Cold weather and snow hunting

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PurpleCoyote

New member
I do not mind the snow and cold. So knowing that I just wanted to hear what your experience is in cold weather and snow for calling. I know most guys stay home when the mercury drops so the way I see it is my chances are better in frigid weather and also the yotes should have a harder time finding a meal so they must stay out longer hunting for food. Am I on the right track? Ive only taken 2 coyotes but deer hunting has taken a back seat now. So give me some temps and snow cover senarios to go by. I mean like is below 20 not a good temp to hunt or zero degrees or forget it when the snow is 4 in. or what. Any help is greatly appreciated. I contribute my success to the 2 yotes I got to the information Ive gotten from reading here on PM. Its a great place to learn and I thank all you seasoned and avid hunters.
Daryl Pelfrey
 
Well, I'll take the cold and snow over the ticks and skeeters! I probably don't get the extremes in cold you are asking about, but when I lived up north I always went out after a fresh snow. Weren't any yotes around then, but it was great for tracking/stalking fox.

What I do know about the canines is that they live pretty much hand to mouth. They carry very little body fat and need to hunt regularly, albeit efficiently vs the calories they burn. Colder temps require more calories with efficiency being even more critical, so my thinking is that providing them an efficient alternative in cold temps & snow should be a winner.
 
Daryl - Don't know what state you hail from, but I live in the Northeast, so huntin' coyotes in the winter is what I do best.

I guess I'll tell you what I tell all new ( or old ) coyote hunters..........NO ROOM SERVICE FOR COYOTES /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif No matter what the temps, or snow depth, the coyote MUST eat or die.

Temps... It just matters how cold YOU can take it and still get around and call. I can call as many coyotes in -10 degree weather as 50 degrees. But many think the cold weather make hunting BETTER, I have found little difference. If the coyote is around, he will respond. But I guess to answer your question directly, cold temps do not hurt your chances.

Snow - Heavy snow makes it tough for both you and the coyote to travel. He will like to travel snowmobile trails, and around lakes with the snow cover blown off. He will be alot closer to civilization when its 4 feet of snow, and much cat killing, and trash picking goes on when the snow is deep.

But DEEP snow will not deter a responce. EXAMPLE: This was in my top 3 call ins of all time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif..... I hunt a scenic sheep farm that is surrounded by beatiful pastures, and abutts a large mountain range here in the Berkshires. We had a 28 inch snowstorm on Thursday, and it was into Satuday 'till most folks got it cleaned up. Saturday morning, I got up before dawn, drove to the sheep farm, and snow shoed out to the back field. I put out a Predator supreme decoy after packing the snow down...all you could see was the rabbit. I remember I was blowin a Primos Regulator 10, and was watching the woodline, as a slight breeze was puffing that direction. I saw some movement in the forest WAY out. I scoped it, and it was indeed a coyote. He was responding, fighting and bounding through the snow.

This coyote locked on to my decoy, and I just stopped callin' This poor coyote had to stop 3 or 4 times before he made it to my decoy. I could not see his body to shoot, snow was too deep. I just let him keep coming, and shot him in the neck when he stopped about 30 yards out. He wanted that decoy SOOOOO bad, and was completely fooled. I had to find out, and that poor coyote ran (bounded) over 500 yards to respond. He had been bedded under a Hemlock tree from the looks of it.

It was crazy, but had this same thing happen again last year.

So don't fear cold and snow, just dress for it. One part to remember is you need a day or two for the snow to blow off the trees, or your sound will go nowhere.

Stay on stand at least 30 minutes, as it will take longer for the coyote to "hunt in".

But in normal snow conditions the coyote has no problems getting around, and any packing/melting and he stays right on top.

In the East, the best time to kill a coyote is just BEFORE a front or storm comes through, not after. Too many variables after, snowmobiles, skiers, deep snow, takes 'em a few days to get back on track. You can kill 'em after a storm, as my story above indicates, but I've had alot more luck before hand.

About the only thing that stops me is those crazy windy days with 40 mph gusts. No thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Regular wind.......HUNT!! and remember Sleddoggs' law... no room service for coyotes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Good huntin', Sleddogg
 
Hey Sleddog thats about the ebst reply Ive read. Dont get me wrong Ive read alot of great posts and helpful info on here but that was straight to the chase. I have a hard time figuring things out in my head but when I read them Im thinking yes why didnt I think of that it makes perfect since. Makes me feel like a dumb hunter sometimes but we gotta learn somewhere. I never hunted until I was in my middle 30,s so Im learning alot lately. Thanks buddy. Man I love this forum.
Daryl P.
 
Just for fun, ya mean something like this...
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Or this again...
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Another one...
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For variety...
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My "tailgunner" at work...
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I've seen them out hunting on well below zero days. Coldest was around -40 with windchill. [I Like the cold myself, everyone is home with mommy! LOL!]. -40 below seems to be the coldest, they'll tolerate in my area. If it stays that cold for over a day, they'll hunker in a roadway colvert, grassy creek or an old den. Same as if a harsh cold Snow storm comes in.

Crusty snow, will carry sound farther than soft snow. Soft snow, carry's sound better than "no snow"

BTW, they can go quite a few days w/o food, while hunkered in weathering out the cold & snow[blizzard].

Regardless of all the above. They still generally will stop hunting from dawn until around 10-11:00 am. Then start hunting again a little before dusk. During Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall.

Blowing Snow storm; They'll hunker in for atleast 24hrs, a few will venture out late pm. It the storm pass's over early. The following day, if no storm. More will venture out.

I spot the most coyotes. Two days after a storm has passed, even if it's bitterly cold. Spot more coyote if the Sun is out, wind from the North.

Extremely rare to see a bedded coyote with it's face, into the wind[Seen that, only once if I recall correctly & that canine, was not all coyote].

99% of the time the wind is @ their backside while their bedded. With the Sun on their face, if it's out.

Downside, to cold weather snow, is it's often loud/crusty/crunchy. Even on windy days. If a coyote is in a draw or creek or out of the wind. They'll still hear very well.
 
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The colder the better. Add snow and you can't stop me.

This is one of 2 that came in at 5 degrees. Went through about 4 calls as they froze up.
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GC brings up a few thoughts about cold weather callin' when admiring those nice animals.

Bobcats!! I find Bobcats ranging farther, and responding alot harder in the cold. This guy was shot on a 10 degree morning.

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And this little guy was shot on the coldest morning of the year.....-14 degrees. With no windchill!! Don't ask how frozen I was in this pic /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

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Have fun!!

With the heatwave in the East, I'm lovin' these pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
You guys are killing me with those bobcat pictures. We now definately have them (again) in my home area of Mo. I have yet to call one.
GC, I think that is the first picture of you I've seen - you're a fairly young feller for being such a wise man. That meant as a compliment.

We no longer have real winters in the mid-west, but I'll post what I remember. Some key things were hit on above, I just want to add to it.

BTW, Purple, where you at?

I never have had enough free time to let weather determine if I will hunt, rather mostly how or what. The only day I'd set out completely would be when the wind is so sttrong you can't hardly stand up. In real hilly terrain that can be dealt with, too.

As mentioned - waterways are a tremendous travel corridor. Find one that can't be easily crossed without a serious swim and hunt along it. When/if that thing freezes solid its' surface will have more coyote tracks on it than a 10x10 dog kennel with a couple of hyper beagles in it. I have a creek like that here near home (I could name it if anyone wanted to find it on a map, though I won't openly post it) that I can probably hunt in 10 different spots scattered over 20-30 miles of creek. Can't be beat. Check out creeks in your area after things ice up whenever you cross over one on the road.

Catch that previously mentioned warm front. When we had real winters if you could hunt that front when it was occuring after 3-10 days of bitterly cold ( 0-15 degrees F for the highs, by mid-Mo. terms) things were great.. These days were typically mid-30's, cloudy as heck, snow starting to fall. Every creature known to man on the move. I've been known to skip-out or call in sick on days like that.

Snow is great, just from a visibility standpoint alone. Snow camo works great. The only negative is crusted snow, just sit still for maybe 5 minutes longer after sitting down.
 
Some of my most memorable hunts are in the snow. There is nothing like seeing a dog busting through it sure to get a free meal.
I've found that on still mornings after one or two very cold windy days the chances to bring in coyotes rise substantially. Or if the wind has been howling all weekend long and then at 4:45pm Sunday afternoon every thing becomes dead still grab the gun, white camo and calls and make time for one good stand. It's worth it.
 
hello, i never worry about weather unless it's windy..not trying to play pro here "but" i have called coyotes at 90 degrees & around 15 or so degrees it usually doesnt get colder than that here...as mentioned above a coyote eats year-round...good luck.
 

Try and think like a coyote even coyotes know when it time to quit you get more the 12 13'' of snow on the ground stop hunting coyote and start hunting there pry.
Deer yard in late winter or deep snow are the places to be the deer are in numbers and make for easy trailing for me and the coyote as the deer will beat down the snow as they walk in single file and the old and sick are dropping out also and nothing more a coyote likes is a easy mealwhen times are hard. So hunt there pray.

Also this is the time to start a bait. Baits work well in bad whether

Here is a herd of yarded deer. I stuck with these deer for days. no never killed a coyote over them. But they were there, I found were they the coyote were just laying on the sunny side of the field at the edge of the wood and were watching the deer as I was. maybe i should of stayed off the trail that we all were using deer, coyote, and hunter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif next time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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