3 replies to this topic

[cory7mm]

Hi I live in Oregon and i'm pretty new to predator hunting. I bought a foxpro spitfire call and have been using that. I have tried calling on the edge of fields where timber border it, clear cuts, in eastern Oregon where it's more desert and sage brush, etc... I just can't seem to even see one. I'm pretty good at spotting animals too. I have also tried the lohmans circe call. When I'm using the spitfire, I've tried the cottontail in distress over here and let that play for up to thirty or so minutes. I've also tried letting it play for a few mins, muting it and then playing it again. Over east in the more desert area I've used the same strategy and tried the jackrabbit in distress, the lightning jack which sounds similar and even the cottontail in distress for kicks and giggles. I haven't even seen one. I've also started with the coyote locator (I got one to howl back at me but never saw or heard from it again. This was at night.) then I switched over to the jack rabbit in distress to see if I can get it to come in. I've also started with the jack rabbit in distress and went to the coyote locator, or the female howl and that didn't work. I usually go on volume 5, which is the highest setting, but I've tried volume 4 quite a bit. I wear full camo and don't move when I sit and use scent eliminator type spray. I just don't get what I'm doing wrong. I've gone out 6-8 times without even seeing one in areas I know they are plentiful. Are they denning up rightnow? Please help!!

Edited by cory7mm, 06 March 2010 - 12:03 PM.

[bar-d]

I would do some scouting. Look for fresh tracks, scat and maybe fur to make sure coyotes spend significant time in the areas you are hunting. I also suggest calling on lower volume and less frequently. If you have no response, try raising the volume a little. Just don't call too loud or too often. Make sure and hunt into the wind. They can bust you from a couple hundred yards or more from just one sniff. Right now is mating season, in Texas anyway, and sometimes they are not as interested as they usually are in distress calls so I would spend a little more time on coyote vocalizations. Things like female barks and pup distress. Mainly, don't give up. I have been hunting coyotes for over 30 years and I still get skunked every now and then. Keep working at it and learn from what does not work as well as what does work.

[Mainiac]

Good advice from bar-d. You may not be doing anything wrong, but if you do everything "right" where there aren't many coyotes, you're going to come up empty. Not sure how you're deciding where to hunt, but up here I rely on woodcutters and others who spend a considerable amount of time in the woods (wardens and guides, even) to tell me where they're seeing animals. Also set up near deer "yards" in the winter, but that might be a specific northern thing. Also, you say you use the scent eliminator type of spray, but do you wash your camo in the unscented stuff, and do you shower w/the no-scent stuff before hunting? I know a lot of guys on this site say they only play the wind and don't worry about scent, but I prefer to at least try to eliminate as much scent as possible. Keep at it, you'll call one in soon enough and that will just be the beginning.

[bayloryote]

Try starting out at a lower volume. If yotes are near, a loud sound may frighten them away. Always start low and increase volume after a few minutes.