One thing you learn about calling coyotes over time is simply this: Every time out is a new adventure. What worked yesterday, or last week, or last month, might not work today. There are seasonal changes that can help you plan a basic strategy, but at the end of the day, you have to be ready to change it up when Plan A doesn’t produce.
Regardless of whether you’re hunting public ground for coyotes, or big game such as deer or elk, or small game, or waterfowl, or upland birds, when you think about it, most hunters can get stuck in a rut without even knowing it. You’ve found some techniques and tactics that just seem to produce more regularly than others, and so they become your default setting every time you head out the door. And while this makes total sense, nothing works every time. It’s the ability and a willingness to change it up quickly that separates elite hunters from those who are just pretty dang good.
Predator hunters are no different. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, using calling sequences that become predictable. On any given day you move between stands using the exact same sounds in the exact same sequence all day simply because it worked before. In truth, every coyote is different. I learned this in my 20s by hanging out with a government contract hunter who got paid for killing coyotes for a living. His job was to protect livestock and deer on their traditional fawning grounds, and he was good at it in no small part because he understood that every coyote is an individual. He’d sometimes spend several days hunting one specific coyote, and killing that dog often made him leave his comfort zone and try something new.
Seasonality Issues
First, let’s discuss seasonality issues. There’s no question that you can call coyotes into gun range 365 days a year. In most states the coyote hunting season never ends, or if it does close, it remains open for many months. You can hunt them when it’s hot, when it’s cold, when they’re breeding, when territorial battles are at their peak, whatever. The debate about when the best time to successfully call them is ongoing, and I am not sure there is an absolute correct answer. I say that because I have successfully called coyotes during the summer in southern Arizona when the daytime highs approached triple digits, as well as when the mercury hovered below freezing for days at a time in more northerly states. I’ve also spent time in excellent coyote country during September and October — definitely prime time — and made a ton of stands where I didn’t call a thing. The same is true in the Arizona spring and summer.
For me, the early fall months have always been a great time to hunt in the Western states. I believe that’s true in no small part because the numbers of coyotes out and about are at a seasonal high, with the young of the year out on their own and relatively easy to call, and hunting pressure is relatively low. As the fall months go on, big-game bowhunters are done, but upland bird hunting starts going strong, and big-game rifle hunters in their orange get-ups and on their ATVs are everywhere — and they’re all trying to kill any coyotes they accidentally come across. Then it becomes tougher, not just because of the other hunters afield but because there are lots of gut piles for the dogs to feast upon. Once the big-game hunters are mostly gone, business can pick up again through the winter and into early spring, when breeding occurs.
For most of us, though, prime coyote hunting time runs from early fall through spring. Here’s a quick look at the different portions of this prime hunting period.
Primetime No. 1:
September-November
This is one of the year’s prime times, if you can work around other hunters who often unwittingly stir the pot while they’re chasing other animals. With new pups still close to the den, it means that coyote densities are at their peak. The young dogs are hungry and they’re inexperienced in the ways of the world, making them as vulnerable to skilled hunters as they’ll ever be — which can make for exceptional calling.
I have found that, for me, to pick this low-hanging fruit simple prey distress calls are a great way to start the party. That’s usually all it takes, though some locator calls can also be helpful. Part of my thinking is that while I want to bang as many dogs as I can as soon as I can, I don’t necessarily want to play all my sounds right now and educate the already-educated coyotes any more than necessary. It’s also a great time to bring along a new caller, as the action can be fast at times and it’s a great way to build up their confidence and experience.
Primetime No. 2:
Thanksgiving-January
By now, many coyotes have been rousted by non-predator hunters tromping through their home territories and taking pot shots at any hapless dog they luckily run into. They’ve also been called to by serious predator hunters squealing like dying rabbits, so they’ve become a bit more reluctant to charge your own calling. (Of course, if you’re hunting private ground with limited access to other hunters, they might still be almost virginal.)
My thinking is that I am now hunting coyotes that have already been called in and shot at but missed, so I have to up my game accordingly. While distress sounds still work, I find it’s a good idea to add on some additional sounds. Here’s a thought: Have you ever noticed that coyotes either travel with, or are often found around, crows, ravens and magpies? So why not open your stand up with bird sounds prior to using a distress sound? And why not use bird sounds in-between distress sequences? This will add an additional layer of realism that can help trick an experienced coyote into coming to take a look.
Another trick that’s different is to open a stand with an interrogation howl. Try to sound like a young coyote that is less likely to intimidate others in the area than sounding like a dominant male. My thinking is that any other callers have pretty much relied on the usual distress calls, so by adding different sounds to the mix I’m showing something new and intriguing. This will hopefully appeal to their curiosity, need for companionship and/or territorial issues in addition to a need for food.
Primetime No. 3:
Late January-March
Let’s face it. While winter hunting can be The Bomb, if you’re hunting public ground that’s been hunted a fair amount, the majority of the coyotes you’ll encounter have been battle-tested since the end of summer. They’ve been called to, shot at, maybe run a gauntlet of snares and traps, perhaps even chased by low-flying aircraft. They have a graduate degree in being ultra-cautious. To be consistently successful, hunters need to dig deep into their bag of tricks.
This is the time of year when approaching a stand site takes great patience and care in not being seen, heard or smelled. For example, when crossing a barbed-wire fence, do your best not to snap the wires. Those vibrations can travel down the length of the fence and alert nearby coyotes that something is up. It’s also the time when you’re smart to spend maximum time on each calling stand before moving on — especially if you’re using a lot of coyote vocalizations. My rule of thumb now is a minimum of 30 minutes on stand.
And now is when coyote vocalizations can make it happen, even more so than prey distress sounds. Why? Because this is the season when coyotes are typically in pairs for breeding season. They are extremely protective of their territories and will defend them against unwanted intruders. Males that have not found a mate are searching for one. If you’ve ever bowhunted elk during the September rut, or chased whitetails in November when they’re rut-crazed, you know how effective same-species calls can be. It’s the same with coyotes.
For many reasons, I also forgo the rabbit distress calls now. There are several reasons for this. For one, they’ve been hearing this over and over again for months. If it hasn’t worked by now, it probably won’t work at all. So, try distress sounds that other callers might have not used much, if at all — fox pup distress, bird distress, woodpecker, even deer fawn distress calls — which I have used with great success also during summer, after deer have dropped their fawns. If you’re hunting suburban areas, don’t overlook kitten or puppy dog distress.
Situational Awareness
Situational awareness refers to the understanding of an environment, its elements and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. Every day hunting coyotes, regardless of the season, requires situational awareness so you can modify your tactics and techniques to meet the conditions of the day.
This is why scouting is so important. By locating coyotes at night by howling not only tells you where they are, but also helps get a feel for who they are. Add this info to the time of year, and boom! You have a feeling for the situation and how to best attack it. For example, say you’ve gotten a pair of young coyotes to answer you at midnight during October. A solid plan is to move in and use prey distress calls. If, on the other hand, it’s an old lone male, using coyote vocalizations instead of prey distress sounds might make him think he has an intruder he needs to challenge for territorial dominance. Or, say during the day you call in a pair and kill only the female. Come back in a week and use female invitation howls, hoping he is still looking for a new mate.
The point is, no two situations are exactly the same. By using your experience, knowledge of coyote behavior during the evolving seasons and a willingness to change your approach, you’ll help stack the odds in your favor. When hunting ol’ Wile E., that’s all we can hope for.
