New to coyote hunting...need help

[CABNER]

I want to start coyote hunting but here in southeast ky I don't have alot of ope fields to hunt. We have alot of coyotes buy I'm not sure how to ridge top hunt them. On tv I always see them hunting fields. But no game except turkey in the spring come into the fields they stay on The mountain top. So how would I hunt them. I really want to try the challenge.

 

[JR in KY]

Not trying to be Funny here.
Just pretend you are Deer Hunting with your Bow; they will be there.
Start with a mouth call and use it sparingly

 

[30-30]

Please take my advice with a grain of salt, as i am in a rut but start calling soft then pick up the volume a little at a time, dont come on too strong too fast.

 

[CABNER]

How far will they travel to the sounds of a call?

 

[CABNER]

How far will they travel to the sound of distress calling? How late in the morning do they stir? What time should I start calling? I'm sure not before daylight like a turkey on the roost.

 

[30-30]

ive seen em cross the road at noon in july, though at first light is best bet. as far as travel i really cant answer that hopefully jimmy, al prather, css, and some of the more knowelgable guys answer, i am curious on there response as well

 

[30-30]

I ll tell you what the biggest thing to coyote hunting is figuring these things out for yourself, ( i dont mean to be rude at all) if i can tell you where they are when there their, id be the best yote hunter there is, i ve learned many things from this dry spell (i call it a rut) they may leave more scat, hair, other sign etc.. but if their leaving it at midnight what good is it?

 

[Jimmie in Ky]

How far is a hard question to answer. Have no idea of what your terrain is like. But a single ridge can keep them from hearing your calls. In slightly rolling terrain they can hear your sounds at a mile or more.

Start calling as soon as you have good shooting light and can possitively identify targets, you don't want to shoot the farmers dog. For the same reasons stop calling at sunset and sit a few minutes more for any late comers.

I would look for a logging road along a ridgeline. I would stay high and call each saddle in the ridgeline according to the amount of sign I find. Should be some scats along that road somewhere showing you where they cross it or where the territorial boundaries are. I would also call into the winds.

This should be enough to get you started. Weedwalker is the man you want to talk to about that area. Jimmie

 

[weedwalker]

Stay high on the ridges. The winds swirl too much down in the hollers. I like to follow the ridgetops, stopping to call down into any hollers that run into it. Also stopping every 200-300 yards to call out the ridge ahead of you. I don't always hunt into the wind. Just downhill from you the wind is probably going a different direction anyway. I like to sit in areas where I can see 50 yards or so and call to the thicker areas in the woods. I usually use my shotgun with lead "BB" shot and a tight choke. I order Federal Wing Shok copperplated lead BB from my local gun shop. It's about $35 for a box of 25 shells. Most turkey chokes work just fine.
How far will they come to your call? It just depends on how hungry they are. I've had them come from several hundred yards. And I've had some that weren't interested till I got close to them. And I'm sure they heard me calling from a distance before I moved in closer.
You can try the strip jobs if your looking for open ground to hunt. I've killed several on the strips. You can hunt those more like you see on the western type of videos.
Hope this helps you some.

 

[possumal]

If you insist on calling into the wind, you better have a partner or install some rearview/sideview mirrors. That type of advice has messed up lots of newbies and gets them discouraged. The coyote is going to approach from the downwind side the biggest percentage of the time, so why on earth would you want to call into the wind? Some of the best coyote hunters to ever blow a call use the wind to their advantage, not to their disadvantage. If you are hunting alone, this is especially important. Ecaller or mouth calls, I'll vote for quartering with the wind with as low a volume as you can be effective with, especially when it is really cold, as sound carries especially well then and Wiley tends to be hungrier then.

 

[Semp]

If you can find someone (that knows what they are doing) to hunt with a time or two, it will cut down your learning curve quite a bit.

Even if you and your knowledgeable partner don't call anything in you'll still see how to set up and what kind of ground looks callable.

In the beginning, Jimmie helped me quite a bit to see what to look for. Get someone like him or Weedwalker to hunt with once or twice. You'll be way ahead of the curve.

 

[CABNER]

Thanks guys I really appreciate it.

 

[therookie]

This might be a dumb question but would baiting them work? I've heard of gutting a few fish and leaving them lay out or a squirrel. Didn't know if that actually worked.