dead cow, suggestions please

S

stevensondrive

New member
my uncle lost a cow. it's reason for death is unknown. no reason to believe it was killed by coyotes. however, they will quickly be moving in to clean it up.

is this a good or a bad thing for coyote hunting? they obviously won't be hungrily coming in for a meal. but the dominant males may be up for a fight to defend their easy meal.

what has been your experience?

I might head down to hunt on it tomorrow. 25-40 mph winds though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

oh, the 'yotes are THICK in this area anyway. the dead cow will only make it worse.
 
Sit over it a watch it. The coyotes will come in to it and it will give you something to do, and help the neighbors out. I have seen as many as 12 coyotes hanging around a cow carcass. You can call them off too, it will give you some practice.
 
If you want to hunt off of it, DON'T TOUCH IT. Leave it exactly where it is and hunt off of it. I doubt it was killed by them unless sick or weak. I would sit on it as they may clean up up to bones in a few days. One could try some howls next to it. Wouldn't bother with any prey sounds. Last year I drove up to a carcass with my spotlight and saw three dogs leaving. I shut off the truck and waited 5 min to watch 2 of them come rigt back. Shot one off the pile, second one ran, blindly lip squeeked and he came running in to be shot at 60 yards. I had some corral lights behind me than helped. Seems like they will either leave a carcass alone or wipe it out, always seems like one or the other.

DD

P.S. A coyote won't touch a cow that died and was treated with penicillin.
 
use the carcass to your advantage and if you can approach without detection, sit on the area and wait it out. They have to eat sometime. If the carcass get frozen hard, they have a tough time eating off it, but check back on it if it warms up a bit. If you have no advantage in approaching the carcass, maybe have your uncle move it with a tractor bucket and chains to an area that is more advantageous to your approach. Don't bother calling around the carcass as they don't come in to a call like a rabbit distress, they have their bellies full anyway, but they do come back often to check on the meat and sometimes just lay near it, keepin the crows and ravens, magpies off the feast. Plan on spending a couple hours at the site, so plan your stand to be comfortable with a butt pad and dress to be sitting. Glass the perimeter as they come to the feast from all directions. I have my ranchers call me when they dump a dead cow - at a designated "bone pile" we pre-determined so that it gives us the advantage walking in and we can glass the area first to see how many dogs are on the carcass. Last winter I took a dozen dogs off of 2 carcasses. They get a face full of bloody meat and kinda lose their senses for a awhile so they get kinda lazy. I bopped most of them at about 85 yds. Good luck.
 
I would not be at all surprised if there were a dozen in the area. we left a few gut piles around /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif . plus that crazy Song Dog has spooked them into our bottom /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif I just hope he doesn't find out about the dead cow /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
my uncle took the deer hides we left behind and pulled them up near the house. He was taking shots at the coyotes at 2 AM! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif you gotta know my uncle to realize how funny this is. he never shoots. the last time he shot his one shot - shotgun the butt of the stock fell off. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

maybe next year with my night light I can help him out a bit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Have hunted carcasses where they fell and also moved many a carcass to a location where I can slip up undetected. Sometimes they are just not accessible where they lay. We shot at least 6 coyotes off of one such setup over a period of 3 or 4 days.

We generally slip in just before daylight/dusk and sit an hour or so.

Regards,
hm

PS We drag the carcass w/truck; I think this leaves a scent that helps the coyotes find the carcass a bit sooner than they might otherwise.
 
Dirtydog I have to disagree with you. I grew up on a large cattle ranch. We moved all of our dead cows and the coyotes still ate them. Yeah they might be a little cautious the first time they smell human on it, but after that first bite they wont care. I have killed a few coyotes sitting over a dead cow and it can be exciting. Kinda like hunting whitetails out of a stand. Of course I wouldnt know becuase I live in one of the only states without them.
 
We have used a snowmobile to drag deer carcasses to a bait pile and the coyotes have just used the trail for easier walking through the snow. The human smell has never seemed to be a bother to them after the first time in.
 
Some good info here, and the truth of it is kind of a mixed bag. Touch and handle the carcase as little as possible, yet it won't hurt to drag it with a tractor to the best shooting spot. Sounds contradictory. Also, if the cow brute was given shots or medicine before it died, the coyotes may not touch it. We dragged many on a big ranch to a designated shooting spot and killed many yotes off of the dead beef. Yet one time I had a doubt about my rifle so put a target on the carcase, backed off to my hiding spot with built in bench rest, and fired a three shot group to give me confidence that I was sighted in. The coyotes never touched that beef again, though they had eaten some of it the night before. It dried up and rotted.

As to location for shooting over a dead beef, the ideal is to place the dead critter behind/beside a log or a clump of brush that gives the yotes some cover. They are more likely to visit it in daylight and stay till good shooting light at dawn. Pick them off when the step out to look around, etc. Of course you want a spot that let's you approach to a pre planned shooting rest without being seen.
 
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you just hit the jackpot. i am doing some coyote control for a cattle farmer he had one die 2 weeks ago and i have shot 6 yotes off of it so far. i usually arrive half hour before legal shooting and stay till 10 minutes after or so. 4 yotes in the am, one at 10:30, the other was at dark. most productive in the am. good luck and let us know how many you get, take care, rob
 
COW UPDATE:

still dead. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif the yotes are going into the back door. the poor cow's a'hole is 8" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif that is just nasty!

but here is the good news. the cow is within sight of the house. heck I can see it laying at the bottom of the field from the back of the yard sitting in on the picnic table. maybe 150-200 yards. the dang wind was blowing 30-40 mph tonight. tomorrow is a bit lighter.

but then I gotta go to work. my scorpion should come any day now. I am debating on whether to sit there and just wait after work. I can hunt it in the evenings all week. or wait till my scorpion comes. which could be another week or 2!!

ahhh, heck!! I'm going tomorrow night! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
I took one coyote off of a carcass today. It was lead launching heaven as there were 6 coyotes in a 20 ft circle around this carcass but only got one. I thought there were only 4 at the time I shot, but two more were sleeping and bugged out when the lead started flying. I was tempted to take two with one shot but knew I shouldn't be greedy when I had one good, sure shot instead of the two partially hidden doubles. Oh well, will try to figure out the picture posting thing and get one posted here soon. Cold and windy day so called for awhile in a couple stands but ended up settling for making stalks on carcasses. Glad I did, I saw 10 coyotes in that last 1/2 hour near the carcass but most bugged out when the ranch dog started barking as we came through the farm yard. Gonna go back and sit on the carcasses again soon.
 
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I would not be at all surprised if there were a dozen in the area. we left a few gut piles around /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif . plus that crazy Song Dog has spooked them into our bottom /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif I just hope he doesn't find out about the dead cow /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gifI knew about the cow and saw it before coyotes got to it. Just waiting for you to come down.
Hopefully see ya tomorrow.

In Christ,

Song Dog
 
I had a dead cow around 150 yards from the house once. I was able to shoot 5 coyotes in 5 straight nights from it. Every night before I went to bed I would walk out the front door and shine a spot light and catch a coyote. It was great. I never had to take off my slippers.
 
I hunted over it last night with Song Dog. no luck. It is frozen solid. I think it might get a little more active after it thaws out a bit this weekend.

we got out of the timber and back to the house. Jason gave me some tips on using my hand caller. he had yotes howling all around us /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif I don't know why they wouldn't howl back while we were in the timber howling? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

Steve
 
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