What am I doing wrong ?

[Rookie furtaker]

Ok I've scouted out areas where coyotes are. I call with the wind in my face. Don't over call or call too loud. I've tried morning, afternoon, night...haven't seen one yet. Been at it hard since January. I'm in full camo always with my back up against a tree. Have the foxpro wildfire with jack 2 decoy. Diaphragm calls, open reed. I had no issues calling the reds in this year. I don't know what gives.....the only thing I haven't tried is going out at midnight. Which im thinking this is the time they hunt around me. I'm out of ideas. Also use dazed dog for cover scent. I feel hopeless. ..I even stalk into position like I'm on a recon mission. PLEASE HELP!

[Misterjake23]

You may not be doing anything wrong.  Sometimes that's just the way it is.  Many great hunters on the boards only call in a few dogs a year.

     How often do you go out and sit in a tree stand hunting deer?  You did your home work and know there is a big buck in the area.  You even have him patterned on the trail cam.  You go out day after day, use a grunt call, doe bleet  and even put out doe urine and spray down with cover scents.  You're out there every day the entire season.  At the end of the season, you never saw that big buck.   You put your time in the woods,  scouted hard preseason, and did everything right..........

       Now I present the question......  what's the difference  between the scinario I just presented and your hunting coyotes??   Sometime you can do everything right, but it just never happens.  Yet we keep going out day after day hoping to just maybe be lucky just one time and bag that trophy!   

     That's hunting.  Not every day or every year are we successful, yet the next day and the next year we keep going back.   Stay positive and keep trying.  One day that magic  moment will happen and you'll call one in.   And when it does.........Don't miss !!!!!!

[Rookie furtaker]

Thanks Jake! Yes there is no way I'm going to miss that sob! I've put in way to much time for that. I go out just about everyday weather permitting. I'm on them just can pin them down.

[Tom Stohler]

I think persistency will pay you some time. I know nothing about hunting coyotes. I know I have them around my area here today over there tomorrow. But by being persistent you run into them sometime. Does everyone only set up to hunt if you have located them I mean by hearing them. Or does anybody hunt on just sign tracks scat and stuff?

[Rookie furtaker]

I have heard them and seen fresh tracks and scat. They been inhabitants to this area for as long as I can remember. I really think the midnight hour is my best bet when everything is settled down. Definitely not my prime choice to hunt since I'm in bed by then and work early but it must be tried.

[QUATTRO]

Rookie, do you think its a possibility that this area is merely a travel corridor they use to get to and from where they hole up and where they tend to go to forage or hunt?? Maybe your timing is off and they have passed through by the time you are usually setting up? Perhaps if you can determine this you can cut them off going to and from...just a thought I had..hard to say without knowing the area..I have a new area I am just now scouting and I am beginning to believe that this spot is such a place...just a travel route they take from a patch of property to another..there are several dirt roads and there was a ton of scat from old to fairly fresh on one road in particular..I kicked over an old deer rib cage for some eye/nose appeal on said road and set up a cam...this picture is from Sunday just before 5am..

[Misterjake23]

Rookie....  The best advice I can give you is this.....   If and when a shot opportunity exists   TAKE IT !!!  No matter how slight,  if you have a shot that you feel is doable   take the shot.   That may be the one and only opportunity you'll get !    And shoot quickly.    They don't stay in one place very long.

[uncle buck]

Rookie....  The best advice I can give you is this.....   If and when a shot opportunity exists   TAKE IT !!!  No matter how slight,  if you have a shot that you feel is doable   take the shot.   That may be the one and only opportunity you'll get !    And shoot quickly.    They don't stay in one place very long.

This is good advice ... Coyotes don't hang around long like a fox. BUT....be careful you want to make sure it's not a deer because they do come to calling to. 

[uncle buck]

QUATTRO neat picture... I don't own cameras what so ever... Do you think that since you see the time on the picture that you could sneak back there before that time frame and might catch that coyote at that spot?  I do know they do hang out... I have this one area that has rabbits in abundance ... The coyotes are always there but you have to sneak in. Now that alone is a feat.. I know when I hunt with  3 it's over, 2 we might pull it off, and when I'm by myself... That's the best for this particular spot.... To many foot steps means it's all over...

[Huntin 4 yotes]

Rookie...I've been after the same coyotes on a property for three years now. The male has a distinct howl and there's nites they howl and bark all night and other nites they act like there not around, but they were because one of the pups yipped. Was kinda cool this year to listen to there pups first howls in July to there last howls in January as a family before they dispersed. Watched them numerous evenings at 600+ yards trying to figure out a pattern, even tried to ambush them with no luck. Called him and his lady in last week to have them run the other way when they seen the scan light.  Also called them in twice with pup distress last year during daylight and they did what they do best.... Disappear!   Don't give up!! U will get your day!

[coyotejohn]

Don't over call or call too loud.

If your not over calling or not calling loud maybe you should do just the opposite.  Turn your caller on loud and continuously.  You can learn just as much by not being successful as you can by being successful.   

[Misterjake23]

Every new hunter  - Myself included - thinks that there is a magic sound and perfect way of doing things that will bring the coyotes running in.  Unfortunately,  there is no such animal.  It takes long hours in the woods and a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for you.   The basics are the same - wind, scent control, proper set up, movement at a minimum etc  etc.   But after that,  every stand and every coyote is different.  What may work today may not work next week or even tomorrow.   Things are always changing in the woods  -  hunting pressure from deer season,  other predator hunters,  family dispursement,  mating season,  old dogs dying off and new dogs moving in.......  The list goes on and on.   So as things change, you have to adapt accordingly.   If it were an easy sport,  everyone would be killing coyotes and they'd be extinct by now with the sport growing leaps and bounds!!!

[QUATTRO]

QUATTRO neat picture... I don't own cameras what so ever... Do you think that since you see the time on the picture that you could sneak back there before that time frame and might catch that coyote at that spot?  I do know they do hang out... I have this one area that has rabbits in abundance ... The coyotes are always there but you have to sneak in. Now that alone is a feat.. I know when I hunt with  3 it's over, 2 we might pull it off, and when I'm by myself... That's the best for this particular spot.... To many foot steps means it's all over...

Cameras are no magic bullet...like mentioned by others, there is no magic bullet. But, I think that cameras can help validate what you may be assuming is going on when you scout. I assumed that this one road in particular was the one they would use to get from point A to point B..so I set the camera up to see what I get. Got 5 pictures in all..But again, what I think could be a pattern or sure thing can change without notice. ..so it's never a guarantee...I'm sure some might argue a camera is not needed and you can learn everything you need through good old fashioned scouting, which is true, but I like seeing what's out there and when. As far as sneaking in at a particular time..there's only one way to find that out and I intend to..

[Pa Goosehntr]

  I love my trail cams....they look when you are not there and document it. Trail cam over a carcass yielded big birds and not the coyotes I was hopeful of. also sees folks traveling on properties when they shouldn't be...

[Rookie furtaker]

The main den  (I think) is between all these routes. There is a big reservoir there too. But I would have to think they here my call. They use the same routes for the most part. I know this because when we got snow a couple times I went out and tracked. I'll intercept sooner or later.....the area I'm hitting is probably 10 square miles.