Coyote Hunting: The Ultimate Guide
To hunt the hunter. Outsmarting the ever adaptable and elusive coyote is one of the most challenging hunts you can embark on.
Chapters
Why You Should Hunt Coyotes
After a long season of chasing turkey, whitetail, waterfowl, and upland birds, it’s assumed that it’s time to relax and cozy up waiting for cabin fever to set in. Not exactly! Winter is the time to hunt the predators. We spend most of the year managing game animals but need to remember that predators need management as well. Coyotes are destructive, invasive, they spread disease, and they kill a lot of fawns and calves. To put it simply. Nature has a balance. Coyotes play a huge role in that balance.
To find quick success with these beasts, the concept is simple: Attract coyotes with the sound of prey in distress, locate them, then take a breath, and execute the shot.
After extensive research, scientific data, and real-life experiences from hunters in the field; we have made this ultimate guide to teach you everything you need to know about coyote hunting. In this article, we are going to give you all of the tools, tactics, and knowledge you will need to take down these elusive creatures. Utilize this time frame to hone your hunting skills and stay in shape in the off-season!
Chapter 1: Understanding Coyotes & Their Behavior
Coyotes are everywhere across the US and Canada. A good hunter knows its prey. Their habits, their habitat, and their behaviors. These variables all come into play as you set your plan to outsmart them in their own territory. Learning what they like or don't like, their seasonal food supply, and how coyotes will react to new, unfamiliar scents and sounds.
What Do Coyotes Eat?
A coyote's diet will change throughout the year. Three-quarters of a coyote’s diet consists of small mammals such as mice, rabbits, rats, and squirrels. The rest consists of fruits, birds, eggs, vegetables, insects, and fish. Anything they can get their paws on. In the winter, food becomes more sparse. They tend to rely more heavily on mice, rabbits, and deer. Keep in mind, with this kind of diet, what could this be doing to certain populations such as deer and turkey? The amount of what they eat will depend on the size of the pack and how many alphas there are.
Coyote Population Issues
There are three kinds of coyotes. Resident, dispersers, and transient. This design is nature's way of preventing inbreeding. Alpha males will encourage the young ones to leave, making it a disperser. Transient coyotes are always on the move, making them hard to pattern and tough to hunt. Of the three, the residents are much easier to kill. Over the last several years (depending on location) the deer population grew plentiful, increasing coyote numbers. In many areas, this led to deer herd decrease. Something difficult to balance, to result in the deer/coyote population leveling out. Hunting coyotes will assist in this maintenance.
Stand Up for Coyotes, New Hampshire’s Most Persecuted Animal. (2021). [Photograph].
Coyotes Are Smart: Super Senses
Maintaining a predator hunter’s mindset will be detrimental. Coyotes spend their entire life hunting and approaching every scenario they enter, with caution. They know what they are walking into when stalking their prey. Coyotes can smell even when they exhale. Overall, just have it in the back of your mind that coyotes can hear and smell most everything. A distant cough or a zipper on your jacket. They are sneaky and, if pressured, highly intelligent.
Chapter 2: Why Hunting Coyotes Is Important
Our deer populations are declining, calves and fawns going missing, and the coyote population increasing. And it’s only going to get worse. Last whitetail hunting season, a buck was tracked and found chewed up by coyotes by the time the hunter could retrieve it. Both hind quarters ripped to shreds. Claw marks in the snow, with nothing but coyote tracks all over.
Coyote Eating An Elk Calf
Manage The Coyote Population
Coyotes are predators with little to no threat to them. So who manages their population like they manage deer, rabbits, and other populations? This topic seems to always be up for debate. The truth of the matter is, anything in life, especially nature, requires balance. Coyotes can take a huge toll on wild game populations as well as farm animal populations if not managed properly. Especially in the winter months when food is scarce, coyotes will find easy prey. This time of year is a prime example, February is calving season for most cattle farmers, calves fall into a coyote's diet. Coyotes are quick to adapt and reproduce and their numbers are only growing. In the west, they are also interbreeding with wolves creating a new breed called “coywolves.” A female coyote has the potential to birth up to 120 pups in her lifetime, if this isn't managed properly, you can imagine the damage that will do to wild game populations.
Pelts: Make Some Extra Money
What do you do with coyotes after you hunt them? Some dispose of the carcass and others trade the pelts to their local trapper. When pelts are in their prime and not rubbed (from the breeding season) or mangey you can make some good money when you sell them. The fur market is comparable to the stock market. Meaning it’s always changing and yes there is money to be made, but when the demand is there. It would be worthwhile to learn how to skin your own hides. It isn’t too difficult, but it does take some practice, and the less damage to the pelt, the better.
Coyotes Spread Disease
Did you know that coyotes can carry a variety of diseases? Anytime they roam or pack swap they could be spreading these diseases. Some examples are, canine hepatitis, & canine distemper are the most common diseases found in coyotes. Lethal to domestic dogs. Parasites, ticks, fleas, and worms can cause flesh-eating mange - very common for coyotes to get. Since coyotes can travel up to 100 miles, imagine the spread they can have in that span of area.
Coyote Effect On The Wild Game Population
Coyote breeding season is January through March. The pups are born in the spring, and so are many other new offspring; such as whitetail fawns, elk calves, and mule deer fawns. An in-depth study was done on coyotes in South Carolina where they captured and monitored 60 newborn fawns. They discovered “Coyotes killed 47 to 62 percent of them by fall with 66 percent of the kills occurring within the first three weeks of life.” The first two weeks of a fawn's life are the most detrimental since they aren't as strong, or fast. Another thing to consider when it comes to population management. Whitetail fawn habitat has depleted over the years, in some areas the doe population has increased.
What does this mean for coyotes and fawns? Fawns are more at risk without a good habitat to hide in, and if you have a large doe population with a low amount of whitetail bucks, this can cause issues. For example, if you have 15 does and two bucks in one specific area, the chances of those does being bred in early fall and then again in late fall are high. Which means their fawning times will be more spread out. Does can fawn in early spring and then again 3 weeks later. This spreads the fawning process out, making them easier targets. Fawns are harder to kill in larger quantities, but if they are spread out they are more at risk. This is why managing populations is never a cut and dry topic. Managing both coyotes and Does during deer season is important, don’t forget to include fawn habitat.
Chapter 3: Coyote Hunting Land
You don't want to waste a ton of time hunting areas that don’t have coyotes. So taking what you’ve learned about their food sources and habitat, using that information to locate good hunting areas will be crucial.
Jeff Sturgis Planning His Coyote Hunt
What Time Of Year/Day Do You Hunt Coyotes?
You can typically hunt coyotes all year round depending on your local laws and regulations. Coyotes are breeding during the months of January - March. If you’re looking for quality fur times, winter will be ideal, since they have thicker fur during this time to keep them warm. As winter progresses, coyotes become less nocturnal in their search for food. They also tend to travel together more in the winter than they do in the warmer seasons. Coyotes are nocturnal hunters by nature, making dawn and dusk the optimal hunting times.
How To Find Public Land & Gaining Access to Private Land
The key to not over-pressuring coyotes is to increase the number of places you have to hunt. This will also give you better quality hunting. One way to do this is to get permission on private lands. Farmers will be more willing to give access because they tend to have a lot of issues with coyotes threatening their calves. Another way to gain access to more hunting areas, is by using a mapping app such as HuntWise, to see an overhead satellite image of the land, how it looks, then use the toolset to get landowner contact information. This toolset is like a guide in your pocket. It shows you where the nearest public lands are to you, what the wind & weather is doing and how that will affect your hunt, as well as a very up-to-date and detailed mapping system.
Mapping Out Your Coyote Hunting Spots
The more hunting areas you have the better situation you’ll put yourself in. You don't want the coyotes to get “call shy” or learn your tactics, so switching spots is a good method to have. When the wind or weather isn't in your favor you can go to the spots that are, making yourself a loop for the hunt.
Chapter 4: Coyote Calls: What To Buy
Types Of Coyote Calls
Electronic calls are great for making imitation sounds of animals. They come preloaded with 50+ sounds, with a built-in speaker. You can also add more sounds yourself by downloading them online. Coyotes hunt their prey from downwind, because of how sound travels you could place your call upwind of where they may be traveling, to lure them in.
Flextone Electronic Call
Diaphragm and hand calls are great to diversify your calling sequences and use while on the move. The one downside is that in order to achieve the most success with these calls, you have to be relatively good at using them, as the coyotes will easily pick out the errors. YouTube will be a great resource for you in learning how to use these calls.
Flextone Diaphram Coyote Calls
Calling Tactics
When it comes to calls, it can get quite tricky when deciding what sounds to use. Until you’ve gotten to an advanced understanding of the coyote language, keep it simple. Try to use natural language and sound sequences. You want to use what sounds natural. Distressed mouse, rabbit, or woodpecker. The biggest key factor here is going to be volume control and the pitch of your sound. Some hunters have even used distressed monkey calls and had success, it's all about the tonality. Coyotes are curious, but they aren't stupid. You want to attract their instinct. If something is high pitch and in distress, that means an easier hunt for them. Coyotes are also the most vocal in the winter during their breeding season. They are very territorial animals, if you use calls that challenge their dominance, sounds like male to male barking or howling. Calling can take practice and a lot of trial and error, if you use real scenarios, you will have high chances of success.
Coyote Hunting Without A Call
If you can’t get your hands on some coyote calls, you do have the option to utilize a carcass, roadkill, or some bait to sit over. Again, you’ll want to check your local laws and regulations. This process can take a while. Your scent can linger on the carcass for a few days, leaving you in a situation of waiting for days or even weeks until the carcass is discovered by them.
Chapter 5: Coyote Hunting Gear
When chasing coyotes, having the right tools will make you more efficient and the experience of it more enjoyable. Once you get some experience under your belt, you will be able to come up with a customized gear list of your own that matches your hunting style and needs.
What To Wear Coyote Hunting
It's not necessary to feel stressed or obligated to go out and buy an entirely new hunting wardrobe to hunt coyotes. You want to keep it relatively simple. When hunting any animal, you don't want to be seen, heard, or scented. Keeping that in mind, if you're hunting at night you will want to wear dark, warm clothing that doesn't make a lot of noise. If you're hunting in the daylight during the winter, it would be ideal to wear white while also staying quiet.
What Firearm To Use Coyote Hunting
There is no “one size fits all '' set up when it comes to choosing a rifle and optics for coyote hunting. Considering factors such as terrain, style, and range, will help make your decision. You’ll also want to check your local laws and regulations to make sure what is legal or illegal to use.
Common calibers such as a, .223, .22-250, and .243 work great in open terrain, and they’re fur-friendly with the right bullets if you plan to keep the pelts. But your deer rifle will work just fine too. If you plan on being in close-quarter or thick timber, a shotgun would be the best choice. There are some rimfire offerings that will work, but your shot placement will be critical. Many factors will influence your firearm and optic choice, such as; effectiveness, weight, and ease of moving to and from hunting spots.
What Optics to Use Coyote Hunting
Optics is one of those items on the list that can get really expensive, really fast. So don't feel the need to get the most expensive optics. You can still get the job done without breaking the bank. What you'll need will be dependent on where and when you are hunting. Here are a few things to get you started:
A coyote light is a great entry-level light to utilize coyote hunting. There are three common colors, White, Red, and Green. Each one has its pros and cons so you'll make the decision on which you prefer. The red lights give you a better eye-shine on the animals and prevent fatigue on your own eyes. A red light is also going to be the most affordable route to get into night hunting.
Coyote Light - Red Light
Thermal Scopes or Night Vision. There are definitely advantages to using thermal monoculars and scopes. Thermal will give you good detection while night vision will give you good animal identification. Again make sure you check your local laws and regulations in regards to what optics you can and cannot use.
A rangefinder to gauge your shot distance. Something else to consider is, having an adjustable turret on your scope for those long-distance shots.
Decoys
One of the benefits of using coyote decoys is to assure that what they are hearing is real. It will draw their attention as they work their way in. When you position the decoy, you'll want to place it to the side and away from you. When the coyotes are coming into your calls they will be wary, you don't want them to see or hear you. These are especially helpful during their breeding season. There are a few types of decoys, one that mimics a coyote, rabbit or squirrel tails, or a wiggling rabbit in distress. Again, coyotes will be focused on the decoy when they come in, this is giving them proof that they are seeing what they have been hearing, making them less skeptical of you.
Coyote Decoy - Montana Decoy
Shooting Sticks
Your gun setup will vary by season. This is mostly a personal preference. In the fall or summer, you could use a bipod on your gun, simple shooting sticks to help you stabilize your gun, and typically at night people use a tripod that's fixed to the gun for steady shooting and the ability to move it from spot to spot quicker and more efficiently.
Extra Coyote Gear Items
Some extra must-have items could include; extra batteries for your electronic call or any lights you have, an extra mouth call in case your electronic call fails (which does happen), and maybe even some hand warmers. Another key item is a coyote drag, especially if you have more than one coyote to drag out. This will free up your hands to carry the rest of your gear out.
Chapter 6: Coyote Hunting Strategies and Tactics
Scouting
Your scouting tactics will vary per state but a general rule of thumb is to focus on areas that hold small game, birds, mice, and vermin. Anywhere there is a good food supply. Check out areas with brushy creeks or river bottoms, swamps, and marshes. Cattle and dairy farms contain calves, mice. The most effective way is to locate a den or find fresh tracks. If you see coyotes in your deer hunting spots, chances are they will be there in winter too. If deer or cows are moving, coyotes will be too. In the summer months, there’s a larger food supply in fresh-cut hay fields, so hunting open fields and farms is ideal. In the winter, food is harder to find, so stick to areas that will hold deer and rabbits, look for good habitat.
Sit Still and Stay Quiet
Stealth is the first priority. You don’t want to be slamming vehicle doors or talking above a whisper, remember coyotes have an excellent sense of sound and smell. Once you have your spot picked out, settle into a comfortable shooting position on a knoll or field edge that offers good visibility and cover.
Play The Wind
You want to call into the wind or with a crosswind and always keep a good downwind shooting lane. Coyotes will usually circle downwind of distress sounds. Keeping an obstacle at your back, like a creek or fence row, can help steer them into the best shooting lanes. Wait a few minutes after setting up before calling. The approach is important, stay quiet and still.
How Long Should You Hunt Each Spot?
Most coyotes, if they’re around, respond quickly once you begin calling, but give each set at least 20 minutes to 45 minutes. If no coyotes come to your calls, sneak back out and drive to another area at least a half-mile away, and repeat the process. You should be able to cover eight to 10 good spots in a day of hunting and odds are, if your setups are good, at least one of those spots will produce a shot. Sneak in and sneak out a different day and try a different sound - no damage done. They travel miles in a day.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Now that you have the knowledge and the toolset you need to get out in the field and chase these elusive coyotes, you can feel confident in your chances of success. This type of hunting will keep you sharp in the off-season and challenge you in new ways. Some think Mother Nature will solve the management problems herself, but for the time being hunters are on the frontline.