December 20, 2011 at 11:25am
Being a duck hunter at heart, I had to make the switch to coyotes and deer after moving to West Texas.
I'm still learning, but there's lots of predator hunters out here that take it very seriously.
Couple things I've picked up:
1. Watch your scent, they will almost always try to circle and approach from down wind of you. No such thing as hunting the wind. I've watched them go a mile out of their way to get down wind of us before coming in, so I'd always hunt with the wind to your back.
2. The feather on the string that Swine-stalker mentioned is one of the best decoys. Buddy of mine puts his in the wide open and they will come running in almost paying no attention to you whatsover.
3. Bring a shotgun as well as a rifle. #4 buck or turkey loads work great. Sometimes they'll get hung up and stop 100 or more yards out and just look your way. Most of the time they'll come running in within 30 secs of you starting to call. So have the shotgun ready for close encounters.
4. If they are close they react quickly. So don't touch the call until you are sitting down, hidden and comfortable. The guy I hunt with blows a rabbit in distress with an open reed call. He usually calls for 30 secs or so with a 10-15 second break and then calls for 30 secs again. I have seen a number come running in before he even finishes the first 30 sec series.
5. Buy a calling CD and learn their different sounds. We don't often use the open reeds to sound like a yote, but its really useful in hearing the different sounds and knowing what they mean. There's particular yelping that they make when they've busted you. When you hear this, might as well pack up and leave. When I first started I'd hang around and keep calling back at them thinking I had them working. Nope, joke was on me. They knew I was there and was letting me know.
6. Move around. I'd only stay put for 15-30 minutes at each stand. If there's a yote nearby and he's going to come in, its usually fairly quick. If you're targeting bobcats however, those can take hours.