Newb looking for advice

Thundercat710

Thundercat710

New member
Greetings all,

Made a post last year or so about my AR build, otherwise nothing has been happening with my hunting. Working 70hrs a week, bills, family, life, etc. I want to fix that and go on my first hunt by the end of this year.

I live at the footsteps of the Coastal range in Oregon, just NW of Portlandia. A lot of folks talk about doing their coyote hunting out in Eastern Oregon but I don't have the time to trek all the way out there.

Where I'm at it's all private land with crappy BLM patches here and there. Someone I know suggested I get a permit from Weyerhaeuser to hunt on their property, so I got that - it's on-foot only, the motorized were sold out. I don't know if this link will work, but here's the map of the permit grounds:


My questions for you all are the following:

- How far apart should stands be?
- Should I plan on traipsing around these hills with the rifle on my bog deathgrip tripod? It looks like that's how most folks in the videos on yt are moving around.
- If you were hunting on these permit grounds, what spots (if any) look best for stands? How would you go about it?

My gear so far is:

- 18" 223 Wylde AR, suppressed w tripod
- Foxpro X24 w decoy
- Sig Rangefinder

Was just going to head out there in my Duluth ripstop work pants and black danners and a zip up camo that i have laying around before the winter rains become permanent, and see if I can make anything happen or if I'll just make a fool out of myself. I don't have any rain weather gear or good boots yet. Still need to get binos, I was thinking about the Maven C.1 10x42.

Any guidance would be appreciated!
 
There is pretty decent coyote calling, bobcat and cougar along the coast. There is a bit of national forest between I-5 and the coast. Personally I'd lose the tripod, (you'll be hunting a lot of hillsides shooting sticks work better).and range finder in that country as you'll rarely have long shots.. When I hunted north of the Columbia in coastal WA, I lived near Aberdeen I'd hunt small drainages. Drop the caller near the bottom and make my stand on the down wind side up high enough to see into the bottom and the far side. If you know the country you can hunt one side of a ridge, pop over the top and hunt the other side. Everybody hunts clear cuts and it can be hard to call them out in the open. Hunting in the strips between the clear cuts and old fire roads work. Another thing light rain doesn't seem to bother anything on the coast much. I used to bike in behind locked gates where legal.

Good luck
 
I agree with AWS about the tripod.
Playing the wind and terrain will be the most important aspects of a successful hunt. Aside from the coyotes being there.
Terrain and wind can also dictate how far apart your stands should be.
High winds thick cover, can be closer together, little wind open areas, may want to space them out further.
 
Agreed on all counts. The tripod and rangefinder will just get in the way. Wind and terrain, stand setup/selection will be paramount. Just stick to the fundamentals, be stealthy moving around from stand to stand. In wide open country I usually (but not always) like to space my stands a mile or more apart. But in thicker cover with more topography, this can easily be reduced to a half mile, even a quarter mile.

Most important maybe, call where there are coyotes.

- DAA
 
If you can bike( timer saver) the non motorized areas on soft roads, you can watch for scat and tracks. Mark on map where you find them(especially pup tracks). Than you can figure out your setup/winds. And most importantly shooting opportunity lanes/openings.
I didn't see any livestock pens/yards or obvious water sources, those would be draw in areas.
 
Welcome! Sounds like you’ve got a pretty solid setup to get started. I’d be interested to hear how the Weyerhaeuser permit works out for you. Good luck on that first hunt!
 
Get off your B Hind and get out there, I use shooting sticks during the day and some at nights where I am sitting on a hillside, they are much easier to maneuver than a bulky assed tripod and much easier to carry.

You will soon learn from your mistakes and get better every time you go out!

PS - get off YouTube!!
 
I can think offhand of a few important ones. As stated above, find coyote sign. Coyote tracks, crap or even better if you can hear them howl or see where they're moving frequently, call there.

Call where you can see the most ground. Hunting at an elevated position is preferable. Or at least that's what I prefer. Break up your outline. If you're skylined, you're easier to pick out.

Don't move alot. If you're going to use a range finder, use it when you first sit down. Once a coyote comes in you're not going to have time to use it so it's best to range objects out in front of you ahead of time. Leave the binoculars at the house. You don't want to be moving that much sitting there. You have a scope on your rifle, if your finger ain't on the trigger, it's a monocular. If you're wondering what something is, look at it and identify it. Have your rifle at the ready so that's less movement you're doing when it is time to shoot. That may sound like unsafe advice and someone may tell me so. But I've looked at things I didn't want to kill through a rifle scope for years. I didn't squeeze the trigger and those things didn't cease to live. If you're not sure what it is, don't shoot it.

Watch your wind. Don't let them get downwind or they'll leave. I'm trying to think of anything that hasn't been covered already. That's pretty much a good starting point. Start playing sounds and the coyotes will teach you the rest. Getting them in front of you is only part of it. Dealing with adrenaline, hitting the coyote and killing it where it stands is another deal. You'll be in charge of that part.

This is going to go one of two ways. You'll get lucky and kill one your first time out and get hooked. Then you'll have many frustrating days in a row after that. You may be frustrated from the get go and then eventually it'll all come together for you. One thing for certain is you'll deal with frustration. But it's like anything else in life, just keep going.

I wouldn't rush out and buy the latest and greatest gear right off the bat. Just in case you don't follow that last piece of advice. There'll be plenty of money spent in the future if you do.
 
For a sensible alternative to the tripod, what would you go with, assuming I'll be in a seated position most of the time:

- Shooting stick, something like Primos Trigger X
- mounted bipod, something like Swagger QD42
 
Not a mounted tripod they get in the way moving for unexpected angles. Just a plain old set of cross sticks, instantly adjustable for elevation and if needed just let them drop away for close in off-hand work.

I make my own from old aluminum tent poles others have made them from wood dowels, electric fence stakes, fiberglass flag holders for bicycles green garden stakes. lots of different ways. Plus you can use them for a walking stick or if you ever get to the east side, probing for buzzworms before you sit down.

Example: BOG Deadshot sitting sticks
 
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