When Coyotes Won’t Commit

When Coyotes Won’t Commit

By Troy Hoepker

Their howls cut through the cold air with fresh exuberance but they held their advance stubbornly at the ridgeline to my west. Darkness was approaching on that cold winter’s afternoon that found me deep in the heart of a large tract of some of Iowa’s public hunting land in pursuit of a coyote. I had found a nice little bowl of CRP grass nestled in the middle of the timber that looked like a perfect ambush zone and hoped a coyote would soon be by. My howls were answered and answered repeatedly but it seemed the pack was only budging slightly. From howl to howl, I could tell the group was on the move, and mostly getting closer but I worried they’d stall long enough that darkness would hide their approach.

Time was my enemy and with light fading fast, I tried more purposeful howling in order to get them on a more direct path to my position. Late January was ideal for domain howls and pushing the intimidation factor to the max. It certainly worked up a couple within the group and I could just envision their guard hairs raised across their backs as they answered my calls with defiant howls of their own. I was under their skin now but the clock was ticking.

Now as light was fading away only the dark shadows of existing brush dotted the ground in front of me. Every form in my mind’s eye seemed to take the shape of a coyote, the point at which imagination takes over reality. Only movement across the snowy patchwork of bare ground in front of me would reveal a coyote’s deceptive lurk and I knew it. Still, I waited. And as time slipped away one more round of howling from my adversary confirmed that they still had ground to gain to reach my location. Defiantly I gave up the ground and made a hasty escape instead of educating these coyotes for another day.

As I approached my pickup in the darkness almost a half-mile away, they arrived. The loud and bold howl I heard confirmed that at least one coyote was right where I had been. “I do love it!” I whispered out loud as I held at the door and listened to the last notes of the coyote’s voice trail off before getting behind the wheel and shutting the door. “I’ll be back,” I muttered!
Countless times over the years I’ve called to coyotes that I knew were there but never would commit to showing themselves. Many of those times, just at dusk. I’m sure some of you reading this have had the same thing happen to you and it will, if you spend very much time at all attempting to call coyotes into gun range. It’s frustrating and can even get to the point of maddening at times. What can we do to move a stubborn coyote or trigger them to come when for whatever reason, they don’t seem interested or you need to stimulate them to move to you before darkness encroaches?

For starters we have to be the best students possible of our prey. Educating ourselves on coyote behavior, coyote vocalizations, good set up positions and local coyote territories is the best we can do. That involves a good deal of work but nobody ever said coyote calling was easy right?

First let’s talk about coyote behavior and why coyotes hang up. We only know a coyote is hung up if we can see them outside of gun range or because we hear them not all that far away. Coyotes become tentative for a variety of reasons. They may have seen something that they don’t like or are suspect of. They may have heard something they don’t feel comfortable with. They may be uncomfortable to travel the terrain between them and you, or they may know that they are at the far reaches of a territorial boundary. Lastly, they may already have a food source where they are or be interested in companionship of a nearby coyote.

Anytime you are dealing with coyotes stubborn to commit, a good coyote caller will quickly access the situation and figure out which one of those reasons their present situation falls under. Is you’re position too exposed and maybe you are too noticeable? Is there too much open ground around you or downwind of your location? What sounds have you already thrown at them and could that be the reason? Are there multiple coyotes that you are dealing with? Is there a creek, a lane, a fence or a hill between you and them?

Our gut instinct is what we rely on out there, so trust it and make your decision accordingly. There are a couple of things we can do to up the odds. The first is to move on them if possible, and that’s always a tricky proposition. You have to make sure that there is no way they will detect your movements. The second is to change the sounds we are using. The thing I always try to do successfully before I ever start calling is to make sure I have the best possible set up position available to me on that particular piece of ground. I’ve found that if I’ve chosen the best spot, then rarely do I ever have to reposition on coyotes. The spot I choose to call from should be located deep enough into the section that the coyote feels comfortable enough to come to the call but not so deep that I’ll be spooking any coyotes within as I walk. It has to be a place that puts the wind in my favor and makes a coyote feel as though it can get to me. Lastly, the area needs to have some available cover for the coyote to use to travel along and I like to have an elevated position for visibility. You can eliminate some coyotes from hanging up in the first place by choosing good set up locations to begin with.

Know what coyotes like. They want to follow into the wind to search for prey. They don’t like to be exposed and vulnerable for long periods of travel. They are curious to all things that sound like prey or other coyotes. Consider these things when choosing a spot to sit. If you’re experiencing hung-up coyotes, it could just be a change in your location that is needed to break them loose.
It’s hard to know where local coyote territories overlap. Sometimes you’ll get lucky enough to discover heavy coyote toilets along a two track, a fence, a ridgeline or a river that may give you an idea, and if coyotes seem to hang up on a regular basis when approaching such structure then you can sometimes form a guess. Otherwise, it’s a mystery most of the time. It takes a lot of ground work that includes night listening to howling packs, lots of calling attempts, and paying attention to where coyotes are coming from on a regular basis in such areas to really get an idea. Most of us don’t have time for that kind of dedication so anytime you may suspect a territorial boundary as a reason a coyote won’t come closer I simply suggest trying to call that spot from a different location the next time out. Or, if time and conditions permit, relocate your position while you know where the coyotes are located.

I’d always rather have a vocal coyote to deal with than silent ones. If a coyote is vocal, he is giving you information. He’s giving up his location, his distance from you and his disposition. All of those can be used against him. Especially his disposition, if you know what you are listening for. Coyotes have a variety of social howls that have different meanings. Some are territorial in nature, some inviting and friendly, and some are submissive or dominate. A lot of coyote callers unknowingly put some coyotes on alarm right from the beginning of their set or during the set with the sounds they may choose to use. It all depends on the type of coyote that hears your sounds. If a submissive yearling for example, hears you imitating a dominant howl, a challenge or an interrogation howl for example, even if he was on his way to you, it may have been a game changer. Now that same coyote will approach differently than it might have. It may skirt your area giving itself a wider buffer between you and them. It may turn downwind or it may cease coming altogether. That’s just one example of how important the inflection of your calling is. If you’ve ever saw a coyote approach your set up, but it stays just out of gun range, consider the sounds you’ve previously used as the possible reason. Submissive coyotes are tentative in nature but they sometimes can’t resist getting a look.

A coyote that acts that way can be called in closer. If you fear that you’ve made a coyote react this way, go to something friendlier in nature. Submissive whines, or an invitation howl might do the trick. Or pour on a few more distress sounds along with some confidence sounds like crow or blue jay. The reason being is that submissive coyotes come to the call of distress for the meal a higher percentage of the time. Dominant coyotes will come to the sound of distress for the meal or out of territorial defense. Dominant coyotes want to know that it’s not another coyote eating prey in their territory. You’ll know the difference if a coyote howls before arriving, if you’re lucky enough to have it happen. If you hear one lone, deep howl that rises in pitch only slightly and then stops abruptly without tailing off or yodeling while you are in the middle of distress sounds, than odds are you are dealing with one of the local dominant pairs. What you’ve heard was that coyote warning you that the area is theirs or trying to bait you into responding if you are another coyote. Any aggressive howl that you give them back will likely expedite their approach to you. Continuing on with your distress sounds can work as well although less of a guarantee and in some cases their arrival will happen much slower.

Sunset is the time of day you’ll hear the most vocal coyote activity. Interpreting the sounds you hear is vital to knowing how to call them. A lot of times you’ll hear a coyote sound deep in pitch with a howl that sounds more like a car horn than a high pitched siren. If you direct your sounds at that coyote with a challenge or a domain howl of your own, it might be the only chance you have of getting a coyote to you before light fades away. If you choose to challenge a coyote and are doing so with a mouth call you’ll want to start out with several short, aggressive, sarcastic barks that lead straight into a short howl that quickly changes in pitch from low to high. End it abruptly and then start the whole thing over again. It reminds a person of the sounds of a car engine trying to start. The barks are quick and sharp and so is the howl following the barks immediately. Repeat the sequence several times and wait.

If you’ve shot at a coyote or even killed one don’t give up yet. Often there is another coyote nearby especially this time of year. Even when you’ve seen the other coyote leave, you can still successfully call them back. I’ll wait for a several minutes and then begin a series of invitation howls. You can opt for a series of elongated howls with a friendly bark that gets them going, leading straight into a howl that rises in pitch, yodels a little in it’s duration and then tapers off at its higher notes. Repeat several of these and wait. Or you can offer four or five howls that begin with one, two or three longer, deeper barks that lead into a yodeling howl that is not elongated but shorter than that of a lone howl type sound. The howl is of medium length that rises rather quickly in pitch while featuring some yodel as it changes octaves. You’ll end the howl by hitting it’s high point and quickly bringing it back down to a deeper tone as it trails off within a one count. This is the sound of a coyote trying to locate its lost mate and has to be made with a howler by mouth.

One of the hardest situations is calling to a pack or group of coyotes that you’ve heard merely giving their territory group singing. They are announcing to all where they are and they can be hard to get moving. If the distance is great between you and them and you can safely accomplish the task, try cutting the distance by moving toward them. Then after you’ve gotten sat down, hit the pack with a pup distress sound and follow it with submissive whines, and ki-yi sounds. You’re trying to get the entire pack to change their mentality and intrigue them or the alpha leaders of the pack enough to move in your direction now that they know you aren’t far away. A lot of times we hear the group singing right before or after dark so time is of the essence. You’ve got to be aggressive or you’ll be left empty handed. If you continue on with distress or many of the other vocals it simply won’t work in time before darkness hits. You’re trying to trigger an instinct within them. If their group howling isn’t far away, skip moving on them and get into your playlist.

Lastly, if you have a vocal coyote howling at you and you’re simply just not sure what to do, mimic their sounds. Try to sound just like them. It’s not only good practice but you’d be surprised how often it works. An invitation howl answered by an invitation howl is a trigger. A domain howl answered by a domain howl is a trigger and so on and that’s why it can work. It’s a good beginning education into learning how to speak the language.

The coyotes we get that were a challenge to outsmart, are the ones we remember most. It’s not always easy to lure in a coyote that is hesitant in the first place for whatever the reason, but if you do, it’ll be a battle you won’t soon forget!