What priority do you place on finding unpressured coyotes?

RSG223 said:
I read this a lot on these forums! It must be a thing local to your areas because it's not an issue where I live. I know of only one or two guys and they are an hour or more each way of me so I'm pretty positive there's no overlap.
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Last year, I went to one of my honeyholes, as I was setting up, I hear to my east a howling sequence, followed by some distress calls, followed by pup distress. I never turned on my call, I was downwind of the other hunter and just remained silent to see if anything worked my way first. Another hole of mine is to the south, a group answered the other dudes howls. So I packed up and went south. As I was walking to my knoll I heard another howling sequence. Scanned the farm to my west and saw the dude that was to my east on the first stand. Just a lil overlap there🤣 I packed up and went home after that.
 
No priority at all, though it would be nice to have that.

I had a 710 acre duck hunting club property that allowed me to hunt coyotes, back in the 90's early 2000's. For maybe 10-13 years, I was the only coyote hunter, and it was very good. Even there, I'd get skunked once in awhile.

For the last 10+ years, it's been all public lands for us, and we do pretty well on them.
 
Unless you have access to private ground, out west here there is no such thing as unpressured Coyotes. They are being hunted 24/7 365 days a year anymore. Especially since Thermal is the new thing. All you can hope for is finding little pockets of coyotes once in a while. And capitalizing on getting the ones you call.

Good Hunting Chad
 
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RSG223 said:
I read this a lot on these forums! It must be a thing local to your areas because it's not an issue where I live. I know of only one or two guys and they are an hour or more each way of me so I'm pretty positive there's no overlap.
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Consider yourself fortunate! I've had my howls answered by other callers more than once.

One of my favorites... A few years back (3 or 4) a buddy of mine wanted to call a property that he deer hunts. Says he sees and hears coyotes frequently. He's not a predator hunter, so he asked me if I would call the property so he could see what it was all about. Not one to turn down an opportunity to call new ground, I said yes. We got setup in a good looking spot and I let out a single lone howl. About 30 seconds later I hear a response from across the property. My buddy got excited and said "I told you I hear them often! What do we do now?" I said, "We won't see this coyote buddy. He's owned by a fellow in Arkansas named Torry Cook!" After a few more responses from familiar sounds I explained that it was another caller using MFK calls on an e-caller. We did move to the other end of the property and tried a second setup but without any success.

I landed a new property a few years back. I hiked up in at dusk and was waiting on darkness when I heard talking and saw red lights coming over the rise. Two guys who were surprised to see me, carrying shotguns had the same idea as me! We chatted for a minute. exchanged phone numbers and agreed to contact each other if we called the property. He told me that he always gets responses but never calls them in. (real shocker?!) The landowner failed to mention that his neighbor had access and called. After seeing how they approached their stand with total disregard for stealth, I decided to hunt the property very sparingly, and only after he tells me hae hasn't called for a while.
 
Not many nights after deer season is over (this Saturday), that I don't see a vehicle, hear a call, or hear shots fired. My favorite are the "locaters" riding the UTVs around fields or trucks along roads and playing Howls out the window, the dummies gotta be deaf by the end of a couple hours.
 
Because of other hunters and the amount of area the coyote utilize, I assume coyote have had encounters with hunters. I do pay attention to where I see others park,walk into. If I can avoid duplicating what other hunters have tried/done, I feel it gives me an advantage. Usually this means a different wind direction or calling near a different travel path the coyote use.
If during the day, coyote immediately start running if I even start slowing down the truck. I do more scouting to find the best way to drive in/park. I seldom park in the open, even at night. No loud exhaust, door slamming. Walk as quietly as possible.
 
spotstalkshoot said:
Because of other hunters and the amount of area the coyote utilize, I assume coyote have had encounters with hunters. I do pay attention to where I see others park,walk into. If I can avoid duplicating what other hunters have tried/done, I feel it gives me an advantage. Usually this means a different wind direction or calling near a different travel path the coyote use.
If during the day, coyote immediately start running if I even start slowing down the truck. I do more scouting to find the best way to drive in/park. I seldom park in the open, even at night. No loud exhaust, door slamming. Walk as quietly as possible.
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On the public lands I hunt, we have designated parking areas, so most guys will park there and walk in on the same paths.

I like to drive to the far edge of the property, park on the side of the road (county road, all dirt), and walk in along the public/private border to set up.
 
Thinking outside the box will put you on some coyotes. I called a double right behind the public range. You can't hunt there but there is public land and access a mile down the road. Hiked in and call a couple that weren't at all gun shy. Most Drive in a mile or so before setting up.

I carry a T-post step and a carpet and cross over barbwire right along the highway, most drive to the nearest gate or access road.

I used to call the desert wildlife area in central WA there were a lot of places most wouldn't call. We had one spot that had a wet Marsh that closed off a large area once the marsh froze you could call coyotes that would come from the back side across the ice. Taking a boat in is always a good.trick, canoeing rivers through public ground will bring coyote that.would never show their face near the road.

Instead of trying to call coyotes into the open, find spots you can call them without them having to expose themselves.in the open.

There are places where they know danger exists and places they feel comfortable.and.let.their guard down.
 
For me it is very important to hunt coyotes that have not been called at.

I am very lucky to get to call coyotes on big private ranches. Most of the ranches me and my hunting buddy are the only people calling on those ranches.

We don't have as much success on the third time hunting these places as we do on the first and second time hunting them.

On these big wide open ranches we educate many coyotes that we never see by driving through the ranch and stopping and walking out to our stands and then calling for 20 minutes. If the coyotes don't hear or see you park your vehicle and walk out to your calling stand they have a very good chance of seeing you walk back to your vehicle after calling for 20 minutes.

If a coyote's memory is like a dog's memories it is much harder to call in pressured or educated coyotes than coyotes that have never been called at before.

A dog memory story!

About 15 years ago I went coyote calling with a rancher's son and he took along his male chocolate lab. He was a great dog and stayed in the back of the truck on every calling stand we made. During that day many times I gave that dog some jerky or some peanut butter and crackers.

I didn't see that dog again for about 8 years. I went to the same ranch to help with branding calves and my old chocolate lab buddy was there. When we were done with the branding it was time to eat lunch. There was at least 20 people there eating and that chocolate lab was right beside me wanting some of my sandwich.

I am convinced that dog remembered me giving it jerky and peanut butter and crackers 7 or 8 years earlier.
 
I believe derbyacres hits the nail on the head.

I am now of the opinion that finding less pressured coyotes is the NUMBER ONE thing you can do to be successful.

Sure, pressured coyotes will come to the call. However, they will come much less frequently than an unpressured coyote.

And, while it may be true that there are few coyotes that have never been called, you just want the ones that have been called less.

It’s like the notch count on women. A good catch is finding a zero. Many guys have to settle for a 2 or 3. The last thing you want is the one with a body count of 35.
 
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It sometimes is the educated coyote that makes for a fun challenge. I have had ones that have drove me crazy. This leads to trying new calls and set ups. Makes you a better hunter. Had one two years ago that I had multiple tries at. Pulled out all the stops but no luck. Hey I cussed a lot but I had a good time.
 
Speaking of a dog's memory- I've had several bird dogs over the decades, mainly German Shorthair Pointers, and one Brittany, and each dog would go to the exact spot they found a pheasant at in prior years. Did they 'remember' that spot, or did it look 'birdy' to them, so they would check it out.

In the 60's, my Dad's car had an air box/floor vent in the footwell, and our dog ( Irish Setter, then GSP)would sleep there on the way to a hunt. We would drive through lots of farmlands, but when we got close to a farm we had hunted in the past, the dog would wake up and put his nose in the air vent. It could be from the last hunt in January to the first hunt in November, and the dog would recognize the particular farm smells.
 
I try to find unpressured coyotes but isn’t easy to do on public land. I think the only certain way is to call large sections of private land no one has access to call. Calling places far from population centers, early fall and “odd spots” are some of the strategies I use to find coyotes that don’t get called to as often.
I also rarely call the same spots more than once or twice per year.
Besides avoiding spots I’ve called recently, I don’t make finding unpressured coyotes a high priority.
 
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