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Button Buck
As the title says I'm new to coyote hunting. Over the past couple of years, I've been hearing more and more coyotes around the house. I live in rural eastern NC with fields and woods all around the house. I don't own an electronic call, but Saturday night before last I saw an old Bluetooth speaker sitting in the house. Threw some fresh batteries in it and found a cottontail distress video on YouTube. The field behind my house is about 500yds long and backs up to a creek in the woods. Sat the speaker about 10 feet into the turn rows and backed up to the edge of the yard. I squatted down and played the sound for about 30 seconds before two came trotting in from my right. They came within 10 yards of the speaker, which put them only about 15 yards from me. I knew as close as they were getting that I had called in a couple of neighbors dogs. I stood up and they didn't run off - surely domesticated dogs. I wasn't prepared, as I was mainly wanting to hear them vocalize in the woods, so I had to walk a few yards back to my truck to get my spotlight. Hit the critters with it, and I was very surprised to see what I was sure by now must be dogs were actually coyotes. When the spotlight hit them they just turned and trotted off to the woods, in no real hurry. This was unusual to me, considering everything I have heard about coyotes is that they are very skiddish and overly cautious animals. I know they could see me in the moonlight because I could see them, and I had no cover between us.
Anyway, I decided to try to get some on camera to try and estimate how many there are. Set up my camera at the end of the field and slung out a $5 bag of dog food from Dollar General, an old bag of peanuts, and a couple cans of viennas. Been throwing out dog food and viennas every couple days for about a week and a half now and have already gotten some on camera pretty much any hour of the day. They'll come out at 3:30 am one morning, 12 noon another day, 5:00 some evenings, and 7:00am some mornings. I've caught as many as 3 at one time on camera.
A friend has a foxpro and came over Saturday night. We left the house on foot and began walking down the path toward the creek about 10:00. We got about 200yds into the field and spooked one. We saw him when he started running from left to right across us at about 75 yds. We couldn't get a shot on him but dropped the foxpro where we were and backed up and crouched. Again, there is no cover in this field. Called another one in after about 20 mins, he also bolted left to right across us at about 100yds and we couldn't get a shot off. After the second one came and went, the pack got all wound up in the woods and vocalized for about 3-4 minutes. We heard them about 20 minutes later and they had crossed the creek.
They are definitely very active and as far as I know are facing no pressure from hunters in my area. Any tips on hunting them? Baits, strategies, etc?
I can't directly hunt over the bait pile, because it is about 500yds away from the house, and there's a slight hill dropping off toward the creek. Like I said there's no cover walking back to it just more fields to the left and right. Any tips would be appreciated.
Anyway, I decided to try to get some on camera to try and estimate how many there are. Set up my camera at the end of the field and slung out a $5 bag of dog food from Dollar General, an old bag of peanuts, and a couple cans of viennas. Been throwing out dog food and viennas every couple days for about a week and a half now and have already gotten some on camera pretty much any hour of the day. They'll come out at 3:30 am one morning, 12 noon another day, 5:00 some evenings, and 7:00am some mornings. I've caught as many as 3 at one time on camera.
A friend has a foxpro and came over Saturday night. We left the house on foot and began walking down the path toward the creek about 10:00. We got about 200yds into the field and spooked one. We saw him when he started running from left to right across us at about 75 yds. We couldn't get a shot on him but dropped the foxpro where we were and backed up and crouched. Again, there is no cover in this field. Called another one in after about 20 mins, he also bolted left to right across us at about 100yds and we couldn't get a shot off. After the second one came and went, the pack got all wound up in the woods and vocalized for about 3-4 minutes. We heard them about 20 minutes later and they had crossed the creek.
They are definitely very active and as far as I know are facing no pressure from hunters in my area. Any tips on hunting them? Baits, strategies, etc?
I can't directly hunt over the bait pile, because it is about 500yds away from the house, and there's a slight hill dropping off toward the creek. Like I said there's no cover walking back to it just more fields to the left and right. Any tips would be appreciated.