Responses to Howling???

Moe

Moe

New member
Just took the dogs out behind the house to do their business, and heard a few coyotes sounding off with the yips and howls probably 200-300 yards out. A light rain is coming down, and it is VERY foggy.
When I brought the dogs in, I decided to grab a howler and let a few fly to see if I could get any response. They weren't still howling or yipping when I went back out (only a few minutes after I heard the original vocals). I didn't get any response from the couple howls that I did.

I didn't stick around long either due to the fog. Couldn't see too far in front of me at all. My luck, they'd come in and catch a scent.

My question is...is it common that they will NOT respond to you when they are extremely vocal? Could they be sneaking in or what? Thanks in advance.
 
Moe, I'll be interested to see the responses to this one. I had 5-6 coyote go vocal in response to puppy distress and high pitched cottontail. Lasted about 90 secs, Never would respond to that mix or any other sound again. I sat for nearly an hour and never saw a thing.
 
I had a similar situation to you a year or two back. Strange...I'm just glad I didn't hear the infamous "busted bark" tonight.

Anyone else?
 
I have not been able to find a common thread but it seems that the pack likes to light it up at a certain time. Sometimes very close to dark, sometimes not. I was out two consecutive days this week and one day they lit up at about 4pm still plenty of sun, next day it was very close to dark and they lit up.
I was elk hunting last year under the full moon and the moon cleared the local mountain and lit up the countryside and every coyote in the world opened up right then. But I do not hear it every full moon. I think that they still have some mysteries that are hard to understand.
 
I have had, on numerous occasions, coyotes start to yip- howl after a series of pup distress or prey distress. This usually being 12 a.m.- 4 a.m., while night hunting. Seems they rarely want to come in after the yip- howls stop. It may be that I am not in their territory. But I doubt I am too far out so I move towards them. Most times when a group lights up I give one short lone howl and then go straight to challenge howls.
Mainly, when I know there are coyotes near by and I don't get a vocal response is the time that I expect them to come in.
With the abundance of food in my part of the country I find that vocalizations: howls, whimpers and an assortment of other dog- like sounds bring the best physical response.
 
i do think that coyotes do hunt on the rising moon just like deer movements. they also like to howl when leaving or returning to the den site.
the coyotes that howl on there own a lot of the time will not respond to howling i think its because you just did what they wanted, you answered them letting them know you are there. next time answer with a lone howl then go to a challenge bark-howl they might answer to that or they might come in quite.
i have better luck when i make the starting howl.
coyotes also don't like to howl after they already made their announcements. that doesn't mean they wont come just they wont howl on the way.
I'm not a expert just letting you guys know my observations.
also a coyote responding to a howl usually come in a little more slowly then to distress calls, they want to see who they are taking on before they get into a fight.
wish i was a expert like Gerald and ed but all i know is from personal experiences in 30 yrs of calling and making mistakes.
i once tried to challenge howl in some coyotes who did a group howl, called to them for over 1/2 hour. i went on to a new spot and when i came back threw all three coyotes were at the site of the first stand. this was 1 1/2 hours later. that is why i think some come real slow to a challenge. none of us would ever know we called some in in that situation. I'd bet a lot of us call coyotes we never see due to leaving before they show up.
after coyotes make group howls its hard to get them to sound off again without a siren if you don't answer right away, that is a different reason to howl all together. then i think they howl because it hurts their ears. if it was 15 minutes after they howled chances are they will not answer.
 
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I've had more response to howls during the early spring when the yotes are starting to pair up for breeding, usually in early March thru late April.
I've called several into my stand just on a lonesome howl. Most of the time the response is an aggressive bark or a series of aggressive barks while they come in. On a few occasions when a dog holds way out and won't come in I'll wait until they are not looking and blow a couple of aggressive barks and have had males bristle up and come in very aggresively.
I don't use the howler much other than as a locator this time of the year. Tomorrow is the first day in a couple of weeks that I'll have the opportunity to make a few stands. I'll post the results. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif
 
Conditions here have been lousy , lately for calling. High winds everyday. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I use howling a lot. I probably break all the "rules of howling" at one time or other. Often I break them all on the same stand. I never was very good at coloring inside the lines.

Problem is the howling works. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif This time of year the coyotes are pairing nd are very territorial.

On Wednesday morning the wind was down to a manageable level. We were on a stand at about 9:30 a.m. there were three of us, 2 shooters and a camera guy.

We started with two of us doing our little group howl for about 30 seconds. We waited a minute or so and three groups lit up around us. None was very close.

Out with the binos. A few minutes later, two coyotes were spotted about 1000 yds out on the prairie.

Over the next 1/2 hour, we managed to call in a dominant male to about 100 yds. He came in marking all the way. At 100 yds. he marked again , began to tear the ground up and as he put his head back to howl, one of the shooters took the shot.............and missed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

Of course the coyote ran off. We did manage to call him back again to about 300 yds. before he saw the truck.No shot. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif We still managed to call him back again with a second coyote to about 300 yds, only to have them see the truck again.No Shot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

So while we didn't put fur on the ground, we did carry on a running dialog in the mid morning with what ended up to be 5 coyotes in a pack. We used everthing from a group howl to lonesome howls, to yelps, to challenge howls.
I know, I know, you aren't supposed to howl so late in the day, or howl a lot on a stand. or ever challenge howl, or be able to howl them back to the gun over and over, but no one told the coyotes the rules. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

I'll admit each time they come in and leave it is more difficult to call them back even if they haven't been shot at. It just takes some innovation and thinking outside the box.

The last time they came in was the toughest. The male sat out at 700 yds and challenged, but would not commit to coming in. So after about 5 minutes of "conversation" I shut up and let him have the stage. He carried on and I listened without responding.
After about 5 minutes of this he began to move off further, losing interest, since I was not responding.

I then went to a new call my buddy gave me. I had only blown it a few times to check out the sounds it would make.
It is a primos "cat" call. I usually use only custom calls, but this has a great sound.

Anyway I got on that call and made as much noise as it would make. I kept it up for about 90 seconds. He couldn't stand it. As I kept up loud and aggressive, he came on the run with a second coyote in tow. Too bad they saw the truck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Don't be afraid to howl. Sometimes they respond vocally and some itmes they don't. Don't be afraid to try something different. There are only two rules to calling coyotes.

Call where the coyotes are. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

and

Have fun doing it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Everything else is true SOME of the time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
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