Hunting coyotes is an experience unlike any other in Kentucky. You are hunting a predator, an animal of high intelligence, with keen senses, and a strong will to defend its territory and survive. To be successful, hunters have to find a way to neutralize the coyote’s strengths and exploit his weaknesses.
Locating Coyotes
You have to know where they are to hunt them. Coyotes can be located at dusk by listening for their individual and group howling.
Another option is to look for coyote tracks and scat along the route they take to patrol their territories. Snow cover makes tracking easy. Search along farm roads, field edges, mowed trails through the woods, or the soft mud or sand along creek beds. Coyote scat will most always contain large amounts of hair and often small bones as they eat their prey whole.
Hunting Strategies and Tactics
This article explores hunting strategies and tactics during daylight hours. Here’s some tips on hunting tactics, with advice from Mike Morgan, of Mojo Outdoors, who has been hunting coyotes for 12 years.
As in deer hunting, the approach to the stand is critical to success. “Walk in from downwind,” said Morgan. “Take a stand with the wind in your face, or at least a crosswind. You can’t beat the coyote’s nose, so make sure your scent does not contaminate the area of the coyote’s likely approach.”
The highest probability of success comes when hunters know the most likely direction from which coyotes will approach. Hunters should be concealed in a clump of brush and weeds at the edge of the woods or in a fence line, preferably in the shadows, with a background that will break their outline.
There should be a clear view (and field of fire) to a pasture, crop field or woods opening. Camouflage, from head to toe, including face masks, and gloves should be worn.
Use a Decoy in Conjunction with an Electronic Caller
Using a decoy in conjunction with an electronic caller, doubles you chances of getting a coyote in gun range.
“Place the decoy and caller together about 35 yards away,” said Morgan. “You want the sound away from you, so the approaching coyote can’t pinpoint your location.”
Morgan said the decoy adds sight confirmation to the sound (of the distressed rabbit) and gives the coyote confidence that it is actually a wounded critter.
“When the coyote sees the decoy there’s a distinct change in body language. The decoy is what causes the coyote to finish (rush into gun range), instead of hanging up and circling downwind,” said Morgan.
The Mojo Critter is the top predator decoy on the market, portable, light-weight and easy to use. Stick in in the ground and turn it on. The intermittent, cyclic action adds realism, simulating a wounded rabbit, that really holds the coyote’s attention. The decoy runs on four AA batteries.
The Mojo Critter sells for about $40. Other models have a built-in electronic caller. For more information visit this website.
Calling
Start the calling sequence at low volume, then gradually increase the volume. Be patient, it may take up to 30 minutes, especially in a heavily-wooded setup, for a coyote to respond to calling.
A wireless, electronic caller, with a remote enables the hunter to stop and start calling sequences, increase or lower volume and use a combination of calls, to seduce coyotes into gun range.
A value-priced caller on the market is the ICO-tec GC300, a compact, durable and easy to use caller that sells for about $70.
All prey calls are licensed from Wildlife Technologies, a world leader in bioacoustics. The speaker runs on four AA batteries, and the remote needs a 23A battery (included), commonly used in garage door openers.
The calls include: Coyote Female, Coyote Howl, Coyote Male, Crow Baby Distress, Raccoon Baby Distress, Woodpecker Baby Distress, Bobcat Adult, Cottontail Distress, Coyote Pup Distress, Fawn Distress, Gray Fox Distress and Jack Rabbit Distress.
The GC300 has a 300-yard remote control range, can play up to two call sounds simultaneously, has a volume control on the remote, and 15 Watt speaker. For information visit their website.
Rifles and Shotguns used to Hunt Coyotes
Morgan suggests two shooters when going after coyotes.
“If you can hide adequately, sit side-by-side,” said Morgan. “When the coyote comes all the way in (to the decoy), shoot with the shotgun, if the coyote hangs up outside shotgun range, the hunter with the rifle takes the shot.”
Centerfire rifles in calibers .223 or .243 are ideal for coyotes. If you have a shotgun set up for turkey hunting, that’s the best choice for coyote hunting. In Kentucky, lead, copper-plated shot and non-toxic shot of all sizes may be used, including buckshot.
“It’s very important to pattern your shotgun. Know your gun’s effective range,” said Kelly Sorensen, VP of Sales and Marketing for Environ-Metal Inc., makers of the HEVI-Shot brand of shotshells. “A 10 to 15-inch pattern is ideal for coyotes and that means you’ll need to use an extra full or super full choke tube.”
On a 12-gauge shotgun an extra full choke measures .680 to .690 and super full choke measures about .665, but diameters may vary slightly by brand of choke tube. Sorensen recommends shot size T for coyotes.
“Our 12-gauge, 3-inch Dead Coyote shell is loaded with 50 .22 caliber pellets, and has a muzzle velocity of 1,350 feet per second.”
For information on Dead Coyote shotshell loads and choke tubes visit this website.
Coyotes in Kentucky
It has just been in the past 45 years that the coyote (Canis latrans) has become established east of the Mississippi River.
Coyotes spread their range eastward from the Plains and Mountain West, filling the ecological niche of the gray wolf and red wolf, native species that no long exist here. Researchers believe the migration of coyotes into the southeastern U.S. began in the 1950s, with coyotes moving into Kentucky from states to the north and west, in the 1970s.
“Coyotes are very adaptable. They are now found in all 120 Kentucky counties,” said Laura Palmer, furbearer biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “There are higher concentrations in agricultural areas.”
Coyote Life History
A full grown coyote will weigh from 20 pounds up to over 50 pounds. The body fur of the coyote is generally a grayish and the legs are a reddish brown coloration. The coyote tail is fully furred and black tipped.
Their underbelly and fur under their neck is generally whitish in color. Their profile is unmistakeable: very elongated nose, large pointed ears and tail carried lower than their back, which differentiates the coyote from a dog at a distance.
Their feet are more elongated than that of a dog and the front feet of the coyote are generally larger than their rear feet. The coyote track is about 2 ½ inches in length.
Coyotes will form small family groups, but you will mostly see them running by themselves or as part of a hunting pair. Their territory will generally be several square miles, much less in the east than in the west.
The breeding season for coyotes starts in late January and lasts until mid-March, with most of the breeding taking place during February. The female excavates a den into a hillside. Pups are born about 63 days after she is bred. The number of pups born relates to the amount and quality of available food, which determines body condition. Litter size average about six, with a high juvenile mortality rate.
Pups will stay with the female until the late fall, then disperse, to seek their own territories. This fact, plus favorable habitat and food availability, has been responsible for the rapid expansion of coyotes throughout the eastern U.S.
Coyotes Hunting Regulations
Coyotes may be hunted year-round in Kentucky during daylight hours. Coyote hunters must possess a valid hunting license or be license exempt, and must have the landowner’s permission to hunt on private property.
Both mouth calls and electronic calls that imitate wounded prey, coyote barks or challenge howls, are legal and there is no bag limit on coyotes.
Killing coyotes in late winter may reduce local populations at a time when predation on livestock and deer starts to increase. Livestock farmers can suffer considerable losses when a problem coyote gets a taste for lamb or newborn calves.
Coyotes draw the ire of deer hunters when they prey on deer fawns, which are born in May.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.
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