Author: Richard Bogath is an NRA certified firearms instructor, certified hunter instructor, youth league pistol coach, professional hunting guide, published author, writer for several online publications, blogger, lecturer and proud dad.
October 15th, 2014
You and a hunting buddy are all set up looking for coyotes or fox. Head to toe in the best camo, practiced on both electronic and mouth calls, rifle and shotgun at the ready with your shiny, new Coyotelight. You’re calling steady and moving that light, scanning for about 30 minutes now.
Nothing out there. Not so much as a squirrel.
So what to do? You’re all comfy and you know that there are coyotes and fox in the area as a result of your scouting efforts—so do you get up and go or sit it out and wait?
There are so many circumstances to consider in predator hunts that the question of will they show or won’t they, is tough to answer. Here are a few rules of thumb that I like to employ based on the type of location being hunted.
• Scouted location
If I’ve scouted a stand location carefully and I have solid proof that there are recently active coyotes in the area, I will usually sit it out for an hour or two around the same time of night that they were last seen in the area.
• Un-scouted location with rumors
“Yup, I seen ‘em suckers runnin’ up ‘long th’ tree line over yonder woods there, eye’n up m’sheep.”
While the word of local farmers can be gold in locating a potential stand for your predator hunt (and as you ponder who still uses the word “yonder”), a hearsay stand location can be great to try, but if any more than an hour passes with no activity—get up and try to relocate to a better location.
• Un-scouted location
In any location where you have no positive identification of predators but you’ve got that “gut feeling”, then it’s always worth a try. Just be prepared for that hard pull-out if 20 minutes goes by and you have no predator action whatsoever.
• Scouted farms
A farm where you have free reign to predator hunt AND good signs of animals is a predator production gold mine. It is in these situations where I will make myself the most comfy and spend the night if I have to. Patience is a virtue as with any hunt, but these setups are worth the time invested. You are looking at animals who know they have relatively safe haven and usually good sources of food—especially on farms that have deer hunting activity during the daylight. Nothing makes me happier as a predator hunter than setting up my stand 100 yards from a fresh gut pile that a daytime hunter has left for my coyotes to feast upon and leave me an amazing shot to take.
Wherever your setup and for however long you intend to stay, a little homework on the area and the preparedness to move when you need to will make you a much more versatile and successful predator hunter.
Happy Howling.