just gettting started - needs lots of help

Kart29

New member
Okay, I've fooled around with hunting coyotes in the past but never had any luck. I'm wanting to get back into it again but need alot of help.

First, I live in Indianapolis. It's long way from any public hunting grounds and they are pretty much all dense woods.

Anybody know any good areas to hunt in central Indiana?

Nearly all of the public land available to me is dense woods. What tactics are good for this kind of terrain? Are fox or coyotes more likely to be found in this area?

Is it better to hunt coyotes at night?

In Indiana we need to keep visible a continuous burning light when hunting coyotes at night. Is this a major handicap while getting into position?

How important is it to use a red filter on the lights?

I will always be hunting alone. How do I manipulate the call, the light and the rifle with only two hands and two knees?

Is it important to use full camo at night?

If I drive to a set up spot, how important is it that the vehicle be out of sight?

What's the best way for a beginner to learn how to use a hand call?

If I mount a flashlight to my scoped lever action rifle, would a 2D cell MagLite be enough to light eyes and shoot by?
 
Oh yeah.

What kind of calls work best in the midwestern area? We don't really have any jackrabbits around here. Cottontails are about it.

What would be the best source of reference materials to learn to hunt in this area and this type of condition? I have a book but it applies to western terrain with wide open flat terrain without lots of dense cover for the beggers to hide in.
 
First off welcome to PM. You are in the right place as there is a wealth of information here brought to you by the worlds best predator hunters. As far as info goes on your area there is no better way to learn than to get out there and do it. As far as the calls go I dont believe coyotes discriminate from one dying animal sound to another. I always thought it was good to give them a sound they have never heard before. Good luck and do some searching on this forum. I have found there are not many questions that havent been answered. We are all here to help!
 
Welcome to PM.

Randy Watson and I did a video on night hunting. While it was done in Texas, the basic ideas behind hunting at night are all there. The techniques we use and discuss will work anywhere.

You can order it at www.huntingthenightshift.com

Let us know if you have more questions.

And, go ahead and do a search here. Most of the questions you have asked have been addressed many, many times. If you can't find the answers we'll be happy to answer them for you.

Randy
 
Thanks all.

I have been searching this forum for information and have picked up some tips. But, this is such a large forum with so many posts it can be hard to find the specific information I need. I'll keep nosing around and any more replies are greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!
 
I'll take a stab at a couple of these questions.

Nearly all of the public land available to me is dense woods. What tactics are good for this kind of terrain?

Make shorter stands. Start out each stand with lip squeaks or low volume calling in case an animal is close by. Keep your light moving to pick up eyes before the animal sees you.

Are fox or coyotes more likely to be found in this area?

I'm not familiar with your area but, out here in the west, the wooded areas are more likely to hold grey fox than coyotes. Scouting for tracks & scat will tell you what you have in your area.

Is it better to hunt coyotes at night?

My success ratio has been better at night. Your milage may vary.

In Indiana we need to keep visible a continuous burning light when hunting coyotes at night. Is this a major handicap while getting into position?

Use a red filter on a small dim light if legal. Keep it low to the ground. Once on your stand, switch to a bright light and keep it moving.

How important is it to use a red filter on the lights?

Very important in most cases. I've heard that amber works well too, but have no experiance with it.

I will always be hunting alone. How do I manipulate the call, the light and the rifle with only two hands and two knees?

Use a hands free close range call or lip squeak. Use a scope mounted light for shooting, or make a tripod like this.
Nite-Rig_4.jpg


Is it important to use full camo at night?

No.

If I drive to a set up spot, how important is it that the vehicle be out of sight?

If the animals are heavily hunted you may want to hide it. If they are not hunted hard it may not make a differance at all. Personally, I don't worry about hiding the vehicle at night.

What's the best way for a beginner to learn how to use a hand call?

Use the Mae West method, pucker-up and blow! Oh, and get one of the videos made or offered by our advertisers.

If I mount a flashlight to my scoped lever action rifle, would a 2D cell MagLite be enough to light eyes and shoot by?

Enough to light eyes, yes, for a limited distance anyway. Enough to shoot with, probably not. All types of animals both wild and domestic will respond to calling. You have to be very careful identifying animals at night.
 
Originally posted by Weasel-UT:
[qb]
What's the best way for a beginner to learn how to use a hand call?

Use the Mae West method, pucker-up and blow! Oh, and get one of the videos made or offered by our advertisers.[/qb]
Thanks for the help buddy.

Actually, that was Lauren Bacall to Bogie in "To Have or Have Not"

She said... "You know how to whistle don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

YeeHa! She was 19 years old in that movie. - Yummy!
 
That's right! Lauren Bacall. I just did a Google Image search and there are a bunch of the old photos online. Man, she was hot!
 
Welcome Kart29. It's good to see another fellow Hoosier hunting the preds. I believe I can help you with the questions that you have.

1. The constant burning light when night time hunting. I take this literally when I read it. When I am Hunting preds (meaning that I am in position, calling, and gun at the ready)My scope light is turned on non-stop. When I am not hunting (meaning walking into position or walking to a new location) My light is not turned on. At least in my area, the DNR officers don't seem to have a problem with this.

2. Terrain. I truley belived that in this area of the country, The yotes prefer to be in the woods as much as possible during the daylight hours. That is if woods are available. At night They get a little more bold and will venture out into the open fields. I presonally like calling situations where you are calling at night in open fields and near woods. In your part of the state, you will get alot of foxes responding when calling in the woods too.

3. Night time vs. daytime calling. I have had my best luck when the sun goes down.

4. With stray cats and foxes, you can probably get away with just a white light. However, the yotes tend to spook a little more easily, so I use a red filter all of the time that I call.

5. As far as using everything at your set up. This is how I do it. Unless I absolutely cannot, I always stand up while night calling. I stand just inside a wood line or put my back against a big tree. I use a scope light so things are much easier on me. I also use a Stoney Point Monopod and rest my rifle on it. That thing will get darn heavy after about 10 minutes of holding it and scanning the land with the scope light. It also serves a as a good rest for when the shot comes into play. I then am able to easily blow the hand call or operate the ecaller control pad with the free hand.

6. As far as lights go. Some folks want to carry a light with them that will turn it into daytime.. That is fine and by far the best option in that situation is a lightforce scope light. They are quite pricey and way out of my price range. Me and the folks that I call with have learned to identify the movement of the eyes to what the animal is. It took a while to do this but once you learn, you will realize that a yotes eyes will move completely different that a deers will or a coons or a cats and so on. In hoosier night calling conditions, most of our shots are going to be well under 80yds. More like 40-60yds. I use a western Rivers 12V scope light and it works very well for me. lasts all night too. And it will light the entire animal up at this range. Optronics is another good option.

7. I have learned the hard way that you need to hide your vehicle when calling. I have a spot where we would call yote and the route they would come was right past where I parked. well after we shot at a couple of them, I discovered that we could not get them to respond to the call because they would see my truck and associate that with danger. you could actually see the fresh tracks as they were coming in and when they got within site of my truck, the tracks stopped and circled back.

8. Camo at night. I wear it, but the real trick is to keep yourself hidden behind the light as you are shining the pred's eyes.

I hope this helps and good luck hunting. Night hunting in the woods is alot of fun. Don't forget to watch the treetops as gray foxes will climb trees and the coons will sometimes come in to a rabbit in distress.
 
Kart, I sent you a private message that should help you out a lot. There are some good coyote hunters in your area so you should be able to get some good experience from them. Also, it is not that hard to attain permission to private property for coyote hunting... people love you to kill those coyotes!

My suggestion would be to stick with morning calling and some evenings until you develop a knack and comfort zone with coyote hunting. As you have eluded too in your post it is very hard to hunt this thick hilly terrain at night while operating a call and a light and a gun all without moving enough to be spotted by an oncoming coyote (That you can't see in the dark).

Calling at night can produce more action but there are very few in OUR AREA that can make it produce more KILLS. If you get up into the northern half of the state on some of those big private fields with flat terrain a night setup can be very effective... those setups are few and far between in southern Indiana where I am but they still work when I find them.

Dan Thompson game calls are pretty good calls and are very easy to learn with. I'd stick with hand calls and daylight setups if I were you just to improve my odds... it sounds like the territory you are hunting is going to be very competitive. If you want to drive a couple hours south I'll take you out and around my neck of the woods and show you some of these things first hand... then you'd be ready for a REAL PREDATOR CALLER to teach you something after that trip! LOL!

P.S. KART, don't forget to check that Private Message by clicking the "My Profile" button at the top right of the page.
 
What? You aren't going to share any of that wisdom with the rest of us JRB? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Edited for spelling.
 
I don't trust that sort of wisdom with people that have to edit a one sentence post for spelling errors.

WOW! That one stung didn't it?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Sorry;

---------------------------------------------

Nawww, I just gave him the info he needs to get a hold of some of us local yocals here in Indiana that can help him out... you know... point him toward people that know what they're talking about. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
jrbhunter

Wow, helper of the innocent and wordmaster of the inept. No wonder predators fall before you.

I think I'm in the same predicament here in NY. How do you hunt the woods at night with no open fields?

The light reflects off all the trees and I think I'm just educating the fox and coyote rather than hunting them.

I have seen fox in the area during the end of daylight so I know they are there.
 
Funny stuff IVT, Swifty can take it though.

If you are dealing with a higher fox population than coyotes you can probably get away with a lot more when night hunting. Foxes are often overcome with emotion when you use the fox pup in distress sounds so it doesn't take a rocket scientists to kill them at the right time of year. If you can find an open woods you should still be able to pick off a couple foxes without much trouble. I've killed a few with a regular white light flashlight but you won't do that to a coyote in thick cover very often.. if ever.

Actually, I think Swifty shot at a fox last time he was down while I was shining a white light!
 
Oh, hell I almost forgot. Kart, I talked with a guy yesterday that has several farms near you he would like me to come up there and call... all private property. It's about a two hour drive for me but if you want to give it a try just let me know. I told him I may take someone with me and he said it would be fine if I took one partner... lemme know if you're in! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Use the information I sent you to contact me... I'm looking at late January before I can get up there FYI.
 
Hey guys,

I live here in Bloomington and I have been wanting to get into yote hunting for a while. I have 30 acres which is half pasture half woods next to a cornfield down in Bedford and have thought about trying that. I guess I am looking for someone who would be willing to show me the ropes. If anyone is intersted in showing a newby the ropes then drop me an email at bdhaley@indiana.edu and maybe we can meet up sometime. I am an avid shooter and deer hunter so no need to worry if I would be a safe hunter or not.

Harley
 
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hi all, great site! just getting started and have been reading here for about three hours.any hunters in Pa on here? hunting Lancaster county farmland and northern Tioga/Potter state gamelands...any tips?
 


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