Educated Coyotes, Myth, Excuse or Real

Originally Posted By: Softpoint Yeah, a coyote can associate the sound of your specific truck after a close call.

I've hunted deer and coyotes the same three ranches for 15 years. The first year I hunted mostly deer and saw a number of coyotes out of the truck.

Second year I called and shot 37 or 38 coyotes. A couple were drive by's.

Third year I didn't see a coyote from my vehicle....other deer hunters reported seeing coyotes fairly regularly.

Fourth year no coyotes spotted from the truck and number of called & shot coyotes dropped considerably until it lined out at 17-18 per year with about the same effort as first year.

I seriously doubt we reduced the population that much.
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Last few years my hunting has been reduced considerably....to the point that I've only made three half day trips since January (split between two ranches). Have seen, on average, 7 coyotes per trip, at least two being from vehicle each trip. Last outing called 5 in on one stand.

You tell me if coyotes can be educated.
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Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: hm1996Originally Posted By: Softpoint Yeah, a coyote can associate the sound of your specific truck after a close call.

I've hunted deer and coyotes the same three ranches for 15 years. The first year I hunted mostly deer and saw a number of coyotes out of the truck.

Second year I called and shot 37 or 38 coyotes. A couple were drive by's.

Third year I didn't see a coyote from my vehicle....other deer hunters reported seeing coyotes fairly regularly.

Fourth year no coyotes spotted from the truck and number of called & shot coyotes dropped considerably until it lined out at 17-18 per year with about the same effort as first year.

I seriously doubt we reduced the population that much.
grin.gif


Last few years my hunting has been reduced considerably....to the point that I've only made three half day trips since January (split between two ranches). Have seen, on average, 7 coyotes per trip, at least two being from vehicle each trip. Last outing called 5 in on one stand.

You tell me if coyotes can be educated.
wink.gif
grin.gif


Regards,
hm


+1
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It is not always about botched stands, over calling, or just plain poor woodsmanship that create hard to call coyotes.

Sometimes a sudden change in their environment can result in conditioned coyotes. Such as a ranch that begins gas or oil exploration which means men and machines where they never were before. Or the influx of quail and pheasant hunters to an area that had previously had not held the numbers of upland birds to hunt. Both of these examples can take years before the coyotes are used to their new way of life.
 
Originally Posted By: songdogThat ain't nuthin" AWS, I videoed a guy who missed the same coyote 11 or 12 times before connecting, and that coyote pretty much stood there the whole time.

It's on one of the Verminator videos, just don't remember which video it's on, incase someone doesn't believe it.

I saw that, dumbest coyote ever award!!
 
Coyotes are canines. and they are intelligent, so I do think that they can learn. Farmers, ranchers and hunters all have stories about apparent intelligence in coyotes. From them sitting and waiting for a farmer to finish a pass as they are cutting fields so that they can go and pick up what has been run over, to coyotes cruising for roadkill, to coyotes watching and listening for crows and ravens, there is plenty of evidence of intelligence. So do I think that some can get "educated" by hunters? Absolutely. I have seen plenty of older, wiser coyotes that make some odd approaches to the calls.

But that, for me, is part of the challenge that I enjoy. I like trying to call coyotes that are call wise. I have had a lot of success in areas that have been scorched by hunters. Being adaptive is just part of the game. Even though some coyotes may have more intelligence about hunters, they still have to eat and breed. I just have to step up to the challenge and sound as realistic as I can. Sometimes it can be your stand set up that differentiates hunters. If you can set up in such a way that the coyotes will feel more secure, then you are going to be more likely to connect.

It's all part of the game.
 


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