Hunting & Fishing Night hunting coyotes from pickup?

[treetrimmer_01]

I see all these shows on TV where they sit in the box of a pickup with a trail around the outside for a rest. Has anyone done this and what are some tips? Like how long do you leave the pickup shit of before calling and does it work if your not by a will traveled road? Any insight would be great. Thanks

 

[diggler1833]

First thing I'd do is make sure it's legal in your area. Secondly, I'd not be too hopeful that this method is more successful than others. These shows are famous for only making one production per month, and not showing the other 90 percent of the time when they're running shit off because they are blasting around in the bed of a pickup.

Once game associates the noise or light with death it's gone for good, and I'll bet that repeat success in an area is very hard to come by. However, if you want to give it a try I'd suggest spending the same amount of time calling that you normally would in a stand, and I'd give it several minutes after stopping before you start calling.

 

[Kbh]

I have done this and it can work but it's not the best method especially in hard hunted areas. Foxes will practically climb in the truck with you and generally give you plenty of time to shoot. In my experience you usually get one quick shot, if that, after you hit a coyote with the spotlight. I've had much better luck calling late in the evening or early in the morning, but I dont have s hunting show so what do I know...

 

[Rafter-K]

Using a high rack is how we manage to kill 90% of our predators. Day hunting in Texas can be quite challenging because of the wind and hot temperatures. Even in the dead of winter it is not uncommon to have the thermometer creep up over 70. Coyotes seem to bed up around here once it gets that hot. A high rack works well as long as you play your wind right just like day hunting on the ground. We don't let the place rest at all once kill the truck. I have killed several coyotes within 30 seconds of turning on the caller that just stood up within 100 yards of the truck. As far as lights go in my experience either a red light or a soft white light is best for coyotes, bobcats, and foxes. I have had the green lights burn the animals and they will just close there eyes and turn and walk away. The green lights work very well for pigs though. We run wicked and coyote lights and never turn them off during the stand. Once we see them eyes just keep it on them constantly. The lights act as camouflage and make it so they can not see you up in the air. There is always a big debate on how bright to have your light intensity turned up to but for me I leave it turned up all the way. The more intense the light the less they can see. This is just my opinion and how we kill em down here in Texas.

 

[niteshooter]

It worked great at first for me but not anymore. Once you get all the dumb ones.
I would put the caller out around 40 yards and let it run 30 minutes or so.
Coyotes usually came before 10 minutes.
Bobcats woukd take 20-30.
The problem with the truck being metal is any movement can make noise and get you busted. Had it happen more than I like. I think a rubber cargo mat or big piece of heavy carpet might help.

I stood and used a tripod in the truck bed for better visibility over the grass.
Before that I used a bipod on the truck roof and had saddle tool boxes that could double as seats or kneel with the bipod on them to shoot to the sides. Not fancy at all but had some success with it.

 

[WoobieJ]

Watch Night Crew. It will answer questions and give you multiple strategies.