Certain memories stand out in life, whether you’ve just hit adulthood or you’re a veteran with decades in the rearview mirror. For me, standout hunting memories follow close behind family milestones and usually replay moments when everything came together on a coyote stand. A few include when things fell apart, but for the sake of this article, let’s set those aside.
The standout sets that follow didn’t just add fur to my take — they reshaped how I approach hunting coyotes. Each one reinforced a strategy, an attitude or a willingness to adapt and simply hunt. In a predator landscape that grows more challenging every season, these lessons still earn their keep.
Standout Set No. 1: Who Needs Weather Forecasters? — Weather forecasting has become impressively accurate — until it isn’t. I check conditions religiously on my HuntStand app, and most of the time it’s spot on. But wind shifts, fog banks and surprise weather events still have a habit of ignoring forecasts.
After moving from South Dakota to Wyoming nearly two decades ago, I noticed a strange foothills phenomenon. At daybreak, winds often reversed direction entirely, sometimes completing a full 360-degree loop before settling down well after sunrise. That reminded me of advice from an old coyote hunter: Having the wind at your back isn’t always bad — you know exactly where the coyote wants to be.
On one hunt, a predicted northwest wind gave me perfect downwind control — until it didn’t. Mid-stand, the breeze brushed the back of my neck. Instead of packing up, I adjusted my aim to where a wind-smart coyote would appear. Moments later, one materialized just off the scent stream, barreling toward security. A bark stopped the retreating canine, and the stand ended with a textbook smackdown.
Today, when the wind turns unpredictable, I adapt. Sometimes that means shifting a few feet. Sometimes it means rethinking the entire setup. You hunt when you have time to hunt. In most situations, I just hunt, improvise and let experience do the forecasting.
Standout Set No. 2: Decoy Love — Decoys fascinated me long before my initiation to predator hunting — from ducks to turkeys to big game. Using a coyote decoy felt like a natural evolution, but early options were too bulky for long Western hikes. That changed when I discovered Montana Decoy Company’s lightweight, photo-realistic 2D coyote decoys.
On a standout morning along a creek bottom, I placed the decoy near a fenceline and went prone on a nearby rise. At shooting light, a series of lone howls brought no ressponse — until pointy ears appeared along the field edge. The coyote locked eyes with the decoy and began circling, hackles raised, convinced it was dealing with an intruder.
I nearly forgot I was hunting. Finally, I broke my own rule about passing on the first good shot and ended the standoff with a Hornady V-Max. That stand changed everything.
Today, the Montana Sitting Coyote rides in my pack more often than not, usually paired with a light spritz of coyote urine. When terrain allows — and when my dog isn’t part of the plan — it’s almost automatic.
Standout Set No. 3: Instill Even More Confidence — Howling builds confidence, but pressured coyotes grow wary of vocalizations. When that happens, I turn to sounds that coyotes trust — birds. Crows, ravens, magpies and jays are constants in a coyote’s world. They signal food, safety and opportunity. During one winter when distress calls fell flat, I committed to bird chatter alone. Magpies swarmed. Crows joined in. I went silent.
At the 25-minute mark, a mature coyote followed a cattle trail straight toward the commotion, completely at ease. It never hurried. At 100 yards, the reticle settled and the lesson was sealed.
Today, bird sounds are a staple between howls and distress calls. When real birds show up, coyotes often aren’t far behind.
Standout Set No. 4: Shhhh! Be Quiet — Years of bowhunting whitetails taught me patience — and how animals use the same terrain features. Trails, fence lines, hay yards and bedding cover draw both deer and coyotes.
One frigid January morning, I slipped quietly into a hay yard before daylight and climbed into a round-bale stack. A coyote crossed the pasture at first light but vanished into cover. Seconds later, movement erupted beside me. Another coyote stood up from its warm hay bed less than 75 yards away. The .22-250 Rem. ended the surprise before sunrise.
I still-hunt quietly more now, easing into openings and glassing before calling. Coyotes focused on hunting often forget to watch for danger.
Standout Set No. 5: What A Good Boy — Hunting with a dog changed everything. My first border collie, Sage, showed me what a trained dog adds to predator hunting — pressure, provocation and chaos in your favor.
On one public-land hunt, three coyotes charged our setup. I missed the first running shot, but Sage chased one into a sagebrush standoff. Seconds from disaster, I ended the confrontation cleanly.
Sage passed on, but her lessons live on in Sully — my current canine partner. He howls, holds commands, hunts sheds and waits patiently until it’s time to deploy.
Standout sets don’t happen every hunt, but when they do, pay attention. Success and failure are both teachers. Those lessons — earned in wind shifts, silence, decoys and dogs — are what keep your coyote strategy evolving. School is always in session.
Hornady .22 Creedmoor
I’ve long favored the .22-250 Remington for hunting fur, but Hornady’s .22 Creedmoor has forced a serious reconsideration. Pushing sleek, high-BC bullets up to 3,600 fps, it delivers flat trajectories with heavier projectiles that hit harder at extended distances. Paired with the lightweight Bergara Cima Pro rifle — just 5.7 pounds bare — the setup excels for cross-country predator hunts. Carbon construction, a Cure barrel and a TriggerTech trigger round out a rifle built for miles and precision. Bullet options range from the 65-grain Hornady CX to the 80-grain ELD-X, making the .22 Creedmoor a serious predator contender. — Mark Kayser
