Yeah Phil, I was jet-setting this week, and ended up with some kind of food poisoning or flu for a couple days while I was flying around (great fun spending a couple days hunkered down on a hotel toilet between business meetings), so took me a while to get back on this. I actually wrote that response yesterday afternoon but forgot to send it before I made supper for mama and me.

But yeah, I think your plan will work well for you. Like you said, not so different than drawing them into any open area with bait. The cover should give them a bit of confidence. Only caveat to keep in mind is how far the coyotes have to come out from cover to reach the bait. They WILL leave cover for meals, but they'll commit more quickly if they don't have to.

Another really fun option, which can increase the lifespan of your bait, would be to hang part of the carcass on a tripod stand, and only leave smaller bits on the ground/ice beneath it. Around here, a deer carcass will get stripped in a night or two, so bait piles don't last long. My brother-in-law and I have been hanging roadkill deer in trees lately, then throwing smaller chunks out each day on the way to work. That funk really gets ripe after a day or two, and when it's cold, we can get about a week and a half out of a carcass, instead of 2 days. You're probably cold enough that deer will freeze to the ice? Anything you can do to get more life out of your bait.