken.

I strongly suggested just staking out the yard but i got the feeling his wifey might have some objections to that AND i wonder if the report of the bushy would scare the chickens and stop them from laying.

let me tell you,,,they got some fancy lookin' chickens running around

 

[Selfdfenz]

Been many years ago but we had chickens in a coup that proved too easy for some of the local dogs to seek up to and rip into. It was just a chickenwire affair and the dogs were big ones. We saw them more than one time in the act of raiding the hen house.

Offender #1 was a big Chow.

One of my Uncles showed up with a sack full of single spring leg hold traps which he proceeded to stake down and bury at shallow depths all around the coup.

His theory was that the dog would get a nasty surprise but would get away with a valuable education. If not, my Dad's theory involved a 16 gauge shotgun and something much more permanent.

My Uncle's theory was 100% correct and that was the last chicken we lost.

I did happen to notice a particular Chow that ran with a limp for a day or so following the morning we found 2 of the traps sprung.

But those were the "olden times" and nobody would do such a thing these days. I doubt think they even make traps like that these days. And it would be so PunC.

S-

 

[280PLUS]

thats agood one,,,

but you're right, i doubt we'd get away with that one,

i have seen those traps at a tag sale here and there,,,

i'm no fan of them myself

we also talked about poison, too many other animals around for that,,,

you know, if the guy wasn't so adamant about free ranging them, a good size fence would probably slow em down

the only reason theyre taking all the chickens is cause it's so easy.

just like any crook, if you make it hard for them, they'll most likely go somewhere else thats easier to work

and if there's something thats just plain old easy pickin's, well, nuff said about THAT...

can you blame them, hmmmm,,,they probably look upon it as going to the grocery store as opposed to actually having to hunt for food,,,

sound famliar?