Night time Coyote Hunting

timrod

timrod

Active Member
Does anyone have any pointers for nighttime coyote hunting? We have had a little success with using mainly howls at night. I have a Prinos TurboDogg and have pretty much been using the Randy Anderson expert hunts. Territorial and Breeding mainly. We are using a red Wicked Scan Pro and Wicked 403z as a scan light. My AR light is a green XLR250 kill light from Elusive. I feel like we have the gear, have the spots, play the wind, and get a lot of responses with very little commitment from the yotes.

Does anyone out here hunt em at night? What are your tactics that you tend to use? It's been a blast this far, just really wanting to finish more dogs.
 
Calling with coyote vocalizations is great for locating spots to call with prey distress calls or you need a lot of patient after your initial calling sequence and hope that a coyote is interested to respond. I have never had success calling with repeated coyote vocalizations after the first sequence. Keep your lights high and dont hit them with the main beam until you are ready to shoot, no matter what light color you have. My opinion night is for sleeping and skinning those yotes you kill in the daylight. I have never found night calling to be nearly as effective as day calling, fun yes, efficient no.
 
Looks very productive, but requires night imaging. A couple years ago I was surrounded by coyotes on the way to my bow hunting stand. It sounded like three packs at 10, 2, and 4, but I couldn't see them. On some nights I hear coyotes and on other nights I don't. Is that because they roam, or are they still there but not howling?

I have seen coyotes chase deer and know they prey on fawns, so coyotes need management.

 
Went out last night and called two packs in from a ways away. They got about 200 yds from us in the heavy cover and locked up... had good wind on them.
Tried to go silent on the call to no avail. As soon as I lit back up with a female interrogation they fired right back up in the same location..after about 15 minutes of silence. I dropped the volume and continued a mating sequence after they responded again. Still, nothing committed.

Absolutely frustrating. I really don't know what we are doing wrong
 
I hope this doesnt come across as a know it all or being a a$$ but you are calling too much with coyote vocalization sounds. I spent a number of years trapping and killing coyotes professionally for the government. Not just a easy coyote here and there, but the coyotes that needed to be killed and killed now due to livestock predation. You need to understand something, Randy Anderson along with other people are in the business to sell their products. Do they show it working on You Tube or a tv show, sure, but do you know how many hours they filmed to get that sequence to make it look like it is the only way to get it done. I live in a country that is wide open and so I can see coyote behavior from a long ways off. The results you are getting are the results I would expect from the tactics you are using. How much barking are you hearing as compared to howling? We kill a lot of coyotes at 200 yards, and maybe your terrain and habitat dont allow for that long of a shot. However, that coyote is now at a distance where it needs to decide whether closing that distance is in its best interest. What is going to respond to a female invitation sequence ..... a single male that thinks he is tough enough to fight off any other competitors. Whats going to come to a mating sequence call ...... a male coyote that thinks he can drive off another male or a sexually confused coyote:confused:. Most coyotes by this time of year are already paired up and unless their mate gets killed they arent actively pursuing another one.

Without knowing the lay of the land where you are calling or the amount of calling pressure you have in your area this might not be spot on, but maybe get you over the hump. See if you can locate a single coyote around sundown. Set up to call in a spot where you are down wind of that coyote and have as much open area between you and the coyote as possible. Let your call make 1 or two female invitation howls. Then do not play your call again for 20 mins. No other sounds. Then if you feel there is still potential at the location repeat the invitation howl again and wait.

You are not going to get into a "conversation" with a E- caller and live coyotes and come out the winner. Coyote vocalizations are a lot more complex than that. Pup in distress during denning season is a good call to go to. Why dont you want to use a prey type sound?
 
I've been trying some coyote hunting to with little success. I did try a night with afull moon. In Wisconsin you can't scan with a light. ..a light can only be used at pont of kill, so I figure I will just try night hunts when there is enough moon light to see decent.

Otherwise been trying mornings and late afternoons.

With prey distress how long do you let it play before you go quite?
 
Turkey- I think you are spot on... terrain for the most part doesn't lend well to any distance over 200 where we hunt. As far as why we don't use prey distress calls.... I just am going off of what I've been told by local successful hunters that say with as many people that are trying to call coyotes in, the cottontail distress is a good way to clear a section of ground of coyotes... is that true here, I really don't know. I'm interested in your opinions a lot and by no means think you are being anything other than helpful, and I truly appreciate it.

We are going out tonight. Would you do a coyote serenade to locate, then make sure and get downwind of the pack, wait 20, then go with a single female invitation and wait? That's the direction I am leaning. If after 20-25 mins, I may try a house cat distress to hopefully throw something different at them.
What do you think?
 
Kabic said:
I've been trying some coyote hunting to with little success. I did try a night with afull moon. In Wisconsin you can't scan with a light. ..a light can only be used at pont of kill, so I figure I will just try night hunts when there is enough moon light to see decent.

Otherwise been trying mornings and late afternoons.
With prey distress how long do you let it play before you go quite?
Click to expand...

Personally I use a open reed mouth call "CritterCall" to be more precise. I dont use a E-caller as much as basically for the same reason as "timrod" just mentioned, overuse by lots of other callers. Dont get me wrong I have called coyotes with an E-caller but I tend to use mine more for sounds that just cant be done on a mouth call easily. I do like to play crow calls on a occasion while I am doing rabbit in distress with a mouth call. Obviously crows dont fly at night though! Great combo in the daytime here as crows will follow coyotes to a kill and vice versa. I like to call for probably 20 seconds tops and then let the weather, terrain and whether or not I see a coyote responding determine when I call again. My opinion its easier to call too much than not enough. DO NOT call to a coyote that is headed in your direction. You are just giving it more chances to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. How natural is it to hear a cottontail squall for 5 mins straight? Its not!
 
Last edited:
timrod said:
Turkey- I think you are spot on... terrain for the most part doesn't lend well to any distance over 200 where we hunt. As far as why we don't use prey distress calls.... I just am going off of what I've been told by local successful hunters that say with as many people that are trying to call coyotes in, the cottontail distress is a good way to clear a section of ground of coyotes... is that true here, I really don't know. I'm interested in your opinions a lot and by no means think you are being anything other than helpful, and I truly appreciate it.

We are going out tonight. Would you do a coyote serenade to locate, then make sure and get downwind of the pack, wait 20, then go with a single female invitation and wait? That's the direction I am leaning. If after 20-25 mins, I may try a house cat distress to hopefully throw something different at them.
What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think that sounds like a reasonable idea. I do notice that you keep saying "pack" a lot. Do you visually see coyotes in a pack as in more than 3? A couple of coyotes can sound like a "pack", especially in timber or brush where the sound bounce a bit. We had it happen just last week. I would have swore that there was 10 coyotes in a draw full of plum thickets we were calling into. We only saw 2 coyotes and experience tells me that was likely all there really was. At this time of year unless deer are yarded up and it is the major food source coyotes aren't very likely to be in a pack. Paired coyotes usually dont tolerate the presence of other coyotes in their territory, let alone run together, as we get into mating and whelping season. Not uncommon to have a younger female that will stay close to a pair, to help with bringing food to pups once they are born. Just like wolves only the dominant pair breeds. Cottontail could very well be an over played sound in your area. I find most E-callers pretty much have the same sounds. There are plenty of crazy combinations of sounds on them as well, but I often wonder the effectiveness of most of them. I have an older FoxPro that probably has a dozen sounds on it and I dont think I have ever had luck with more than 3 or 4 of them.
 
I used to hunt both fox and coyote a lot. 99% of the time they will hang up 200 yards out there. 99% of the time they will circle down wind and bust you. Hunting at night will yield very poor results in my opinion. The only thing I've found that works great at night is a grey fox pup in distress. The grey fox will respond with reckless abandoned about half the time and get close enough for nighttime shot. My suggestion is to hunt twilight. Morning and evening when you can still see a long way. Then you can pick off circling coyotes. You can howl once or twice then just very soft and infrequent rabbit distress calls. Or just the rabbit. In many locations that a cottontail has been over used a jack rabbit call can be used. Calling very little and calling at first and last light is the only way of increasing your odds. Still they are slim. It can be fun though but, many hours of nothing is the norm. If doing it for fun then just keep at it. If you really need the predator control then trapping will result in much more success.
 
I like to do about 1 minute of howls with barks. After that 1 minute I am quiet for a couple minutes. That is the last yote vocalization I use. I then use a distress call. Usually a cotton tail for about a 2 minutes sequence. Then on and off for 2 minutes. I might change up with a bird in distress or mad cat distress. If nothing in 15 minutes I will then do about 2 minutes of coyote pup in distress. After then I wait 5 minutes and leave to another set. I rarely give a set longer than 30 minutes. Most my set are about 20. It's fun and addicting but my success is less than 10% and it's usually the first set right at legal shooting light. Night hunting isn't legal in Oklahoma.
 
I would love to trap rather than hunt, but with the properties being 30-45 minutes away, I would not be able to run the trapline in a timely enough manner. I wouldn't be able to run a line but once a week.
Night time hunting is about the best time for me and my buddies to get out. Kids are in bed... mama is happy..... my weekend days are pretty much consumed with work around the house and family.
 
I love the suggestions here. I like hearing some of the sequences you all use.
We did go out last night for a couple sits, and had zero response at a new property. We did a coyote serenade for locating, and got no response.... moved onto a female interrogation for a couple minutes, then onto cottontail distress.
 
Turkey Creek said:
I hope this doesnt come across as a know it all or being a a$$ but you are calling too much with coyote vocalization sounds. I spent a number of years trapping and killing coyotes professionally for the government. Not just a easy coyote here and there, but the coyotes that needed to be killed and killed now due to livestock predation. You need to understand something, Randy Anderson along with other people are in the business to sell their products. Do they show it working on You Tube or a tv show, sure, but do you know how many hours they filmed to get that sequence to make it look like it is the only way to get it done. I live in a country that is wide open and so I can see coyote behavior from a long ways off. The results you are getting are the results I would expect from the tactics you are using. How much barking are you hearing as compared to howling? We kill a lot of coyotes at 200 yards, and maybe your terrain and habitat dont allow for that long of a shot. However, that coyote is now at a distance where it needs to decide whether closing that distance is in its best interest. What is going to respond to a female invitation sequence ..... a single male that thinks he is tough enough to fight off any other competitors. Whats going to come to a mating sequence call ...... a male coyote that thinks he can drive off another male or a sexually confused coyote:confused:. Most coyotes by this time of year are already paired up and unless their mate gets killed they arent actively pursuing another one.

Without knowing the lay of the land where you are calling or the amount of calling pressure you have in your area this might not be spot on, but maybe get you over the hump. See if you can locate a single coyote around sundown. Set up to call in a spot where you are down wind of that coyote and have as much open area between you and the coyote as possible. Let your call make 1 or two female invitation howls. Then do not play your call again for 20 mins. No other sounds. Then if you feel there is still potential at the location repeat the invitation howl again and wait.

You are not going to get into a "conversation" with a E- caller and live coyotes and come out the winner. Coyote vocalizations are a lot more complex than that. Pup in distress during denning season is a good call to go to. Why dont you want to use a prey type sound?
Click to expand...
How much net damage to bird populations do they really do ? I understand a coyote will eat anything it can catch. I also hear their main diet is small mammals. But I hunt with guys that shoot any coyote they come across.

I always have young guys wanting to hunt coyotes with their new night scopes, sometimes I agree but mostly I decline. My feeling is that a coyote taking a young raccoon, possum, skunk or stray cat would go a long way towards offsetting any nests or birds he would take. I mean South Dakota has a lot of coyotes don’t they ?

So can anyone point towards any hard evidence towards one side or the other ?

We had beef cows for many years and I never saw where I thought a calf was ever taken, and I heard many coyotes while checking cows at night. Feral dogs yes, I’ve shot a few.

Just a question that came to me on my walk this evening. Saw 16 turkeys, more than 15 deer (no antlers), lots of Canada geese, a few mallards and more pheasants than I could begin to count. They are really bunched up. One coyote track.
 
timrod said:
Went out last night and called two packs in from a ways away. They got about 200 yds from us in the heavy cover and locked up... had good wind on them.
Tried to go silent on the call to no avail. As soon as I lit back up with a female interrogation they fired right back up in the same location..after about 15 minutes of silence. I dropped the volume and continued a mating sequence after they responded again. Still, nothing committed.

Absolutely frustrating. I really don't know what we are doing wrong
Click to expand...
200 yards? Fire away! Love my thermal...
 
cegawiv said:
How much net damage to bird populations do they really do ? I understand a coyote will eat anything it can catch. I also hear their main diet is small mammals. But I hunt with guys that shoot any coyote they come across.

I always have young guys wanting to hunt coyotes with their new night scopes, sometimes I agree but mostly I decline. My feeling is that a coyote taking a young raccoon, possum, skunk or stray cat would go a long way towards offsetting any nests or birds he would take. I mean South Dakota has a lot of coyotes don’t they ?

So can anyone point towards any hard evidence towards one side or the other ?

We had beef cows for many years and I never saw where I thought a calf was ever taken, and I heard many coyotes while checking cows at night. Feral dogs yes, I’ve shot a few.

Just a question that came to me on my walk this evening. Saw 16 turkeys, more than 15 deer (no antlers), lots of Canada geese, a few mallards and more pheasants than I could begin to count. They are really bunched up. One coyote track.
Click to expand...
Out of the predators in general I would say coyotes have the least impact on birds, just my personal insight no study to back it up. Bobcats, coons and fox are probably the hardest on birds in that order IMO.
 
I hunt coyotes at night and I tried many different methods as far as using my predator collar and I was screwing up with mine at first you don't want to turn that volume way up you wanted about halfway or less on the volume unless you got a lot of wind or something of that nature that will drown someone stand out you might cut it up some but you can also be using rabbit in distress or any other of the wounded animal sounds every time you play it cut the volume down a little more cut the volume down a little more and cut it down some more and a lot of times the coyote will think that the wounded animal is leaving or trying to get away but I found out the biggest thing that messes you up if you got the volume real loud they know there's something wrong with that I don't know what distance you're trying to shoot at but I usually draw mine out into a field about a hundred yards out is where I'm shooting these dogs and like you said upwind from them because they're very very keen the eyesight hearing and smelling you can't hardly beat it I mean built that way for a reason and that's for survival and once you have shot a few in the same area you're not going to get them to come out because the phone comes out and gets dead I can assure you the other ones I've seen that just saying
 
Sorry my spelling ain't worth a crap I got a badass sore throat and cold and I'm trying to talk voice type and I got a real low voice anyway so the words ain't coming out what I'm saying but anyway I think you get the idea
 
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