Scouting & Set Design (Long & Pic Heavy)
03-18-2013, 06:22 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,903
Scouting & Set Design (Long & Pic Heavy)
Whether a “new coyote hunter” is a true greenhorn completely new to hunting, or a died-in-the-wool big game hunter that’s looking for a new challenge, one question seems to be universal: “How should I set up for coyote calling?” There’s definitely more than one way to design a successful set, but I’ll share my techniques for scouting and set design by using a property that I’ve been hunting for over 20yrs as an example.
Successful predator calling still depends on many of the same variables as most big game hunting, but with a twist: Predatory species behave differently than prey species. Predators have more erratic traffic patterns, and will actually travel overland to a call, which lets coyote hunters be more pro-active in set design.
Scouting Tips: Predator hunting recon
Scouting for predators isn’t so different than scouting for any other type of game. You’ll be looking for game trails, paw-print tracks, bedding areas/dens, scat, evidence of feeding (rabbit fur or feathers strewn around), etc.
When looking for sign, I walk ravines looking for low-lying areas that hold moisture or soft soil areas looking for tracks. Coyotes will use terrain features to protect them from the wind, so in regions that have regular winds, I also look for traffic on the downwind side of ridges, crowns, ditches, banks, or even fences. Coyotes will pick favored spots to cross fences, leaving worn paths along and beneath the fence, and you will often find tufts of fur snagged on the wire, so I walk all of the fence-lines on the property. Fresh coyote scat is a good sign, but keep in mind, coyotes can travel long distances in short periods of time so just how fresh is important.
The presence of dens can be deceiving, you have to confirm whether a den is in active use or abandoned. Coyotes have large home ranges and can use up to 200 different dens in a year. Coyotes are also notorious squatters, letting other animals like badgers do the digging, then taking over their den. To tell the difference: Badger dens will have wide, flat mouths, often with steep entrance angles, and short, broad dirt mounds, with obvious claw marks and tracks (5 long claws). Coyote dens have oval mouths, taller than they are wide, a more gradual entrance slope, and longer stretched dirt mounds from how they dig. Look for fresh track on the mounds, and remember that if you disturb the den or lay too much scent, they may move on. Dens will often be in the side of hills, ridges, or ditches (especially the downwind side), so keep an eye on these areas.
Below, I’ll use some pictures to illustrate how I apply my scouting and design method. The larger field is the southern portion of a cattle pasture, with some of the neighboring fields included (upon which, for the record, I also have standing permission to hunt).
The satellite image doesn’t look like much, but putting boots on the ground reveals a lot of texture to the terrain. The northeast corner is a sort of horseshoe plateau, draining down towards the southwest. There’s a creek at the north edge with a small pond entrapment and about 10acres of trees at the eastern end (not all in the pic). To the West, there’s a small narrow pasture and a wide open wheatfield with a large grassy spillway in the middle. I’ve highlighted some of these features in the picture below. There are multiple den sites around this area. Not all are in use at the same time, but these have stayed pretty active over the years. The tracks and scat that I’ve found confirm that the coyotes travel in the low-laying draws and ravines, which presents a challenge because these cuts are spider-webbed throughout the pasture. There’s also an old concrete oil-pumper base perched on the ridge at the northeast.
Set-Design: Processing scouting info into a successful set
Now that I’m confident that coyotes are in the area, I first designate a certain area as my “kill-zone” where I want to bring the coyote for the shot. The Kill-Zone brings the Coyote and the Hunter together, so a well-chosen Kill-Zone should be successful at getting the coyote to approach, as well as letting the hunter spot and get a shot on the coyote before it sees or smells them. How I evaluate all of my scouting intel is centered around this method.
Natural Approach
I design my sets to allow coyotes to travel along their normal traffic areas at first to build their confidence, but then lure them a step further out into the open for a shot. The two biggest factors that dictate natural travel patterns are wind and terrain (see below), but scouting to find these traffic lanes is critical. There are only 3 or 4 distinct East-to-West lanes on this patch, all following the various drainage ravines, so I want to design my set to capitalize on those lanes.
Wind
As with most big game hunting, the wind can be a hunter’s best friend, or worst enemy. Many new callers will set up for predators like they would place a deerstand, favoring the wind in their face. Coyotes, however, will very often attempt to circle downwind as they approach, so hunters facing into the wind will miss a lot of coyotes that circle wide and sneak in the backdoor. Knowing this, I design most of my sets to put the wind in one ear and give coyotes some room to try to circle downwind, especially when using an e-caller. I place my E-caller upwind and cross wind from my shooting position with the downwind kill-zone wide open so if a coyote tries to circle downwind, it’s forced to expose itself, and his path will fall right into my lap. This E-caller strategy is perfect for this location. Both a North or South wind (95% of the year in KS) favor setting up on the East side here, because whether they come straight to the call or try circling downwind, they’ll be coming cross wind, protecting my scent trails and “No Zones” from their path.
Terrain
Coyotes are absolute masters at using terrain features to conceal their travel. If your set isn’t placed properly, coyotes will be able to approach and catch sight or scent of you before you see them by traveling in subtle cuts or ravines, or hiding behind the slightest crowns and ridges. Hunters must take away that advantage by positioning their set to expose as many approaches as possible, letting the coyote travel those lines THINKING that they are concealed. Since this pasture has a trough down from the northeast to the southwest, I want to position my shooting position looking either up or down the spill with the best visibility I can find.
Time of Day/Sun position
While any time of day or night can be productive, coyote calling is usually most fruitful during dusk and dawn. Hunters always need to include the sun’s position during the planned hunting times and seasons into their set designs. This spot, for example, is largely inaccessible from the North and West, so evening calling will present a challenge, whereas sitting along the East side is an ideal morning set up (of course, being careful not to silhouette myself against the rising sun).
Concealment
Setting up in open range might seem exceedingly difficult, but predator callers need to adapt to concealment where it doesn’t seem readily intuitive. A fenceline, corner-post, bush, tree, even a clump of tall grass can provide enough concealment for a hunter. Keep it simple, camouflage yourself, be mobile, get low, and stay still. In this pasture, there are bushes, clumps of grass, corner posts, and landforms, but that old concrete oil-pump base on the ridge really piqued my interest from the start (elevated shooting platform, or monolithic back-rest shading me from the morning sun).
Accessibility
All that’s left is to figure out how to get into my shooting position 1) without getting spotted, 2) without laying scent trail “no-zones” all over the field, and 3) without taking so much time on foot that I blow half of my day walking instead of hunting. I have passed over a lot of sets that I think would be high producing areas because I simply can’t get there without getting busted, or because they were too deep into a property to let me get in and out without costing me a few sets that day. The roadway on the East side offers a few spots to hide my truck along the road out of view from the field. That concrete base is a couple hundred yards up the road from that roadway cut, and only about 120yrds off of the road, entering the field cross-wind.
Final Set Design
Adding it all together, my “kill-zone” is the head of the spill at the north east corner, with my shooting position at that pump base, exclusively for morning sets in either a north or south wind, with “ideal conditions” to be a north wind with the e-caller placed about 100yrds northwest of my shooting position, giving them room to circle downwind, forcing them to expose themselves as they come in.
In a south wind, the same shooting position still works, but it hasn’t been as productive, possibly because of the lack of room for them to circle downwind while staying inside the low-lying spillways. The approach from the north den site lets them circle into my “No Zone” too easily also.
I wanted a “plan B” to let me use this set in the evening, so I picked a secondary Kill Zone at the other end of the spillway, but it isn’t nearly as productive. This position only works with a north wind. The coyotes have to cross more open ground without concealment, and you can see that it doesn’t leave much room for coyotes to circle downwind. The south road doesn’t offer a spot to conceal my truck, so the approach is a half-mile long and completely exposed, and the sun glare can be an issue keeping an eye on the western approach.
There’s more than one right way to do things, but hopefully the method to my madness can help shed some light on the thought process that goes into building a successful set.
Successful predator calling still depends on many of the same variables as most big game hunting, but with a twist: Predatory species behave differently than prey species. Predators have more erratic traffic patterns, and will actually travel overland to a call, which lets coyote hunters be more pro-active in set design.
Scouting Tips: Predator hunting recon
Scouting for predators isn’t so different than scouting for any other type of game. You’ll be looking for game trails, paw-print tracks, bedding areas/dens, scat, evidence of feeding (rabbit fur or feathers strewn around), etc.
When looking for sign, I walk ravines looking for low-lying areas that hold moisture or soft soil areas looking for tracks. Coyotes will use terrain features to protect them from the wind, so in regions that have regular winds, I also look for traffic on the downwind side of ridges, crowns, ditches, banks, or even fences. Coyotes will pick favored spots to cross fences, leaving worn paths along and beneath the fence, and you will often find tufts of fur snagged on the wire, so I walk all of the fence-lines on the property. Fresh coyote scat is a good sign, but keep in mind, coyotes can travel long distances in short periods of time so just how fresh is important.
The presence of dens can be deceiving, you have to confirm whether a den is in active use or abandoned. Coyotes have large home ranges and can use up to 200 different dens in a year. Coyotes are also notorious squatters, letting other animals like badgers do the digging, then taking over their den. To tell the difference: Badger dens will have wide, flat mouths, often with steep entrance angles, and short, broad dirt mounds, with obvious claw marks and tracks (5 long claws). Coyote dens have oval mouths, taller than they are wide, a more gradual entrance slope, and longer stretched dirt mounds from how they dig. Look for fresh track on the mounds, and remember that if you disturb the den or lay too much scent, they may move on. Dens will often be in the side of hills, ridges, or ditches (especially the downwind side), so keep an eye on these areas.
Below, I’ll use some pictures to illustrate how I apply my scouting and design method. The larger field is the southern portion of a cattle pasture, with some of the neighboring fields included (upon which, for the record, I also have standing permission to hunt).
The satellite image doesn’t look like much, but putting boots on the ground reveals a lot of texture to the terrain. The northeast corner is a sort of horseshoe plateau, draining down towards the southwest. There’s a creek at the north edge with a small pond entrapment and about 10acres of trees at the eastern end (not all in the pic). To the West, there’s a small narrow pasture and a wide open wheatfield with a large grassy spillway in the middle. I’ve highlighted some of these features in the picture below. There are multiple den sites around this area. Not all are in use at the same time, but these have stayed pretty active over the years. The tracks and scat that I’ve found confirm that the coyotes travel in the low-laying draws and ravines, which presents a challenge because these cuts are spider-webbed throughout the pasture. There’s also an old concrete oil-pumper base perched on the ridge at the northeast.
Set-Design: Processing scouting info into a successful set
Now that I’m confident that coyotes are in the area, I first designate a certain area as my “kill-zone” where I want to bring the coyote for the shot. The Kill-Zone brings the Coyote and the Hunter together, so a well-chosen Kill-Zone should be successful at getting the coyote to approach, as well as letting the hunter spot and get a shot on the coyote before it sees or smells them. How I evaluate all of my scouting intel is centered around this method.
Natural Approach
I design my sets to allow coyotes to travel along their normal traffic areas at first to build their confidence, but then lure them a step further out into the open for a shot. The two biggest factors that dictate natural travel patterns are wind and terrain (see below), but scouting to find these traffic lanes is critical. There are only 3 or 4 distinct East-to-West lanes on this patch, all following the various drainage ravines, so I want to design my set to capitalize on those lanes.
Wind
As with most big game hunting, the wind can be a hunter’s best friend, or worst enemy. Many new callers will set up for predators like they would place a deerstand, favoring the wind in their face. Coyotes, however, will very often attempt to circle downwind as they approach, so hunters facing into the wind will miss a lot of coyotes that circle wide and sneak in the backdoor. Knowing this, I design most of my sets to put the wind in one ear and give coyotes some room to try to circle downwind, especially when using an e-caller. I place my E-caller upwind and cross wind from my shooting position with the downwind kill-zone wide open so if a coyote tries to circle downwind, it’s forced to expose itself, and his path will fall right into my lap. This E-caller strategy is perfect for this location. Both a North or South wind (95% of the year in KS) favor setting up on the East side here, because whether they come straight to the call or try circling downwind, they’ll be coming cross wind, protecting my scent trails and “No Zones” from their path.
Terrain
Coyotes are absolute masters at using terrain features to conceal their travel. If your set isn’t placed properly, coyotes will be able to approach and catch sight or scent of you before you see them by traveling in subtle cuts or ravines, or hiding behind the slightest crowns and ridges. Hunters must take away that advantage by positioning their set to expose as many approaches as possible, letting the coyote travel those lines THINKING that they are concealed. Since this pasture has a trough down from the northeast to the southwest, I want to position my shooting position looking either up or down the spill with the best visibility I can find.
Time of Day/Sun position
While any time of day or night can be productive, coyote calling is usually most fruitful during dusk and dawn. Hunters always need to include the sun’s position during the planned hunting times and seasons into their set designs. This spot, for example, is largely inaccessible from the North and West, so evening calling will present a challenge, whereas sitting along the East side is an ideal morning set up (of course, being careful not to silhouette myself against the rising sun).
Concealment
Setting up in open range might seem exceedingly difficult, but predator callers need to adapt to concealment where it doesn’t seem readily intuitive. A fenceline, corner-post, bush, tree, even a clump of tall grass can provide enough concealment for a hunter. Keep it simple, camouflage yourself, be mobile, get low, and stay still. In this pasture, there are bushes, clumps of grass, corner posts, and landforms, but that old concrete oil-pump base on the ridge really piqued my interest from the start (elevated shooting platform, or monolithic back-rest shading me from the morning sun).
Accessibility
All that’s left is to figure out how to get into my shooting position 1) without getting spotted, 2) without laying scent trail “no-zones” all over the field, and 3) without taking so much time on foot that I blow half of my day walking instead of hunting. I have passed over a lot of sets that I think would be high producing areas because I simply can’t get there without getting busted, or because they were too deep into a property to let me get in and out without costing me a few sets that day. The roadway on the East side offers a few spots to hide my truck along the road out of view from the field. That concrete base is a couple hundred yards up the road from that roadway cut, and only about 120yrds off of the road, entering the field cross-wind.
Final Set Design
Adding it all together, my “kill-zone” is the head of the spill at the north east corner, with my shooting position at that pump base, exclusively for morning sets in either a north or south wind, with “ideal conditions” to be a north wind with the e-caller placed about 100yrds northwest of my shooting position, giving them room to circle downwind, forcing them to expose themselves as they come in.
In a south wind, the same shooting position still works, but it hasn’t been as productive, possibly because of the lack of room for them to circle downwind while staying inside the low-lying spillways. The approach from the north den site lets them circle into my “No Zone” too easily also.
I wanted a “plan B” to let me use this set in the evening, so I picked a secondary Kill Zone at the other end of the spillway, but it isn’t nearly as productive. This position only works with a north wind. The coyotes have to cross more open ground without concealment, and you can see that it doesn’t leave much room for coyotes to circle downwind. The south road doesn’t offer a spot to conceal my truck, so the approach is a half-mile long and completely exposed, and the sun glare can be an issue keeping an eye on the western approach.
There’s more than one right way to do things, but hopefully the method to my madness can help shed some light on the thought process that goes into building a successful set.
Last edited by Nomercy448; 07-08-2017 at 12:26 PM.
03-18-2013, 06:53 PM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 5,130
"I want to position my shooting position looking either up or down the spill with the best visibility I can find." Nomercy
.............and I still prefer the high ground.
I also have learned to use these "cuts" to get in and out of a area, regardless of wind direction.
Hide in plain sight........ walk up the cut, settle in & get quiet.
I have had opportunities no more than 100 yards from my parked "SUV" (for me anyway).
Find them and then go kill'em !!!
.............and I still prefer the high ground.
I also have learned to use these "cuts" to get in and out of a area, regardless of wind direction.
Hide in plain sight........ walk up the cut, settle in & get quiet.
I have had opportunities no more than 100 yards from my parked "SUV" (for me anyway).
Find them and then go kill'em !!!
03-23-2013, 06:18 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,903
I usually like to move a mile or more between sets unless I'm in really dense country, or in big hill country. In general, coyotes can/will travel (rather, they can hear your call) from a half mile or so, so I generally move that far. But that's not ironclad, there are some sets that I have moved less than a quarter mile, faced a different direction, and called in dogs at both sets back to back.
