Do you ever call with the wind at your back?

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dave3006

Active member
I was watching an old Ed Sceery video. He calls with the wind at his back. The reasoning was that the coyote was going to most likely come from the downwind. So, you might as well call from that direction.

Especially for a handcaller, it seems to make sense. If you are handcalling with the wind in your face, it seems like you will miss most of the coyotes since they will be behind you.

What do you think?
 
For me downwind calling, only in special locations where I can see a coyote before he enters my scent cone.

I much prefer crosswind calling, I can see the down wind side. With that I try not to call to ground I've walked through.

I really try to hunt locations where coyotes won't be coming from behind me by using natural blocking and hopefully knowing where the coyote will be coming from.
 
dave3006 said:
I was watching an old Ed Sceery video. He calls with the wind at his back. The reasoning was that the coyote was going to most likely come from the downwind. So, you might as well call from that direction.

Especially for a handcaller, it seems to make sense. If you are handcalling with the wind in your face, it seems like you will miss most of the coyotes since they will be behind you.

What do you think?
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I do it all the time, have for 35 years or so. Not all the time but if I have to I will, it don’t bother me. I’m not driving all around an area trying to get a perfect setup for 1 stand. Sometimes I take what I can get without disturbing the area, which to me is worse.
 
I have always questioned the sun at your back and wind in your face bull**** !
The sun at your back I always do if possible, but the wind in your face theory sounds good but isn’t always the smartest move in my eyes. Huntin where you can see 500+ yards every direction this may work. In Illinois not so much!! You’re gonna call 10 coyotes for every one you see around here facing into the wind. Crosswind is the way to go I think but I’m no expert. I learn something that I’ve done wrong on a lot of hunts. Probably way more times than things I have learned that I did right! LOL
 
Calling with the wind at your back is mostly a hand calling technique. I believe the idea is you're calling to animals that are to the left or right of your position and watching for them to come to the downwind of your position. It might be a good strategy if you must call and shoot from the same location. With an e caller and the ability to separate your call from your position I would usually try to set up with some kind of cross wind. I would save calling directly into the wind for wide open country.
 
LONEHOWL said:
I do it all the time, have for 35 years or so. Not all the time but if I have to I will, it don’t bother me. I’m not driving all around an area trying to get a perfect setup for 1 stand. Sometimes I take what I can get without disturbing the area, which to me is worse.
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That is a powerful argument for handcalling.

Reading Kirby's posts over the years, tells me coyotes like to be on the downwind side of a hill with their nose pointed downwind. I always thought that was bad news for the concept of hunting with the wind in your face in hilly country due to the risk of being seen by the coyote.
 
Huachuca Caller said:
Calling with the wind at your back is mostly a hand calling technique. I believe the idea is you're calling to animals that are to the left or right of your position and watching for them to come to the downwind of your position. It might be a good strategy if you must call and shoot from the same location. With an e caller and the ability to separate your call from your position I would usually try to set up with some kind of cross wind. I would save calling directly into the wind for wide open country.
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Very true information there!
 
Completely understand the game, I do the same with an Ecaller. Have done most everything over the years in all kinds of country and conditions, and it all averages out… wins and losses… many dead bodies, sometimes to the point that it gets boring.. then it’s time to take a break.
If a spot looks good, I’m calling it regardless of wind direction or anything else if I can’t easily help it.
 
We hardly ever call with the wind at our backs. We don't have coyotes circle around to the down wind side very often. In the mountains and hills that we call coyotes in most of the time from around 8:30 am to 4:00 pm the wind or breeze is blowing up the hills and ridges.

The coyotes that do try to get to the down wind side of my Foxpro are only 10 to 25 yards away. In the below picture you can see the country that we are calling down into with the breeze or wind in our face.
IMG_2341 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156463377@N08/, on Flickr

Most of the time our vehicle is parked out of sight just over the ridge or hill top back behind us.
 
derbyacresbob said:
We hardly ever call with the wind at our backs. We don't have coyotes circle around to the down wind side very often. In the mountains and hills that we call coyotes in most of the time from around 8:30 am to 4:00 pm the wind or breeze is blowing up the hills and ridges.

The coyotes that do try to get to the down wind side of my Foxpro are only 10 to 25 yards away. In the below picture you can see the country that we are calling down into with the breeze or wind in our face.
IMG_2341 by Robert Morris, on Flickr

Most of the time our vehicle is parked out of sight just over the ridge or hill top back behind us.
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Hello Bob. I have the greatest respect for your opinions and hunting skill. Do you think the reason why you don't see coyotes circle more than 25 yards downwind is because of the territory you hunt? Are most of your hunts on private property and less pressured coyotes?
 
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dave3006 said:
Hello Bob. I have the greatest respect for your opinions and hunting skill. Do you think the reason why you don't see coyotes circle more than 25 yards downwind is because of the territory you hunt? Are most of your hunts on private property and less pressured coyotes?
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We don't have much wind around here and yes we hunt private property most of the time. When calling down steep ridges and hills I am pretty sure the coyotes don't want to climb the steep terrain to get to the down wind side so if they just go 25 yards or less to the down wind side that puts them right in my lap.

When we hunt in big flat open country we try to drive into it against the wind and walk away from the truck straight against the wind and set the e-caller out against the wind. By doing this we have a very narrow scent cone going straight back behind us towards the truck. We have a shotgun shooter 10 to 20 yards from the e-caller and the rifle shooter about 50 to 70 yards straight back behind the e-caller.

If coyotes were trying to circle down wind of us we would be seeing them trying to do that. Most of the coyotes we see heading to our e-caller are running in a straight line to the e-caller from wherever they started from.

By driving into these big flat areas against the wind or breeze also keeps the sound and scent of our truck from traveling into the area we want to call into.
 


When Al Morris and I killed 23 coyotes in 3 days every stand we made was calling against the breeze or wind. I am pretty sure that coyotes that live around humans and see and smell humans almost daily will tend to circle to the down wind side more often than coyotes that have never seen or smelled humans.
 
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