Now vs Then

Austin Laughlin

Austin Laughlin

Well-known member
I was listening to a few guys talking this morning about coyote hunting, and something they said peaked my interest.

I grew up watching the DVDs that people like Les, Cal Taylor and Cenny Burnell, Blaine Eddy, etc. My dad got involved in killing coyotes, and that led to me having the bug very young.

I don’t know if this has been talked about a million times, but I’m sure it has. But what I’m wondering, is for the guys that have been doing this stuff since the 80s-90s, how much it’s changed. Whether that be from pressure, land owner/public ground permission changes, etc.

These guys this morning were talking about, the first time they ever heard about a Kiyi and how it was a really good thing to have in their arsenal after using it. That just peaked my interest into how and what, has changed over the years, from different peoples standpoints.

The only thing I’ve noticed to stay the same through my time calling.. Is that 2 people can be hunting the same farm on the same day, and have 2 different observations for the day. About like that old Tracy Lawrence song
 
The amount of gear and info available.

The additude towards coyotes, I'm from the north and coyotes were a fur bearer and hunted for pelts and if you needed a problem coyote taken out you had a trapper do the job.

The number of people that call coyotes and for me it doesn't seem to make a difference on my coyote harvest. But I hunt them for sport and pelts, kill a coyote or two and that is enough to skin for the day so I rarely rack up numbers.

The amount of money someone will spend to kill coyotes is mind blowin
 
I been in thus game since the late 70s as a kid and the biggest change I've seen is the population in the east. We didn't have any back then, we all fox hunted, now we have no fox but lots of coyotes!

Having a huntable population changes everything, not just in the ecosystem but also making it much much more popular with new hunters.
 
AWS said:
The amount of gear and info available.

The additude towards coyotes, I'm from the north and coyotes were a fur bearer and hunted for pelts and if you needed a problem coyote taken out you had a trapper do the job.

The number of people that call coyotes and for me it doesn't seem to make a difference on my coyote harvest. But I hunt them for sport and pelts, kill a coyote or two and that is enough to skin for the day so I rarely rack up numbers.

The amount of money someone will spend to kill coyotes is mind blowin
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Amen to this. Just like GC said.

I guess my biggest notice is the “hype” or attention that the sport gets. Even then, I can’t speak on that like some can coming from the difference in the 80s. But I can a little on the technology side, I started with hand calls and then started using my dad’s Johnny Stewart Electronic call. It was a black box that took the cassette tapes, with the wired speaker. Now all of these crazy gadgets and thermals, and all this stuff.
 
Mostly access to property and more people calling. Late 90’s when I got into it you could ask any farmer and most landowners to hunt coyotes and almost without hesitation they would say “Go ahead”. Now the farmers either say go ahead, or, I’ve already got somebody calling/hunting/trapping coyotes. Or I lease my land to so and so for exclusive hunting rights. Non farming landowners are even less likely to say go ahead.

Basically, as a hunting community it has become more of a competition and about exclusive hunting rights and less about true sportsmanship, camaraderie and inclusion.
 
Kino M said:
I been in thus game since the late 70s as a kid and the biggest change I've seen is the population in the east. We didn't have any back then, we all fox hunted, now we have no fox but lots of coyotes!

Having a huntable population changes everything, not just in the ecosystem but also making it much much more popular with new hunters.
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We’re in the same boat. My dad and uncle use to kill sometimes upwards of 10 foxes a day around a wide spread area here. Now I’m lucky to even see one fox a year, let alone kill one. I’ve called foxes out in AZ but I don’t guess now that I think about it, Ive ever called and killed one here in Missouri. I try all the time. Makes me feel stupid too, as easy as it was out west, and their brain capacity, I can’t buy one here lol I just tell myself that you can’t call what’s not there, and go home 🤣
 
hunt0168 said:
Mostly access to property and more people calling. Late 90’s when I got into it you could ask any farmer and most landowners to hunt coyotes and almost without hesitation they would say “Go ahead”. Now the farmers either say go ahead, or, I’ve already got somebody calling/hunting/trapping coyotes. Or I lease my land to so and so for exclusive hunting rights. Non farming landowners are even less likely to say go ahead.

Basically, as a hunting community it has become more of a competition and about exclusive hunting rights and less about true sportsmanship, camaraderie and inclusion.
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I see what you’re saying there too, for sure.

It’s kind of turned into a cut throat deal here. I became friends with a guy that never called before, he started going with me. Took him all over the place, and he got real into it. Next thing I know, all these farms I mentioned to him I wanted permission on, I’d go door knocking and he was already in there. Which I thought was great, we’d be able to go and hunt, until I asked and he told me he’d rather hunt them alone. Next thing I know, he’s the worlds best coyote hunter and even trying to get me run out of some places I took him when he first started. It’s just crazy really.
 
I guess the changes I have seen most since I started calling back in the 80’s is the popularity of it. I remember people asking what we were hunting and when you told them Coyotes they just gave you a weird look and ask people do that. Most everyone seemed to be Mule Deer hunters or Elk Hunters back then and you shot coyotes when you saw them. Calling for most guys was foreign. Now everybodies doing it. Another thing is I never used an electronic caller until probably 2010, now that what most guys are using along with all the other high tech stuff available. Definitely a different time back then.

Good Hunting Chad
 
Austin Laughlin said:
I see what you’re saying there too, for sure.

It’s kind of turned into a cut throat deal here. I became friends with a guy that never called before, he started going with me. Took him all over the place, and he got real into it. Next thing I know, all these farms I mentioned to him I wanted permission on, I’d go door knocking and he was already in there. Which I thought was great, we’d be able to go and hunt, until I asked and he told me he’d rather hunt them alone. Next thing I know, he’s the worlds best coyote hunter and even trying to get me run out of some places I took him when he first started. It’s just crazy really.
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Been there! I honestly have had this same thing happen to me with deer hunting. I have worked on my character judging skills since then!

It amazes me when I hear the conversations about lack of places to hunt anymore, or there just aren’t enough new people getting into hunting. Oftentimes the people saying it are so against others hunting “Their” spots, and never try to help others learn. My younger brother and myself have mentored youth and woman hunters for both turkey and goose hunts for years.
 
What Chad said… I started calling probly mid 80s. Fur boom had just ended and no one was calling coyotes…at all…where I was at. I had it all to myself, and everyone thought I was an idiot when they saw a pickup bed full of coyotes. No one could wrap their mind around why someone would be doing that.
I feel like I had a 25 year run all to myself and kinda grateful for it too.
 
LONEHOWL said:
What Chad said… I started calling probly mid 80s. Fur boom had just ended and no one was calling coyotes…at all…where I was at. I had it all to myself, and everyone thought I was an idiot when they saw a pickup bed full of coyotes. No one could wrap their mind around why someone would be doing that.
I feel like I had a 25 year run all to myself and kinda grateful for it too.
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When that fur boom came along, was it kind of like today? Anyone and everyone started calling coyotes?
 
hunt0168 said:
Been there! I honestly have had this same thing happen to me with deer hunting. I have worked on my character judging skills since then!

It amazes me when I hear the conversations about lack of places to hunt anymore, or there just aren’t enough new people getting into hunting. Oftentimes the people saying it are so against others hunting “Their” spots, and never try to help others learn. My younger brother and myself have mentored youth and woman hunters for both turkey and goose hunts for years.
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Same here, amen. My circle gets smaller and smaller, let me tell you.

Im the type, that if someone really has the want to get into hunt but has no help or no one giving direction, Im happy to take them.

Last spring, I was able to take my first veteran turkey hunting. He was able to harvest his first turkey, and just being apart of that was a big moment for me. I don’t talk about it much because I’m not looking for a “atta boy”. I just really felt good as a person and a hunter, getting to see someone like that kill their first bird. After all he went through, that was the least I could do. It really opened my eyes.
 
Utahcaller said:
No it was different. There were some die hard guys that went out calling, but back then it seemed like a lot of the old timers were trapping rather than calling.
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Now that I can definitely understand. Just being around certain people and growing up around them, that’s how it always seemed anyway. That’s why I asked.

I stand on the opinion, that the best way to be a better coyote hunter, is to go do it. All the trials and tribulations, and the failures are the best knowledge you’ll get. I didn’t have a chance to go through those same trails that guys did in the 70s and 80s. I guess that’s why it peaked my interest so much, is trying to wrap my head around what you guys went through during those times and really understand it.
 
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