Thermal Hunting in Thick Brush

bleebs

bleebs

New member
I'm a little bit new to the night hunting scene. I've killed a lot of coyotes in the daytime but I've only killed a handful at night.

First off, I hunt in Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada for context. I went thermal hunting for the first time in Mississippi of all places and I guess it was novel enough for me that it sparked an interest and made me want to try it. The problem is, in these western states, it's really hard to find public land that's 1) legal to hunt in (depends on the county you're in around here) and 2) beneficial for night hunting. I just have a two part question for you night hunting experts:

1) Is it even worth calling in places with thick brush? Are you guys trying to hunt in more open country to avoid sage brush?

2) If you don't hunt in thick brush, how are you scouting good areas to go beforehand that don't seem too thick for thermal hunting? Is it just a matter of driving around until something looks good or are you guys using onX, GoHunt or some other map to find these places prior to going out?

I understand that hunting on private property has a huge advantage since the sage brush isn't usually present but let's keep the discussion to public land for now.
 
You should have no problem finding land to hunt in Nevada. Only a few northern countries don't allow night hunting and it is more a no casting a light from a vehicle or shooting after dark type ordinance than an actual hunting regulation.
As far as scouting, look for tracks & scat or locating at night (howls or siren sounds).
 
When I call thick cover at night, I always feel like there are a lot of coyotes that circle downwind and bust me without me ever knowing they were there. Because of that, I try to save those places for daytime setups or just don't call them as often. During the day, you can use different tactics, like letting your scent blow into open areas where coyotes are more hesitant to break cover in the daylight. At night, they feel much safer doing it. You're also usually targeting bedded coyotes during the day in areas where they feel secure, whereas at night they're out moving freely through open areas.

I've watched too many coyotes in open country make a 700+ yard loop just to get my wind at night. It only makes sense they'd use that same tactic in brushy areas where you never even see them, especially if they've had an encounter with a hunter.

That said, I don't think a conditioned coyote is uncallable. I think the same educated coyote can respond completely differently depending on the circumstances. Hit him with the right sound, in the right place, at the right time, and instinct will trigger and take over. They're just a lower-percentage coyote than one that's never been called before.

When I'm scouting open ag fields for night hunting, I start with satellite imagery, then I go scout it in daylight. Satellite images are a great tool, but they're only a snapshot in time—a view from directly overhead. They don't tell you if the crops are currently too tall, whether cattle have grazed a field down enough for you to see incoming coyotes, or what your actual visibility looks like at ground level.

I find my setups on the aerial, drop pins, then figure out the most efficient route to hit those pins. That's just the system that works for me.
 
I also think the more time you spend out there, the more mistakes you'll make, and those mistakes become experience. I use those patterns, along with all the unpredictable mistakes I've made, when I'm scouting from ground level. To me, it's kind of like reading the room when you're building a stand.
 
this is one night of hunting, after days of scouting open ag fields;

okie coyote hunt.jpg



 
Night (thermal) hunting IN the thick brush is nope. They will come out of the brush, IF they need to do so. I hunt private property and don't call. High grass/weeds is more of a problem for me, not the yotes.
Edit: As example. Grassy pasture, saw ears only one night. Another night, ears and head - got that one AFTER a shot that got her to move. Another night, one mousing in the pasture, moving about in tall grass - not a good shot. Couple years ago when I got IR, no hogs so scanned the tree line before packing up. Saw a yote in the woods, gone before I could do anything. In random sage you could probably see them running between bushes. I don't think they 'hide' from you behind a bush.
East Texas, Ag/cattle and pine around. I see them sitting in field or in the scrub waiting for activity (gophers?) in the open pasture. Never seen one 'moving'. Out in desert west my guess is where food is available. Or moving to find food. Rock piles, dry creek beds, etc. If you call them, they are moving. And you try to move them into the open.
 
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Infidel 762 said:
When I call thick cover at night, I always feel like there are a lot of coyotes that circle downwind and bust me without me ever knowing they were there. Because of that, I try to save those places for daytime setups or just don't call them as often. During the day, you can use different tactics, like letting your scent blow into open areas where coyotes are more hesitant to break cover in the daylight. At night, they feel much safer doing it. You're also usually targeting bedded coyotes during the day in areas where they feel secure, whereas at night they're out moving freely through open areas.

I've watched too many coyotes in open country make a 700+ yard loop just to get my wind at night. It only makes sense they'd use that same tactic in brushy areas where you never even see them, especially if they've had an encounter with a hunter.

That said, I don't think a conditioned coyote is uncallable. I think the same educated coyote can respond completely differently depending on the circumstances. Hit him with the right sound, in the right place, at the right time, and instinct will trigger and take over. They're just a lower-percentage coyote than one that's never been called before.

When I'm scouting open ag fields for night hunting, I start with satellite imagery, then I go scout it in daylight. Satellite images are a great tool, but they're only a snapshot in time—a view from directly overhead. They don't tell you if the crops are currently too tall, whether cattle have grazed a field down enough for you to see incoming coyotes, or what your actual visibility looks like at ground level.

I find my setups on the aerial, drop pins, then figure out the most efficient route to hit those pins. That's just the system that works for me.
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Thank you! That's some sound advice.

And to this point, since you find that the region and vegetation thereof can be more of a problem, do you hit your spots up at night and call regardless of whether you've heard a coyote there? Or do you spend less time at a stand if you haven't heard them vocalize? I ask because, in the day time, I would say that there's still a pretty good chance that I can call in a coyote even if I haven't heard them. Wondering if that's still true at night or if, since they're more vocal at night, I should expect them to be vocal before making a stand.
 
I don't hunt a lot of "brush", but I do hunt a lot of thick pine plantations. My thermal is 3x base mag. If I were going to be in thick stuff all the time I'd opt for something with maybe a 1.5x or so. Even in the pines a lot of times I won't see the coyote until he's already seen me and is running away. Sometimes I can call them back in, sometimes I can't.

If I go to hunt, I hunt, I don't try to make them shock gobble. I think that's more of a western thing.
 
bleebs said:
Thank you! That's some sound advice.

And to this point, since you find that the region and vegetation thereof can be more of a problem, do you hit your spots up at night and call regardless of whether you've heard a coyote there? Or do you spend less time at a stand if you haven't heard them vocalize? I ask because, in the day time, I would say that there's still a pretty good chance that I can call in a coyote even if I haven't heard them. Wondering if that's still true at night or if, since they're more vocal at night, I should expect them to be vocal before making a stand.
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I never go out and locate coyotes before I start calling. Most of the time, I target areas that I assume have a high probability of holding a territorial group. I start almost every stand by introducing a new coyote into the area with a few howls. If I get a vocal response, I decide whether it's worth moving closer or trying to call those coyotes from where I'm at. Either way, my rifle is definitely getting pointed in their direction.

Terrain dictates a lot of that decision. If they're close, I'll stay put and start calling. If they're borderline, I'll pull out my phone, study the aerial imagery, estimate where they are, and look for a better setup to close the distance. If they're farther away, I'll call that stand and plan on targeting that group next.

I've had plenty of coyotes answer my howls, only to have a completely different, silent coyote come in from another direction once I start calling. That's why I never assume the vocal coyotes are the only ones there.

Roads are one of the biggest barriers I've noticed. I think coyotes have core defended areas with overlapping territories that they roam. If you set up inside their defended territory and they're roaming on the opposite side of a road, they seem much more willing to cross back over to come to the call. But if you're trying to pull them out of their territory across a road, they are more likely to hang up. I have no way of knowing that's actually what's happening, but it's a pattern I've noticed on the ones I have called across roads.

I also believe roads often become territorial boundaries. Transient coyotes will travel along them more freely and also cross them and travel into another coyote's territory, but resident coyotes seem more hesitant to leave their own core area to cross one. It is why you will see coyote scat near gates pulling off roads, it signals to other coyotes that the area is claimed.

As far as locating goes, it's pretty simple. If I hear them, I go try to kill them. If I don't hear them, I call anyway, assuming they're there.
 
I'm a nearly 100% daytime caller. But I call in or around sage brush 90% of the time. My experience, getting into the thick sage, even in daytime, they'll almost always use that cover to try and get downwind. Making the stand with a shotgun well downwind of the caller is the best play I've come up with. Or one guy near the caller with an AR, and another downwind with a shotgun.

- DAA
 
Northeast hunter here. I night hunt 90+% of the time and with the smaller properties and the complexities that come with it, I do not go out of my way to get into the cover. I rely on edges and open areas with hopes that the coyotes show themselves. If I were to try and hunt within thick cover with nighttime tactics it would definitely be with a very low base mag thermal. I agree that you would probably get busted more often than not by coyotes getting to your downwind and you'd never know it happened. I never rely on vocal responses as a sole reason to make a stand. Far more successful stands are coyotes that show up without a response, and I never locate prior to making a set. I'm often calling to coyotes on properties that border the properties I have access to, so if they are there, or not, I'm calling the set I'm on regardless of whether I think they are there, or not.
 
Infidel 762 said:
I never go out and locate coyotes before I start calling. Most of the time, I target areas that I assume have a high probability of holding a territorial group. I start almost every stand by introducing a new coyote into the area with a few howls. If I get a vocal response, I decide whether it's worth moving closer or trying to call those coyotes from where I'm at. Either way, my rifle is definitely getting pointed in their direction.

Terrain dictates a lot of that decision. If they're close, I'll stay put and start calling. If they're borderline, I'll pull out my phone, study the aerial imagery, estimate where they are, and look for a better setup to close the distance. If they're farther away, I'll call that stand and plan on targeting that group next.

I've had plenty of coyotes answer my howls, only to have a completely different, silent coyote come in from another direction once I start calling. That's why I never assume the vocal coyotes are the only ones there.

Roads are one of the biggest barriers I've noticed. I think coyotes have core defended areas with overlapping territories that they roam. If you set up inside their defended territory and they're roaming on the opposite side of a road, they seem much more willing to cross back over to come to the call. But if you're trying to pull them out of their territory across a road, they are more likely to hang up. I have no way of knowing that's actually what's happening, but it's a pattern I've noticed on the ones I have called across roads.

I also believe roads often become territorial boundaries. Transient coyotes will travel along them more freely and also cross them and travel into another coyote's territory, but resident coyotes seem more hesitant to leave their own core area to cross one. It is why you will see coyote scat near gates pulling off roads, it signals to other coyotes that the area is claimed.

As far as locating goes, it's pretty simple. If I hear them, I go try to kill them. If I don't hear them, I call anyway, assuming they're there.
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It sounds like I can take a lot of my day calling strategies to the night. That sounds very similar to how I hunt in the day.
DAA said:
I'm a nearly 100% daytime caller. But I call in or around sage brush 90% of the time. My experience, getting into the thick sage, even in daytime, they'll almost always use that cover to try and get downwind. Making the stand with a shotgun well downwind of the caller is the best play I've come up with. Or one guy near the caller with an AR, and another downwind with a shotgun.

- DAA
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Very true. I feel like it's more doable in the day because even though it can be hard to spot coyotes in the day, you can still see them for a split second. At night, I've had cases where I'm looking right at a coyote next to thick brush for a minute and I can't decide if it's a coyote or not until it shifts its head again. I still have a lot to learn but I'm much more experienced in the day than I am at night.

Utahcaller said:
Then again I’m old and would rather go to bed….
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Lol, thanks Dad. You can sleep in the truck in the truck with your rifle on hand to pick off all the ones I miss.
 
bleebs said:
It sounds like I can take a lot of my day calling strategies to the night. That sounds very similar to how I hunt in the day.

Very true. I feel like it's more doable in the day because even though it can be hard to spot coyotes in the day, you can still see them for a split second. At night, I've had cases where I'm looking right at a coyote next to thick brush for a minute and I can't decide if it's a coyote or not until it shifts its head again. I still have a lot to learn but I'm much more experienced in the day than I am at night.


Lol, thanks Dad. You can sleep in the truck in the truck with your rifle on hand to pick off all the ones I miss.
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That is how I started night hunting, I set up just like I did during the day.

I also have insomnia, I would rather sleep during the day
 
bleebs said:
I'm a little bit new to the night hunting scene. I've killed a lot of coyotes in the daytime but I've only killed a handful at night.

First off, I hunt in Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada for context. I went thermal hunting for the first time in Mississippi of all places and I guess it was novel enough for me that it sparked an interest and made me want to try it. The problem is, in these western states, it's really hard to find public land that's 1) legal to hunt in (depends on the county you're in around here) and 2) beneficial for night hunting. I just have a two part question for you night hunting experts:

1) Is it even worth calling in places with thick brush? Are you guys trying to hunt in more open country to avoid sage brush?

2) If you don't hunt in thick brush, how are you scouting good areas to go beforehand that don't seem too thick for thermal hunting? Is it just a matter of driving around until something looks good or are you guys using onX, GoHunt or some other map to find these places prior to going out?

I understand that hunting on private property has a huge advantage since the sage brush isn't usually present but let's keep the discussion to public land for now.
Click to expand...
sage brush comes in different thicknesses. I wouldn't hunt in heavy sage, but shorter sage YES. when I night hunt I usually hunt the opposite type of country I would hunt in the day. I am just a casual night hunter though. I value sleep too much, and lack of it one day hurts my day the next. The trips are normally not just about stacking numbers so much like they used to be. so my approach is laid back. I usually do my night hunting when the days are short and its dark by 5:30. that way I can get in some night hunting and be in bed by 11pm ish, which isn't too much of an effect on my day. it does provide something to do in the winters which are pretty boring around here. keeping in theme even the general areas I would night call are place I would never day call.
 
I think I'm going to get a cheapish thermal and try to stay up till 11:00 with you this year. Just not sure what rifle I want to molest to put it on. Probably just my AR. But I might buy a cheap .243 just for it.

- DAA
 
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