Tips and techniques for hunting coyotes at night

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YoteFoxBobcat

Member
Hi everyone. Im sure this topic has been beat to death, but I'm really trying to do some night time coyote hunting here in NC. I have all (or most) of the equipment and property with plenty of coyotes on it. No thermal or NV, just lights. My main question is about "scanning." What colors (red/green/white) have worked for you? And is it continuous scanning while calling...or after calling or a quick sweep every 2-5 min...or what...?

Any tips and techniques are appreciated. Still looking to get my 1st coyote

Thanks
 
Get yourself an adjustable (intensity and size of beam) red lens light. I run the Fire Eye by Foxpro and love it but there are plenty other options out there. I typically run the lowest setting for brightness and a somewhere in the middle sized beam. I have found that the coyotes in my area tend to be light shy and this can prevent them from spooking. I find that if I think it's not bright enough, then it is probably perfect. As for scanning, I leave it on continuously and just smoothly scanning back and forth. Good luck!
 
I use a Wicked red headlamp for scanning. I set it low and higher than my eye line. That way the halo of the light illuminates their eyes and doesn't spook them off. I scan continuously and fairly quickly. I don't "waggle" the light, but I scan my area about every 30-45 seconds.

I back up my scan light with a Wicked kill light mounted on my rifle. I have that set to high and zoomed in. That tends to get them to freeze when I hit them with it.
 
Yes keep the lights on their eyes the whole time if you can. One guy shooting one guy scanning. We learned fast that the eastern coyote doesn’t care to much for lights around us anyways.
 
Originally Posted By: YoteFoxBobcatSo when you do catch eyes when scanning, keep the light fixed on the coyote the whole time (until the shot?)

Absolutely. If you hit a coyote with a light and don't have it spook, you better make sure that light stays on him. With heavy pressure where I live, the coyotes can get light shy very quickly. And they will high tail it when you start playing light on and light off with them. Low brightness, wide beam, consistent is what has worked best for me.
 
Originally Posted By: YoteFoxBobcatThanks for the tips so far guys.

So when you do catch eyes when scanning, keep the light fixed on the coyote the whole time (until the shot?)

I do. You have to resist the urge to suddenly lock onto them. The sudden swing onto them can shock them. So when I pick up eye shine, I try to slowly bring my headlamp to bear onto them. Then when they enter the kill zone, I will hit them with the kill light. This tends to get them to freeze, then I send the love.
 
Originally Posted By: SnowmanMoOriginally Posted By: YoteFoxBobcatThanks for the tips so far guys.

So when you do catch eyes when scanning, keep the light fixed on the coyote the whole time (until the shot?)

I do. You have to resist the urge to suddenly lock onto them. The sudden swing onto them can shock them. So when I pick up eye shine, I try to slowly bring my headlamp to bear onto them. Then when they enter the kill zone, I will hit them with the kill light. This tends to get them to freeze, then I send the love.
That’s great free advice Snowman!
On the kill light, do yo go with white light or stay with red? Thanks in advance!
 
Originally Posted By: McGrawOriginally Posted By: SnowmanMoOriginally Posted By: YoteFoxBobcatThanks for the tips so far guys.

So when you do catch eyes when scanning, keep the light fixed on the coyote the whole time (until the shot?)

I do. You have to resist the urge to suddenly lock onto them. The sudden swing onto them can shock them. So when I pick up eye shine, I try to slowly bring my headlamp to bear onto them. Then when they enter the kill zone, I will hit them with the kill light. This tends to get them to freeze, then I send the love.
That’s great free advice Snowman!
On the kill light, do yo go with white light or stay with red? Thanks in advance!

I stay with red. I run a Wicked with an adjustable bezel that I can zoom my focus on mounted on an adjustable mount that allows me to get my center of the light right in the center of my scope's reticle.
 
Using low brightness and a flooded out beam for scanning was a tough lesson for me to learn, but its the best practice with using lights.
 
Red light (Wicked head lamp) scanned continuously and held on coyote when eye shine is spotted. Make a note of the wind before you start calling. Most of our night time coyotes come in looking to wind you and will circle to your down wind side.

Good luck.
 
Got to have some patience hunting an eastern coyote with red lights IMO. We killed plenty of foxes and a bobcat with the lights. Only killed 3-4 yotes with the lights. We weren’t seeing much at all keeping the lights running all the time scanning so we would scan for a bit and then turn them off and go back to scanning. We found the coyote, Fox or bobcat would come in when the lights were off and we would see them right when we cut the light back on to scan. These are pressured animals as well. Good luck. Trial and error for us back when we were learning. Good luck!
 
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