Getting started in Western WA

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Bagheera

New member
I moved up here to just north of Seattle about four years ago from Alabama and am just now getting settled in enough to start getting back into the outdoors. I'm just getting started into coyote hunting and am looking for places to go and some folks to go there with.

I've asked around at a few of the gun and sporting good stores (got one place out of that) and just talked to the county extension agent, who said he'd send any coyote calls he got my way. Hopefully, I'll get a couple leads out of that soon. It's kinda rough not having places to go whenever I want like I did in Alabama, but growing up and living in the same place for 20 years tends to make it easier to ask folks if you can hunt on their land.

I'll hopefully be gradually getting a good number of places I can go soon, but I'm still lacking for folks to hunt with and seriously lacking in coyote hunting skills to use once I get out in the field. I've hunting most everything there was to hunt in the southeast, but nothing like coyotes before. I guess the closest I've ever come was turkey hunting, and even that it's all that close. I sure would love to find some other hunters around this area, especially a few who wouldn't mind passing on some of their experience to me. Even other new hunters would be welcome too, since we'd be able to learn together a lot faster than we could separately.

The extent of my coyote hunting equipment is a call (Sceery AP3 - jackrabbit distress) and a Sceery video that I've just about worn out making sure I can sound like he does. Either I'm not doing it right or the coyotes I hunted last Saturday (my first try) were educated more than the landowner said, because I didn't get so much as a yelp for my efforts. I'm thinking that I may need to broaden my calling abilities a bit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I've got a CZ 527 in .223 Rem with a 6.5-20x44 scope (a bit overscopes for this purpose?) and my trusty old Mossberg 500 12-gauge pump for my shooting irons. Other than the scope possibly being a bit on the high side in power, anything else I should acquire in the way of guns?

Anyway, I just found the sight today and can see that I need to spend quite a lot of time reading all of the good info on here. Nice to meet you all and I hope to make it to the calling gathering over in Eastern WA at the end of Sept. if a newbie is welcome.

- Jason
 
Hey Jason Welcome to PM. Lots of info and great guys here. {We even have some great gals here too} /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

One if our members is north of you in Lynden, he makes hand calls. His name is Brennan.

While everything[Details] is important, calling works as long as you sound like some poor,poor, pitiful, beasty getting skinned alive.

Site choice, approach, wind, movement, field of view and technique are probably more important
than imitating someone else on a distress call. Howling is a different matter maybe. The neat thing about predator hunting rules is there ain't no rules.

Coyotes come sometimes if you call early, late loud, soft, day ,night,spring, winter,long sets, short sets, noon, midnight, hand calls, mouth calls, electronic calls, camo, no camo, solo, with someone etc. They hang up at 1/2 mile or run over you. They come from upwind, down wind or crosswind. They come as singles or packs. Silently or on the growl.

Yep coyote hunting is a snap. You just have to be invisible,know everything, watch everywhere all the time, master all the wild life sounds, shoot your close range/long range/do it all firearm in all awkward and unnatural positions and then come on here and tell us how easy it was. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif The truth now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

So Jason, looks like you've stepped in it now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Just wait till you kill your first called coyote, you'll be as loopy as some of the guys here. Comeon in /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I think Redfrog just about covered it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif This is my second year of seriously hunting coyotes.My first year was spent making many,many,many,many mistakes.The biggest mistake was not using the terrain to my advantage.The camo I wear is so faded it works great for the sage brush enviroment I hunt in.The last three coyotes came within 10 feet of me.The last one was circling the speaker looking for that danged rabbit.If I think about it I have over twelve kills so far this year.I stopped counting a couple of weeks ago.Most important for me is to go where the yotes are'nt called heavily.I'm not skilled enough yet to call in a wise old dog.YET.Give me another two years /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
BAGHEERA THERE ARE LOTS OF PLACES OUT THERE TO HUNT COYOTES IF YOU WANT TO SEE LOTS OF COYOTES GO TO EASTERN WASHINGTON sorry about capital letters just got back from the coast saw one couger wre abouts do you live i can give you some ideas were to go good luck rick
 
Actually the caps don't bug me as much as the one run on sentence its trippy reading sentences that aren't punctuated have to admit it saves a little time though I agree eastern WA is easier to hunt coyotes did you get the cougar? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
sorry curt. only been doing computer thing for a few months. im learning. no i didnt get the cougar. it was in the road. my friends seen three diffrent cougers over the weekend. i went down the road a little ways.i tried fawn bleat and cougar tapes. good luck hunting. rick.
 
It's no sweat bearmanric. I'm just funning with you buddy. Good luck on the elusive cougar. I want one bad. Hope to see you at the BBQ.

Take care, Curt
 
Bagheera,

Great choice of a name btw, I live here in Western WA and am learning the ropes as well. I have been in the state for a couple of years and would be happy to share any info I have. I am a bowhunter so my areas and approach will be different. I shared some locations with someone else here and complete forgot one can not take a rifle into those places. Opps! Sorry Pat.

We are lucky in the fact we are surronded by public land, but it is forest area and more difficult to call than some other areas. What types of animals do want to pursue? We have lots of dogs and cats. I even had a bear not far from the house here last year.

All of my focus is on elk season at the moment, but after christmas I will be getting serious about predator calling. I would be happy to hook up with some other callers here on the west side this winter. I would like to hit the gathering in Sept. but duty calls at home. Tell us more about where and what you want to hunt.

Take care,
Greg
 
Well to tell the truth, I'm looking for just about any hunting (or even fishing) opportunity I can find. I'm presently trying to get started with coyote hunting. I'm also working to make sure I'm ready for the muzzleloader elk season over in GMUs 342 and 368, but I'm hopefully almost done with that preparation. I haven't decided what I'm doing about deer hunting yet, but I just may do modern season if I can earn my way onto some land over here close to home.

The main reasons I've decided to get into coyote hunting are pretty straight forward. The first is the fact that there's no closed season on them. Coming from Alabama, this states game laws are just a maze that I get tired of trying to find my way through. The second reason is that it's a hunting opportunity I really never tried in Alabama. With having several-month deer seasons and being able to hunt anything legal to hunt with any weapon legal to hunt them with after the purchase of one cheap license, hunting opportunities just weren't that hard to come by so we never tried anything other than the old standards (deer, squirrel, rabbit, quail, dove, etc.). The third reason is that coyote hunting seems to be a good way to get access to land for hunting other game on. The one landownder (the cashier at the first gun store I asked, oddly enough) that lets me hunt coyotes on her land was so grateful that she's going to let me deer hunt there, too. Well, she might if I can actually get a dang coyote! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I'd really appreciate going along with some more experienced folks, even if I was just a pack mule to carry stuff and sit there so I could watch and learn.
 
Hey tejas NW, Maybe we could go to that local and tie a kitty to base ball bat and call coyotes with that. OOPS thats illegal too. hmm.

Patrick
 
Bagheera,
I am not experianced but I would like to try to get a coyote or two, how close is that area you have permission to go on?
I should be receiving a FoxPro caller next week and we could try that. I will be attending the meeting at Goldendale if I am not working.

rsracingwa@attbi.com
 
Sorry for the delay in responding. I've been out of town since the 14th.

The area I have permission to hunt is up around Monroe. It's a fairly small area and I don't believe Ed Sceery himself could call a coyote into that place. The guy who takes care of the place said he'd seen a coyote, but in our walk around the entire property, I never saw any sign at all from coyotes (though I did see a lot of bear and deer sign) and no one else around there had mentioned any coyotes around their places. I may go back one more time just to make sure if I have an afternoon and want to try a new call or something, but I don't plan to spend much more time there.

I'm heading over to Goldendale this weekend with Varmintboy (can't wait!), and I'm hoping to learn quite a bit about calling from folks who know how to do it well. When I get back, I plan to try to find some other land within driving distance to hunt. I would rather drive a couple hours to hunt a place that has a better chance of being productive than to sit there in that same place and listen to myself call.
 
Jason,
I'm kinda new at this myself. I'm from Renton but have been huning around Ellensburg. first time out I located coyotes at night by houling. Second time out the weather was very poor but I managed to spot a coyote who must have spotted me first. Yesterday, using the sceery jackrabbit distress I called up two coyotes. unfortunatly they came up from behind me (I was looking down wind). Of course they saw me turn around and I had to take a shot with them both at high speed (miss). I would like to find some places to go on the western side. Maybe we could hook up or exchange some info. Let me know

Tom
 


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