Always call upwind?

[SLYDOG]

I have been hunting coyotes for over 30 years. The first 3 or 4 years I was huntin them for fun, the last 29 or 30 years has all been revenge........

I've hunted 16 states, Canada and Mexico. I would say that 85% of the time the wind is at my back. I know that a predator will want down wind of the sound for the final aproach. You can fool his eyes, You can fool his ears but there is no way on earth to fool his nose. if there was he would be called a turkey.

Thats just my 2 cents

sly

[foxhunter]

i agree with steve and sly, i like to call in a cross wind with a wide open down wind. i always sit so i can swing the rifle into the wind with the least amount of movement. the theory being you only have to defeat his eyes and ears to get him, that makes him the easy picking's. you are hunting a pie, you just have to decide which pare of the pie you are willing to give up.
man i wish i was ambidextrous, i have had to go lefty on a few occasions which makes shooting stix worth their weight in gold.
bobd

[MarkA]

Gun and triple X:
1. That 'smell' is called mercaptians, it is what is used to 'odorize' natural gas. As y'all oilfield hands know, natural gas has no SMELL so we gotta give it one so you know when there's a leak.
2. What mouth calls do you like, I tried one of diapharm type and all I do is gag.
3. Am in Midland, 55 yrs old, came to this late, give me some help so I can shoot one afor I am room temperature!

[bushmaster]

Hey Guys


Here in my area it doesn't seem to matter which way your sittin. These coyotes have seen so many hunters that they know exactly what hunters look and smell like. I feel one of the main keys is to be quite and still and appear invisible.

[onecoyote]

SLYDOG, I've been at it for a few years myself. Been telling people to watch the downwind side for coyotes for years. Some tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, but others listin and kill coyotes. Seems like downwind watching is what most guys do in this forum, that tells me there are some good coyote hunters that come here, Good Hunting.

PS SLYDOG, where did you hunt predators in Mexico, I hunted Baja and Sonora. Killed more coyotes in a day then most hunters kill in a year of hunting lol, unreal hunting down there for sure.

[SLYDOG]

Onecoyote,
You are so right- there are quite a few Yote smoters in here. I would like to know (just to know) how many coyotes (real count) that the HUNTERS at this board alone could account for,,Hol#$@%T the thought makes me dizzy...

Sonora Rocks, its like hunting vergin ground, I swear you can call a coyote out from under almost every sentury plant...........LOL not realy but it was good hunting down there. As for the Baja, well I'm not a west coast kinda guy but I saw quite a few driving through the Baja on a trip a few years ago and thought it would be good hunting.

I still like Idaho, its close to Utah and Nevada and both are excelent coyote states. We need to get together and plan a hunt soon so we can meet and lie to each other in person ;D

sly

[foxhunter]

slydog, since you did not specify a time frame i will pick my own. since 1980 when i started hunting coyotes i have called and shot 1200+ coyotes with doing about another 60 in drive by's.
since 1994 to date i have called and shot close to 1000 foxes with 0 drive by shootings.
i think it would be safe to say i am somewhere in middle as far as success goes.
now if you were talikng about just this year 49 coyotes 2 bobcats and 65 foxes. yes i know i am getting old and slowing down but i still try, fox season is still on til the end of march.

[SLYDOG]

Foxhunter,
I to have kept logs, for the past 16 years and have started a book. my numbers only going back the 16 years, (proof for the skeptic's)in hand, coyotes 1467, Red Fox 493, Badger 641, Bobcat 312, Black bear 21 and Kit Fox 1.......... Those are true and factual numbers, now I have hunted for 34 years, to go back before I kept a log is just guessing and no one wants to hear what I think I have killed, people are only interested in what you can prove. Still I belive my lifetime kill has been right at 2100 give or take a few dogs. I hope I still have 20 years left in me and I can keep up the pace I'm on.
Remember, this is how I have made my living for over 22 years and its not fair to compair my numbers to the guy that hunts weekends. Anyone who can put up 30 coyotes on the weekends is rackin up good numbers. The guy that only hunts 10 days a year and puts up 10 coyotes is the guy that impresses me. If most guys could put in the time that I do their numbers would be about the same. Its the time factor, the more you do something the better you get at it.

With the people in this BB I bet if you could tally just the coyotes we as a group have killed in our lives, I bet there would be close to 150,000 coyotes acounted for by the time it was done.

Sifting through the BullS$#^^%$% would be the hard part and it seems to flow when you start talking numbers on a BB.

thats my 2 cents

sly

[foxhunter]

the older i get the faster i was.


bobd

[gunsetc]

MarkA,
Hey old man! (just kidding-I'm 54 myself)
Which calls are favorite is always a tough one for me. It depends on several variables. Possibly most relevant could be time of year, but I'm sure others may disagree about that. This time of year, I guess that I use mostly howlers of various types and sounds. A good call to start with is any one of Crit'r Call's open reed type. They are fairly inexpensive, but seem to be as effective as most. I have an old Bill Austin howler that is sort of my go-to call, but have a new Crit'r Call Song dog, which I haven't been able to use yet, but in practice, it sounds great. I believe that it will be very versatile. I have also used Dennis Kirk's howler, Johnny Stewart howlers, Dan Thompson's Red Desert howler, Elk's Power howler, several home made howlers and they all work. I like the sound of some more than others, but not sure about the coyotes' preferences.
I have closed reed (hurt rabbit, mostly) calls by Burnham Brothers, Circe, Johnny Stewart, Lohman, and a new beautiful Brass Rhino (which I also haven't gotten to use yet). The Brass Rhino is my first custom call and boy, does it sound great! Can't wait to use it.
I guess this hasn't been much help, but what I'm saying is, you just have to start trying different ones; you will soon find your favorites. Let me know how it's going.
Good hunting,
Bob
(gunsetc)

[onecoyote]

I started predator calling right after I got out of the Army back in 64......that was 40 long years ago lol. At the spry young age of 61 I still go hunting, but nothing close to what I use to do. I never kept records of animal kills until I joined the CVCA in 75, I turned in animals for about 10 years of club hunts etc, after that I didn't bother and I have a copy of those records lol. I got alot of animals back then, in 1981 my partner Granville Crow and I got close to 300 animals. Our best contest hunt that year was 27 coyotes, 5 bobcats and 5 grays for a total of 37, we could have taken more but we got tired lol....the next hunt we got 24 coyotes..... and the next hunt we took 18 coyotes 1 bobcat and 1 gray total 20. Three hunts netted us 81 critters, not bad for a couple California guys only hunting weekends lol. If I was to guess how many predators I've killed over 40 years of hunting I'd have to say emmmmmm about a million lol, Good Hunting guys