What kind of scouting do you do?
 

What kind of scouting do you'ns do for coyotes? I realize since you're calling them in a lot you wouldn't need to hone in on a specific location. From what I understand coyotes are roamin' animals anyways. So do you just sit on whatever rock fits your fanny, or do you put a little more thought into it?

Brandan

RE: What kind of scouting do you do?
 

scouting is a very important aspect of sucsessfull coyote hunting.its the main reason alot of hunters are not sucsessfull in harvesting them,there hunting where there just isn't any coyotes.the obvious things to look for are tracks,scat and the remains of small animals.theres two types of coyotes,pack dogs and roamers or loaners.a pack of coyotes will have a claimed territory that they roam.now this territory can be very large depending on where your hunting them.around here its anywhere from 8 to 15 miles.out west i believe that it can be up to and beyond 25 miles.a roamer is a coyote that dosn't belong to a spacific pack(most times a young male)and this dog will be and can be any where at any time,there always on the move.the point here being is just becouse you see tracks and scat,it dosn't mean theres coyotes there right at that moment.if they were left by pack animals they maybe on the other side of there territory and it could be several days or more before there back to where your standing.if its a single set of tracks your looking at they may have been left by a loaner and he will most likly never be back.to know exactly where a pack of coyotes is at any given moment takes an incredible amount of time spent in the woods,most of us don't have this kind of time.an effective tactic i have found for finding them is to use a group howl tape(or have several hunters blowing on howlers at the same time)in the wee hours(dark) of the morning.if theres coyotes within ear shot,95 % of the time they will answer with a group howl of there own.this dosn't replace scouting,scouting is still very important.you need to know where and or what trails they run,you need to know the lay of the land so you can figure on there most likly approch route,you need to have pre arranged stand sets that are located on or around these likly approch routes so you can go in sit down with a minmum amount of noise and movment.here in the east it would seem that scouting would be more important then out west.the main reason,becouse there just isn't as many.the second reason,becouse you can't see them and they won't travel as far as they do out west responding to a distress call(any westerners if i'm wrong here please correct me)so it would seem logical that you would have to zero in on them a little closer.its no different then deer or turkey hunting,scouting is 90 % of the hunt.you need to be where they are to sucsessfully harvest one.

Edited by - coyoteseeker on 01/26/2003 07:36:10

RE: What kind of scouting do you do?
 

The areas that I hunt here in Pa are hit and miss as far as the coyotes go. I'm new to this but so far my best luck is to ask property owners if they are seeing/hearing them , and also listen to your hunting buddies, where did they see them during deer season. Around here the coyotes have just started to show up over the past few years, and hunting them has just started to catch on. Most are taken by deer and bear hunters just by luck. Most of the farmers are glad to let you hunt them because they are afraid for their smaller livestock and barnyard cats, etc..

RE: What kind of scouting do you do?
 

While scouting for coyotes I try to keep a few things in mind. things like food accesibilty, cover, water and mainly a large population of rabbits, squirrel, grouse, pheasant and other small animals easilycaught by coyotes. I try to locate thier droppings if possible but have found very little. also I will look for partially eaten corpses of deer an other animals. and finally I will sneak into the woods at night to try to hear some howling. if I find an area which I believe there to be coyotes I will put a spy cam and see if I can get some on film ( none yet )!! good luck let me know how you do!

RE: What kind of scouting do you do?
 

I don't do a lot of scouting. I like to talk to the land owners in the areas that I hunt. The ranchers are out every day where I hunt, so they can give me a lot of info. They sometimes will know of another rancher that may be having problems, and can send me in the right direction. I also will drive the roads after a fresh snow to look for tracks. I also keep my eyes open while actually hunting, Looking for rabbit tracks. I have found that where I find the most rabbit tracks, I will find coyotes there too.

RE: What kind of scouting do you do?
 

We know the general area that they range in and change the stand locations quite often .Some times they will be there and other times nothing . The last few years there has been a big increase in the population and few hunters in this area so its getting better .

RE: What kind of scouting do you do?
 

Irish,
you can always just try your luck by sitting on a log and waiting, but to better your chances, do some scouting. Yotes do tend to move around, but if there is food and water in the area, they won' t go far. Look for well worn trails and yote tracks. Also, look in the area for dead animals. Yotes won' t be far. Good luck.