Coyotes for Beginners

Coyotes for Beginners

By Troy Hoepker

For me, coyote hunting is about so many things that bring me joy. It’s following an abandon cattle trail to a little place only I know about where coyotes feel safe to visit. It’s the anticipation of what’s about to happen every time I place my lips around my mouth call. It’s trying to suppress the steam from my breath on a crisp, bitter cold morning as a million tiny diamonds glitter across a snow covered field while the sun casts its first rays of light along the landscape and a coyote approaches, attentively hunting me with a steadfast concentration and his very existence on the line. It’s listening to Iowa’s little prairie wolf yodel a song into the night with a tone that cuts through the night air like any eerie siren. It’s the bounce in my step when carrying a coyote back to my truck after success and yes, even the feeling of a less colorful world that exists when coyotes have left me humbled after a long day’s hunt

My name is Troy and I have a coyote hunting addiction. But I’m not afraid to admit it and I certainly am not about to stop! If you’ve read through my yammerings this far, you either share the same addiction as I do or you are interested in learning how to call coyotes. So before reading further, I’m required to include a list of side effects for your new life as a predator hunter should you decided to continue. You may experience daydreaming of coyote habitat, sleeplessness when coyotes have given you the slip or on nights prior to a hunt, increased heart rate and rising blood pressure as coyotes approach and a desire to subject yourself to extreme weather conditions. Previous addicts have complained about a strange desire to howl at the moon, examine yellow snow, an increased awareness and obsession with wind direction and in rare cases even lifting a leg to urinate. Read on at your own risk.

When I first started calling coyotes Randy Anderson wasn’t making videos, magazines devoted strictly to predator hunting didn’t exist and there was no outdoor channel to watch. I learned from my own failures and success. I quickly learned that the first step of being a good coyote caller has nothing to do with making a sound. It’s recognizing how to make a good set and set up properly in a way to give yourself the best chance to succeed while fooling a coyote. That’s what you’re doing, fooling a coyote. In order to do that, you have to make a coyote truly believe that there is an animal in distress, that there is no danger to him in the area where that animal is in distress and make him feel safe to approach that spot with a confidence that he can hunt that animal successfully. Cover those three basics and you’ll have luck. The whole process from the time you leave your truck until the time you sit down has to be thought out and as good as you can possibly make it. You can’t call a coyote that isn’t there so scouting for spots to hunt where coyotes are spending a lot of time is first on the list.

Go out and listen for howling in the evenings paying special attention to where at on the farm it’s coming from. Look for scat and tracks and look at the property via aerial maps. Aerial maps are a great way to recognize travel areas, funnels and natural ambush points that you can use when you hunt. Next is planning where to call from and how to get there. Keep the vehicle hidden and don’t silhouette yourself on top of hills as you make sure you’re not broadcasting your scent to the area you’ll be calling to. If a coyote sees something it doesn’t like, hears something that gets his attention or certainly smells anything out of place he’ll never approach when you sit down to call.

Selecting an area within a given property to call from is one of the most important decisions you have. I like to look for a spot that offers good concealment for me as well as a little elevation over my surroundings and also has some amount of cover for the coyote to use on his approach. You’ll call a lot more coyotes if you set up in a way that makes them feel comfortable and safe to come investigate your calling. Coyotes are a predatory animal so they like to stalk and sneak up on prey, which means they feel most at ease when they have some concealment to cover their approach. The key here is giving them some cover to use but not so much that you won’t see them at all. Ideally, having some breaks in cover helps see them or use the wind.

With coyotes it’s all about the wind. Use the terrain and cover to help you guide a coyote towards your own downwind when possible. You never want a coyote to get downwind of you but if you can make them think they can then you’ll call more coyotes. If they have some cover they can use to approach your downwind then you have a coyote confident that he can snatch up a meal. Don’t worry about the sound choice, there are tons of sounds that entice a coyote. The secret is making them think they can successfully and safely hunt the sound. That commits them to coming almost more so than the sound itself.

The spot you’re scent is drifting to must be open however. Set up in a way that leads a coyote along cover most of the way to your downwind but not in cover all the way. Once that coyote runs out of cover to hide behind and is close, he’ll rarely be able to resist coming the extra little bit out into the open to try and wind you. That’s when you have him. It’s about getting them to commit to coming to the call. Will a coyote come across wide open ground to investigate your calling? Sure, I’ve had them do it countless times, but they won’t do it as often as they would if they had cover to use and especially as it gets later into the season. Keep an extra careful eye on those field edges, fence lines, waterways, drainage ditches and terraces. Coyotes prefer to travel along these as they hunt so they naturally make great spots to set up as ambush points.

A coyote coming to the call doesn’t always circle downwind but they prefer to and will do so a larger majority of the time. The reason a coyote circles downwind depends heavily on the sound you used, the terrain around you and the wind speed. Generally speaking, the more the breeze, the more a coyote will want to use it to his advantage. Personally, I don’t like to call with a wind in my face. Doing so means my downwind is behind my back and if a coyote gets there I won’t see him.

One of the biggest mistakes I believe most coyote callers make is being too focused on the remote control of their electronic caller. I think it would surprise people to know just how little calling it takes to bring a coyote in as long as you’ve set up correctly. There’s no need to play every sound in your arsenal and sometimes overcalling can hurt you. Part of what makes coyote calling work is the mystery involved and making a coyote hunt the sound by staying on the move. If he hears it continuously it gives him some advantages over you. Less is more with song dogs.

Calling a coyote is half the battle. The other half is killing him. Once you’ve called a coyote in there’s so much that can still go wrong. Give yourself an advantage by aiming your gun to the point of cover closest to you in case a coyote comes out there or aim at the vicinity of the caller, which is where a coyote will want to end up. Watch the coyote’s body language. If his head drops, or he stops as you move or if he turns even one step the other way, it’s a good indicator that he doesn’t like something. Move only when the coyote is moving and call when he is in sight only if it is necessary.

If he’s coming, let him come. Calling to a coyote that is already coming only pinpoints you or your caller to him more. To stop a coyote when he is where you want him for a shot, a lip squeak or a bark with your voice is usually all it takes. That or stopping the caller if it’s running. One good tip to remember is that if a coyote begins trotting away from you and a shot hasn’t been fired, a lot of times that coyote will stop for one last look back before getting out of eyesight. Wait for it if you can and take the higher percentage shot instead of rushing a running one. A shot on a motionless coyote is what you want and aim center mass of the shoulder. You want to shoot a coyote farther forward than one might think.
It seems a lot of people today believe you have to own an electronic caller to have success. The truth is that you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to call coyotes. A mouth call and a gun are all that is really needed. I’ve likely sat down a thousand times to call up a coyote and most of the time I use a mouth call. An electronic caller has its benefits and helps keep the attention off of you but if you mouth call briefly it has the same effect. If using an e-caller, place it in a spot where you can see it and the area downwind of it. If I’m in a spot where a coyote may be bedded close I’ll start out my calling rather quiet and build up in volume as the minutes pass by to reach out to ears farther away. A coyote can travel a long distance to investigate the call and in Iowa they won’t always come charging the whole way. You may read or watch hunting shows on television where they tell you that fifteen minutes is all you need to stay on stand. That may be true out west but for Iowa you’ll find success often times later than that. I always recommend that a hunter stays put and calls for a half-hour minimum. Even once you’ve called a coyote in it’s wise to continue calling after the encounter. Where there is one, often times there are more and it’s entirely possible to call in another coyote.

Any type of animal in distress sound can work with coyotes and so can coyote vocalizations. Coyotes come to a call for reasons of hunger, companionship, parental instinct, territorial defense and plain old inquisitiveness. Distress appeals to most of those and coyote vocalizations appeal to several as well.

Coyotes are an extremely social animal but they defend their hunting grounds fiercely as well. Any sound you use can appeal to any coyote within earshot depending on where that coyote exists on the social hierarchy chain. Distress or non-threatening coyote vocalizations can work better on sub-adults or subordinate coyotes and distress and various coyote vocals can work on alpha males and females. Conversely, using certain coyote vocalizations on certain coyotes can trigger responses you don’t want. Imagine a subordinate coyote hearing a challenging coyote? Any younger coyote hearing that will want to stay clear of the coyote issuing that kind of howl. On the other hand, an alpha female hearing a challenge from within it’s own territory during breeding or denning season may come at you on a run to defend her territory.

A lot of people believe distress sounds work only because of hunger but distress also invokes territorial responses as well. It’s hard to know what set of ears you’re calling to so as a beginner, I’d suggest staying with distress and welcoming coyote vocals until you get a feel for what works and what might not. Anytime you are answered back by a coyote mimic the sounds that he made back at him. Even if it doesn’t work it can be a great learning experience conversing with a coyote. One thing of note that I’ve noticed is that anytime you’ve used a coyote vocalization, the odds of a coyote circling to get downwind of you are increased.

One great thing you can do to help your success is to keep a log. Jot down the details of each hunt including things like the date, wind direction, sounds used, temperature, ground cover, and where a coyote came from. Anything that stands out about the set can be important so include every detail that might influence anything. These journal notes can be invaluable as you progress.

I wouldn’t get too hung up on the type of sound you’re using, many can work, but instead concentrate on finding good coyote spots, studying coyote behavior, making good set ups and working the wind to your advantage. Now go call up your first coyote and let the obsession begin!!!