How much is too much wind?

Looking at my logs for the past 3 years, 90% of the coyotes called in the wind was under 12 mph, but I'll give it a go all the way up to 20mph. Just have to change your tactics up a little bit.
 
Winds gusty to 30+ the other day, tried 2 close setups, no fun even walking in it. Did see an opossum out in wind. Calling partner wanted me to shoot it with my 22-250. But hadn't started to call, I was thinking coyote could still be close.
 
It really depends on the "normal" weather for your area. If you are in areas where high winds are the norm, such as in open prairies and plains, then you could have more success in higher winds than in areas where those winds are abnormal.

Where we hunt, I like to call in winds under 10 mph. But we have called in coyotes when the winds were well over 20 mph. You might need to change your tactics, such as finding and calling valleys and cover in those kinds of winds, and your probably going to end up with a lot more blank stands, but it certainly can be done.
 
I have called a few coyotes in winds over 20 mph, but darn few. Typically, winds of 15-20 or higher send me home to work on honeydos so I can hunt another day. But, if I'm committed, like when we hunted Elko last year and there were no honeydos waiting, I'll call it. We even called in a quad in high winds, so it can be done. I just don't like it.
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I pretty much ignore the wind. If it is drifting the sand over the road or the tumble weeds are skipping over the tops of the sage brush I start looking for thick cover in valleys. With the wind making a lot of racket you can get pretty close to where they have laid up for the day, sometimes responses are in seconds or just a few minutes at the most.

Sound doesn't travel well in the wind so setting up close works better.

I'll admit windy days are rarely banner days but they will still come to the call.

If you don't hunt in the wind you'll never learn to hunt in the wind.
 
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Having called a lot in WY, anything that won't tip a semi over is reasonable, but you have to hunt close to shelter areas and be quick on the trigger. I've called on the prairie in 15 mph breeze but results are better with less wind.
 
Years ago, I had my single best afternoon of coyote hunting in 15+mph winds. We did 9 stands, and I called in at least one coyote on each stand.

What I find intriguing is on that part of the property, I get skunked quite often, but on that day, I felt like I knew what I was doing, lol.

Since then,with high winds, I've had a much lower success rate.

In high winds, my stands will be much closer together, sometimes only 2-300 yds apart, and I will only stay on stand for 10 minutes at most, figuring that they have to be close to hear it, so response times should be short.

Funny story- in a high wind, I was walking through some tall grass at the base of a hill. Just ahead of me, maybe 20yds, I see a coyote laying there, but he was in full yawn, nose pointing to the sky. I quickly crouched down, put my rifle to my shoulder, and slowly raised myself to shooting position, just as his head comes back to level from the yawn.

The look on his face when he saw me was priceless, and had me laughing so hard in my head that I missed the shot.
 
I used an anvil hung on a 6' piece of logging chain for a range wind flag (until the anvil blew away) but if wind is over 20 mph, I only hunt the thick stuff; that's where the critters go to escape the wind.

Regards,
hm
 
Same boat as most others, gets up over 12-15 takes the fun out of it and lose any confidence.

Called one in the other day gusting to 25, but was on the back side of big tree belt and hills and didn't even feel bad back in there.

I feel they can't hear me, and if they can they are little more shy due to them not hearing as well as they would like either.
 
I check the wind direction and Barometer, then make a decision on approach and where to hunt. About 50-50 on the direction in the mountainous region I hunt if the wind is totally different when I get to my target area. It depends how bad I want to go that particular day and the more experienced I get like an old guy, the more I stay home or hunt an area with a long open land base where vision allows for longer shots. One note; Take a gun with a larger longer bullet on windy days. The wind blows 22's and 24's more than 25 calibers and up.
 
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I prefer it doesn't blow much over 10 miles an hour but I've called in coyotes on days it was blowing 35 miles an hour. Those are slow days but it can be done. If I don't have to call in weather like that I'd rather not though.

One thing I do know is if you're not out there trying to kill them you're not gonna kill them. It's pretty hard to shoot coyotes if you're sitting in front of the t.v. I've never called one in while I was sitting on the couch.
 
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The guys from Lucky Duck have a YouTube video shooting in the wind, I was quite surprised with their success in the wind, tends to change my opinion about shooting in the wind
 
Being from Western South Dakota 20 mph winds happen a LOT and if you were wanting to hunt 10 mph or less you'd get to hunt just a couple days a year. When you get around the 30 mark is when it starts to be less fun in this part of the country. Still like others have said you just have to change your approach.

October 27th 2018 we hunted a contest here and after a beautiful morning we had rain showers and sustained winds at 25 mph gusts well past 30. We called in 3 coyotes after the weather went to [beeep], one of those on hand calls the other 2 with the Revolt blaring on 32 volume. One of those 2 called in with the blaring revolt died at 13 yards. What we consider too windy would be a tornado to some.

Obviously its more enjoyable with a nice 5-10 wind just many days we get like that.
 


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