Am I doing it wrong?

DoubleLungRage

DoubleLungRage

Active member
A few weeks ago my cousin called and asked if I would come and try to kill a coyote that had been trying to lure his lap dog into the woods behind his house. So, the next week I called and asked if the coyote is still around and he said "absolutely, he's now even coming out during day light hours". We set a date and I get there about two hours after dark. I set up everything and started off with a prey distress (rabbit stew). About two minutes into the calling a big cat came right in on a string. It's not legal to kill cats at night here so we just watched it for a good 10 minutes, circle the call, belly crawl to the call, etc. The cat put on a really good show. Well after the cat finally left I muted the call for about five minutes then started it back up on "rabbit stew". I let the call run for about ten more minutes and nothing else came in. I told my cousin that I was going to try a few vocals so I switch over to a howl then I played "girl fight". Within less than two minutes after I switched to "girl fight" a coyote came out of the woods and followed almost the exact trail the cat came in on. He finally stopped and my cousin (I let him shoot) popped him right in the chest. Dead coyote. The coyote was obviously close enough to hear the distress call, but didn't respond.

So, a few nights ago I was hunting at my house. Like I always do, I started off with some more prey distress. I think it was woodpecker, then I switched to rabbit, then cow. Nothing. I then played c'merelonely howl and bam.... a pack of coyotes open up inside the woods less than 400 yards away. I play a few different howls and fights and they come right to the edge of the field, but would not come out of the woods. (full moon, very bright) We went back and forth for about 10 minutes then one of them finally had enough and darted out into the field. Two more followed, but whenever they didn't see what they were looking for (super bright moon) they took off back towards the wood line and I couldn't get a shot. They then stayed in the woods and circled the field to try to get down wind of the call. Again, they darted out into the field, but this time they were about 400 yards away and I didn't feel comfortable with the shot. After about a minute of running around they went back into the woods. After that I just left them alone.

That's two different times coyotes were clearly just listening to prey sounds and didn't even bother to move.

So, am I doing it wrong? Should I just start off with vocals?

What do you do?
 
It’s breeding season, coyotes are going to respond better to vocals now than most of the year. The ones that are around, if you have pressure in your area have been hearing pray distress for months.
 
ChrisLD said:
It’s breeding season, coyotes are going to respond better to vocals now than most of the year. The ones that are around, if you have pressure in your area have been hearing pray distress for months.
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I understand it's breeding season. Not much pressure around this area.
 
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A few years ago I had a fight sound that worked almost every stand. It got to the point I just started with it sometimes and skipped prey distress.

A week or two ago I had a couple coyotes respond and I could see them around 800 yards out. After almost 20 minutes of different fights etc I played rabbit and here they come.

Last night I called a coyote into the 300 yard range. I barely got a look before it laid down. After rolling through different prey and fights I’m starting to think I misjudged and it was a rabbit.
It finally stood up.

All that to say sometimes it’s worth skipping. And sometimes I skip right by the sound I should have used.

Also it sounds like you have some MFK sounds. The prey sounds I had good luck with on my FP with some MFK sounds was a cotton tail sound(can’t remember the name) Ruthless Rabbit, and Lucky Bird.

Also use the mouse squeaks and vole squeaks. I had a coyote that came in from almost a mile and hung up around 400 yards. Squeaks brought it in to 200 yards.

Also the brighter it is, the more it seems like it’s hard to get them to commit as hard and get as close. I have a lot circle pretty far out on bright nights.
 
dirtytough said:
A few years ago I had a fight sound that worked almost every stand. It got to the point I just started with it sometimes and skipped prey distress.

A week or two ago I had a couple coyotes respond and I could see them around 800 yards out. After almost 20 minutes of different fights etc I played rabbit and here they come.

Last night I called a coyote into the 300 yard range. I barely got a look before it laid down. After rolling through different prey and fights I’m starting to think I misjudged and it was a rabbit.
It finally stood up.

All that to say sometimes it’s worth skipping. And sometimes I skip right by the sound I should have used.

Also it sounds like you have some MFK sounds. The prey sounds I had good luck with on my FP with some MFK sounds was a cotton tail sound(can’t remember the name) Ruthless Rabbit, and Lucky Bird.

Also use the mouse squeaks and vole squeaks. I had a coyote that came in from almost a mile and hung up around 400 yards. Squeaks brought it in to 200 yards.

Also the brighter it is, the more it seems like it’s hard to get them to commit as hard and get as close. I have a lot circle pretty far out on bright nights.
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I agree 100% on the squeaks and admit that I do not use them enough. Another friend of mine has gotten onto me about it. LoL

Yes, I have a lot of MFK sounds. The "rabbit stew" is an awesome sound for this area, everything loves it. My favorite FoxPro sound is probably "cagie cottontail". There's also a woodpecker sound (I can't remember which it is) I have a lot of luck with.
 
A lot depends on the coyotes. Not every coyote or group of coyotes is a breeding coyote or pair. This time of year I would definitely start with a breeding sequence. Lone howls followed up with pair howls, then into some breeding or fight sounds. If no response to that I’d go into prey distress. Rabbit or bird. Or whatever really? A lot depends on what pressure has been put on your animals. Nothing is ever close to 100%.

Good luck!
 
DoubleLungRage said:
I agree 100% on the squeaks and admit that I do not use them enough. Another friend of mine has gotten onto me about it. LoL

Yes, I have a lot of MFK sounds. The "rabbit stew" is an awesome sound for this area, everything loves it. My favorite FoxPro sound is probably "cagie cottontail". There's also a woodpecker sound (I can't remember which it is) I have a lot of luck with.
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Is rabbit stew a MFK file?
 
Seems to me like what you did ended up with coyotes coming to the call. There is nothing wrong with beginning your stand even in the heart of breeding season (about to wind down) with prey distress. Not all coyotes are breeding, but they all have to eat. Pick off the close hungry ones first with lower volume prey distress, and you can always bump up the volume for a couple more minutes. Then you have plenty of time to give them howls, mating sequences, fights, etc.
 
DoubleUp said:
Seems to me like what you did ended up with coyotes coming to the call. There is nothing wrong with beginning your stand even in the heart of breeding season (about to wind down) with prey distress. Not all coyotes are breeding, but they all have to eat. Pick off the close hungry ones first with lower volume prey distress, and you can always bump up the volume for a couple more minutes. Then you have plenty of time to give them howls, mating sequences, fights, etc.
Click to expand...

You pretty much summed up what I "was looking for". Thanks
 
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