My friend, a newbie at coyote hunting, poked me in the ribs and whispered excitedly, “There’s two coming!” We were sitting back-to-back while I wailed on a mouth call, so I half turned to get a view of the incoming coyotes. They were coming in hot, following a trail that would put them into a perfect kill zone, and with a solid wind in our faces it was certain they’d never catch our scent.
As I watched, they paused briefly, largely hidden behind a screen of brush, apparently to reassess the sounds of the dying rabbit. Perfect, I thought, when they step clear of the brush, I’ll stop them and tell my friend to shoot. However, my plans were interrupted by the boom of his rifle. Disappointed, I watched both coyotes run off, completely untouched. Of course, the fragile varmint bullet of my friend’s .223 never made it through the brush, and a great opportunity was lost.
This incident is a great example of how an experienced coyote hunter looks at approaching coyotes, compared to someone new at the sport. What I saw were two coyotes hunting together as a pair, not competing. They were on a trail, following a path of least resistance, and the way the terrain was laid out at least one of them was going to stay on it, although the other may have broken off into a large circle to get behind us. The wind was perfect and had been the entire time we were on stand. It wasn’t going to betray us, and as a bonus the sun was in the coyotes’ eyes, helping our concealment. When they stepped clear of the brush, I’d bark, they’d stop and at least one would get a ride in our truck.
My rookie friend saw two coyotes and an opportunity to shoot. That’s all.
The difference between the two perspectives can be boiled down to one word, experience. With half a century of coyote hunting under my belt, factoring in terrain, wind, sun, a coyote’s body language and distance are all second nature. To a rookie, it’s information overload, and confirms my opinion that one of the toughest things for a new coyote caller to learn is when to shoot.
Factoring the Wind
All coyote hunters will agree that monitoring the wind is key to deciding how to set up for a calling session. I regularly tell new hunters we can fool a coyote’s eyes and ears, but we can’t fool their noses. It’s why coyotes so often attempt to circle the source of a sound to catch a whiff of the cause. While it’s important to factor this into setting up at a stand it’s also a key to determining when to shoot.
This means continually visualizing the location of a hunter’s downwind scent cone. A particularly good example is when I deliberately set up so my scent is being blown into a large open space, such as a frozen pond. This is a great technique in areas of heavy cover. I then watch this downwind zone with the expectation a coyote will circle into it. When coyotes come in from either left or right, the time to shoot is before they hit the edges of my scent cone. I have misjudged this cone more than once, only to have a coyote spin around like it hit a wall and sprint for cover. So, the best time to shoot is when they first step out of the bush and onto the ice, typically looking around to decide if they want to commit to stepping farther into the open.
Monitoring the wind continually while on stand is key to getting it right when shooting time arrives. My favorite way to do that is with a wind string tied near the muzzle of my rifle. About 6 inches long, this sensitive wind gauge is a huge help in determining where my scent is going, and therefore when to shoot.
Terrain Matters
I recall a pair of springtime coyotes that came charging to my calls from a long way upwind. The wind was totally in my favor, so there was no danger in letting them come in. As I expected, about 100 yards out they slowed to a walk, then veered right to circle me. However, I hadn’t noticed a shallow swale in the terrain, and as they entered it, they vanished from sight. It was apparent they would catch my scent while hidden, and no doubt disappear forever.
I was sitting on the ground with my back against a tree, so I quickly stood up, giving me enough elevation to see them. Fortunately, they stopped when they saw me, and I dropped the closest one with an offhand shot.
I got lucky there, but I should have taken that swale into account and stopped the pair with a bark or two when they first slowed to a walk. Terrain matters, whether it’s a feature that allows a predator to escape from view, or as in the story I related at the beginning of this piece, where a road, trail or other path-of-least-resistance prompts them to pursue a particular route.
Yes, wind is important in deciding when to shoot, but you also need to factor terrain into that decision.
Coyote Body Language
And then there’s a coyote’s body language. I will sometimes run a small video camera attached to my rifle so I can later analyze what happened during a stand, and this has proven educational in learning to read coyote body language. A great example occurs when two coyotes show themselves at about the same time in response to prey distress. The key question then is, are they hunting as a team or are they competing?
If they are competing, it’ll likely be a footrace to see who gets to the prey first. Often, one is more aggressive in its approach while the other is more cautious, but if both are aggressive it can get exciting real fast. The former situation happened to me this past winter. On that occasion, when the cautious one stopped at 60 yards I dropped it, even though the more aggressive one was still running in closer. That one ended up bowling over my Foxpro and I never even got a shot at it. But if I don’t have a shotgun, I’ll take a standing coyote at 60 yards over a runner any day, no matter how close it is.
If they are hunting as a team, however, it’s possible one of them will break off early to circle the prey and close the back door, while the other takes a direct approach. That’s what I suspect the pair mentioned at the beginning of this piece were doing, because they were running at the same speed and stopping together. They were just waiting for the right time to split up and encircle the rabbit.
