Locating Coyotes in the Nevada Deserts

StarFox_64

New member
Listening to Tory Cook, he seems to always locate his coyotes previous to calling them.

Locating the day before in Nevada isn't really feasible because I'm likely driving 2-3 hours just to get to an area. I don't have the time or gas money to make that trip two days in a row.

I have always made blind stands and it's been hit or miss. I've had really good days, but more often really dry days.

Thinking more about locating though, should I maybe be driving out into my areas and then trying to locate, with the idea that if I get a response I just move in on them right then and there? So instead of blind stands, its a blind area but only making stands if I get a response?

I feel like this opens the doors to missed opportunities on coyotes that aren't howling back. I would likely be traveling further between stands as well. But, in theory, the stands made would be guaranteed coyotes in the area.

Normally I just make blind stands 0.5 to 1.0 miles apart from each other and I just believe that coyotes are in the area due to the nature of how big the coyote population is out here. But more often than not, its a dry stand.

Let me know what ya'll think. Would love to hear from some of you western hunters who have the luxury and curse of BLM land.
 
I have always had mixed luck in locating. Used to locate from the road to see what an area was like before knocking on doors. Until one day I called in a pack of 5 that came over the hill saw the truck and scattered.
What i do now when I'm in a new area is to setup a stand in a likely spot and start off with a locating type howl. If I get responses that aren't in my immediate area I will mentally note each howling coyote and make a plan to target them individually.
 
I never locate before BUT I do spend time on Onx/Google Earth. I have BLM maps that I plan calling routes to minimize travel. I love cold calling new country and find prime terrain better than locating.
 
I just make blind stands like you have been doing. Time in the outdoors is better than being home even if they are blank stands. After a while you get a descent idea of what areas are likely to hold coyotes.
Water in the desert is king and coyotes will travel farther than you think to get a drink.
You can also scout by looking for tracks and scat.
If you really want to locate, do it at night and hunt where you get responses once the sun comes up if you are day calling.
Of course the coyotes may have moved on but thats just life.
 
I honestly doubt Tory has ever hunted Nevada or most any Western states so what he's doing successfully in Arkansas is much much different than how things are in Nevada.

I actually just got home last week from a great trip with lots of kills in Northern Nevada. I'm an eastern guy like Tory and if I hunted the same way I hunted at home I would not do nearly as well as our coyotes are much different than the western coyote.

So three key points to keep in mind are,

WATER, don't waste your time in areas that don't have a water source. This sounds retarded and elementary to eastern guys because we have water everywhere and it doesn't have a bering on a coyotes home range. Focus on rivers, springs, creeks and cattle water points. 100% chance these areas hold coyotes. I'm not saying you won't find a transient coyote in the middle of nowhere away from water but the majority of big numbers will claim territory with water readily available.

TIME MANAGEMENT, coyotes home ranges are much much smaller in the east, the vast majority of coyotes show up quickly, usually 5-10 minutes into a stand. In the west, coyotes are willing to travel much farther to a call and sometimes have to. I've had tons of coyotes show up "late" in the 25-35 minute range where in the east I would have already been gone typically. Point being don't be afraid to stay on stands a little longer out there. If you kill a coyote early in the stand, keep calling as you have a good chance something from farther away will show up.

KEEP TRACK of your successes, coyotes are calling areas in the desert home for a specific reason. When locating and hunting always pay attention to where you hear packs of coyotes. Focus on finding the packs and don't get caught up chasing a single coyote to much.

As for trying to locate coyotes by making them become vocal, I can tell you I've had nights where I've killed well but they simply won't respond vocally, period. Just because they don't howl and answer you back doesn't mean they aren't there. Hopefully this helps, good luck!

 
I have never gone out to locate coyotes to hunt later. Around here the coyotes that you did locate may not be there when you come back.

In the wide open country I call in coyotes in, they can and do come in from 2 to 3 miles away at times. I have killed coyotes that were full of Juniper Berries or Grapes in places where the closest Junipers or Vineyards were 4 to 6 miles away.

I wouldn't want to waste my gasoline money for locating coyotes and have to make two trips when I can make one trip and kill coyotes.

 
Locating with howling, not worth the time or money.

Locating by driving and only calling where you are seeing sign, very worth your time.

The post above that talks about water is spot on. If there is water there will most likely be coyotes. If there are cows, there is water, and there is a greater chance of a coyote being in the area.

No sign, no fresh tracks, no fresh scat, keep driving till you find it.

I am very familiar with most of the state of Nevada and water is king.
 
When every Tom dick and harry has an electronic caller think outside the box. 70’s style, or buy your own ranch.
 
I have not done much locating by howling out there. More of a quick population census, which I've done often, than a trying to locate particular coyotes to target.

But I have primarily relied upon the methods already touched on. Look for sign. Look for good habitat. Call the highest percentage looking spots. It might be worth adding, I'm not the least bit adverse to driving 100 miles of dirt in a day looking for good stands.

I've hunted with guys earning a living needing to kill either specific coyotes, or coyotes in a specific area and they live and die by locating. I've helped them do it and seen it work like crazy. But that is a totally different deal than rolling the wide open public land desert looking for honey holes. And sometimes those honey holes last a few years, sometimes they don't. Pretty much never ending joy of seeking them out. And I mean it, never ending joy. I LOVE rolling new country trying to suss out the good stands to be had right then, right there.

- DAA
 
Used to hunt Nevada a lot. Minimum drive one way for us one way was 4 hours. We did a lot of night hunting as well. Sometimes as we were traveling at night we'd pull off on the shoulder (nobody around for miles) and do a couple howls to see if we got response. Not always a good indicator for coyotes but will let you know if there's anything close by. Some guys would use sirens.

The biggest thing I learned was, sometimes you're a hero, sometimes you're a zero. There is no tried and trued method to hunt coyotes that is always successful. If you're hunting strictly for body count you might want to take up ground squirrel shooting instead.

You can go to an area and have coyotes running in every other stand, go back a month later and it's a ghost town. Just how it is.

Before the advent of the internet, we'd just choose areas off a map, sight unseen. Cant say how many times we'd try a new area we picked off the map, get off of work and drive all night to get there only to be met by terrain that looked like the surface of the moon. But at the same time, it did allow us to learn where NOT to go lol. We also found a lot of great areas by exploring like that. After years of doing that we developed producing routes in different areas that we could follow year after year...but it does require burning boot leather and gas. It also helps to think outside the box a bit too. Again before the internet; there were no weather sites. Nothing ruins a hunt more than wind. Especially after driving 5 hours. When we went through these small nevada towns I'd stop at the gas station and get their number, then before we made the trek I'd call and ask "hows the wind today?" lol. They probably thought I was nuts, but it did save us a lot of driving!

Now with Google Earth and the like it's much easier to at least see the lay of the land beforehand. Most coyote hunters can identify terrain that looks decent just by photos. Alfalfa pivots and the surrounding areas are usually a good place to call, and they're easy to see on any GPS site. Washes and thoroughfares around small towns and rest stops are another. Mostly just common sense.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a western hunter but the only kind of locating I do is if I have coyotes howl back at me when I'm calling I'll wait a few minutes and move towards them. It seems that most of the time if they answer, they aren't coming. If you get close to them afterwards they come on a string.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top