Northern PA coyote hunting

I called my buddy last night to see if he wanted to howl, and we went at 10:30 to a rise in the road not far from my house and we made a howl with my ecaller, then right after i started a second howl 5 yotes ran up the hill and crossed the road, and of course we didnt have a gun ready. next time I will be ready.
 
Well, we just got another good snow and I am gonna drive around and find out what woods the yotes are sleeping in and be there with breakfest when they wake up! The last time we got some bad weather they went up high on the hills, so I'll check there first, if not, then I drive till I fin em'
 
I am not very successful but I do get out a lot and pay attention to the woods. I see coyote tracks coming out of blow-down areas, clear-cuts that are growing up, and thick grasses growing up on old tote roads from logging. These coyotes after coming out of these will walk on and along gas and oil drilling roads for a short distance then jump back into the cover. Positioning one's self in or near the thick stuff, calling with distress mammal and bird sounds, sneaking in and out, and playing the wind have been the suggestions I have heard and read. But to put all of those techniques into effect per stand is really difficult. So you ask why am I not successful if I know all of this- Maybe I just suck as a coyote hunter! Or maybe one of the above techniques was sloppely performed and the dog discovered me. I did, however shoot one this weekend when the coyote was walking with the wind, at 5:30 PM, and with no cares in the world, as he headed toward a dead we found in the woods. Go figure. Maybe all the dumb ones get busted first??
 
I've heard that 60% of first year coyotes die. So I would guess that after that first year they are quite educated. If you watch the coyote hunting video from woflz productions, He tells you the best thing you can do to get more coyotes is finding them, and he explains how to find them by driving around after a new snow. I usualy try and key in on creek bottoms and field roads as well as logging roads. I took a quick look at elk county with google earth and it seems very wooded. GC suggests hunting ridges and spurs, ecspecialy where a spur or ridge leads down to water and or brush. I often hunt Mt Pisgah State and county park witch is a high rise the seperates 2 yote packs, there I find scratches and urine. Bulgarian wolf hunters used to find a packs bedding area, and sneek in near by early in the morning and Howl, When the pack would answer they would howl in unison with them, and the wolves would come to see them and BANG! if you can find where they bed, meet them there, or else your chasing a wild goose. I dont know if this will work but its my theory. So I drive around and find where a coyotes tracks cut across the road, and I look on google earth to see where the nearest bedding area's are and hunt them as best as the wind will allow. this is the first winter I have tryed this and so far no luck yet, BUT, Its tuff to sneak in because of this crapy loud snow we have been getting here. So I cant say if theres a loop hole in my plan or if they just know were there and dont respond. I'd love to bounce ideas of anyone who wnats to comment.
 
Last night we made 3 stands, and called in one dog on our second stand, it was just before dark and a very small dog came in at about 350+ yards acrost a hidden field. it sat in a swale and looked on for a second before my buddy took a couple bad shots at it. haha
 
I need some input from you PA guys, we have a special situation here in the east where our yotes have read all the info on this site as well as books and movies and are currently laughing at us for underestimating them. So Here is my problem, The coyotes in central Bradford county Move far and fast almost everynight, its so tough to try and find one much less have him respond to a call, I assume he has to hear it at least SOME of the time and just does not respond. Here is my idea, Make stand locations, such as make areas that interest him, kinda like during archery when you make a mock scrape or a salt block. Say if I buy a couple drip bags filled with coyote urine and put them in locations where I can shoot too and he would feel comfortable coming to and call from there. OR Place a carcass in the area and possibly some coyote urine, and use that spot as a call location. These would in theory bring coyotes in to the "kill" and let them know another coyote was there(the urine) and when I come by to call, maby they would jump at the chance greet this new comer who was kind enough to leave a snack. I would be smart in choosing the spots to make them near bedding areas, so the yote could feed and sleep nearby. I could possibly rotate spots and if I found activity, concentrate on that particular area. OK shoot me your ideas!
 
I could even leave a game camera behind to see who, what, and when it was visited to improve timing of hunts or location of bait posts. So, the bait would be used to brind animals in from afar and keep them there, and calling would entice them to check out who was eating their food. Calls that would be effective here could be any fox in distress or coon fights or even coyote noises. We could drop Bait post of, and revisit it in 2-4 days depending on how often that area is used to check camera, or for a hunt. You could acomplish 2 things, 1 you could bring in a coyote and hold him for a few days, and 2 you could, By calling, convince him somthing was eating or fighting over the carcass. If I heard fighting in my kitchen I would run to see who it was eating the food! Ideas?
 
just stick with the basics... i think to much credit is given to the thought process of animals.. not saying they are dumb, they are not even close to that, but with everything you are wanting him to "think" you are giving him the power to reason, and they do not have that... they react to their surroundings... to calling, and to pressure.. if you feel you are having this much trouble then go back and revisit the basics, .... set-up, wind direction, outside noise (not calling loud enough on windy nights), other forms of pressure (snowmobiles, atv's)
 
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just stick with the basics... i think to much credit is given to the thought process of animals.. not saying they are dumb, they are not even close to that, but with everything you are wanting him to "think" you are giving him the power to reason, and they do not have that... they react to their surroundings... to calling, and to pressure.. if you feel you are having this much trouble then go back and revisit the basics, .... set-up, wind direction, outside noise (not calling loud enough on windy nights), other forms of pressure (snowmobiles, atv's)



spoken like a true scholar. like he said I believe you are over thinking the process. I am not sure on how many spots you have but you must have a bunch to be calling as much as you are.
 
I know one group of local coyotes around my home have heard every sound imaginable. I can hear em on a regular basis but they don't budge. I think they have been conditioned to distress sounds and sounds from certain locations.

Where I hunt in north central Pa, well, I just can't figure them out. They aren't nearly as vocal as those in south central Pa where I live. However maybe these are just my experiences but not necessarily true overall.

I don't think there are as many coyotes up north in the areas that I hunt as there were a few years ago based on droppings, amount of howling, and tracks. But non the less there is still a healthy population.

bootmud
 
I estimated, from wintertime tracks, that from my house in a 2 mile radius there were 5+ coyotes. I Play the wind, wear scent lok and keep it in a sealed tote outside, it never goes indoors. since archery season, I have washed with scent free soaps and used scent less deoderants. I use google earth and weather underground to makle smart aproches to my stand. I sneak in, and hide very well, with a shooter setup on higher ground to intercept a circling coyote. since feb we have called in only 3, and got shooting on only 1. is this bad? or average?
I feel like the areas I hit are prime, due to scouting and tracks leading into the woods I hunt. I know where my local coyotes bed, durring nice, and bad weather. Yet I cant draw them out. I average 15 mins on a stand. and night hunts even less. I currently hunt 2-3 differnt groups of coyotes, but cant possibly keep track of that many dogs. It seems we've been one step behind them the whole winter. aka guessing them to be in one woods and hitting that spot, only to drive around the next day and realizing they were acrost the street!! I am discouraged. I think these buggers dont like calls of any kind. I realize they dont always run in a group but they shure do seem to move into differnt areas at the same time. I hunt at least 3 time a week. changing spots every time and leaving spots sit for weeks. The yotes here seem to move Far in a night, they might be in a woods beside my house tonight and be down the road 3 mile tomorow night, I know this because we've tracked a pair them down a no winter maitnace road for over a mile and a half, right down the middle of the road. walking single file, and most times in each others tracks. 1 big dog, 1 smaller one. I invite you guys to have a look at the areas I hunt, Google earth has great views of my terrain. punch in 16914 and have a look around, you'll notice 2 small mountains with big woods south of springfield road, and north of route 6, Oak hill and Mt. Pisgah. Oak hill and half of pisgah belongs to one group of yotes, there is a den north of oak hill and south of pisgah. thoes seem to be the areas of concentrated dog movements. PM me if you wana hunt here.
 
I'd love to have a good opinion, on my setups and the areas I hit. It just seems like the time we've put in should have produced something more.... Am I not seeing something?
 
you are running about average for Pa... one big thing that I noticed is you only spend 15 min on stand... all that work goes into scouting, and sneaking in, to only walk out in that short time. I usually spend 30 min.... the last 5-10 just watching.... and at night I allow that time because you can't watch every direction at once... like I said above.. if you want to go out some night I would be more than happy to go. just let me know when you are able to go and I will check my schedule... I have a hunt this weekend, I am scheduled to be at Bass Pro in harrisburg next sat...and then I am free till the first weekend in april. we can try to set something up.
 
to call 3 coyotes in since february isnt bad... I havent been hunting much lately but i havent called one in where i live in north central pa in about a year..
 


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