Coyote Problem

huntman · Post by **huntman** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:21 pm

Hey guys we are having a huge coyote problem where we xbow hunt. This is something i have never experienced in my ten years of deer hunting. The property i hunt is not large but holds an abundance of deer. In previous years we could not keep up with baiting carrots and apples. This year things dont seem the same, the bait pile takes weeks to get down and even then i am not certain that it is deer eating as it has been in other years. Last night one of our gang members was standing by his truck after a night sit having a smoke while his truck warmed up. Suddenly he heard howling and chirping getting louder and louder much to his suprise he looked up and not 10 yards were at least 8 - 10 yotes. Very Odd in my opinion but 100 % true none the less. Isnt this a little odd? If they are packed up like that would that indicate a HUGE problem?

I am not that experienced in coyote hunting so i have a few questions for the guys who are:

If we bait and hunt the yotes, and hopefully drop the population a little will that help bring the deer back before the 31 of Dec?
What would be the best way to do this? BTW we can shot shotguns, or rifles on this property

Cossack · Post by **Cossack** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:39 pm

Deer are down because the coyotes ate the fawns and likely some of the adults. Those that are left have migrated elsewhere to avoid being run by a pack. They are highly unlikely to come back until conditions change.
I'd get in touch with someone who knows how to hunt 'yotes. They wise up pretty quick and amature efforts may only make them harder to kill.
And get somone who knows how to trap them there too.

vixenmaster · Post by **vixenmaster** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:11 am

Yotes always run in packs! They're death on young fawns and do catch and pull down adults. I shoot everyone i see. Some folks say just shoot the Alpha male. Thats still leaves the baby making machine to produce! Kill all of them i say. They have and will jump on humans! I know this from first hand expirence, when i was 12 years old.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:53 am

You should set aside a day to hunt them, they are a whole lot of fun! But as it was mentioned be prepared because a miss will make them very hard to hunt in the future. Thee are lots of calls out there (your right by Bass Pro, luck guy) I have the best success with a MAD call howler and a squeaker I tore out of a kids toy I bought from the dollar store.
Buckshot works great, especially if they are running! Make them all dead.
I would recommend not hunting them solo, I had a good wrestling match with one last year that had me pretty worried for a few minutes.
Here is an old thread:
http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/phpBB2 ... sc&start=0
I have it down to an art now, made my own electronic caller and am gradually incorporating coyote hunting into my company, for farms and such, a chance to write of some weapons if nothing else.
I have a video around here somewhere of some hard core bow hunting for yotes, I should dig it up.
A good place to start for info is varmint Al's website, Google him, you see.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:55 am

Oh, and be careful, coyote hunting is very addicting.

hatchet jack · Post by **hatchet jack** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:27 am

i would certanly go hunting for them,8-10 is too many running in a pack,,,,,,,get a rabbit squealer ,, hang it in a tree git away from it then set back with your trusty rifle

h.j.

kevin · Post by **kevin** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:37 am

I enjoy calling Coyotes as much as Deer hunting. Though I use various rifles 204,223,22-250 on them. Can't wait for a good snow thats always the best.

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:09 am

I have an old habit. I picked up this habit from my Dad. Every time I go on an afternoon/evening hunt for deer I do the very same thing as soon as I am situated in my stand. 95% of the time this is a climbing stand.

It does not matter what weapon I have be it compound, rifle, shotgun with slug or crossbow, I still do the same thing. I take out my wounded rabbit call and have at it like I'm blowing noisemakers at the stroke of twelve on new years eve. I really go at it strong! I do this for close to two minutes and then I put the caller away and pull out my squeaker. Its one of those little rubber ones you just squeeze.

I cannot tell you how many times I have killed coyotes doing this, but I suspect its way over one hundred. I have also killed bobcats with this strategy. It is incredible the number of predators that have come in to the wounded rabbit call. If they hang up out of range that is where the squeaker comes into play. It brings them in the final yards needed.

I just love starting my deer hunt in this manner. I have found that the calling really does not seem to spook the deer. The predator that comes in to the call will indeed spook deer, but if none come in, you have not run every whitetail out of your hunting area with your calling, this I know for a fact. I have even seen whitetails come in to the rabbit call out of curiosity. I have even had javelina come in to the call to see what was going on.

I hunt coyotes here in Ohio in February after the deer season closes. I use an electronic caller and my old Remington 788 .243 with 78 grain Sierra's. It is a total blast and easy to get permission to hunt them from just about every farmer. You can actually increase the number of areas you have at your disposal to deer hunt by first hunting coyotes. The farmers are more likely to give you permission to hunt deer after you have hunted coyotes on their farm for a while.

Give this scenario a try when you get in your deerstand. It sure makes that first hour go by quicker while your waiting for that big buck to show up.

kpr · Post by **kpr** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:00 pm

I've read places that killing some yotes will cause them to produce more young in fact.
I'm not sure if that is true but it wouldn't surprise me any they are very adaptable and smart crafty critters.
You may be better served to accent killing a few with snaring and hunting rabbits there this winter.
Take away the "main" food source and they will move on somewhere else plus produce less young next year.
I watched a yote facing off with a deer the other night just after legal shooting time, it was about an 8 pt'r
Mr. Yote got a flying lesson...lol
It actually "appeared" to me that the yote was more playing like a dog than attacking but the deer was not playing he was serious.
Ironicaly it was the same field I got this shot in the spring.....

Good luck with them, unfortunately they are here to stay.
I say that cause we haven't had them all that long (10-15yrs) and they certainly have taken hold, our for some reason are alot bigger than other places.
The one shown is at least a 50lb'r as compared to my domestic dogs.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:07 pm

Cool pictures! You are a better man than me, I would be aiming whatever I had in my hands at the dirty thing, besides a camera. That is a big coyote in the deer photo.

rattler1 · Post by **rattler1** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:39 pm

I trap and snare yotes all the time. 8 to 10 in a pack isn't unusual it's just a family group. You will have 3 family packs within a 1 square male area easy. The singles are male's thrown out of the group. If You trap a Alpha male another will take it's place quite quickly. To reduce the population you have to trap out 70% for 3 years in a row but it is next to impossible to do. They are 20 times smarter than fox. They do replenish their population quite quickly as family groups. They are very hard on the fawn population but the bear are too. My buddy and I are stretching a 48 pound yote this morning we missed the dominate female in the next trap due to a frozen set otherwise we would have picked up some of the youngsters also in the line.

BigTiny · Post by **BigTiny** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:27 pm

I saw a couple behind the house a couple of weeks ago. That was about the same time I stopped seeing deer back there. Come to think of it, I haven't been seeing coons or rabbits as much either. Firearms won't work since I'm in town, so I'll probably have to trap them.

kendo kid · Post by **kendo kid** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:08 pm

Our guys took a nice buck in the last few minutes of light. We were unsure of the hit so decide to let it lay for the night. This occurred on Oct 13 with long day light hours and shorter nights than now. At first light we found the deer 70 yards from the hit. Or I should say we found the head, neck and bones. The deer was intack but completely stripped except for the head, neck, lungs still in the rib cage, and feet. All the bones connected but totally stripped. At 5 pounds of meat each removed from a 150-170 lb deer that equals a pile of coyotes, wild dogs, etc. The problem is really bad and as usual MNR does not have a clue. (not many hunters in MNR any more). In low coyote population density the coyote/deer issue is small and reserved to an occassional fawn. Increase coyote popluations strip the mice and smaller game clean and the coyotes begin to hunt in packs and move up in the size of animals they are taking. MNR removal of the boundy was a cave in from pressure from PETA. The cheapest means of control is hunters. Domestic livestock losses are on the increase and will continue to rise based on the coyote population explosion. Just watch the reaction when the coyotes take a child and stip it to the bone except for the head and neck. It will happen if something is not done. Put a $50 bounty on them and we will get some controls.

huntman · Post by **huntman** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:11 pm

thanks guys for all your help.... one thing i didnt mention is that YES we are not seeing the amoont of deer we are used to but the field is covered with tracks that must be overnight but isnt that when the yotes travel the most? If there is a coyote problem like i know there is then wouldnt there be no deer tracks night or day?

kendo kid · Post by **kendo kid** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 6:56 am

Open fields at night are safer than the forest. The deer can see the coyotes coming from a much greater distance. Escape, and fighting when necessary, is easier in a field than the jumble of the forest floor. The deer can feed in a relatively safe environment. That's my read on it.