Coyote Hunting 2010

Posted At : February 25, 2010 1:11 PM | Posted By : Mike Hanback
Related Categories: Big Deer Blog

Scott from MI just returned from his annual post-deer-season coyote hunt in Illinois, and he filed this report for BIG DEER, like he has done the last couple of years. BTW, you can read Scott's best yote hunting/calling tactics in my hunting column in the winter issue of "Cabela's Outfitter Journal" magazine:

Hey Mike: We didn't see as many as usual this time for some reason, only 7 total. Two out in the fields as we were scouting and 5 that we called in...one double and one triple. We noticed more guys out calling for yotes this year so maybe they were getting hit harder than normal.

We got there Fri. night and hunted Sat., Sun. and a couple hours Mon. morning. On our fourth call of the first morning my buddies John and Mike and I sat up on a high ridge overlooking a brushy bottom with hardwoods. We called for about 20 mins and nothing showed, so John tried a different set of calls. He switched to a few challenge howls, and a minute later went to a pup distress call.

I saw one running right to us from the bottom. He got to about 60 yards before I could get a clear shot. Once he stopped I took the shot with my New England Firearms .223 single-shot; the 52-grain match hollow point bullet put him down. As soon as I shot Mike saw another one take off that had been coming in from a different direction. Never gave him a shot opportunity.

On the second day in the afternoon the 3 of us set up in a different area on a ridge looking down a wooded draw. We used distress calls for about 20 mins but nothing, so John went back to the challenge/pup distress that had worked yesterday. Sure enough we had a pack of 3 younger coyotes come running in. Looks like we found a great call sequence! One yote got to about 35 yards from John, and he put it down with his Mossberg 12 gauge shooting the 3" Dead Coyote load with Dead Coyote choke.

The other two took off, and I was able to stop one of them with a couple of mouth barks; all I had was a head shot at 130 yards with brush in the way...i missed :) I stopped him twice more but we could never get another shot.

We have called in doubles before but this was our first time for a triple! We had a great time... a little slower than normal, but we still took two. Thanks Mike and keep up the good work.--Scott from MI

Thanks Scott, cool story, anybody else hunting any critters? comment

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shot em with my bow deer hunting but dont have time to go out for them alone altho their are alot of them in the burbs where i hunt

# Posted By ian in wisconsin | 2/25/10 2:57 PM

Scott,

How do you like your NEF .223???? I also have one and can't complain about it.....it is a great gun..I got excited because not too many guys have the old single shot anymore.....all bolt action rems and savages so it pumps me up to hear another NEF guy.....easy to maintain and pretty darn accurate and it is hell on ground hogs and coyotes.....I have started to do my own handloads and I am still messing with it to figure out the perfect load for my gun. ......congrats on your yotes and good luck

# Posted By parrish | 2/25/10 2:58 PM

Thanks Parrish. That NEF is a tack driver. I have a 5 shot group at 120 yards that i can cover with a quarter. I think my dad
picked up that gun new for just under $200 Single shots are cool, they make you a more accurate shooter. I keep extra rounds
on the stock or between my fingers to help speed follow up shots if needed.... can still take em pretty quick.

# Posted By Scott from MI | 2/25/10 3:36 PM

Same here Scott!....I got ten rounds on my stock and hold atleast one in my fingers when I am shooting......my longest shot was 325 on a ground hog.....in the ear!

# Posted By parrish | 2/25/10 4:44 PM

Do you have different calls that you use, or just one that you can get all of these sounds off of?

# Posted By Lance | 2/25/10 5:29 PM

Bet all the rats and gophers and rabbits are happy. And breeding like crazy. I'm not gonna knock it even though I am throughly, 100% against it. If ya can't eat it, don't kill it. Especially for sport. This shouldn't surprise anybody. Been sayin' it as long as I've been on the blog. Just ignore me.

# Posted By Rodger | 2/25/10 6:28 PM

haha will do rodger

# Posted By ian in wisconsin | 2/25/10 6:39 PM

Awesome Parrish. My longest is around 400 yards on a coyote a couple years ago.

Lance, we use different types of mouth calls and lately we've been using the FoxPro electric caller...it has many different sounds one can
use to mix it up a bit. I've had good luck with the Johnny Stewart PC-1 mouth call as well...you can get many different sounds out of it to.
Thats what i think is a big key...seems like some coyotes will hear your calls but will only come into certain ones.

# Posted By Scott from MI | 2/25/10 6:40 PM

Scott -
Awesome hunt, man! We've got tons of those bastards on our farms, I've just never gone out & specifically hunted them. Are you booking a hunt through an outfitter? Or do you just have some contacts in IL that let you hunt? I'd be willing to put together a Big Deer predator hunt on our properties in central MO next winter to thin out some pests.....the only payment I require is a good bottle of whiskey!

Painter

# Posted By Painter | 2/26/10 1:14 AM

Painter, we have a contact out there for the coyotes. He runs a whitetail outfit on a few thousand acres and lets us come out
and smoke the yotes. We just leave a little money to pay for the gas and electric we use at the hunting lodge. Thats would be
cool to put together a predator hunt next winter! Looks like you guys have a few yotes running around! Im in if ya do. Crown Royal sound good!?!

# Posted By Scott from MI | 2/26/10 9:50 AM

Good job on the Yotes!

I have a NEF 22-250 and I killed a coyote at 378 yards a couple weeks ago with it.
They are good guns for the money, but I have had some trouble with the ejector pin not working correctly at times. Has this happened to you guys?

# Posted By Chad M. | 2/26/10 12:23 PM

No problems yet...still shoots them out good. Only have bout 50 ta 75 rounds thru it though

# Posted By Scott from MI | 2/26/10 12:41 PM

No problems yet chad......Ill let ya know......

# Posted By parrish | 2/26/10 1:47 PM

My buddy came up from Arkanas to help me with a bit of pluming on my remodel earlier this month, he ask me what we could hunt, I told him yotes. Having never tried to call one in he was pretty pumped for it and went out and bought the new call by primos, the dawg or something like that. It's a hellva call. When we set up for the first spot he asked what to set the call on, I said Jack Rabbit, he looked at me and asked if we had Jack Rabbits in Il., I told him hell no they are in Texas. The first set up nothing came in, we moved to the 2nd spot and bam here comes 2 right to the call and we were able to come away with 1 and my buddy is hooked for life on calling in yotes. It was a blast, so if you haven't tried it, give it a shot, it's a hoot!

# Posted By pappa necbone | 2/26/10 2:06 PM

Forgot to mention the weapon of choice. We were both shooting 17 cal. hollow point. Me a bolt action Marlin and him with a semi-auto, they make for a hellva varmit gun. Anybody else out using a 17. for varmits?

# Posted By pappa necbone | 2/26/10 2:09 PM

Sorry that's .17 cal not 17.

# Posted By pappa necbone | 2/26/10 2:11 PM

Scott, awesome coyote. i didn't see alot of coyotes during deer season in IL. but with all the standing crops i bet they prospered.........
got a good friend that traps and he has had his fill.......... they are everywhere........just not always visible

good work Scott, way to stake a claim to the top of the food chain!!

# Posted By Flatlander | 2/26/10 3:37 PM

# Posted By xwxw | 3/1/10 3:53 AM

Ahh nothing better than little coyote hunting in the snow. We only had a few inches here in KY but you bet I took advantage of it while it lasted.
<a href="http://coyotehuntingresource.blogspot.com/"&g... Hunting Resource</a>

# Posted By Shawn | 3/17/10 1:48 AM

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