Hunting & Fishing Yote Stand Recommendations

[LC 6.5 Shooter]

Just getting into thermal and coyote/predator hunting.

See my pic. Where in between the red lines would you set up. The red arrow is where I have a game cam and direction my game cam pics up yotes and their normal direction of travel. The yellow is my fenceline of 50 acres but we have a total of 300 as a family.

Where would you set up a yote stand to start? Will be us

 

[SupressYourself]

If you're talking about calling them, you want as much room as you can get. With thermal, you don't have any peripheral vision. In tight quarters like you have, they could hit your caller and be gone again before you swing back around with your scanner.
Also, it doesn't matter where you have pictures. In that kind of terrain, and especially at night, they can be anywhere, and aren't afraid to cross roads.
I would set up where I have the best visibility (some elevation helps), a good backdrop for concealment, and the wind in my favor (considering where they're most likely to come from).

 

[LC 6.5 Shooter]

If you're talking about calling them, you want as much room as you can get. With thermal, you don't have any peripheral vision. In tight quarters like you have, they could hit your caller and be gone again before you swing back around with your scanner.
Also, it doesn't matter where you have pictures. In that kind of terrain, and especially at night, they can be anywhere, and aren't afraid to cross roads.
I would set up where I have the best visibility (some elevation helps), a good backdrop for concealment, and the wind in my favor (considering where they're most likely to come from).

Ive got a tripod right here along the fenceline that has been for years and years. About the only elevation I can get.

 

[SupressYourself]

Honestly, I think you might be better off in the daylight with a shotgun.

 

[LC 6.5 Shooter]

Honestly, I think you might be better off in the daylight with a shotgun.

Good point

 

[diggler1833]

Want to bust coyotes at night with a thermal? Use a carcass (cleaned deer, hog etc...) as bait. If you have a neighbor that loses a cow/calf...beg to hunt over it.

Every one of them are coming in to feast at night. I even killed two coyotes this fall that were scavenging off coyotes that I had killed a few days prior.

 

[LC 6.5 Shooter]

Ive tried that but only first night i put carcass out. Nothing. But only did it one night. Carcass was gone when I went back a few days later.

I have buddies who said same thing. Bait. But tie bait up so they cant drag it off. Said he has shot multiples on the same hog carcass.

 

[Hecouldgoalltheway]

Want to bust coyotes at night with a thermal? Use a carcass (cleaned deer, hog etc...) as bait. If you have a neighbor that loses a cow/calf...beg to hunt over it.

Every one of them are coming in to feast at night. I even killed two coyotes this fall that were scavenging off coyotes that I had killed a few days prior.

I've never seen a coyote eat a dead coyote. I've left them laying until they decomposed, and in some cases the buzzards won't even eat them. I've seen some that nothing but bugs ate them. I have a member of this forum whom I hunt coyotes with fairly regularly, and he can back up this statement. I don't know why, but nothing wants to eat the coyotes in my area.

 

[diggler1833]

I've never seen a coyote eat a dead coyote. I've left them laying until they decomposed, and in some cases the buzzards won't even eat them. I've seen some that nothing but bugs are them. I have a member of this forum whom I hunt coyotes with fairly regularly, and he can back up this statement. I don't know why, but nothing wants to eat the coyotes in my area.

I didn't believe it either until this fall. Turns out I'm not the only one who has seen it after I posted about it elsewhere in this forum and others.

Here's the second one and the remains of the one (killed a week earlier) she was picking off of while I snuck up and shot her.

 

[diggler1833]

Ive tried that but only first night i put carcass out. Nothing. But only did it one night. Carcass was gone when I went back a few days later.

I have buddies who said same thing. Bait. But tie bait up so they cant drag it off. Said he has shot multiples on the same hog carcass.

The good rule of thumb is to give it 48 hours after death. It's the stink that brings them in. If you wait 72 hours, there probably won't be anything left...unless you kill off everything the night before .

One of my favorite things to do to practice for deer season is to shoot coyotes off the hogs I leave on the ranch. Drop the pigs ~250 - 300 off the back porch and enjoy a cup of coffee the following morning while you "hunt".

If you really want to be effective, put a cell camera on the carcass and stake it down.

 

[Aftermath]

I put in some dots with arrows. Pay real attention to wind. They will REAL often circle around to come in sniffing. So several places to go in and get set depending on wind.
Also, I like to go in and get set up about an hour before daylight, take a little nap and wake up for the early morning. Sorta the same for afternoon. Get in and get all ready and then just be real still (hence the nap), start calling about a half hour before sundown. But...lots of times I just go in and don't call at all and see what happens. A portable or trailer type stand or even just the back of a pickup right in the road can be effective. Scent and movement are your biggest enemies.
I have a buddy over in western Oklahoma that has a place where he piles hog carcasses. He put up a pole with a solar powered flood light and motion detector. The coyotes get use to the light coming on all the time all year around so they think nothing of it when the area starts smelling like bacon. He goes in with a skid steer and takes the coyote carcasses out and dumps them in another ditch. He kills lots of hogs and dogs. Of course, he has about 900 acres owned and more leased.

 

[shields shtr]

. Pay real attention to wind. They will REAL often circle around to come in sniffing

I think this is pretty much the key. I set my caller upwind as far as I can still control the sounds on it. 95% of the time they will be circling to the downwind side. I have shot a few between the caller and myself.

Coyotes around here will typically hang up around 200-250 yards if they sense something isn't right. It might be different in your area, but when they do that I turn on the pup distress and that works pretty good if you wanna get em a little closer

 

[diggler1833]

Ive tried that but only first night i put carcass out. Nothing. But only did it one night. Carcass was gone when I went back a few days later.

I have buddies who said same thing. Bait. But tie bait up so they cant drag it off. Said he has shot multiples on the same hog carcass.

I usually don't record my doing it, but this is the process I was explaining about using hogs above.

 

[shields shtr]

I usually don't record my doing it, but this is the process I was explaining about using hogs above.

They do make good bait for sure. When I go down south we check some of the areas we get hogs the next night, but holy cow the buzzards down there are frickin relentless. Not uncommon to see 50-60 buzzards on a carcass and they make pretty quick work of those things.

 

[diggler1833]

They do make good bait for sure. When I go down south we check some of the areas we get hogs the next night, but holy cow the buzzards down there are frickin relentless. Not uncommon to see 50-60 buzzards on a carcass and they make pretty quick work of those things.

I don't mind the turkey buzzards and appreciate how efficient they are at cleanup, it's the black headed ones that are a problem. I've watched them try to land on a newborn calf several times now. They end up pecking the eyes out, and you lose your calf. Unfortunately they are protected (although I've read where we can apply to remove 5 per year with a permit). Fingers crossed for the day that the gub'ment wakes up and realizes that these invasive buzzards are a real threat.

It was the same with coyotes. Up until Jan of 2023 there was no shooting them at night in this state with night vision/thermal. You had to catch them actively depredating "livestock or poultry" to use any means necessary. Now, I am cleared hot on any land that the owner has a state agricultural tax exemption (so no public land night hunting). Day hunting has always been allowed.

From 1 Sep to 1 Oct of last year I killed 24 'yotes on just ~200 acres of our ranch here. The numbers have calmed down a bit, but I'm going to make a big effort to kill the shit out of them before the calves and fawns (deer) hit the ground.

*The downside to a cell camera is that I have to turn it off during the day, and then back on at dusk...otherwise you get 2K buzzard photos .

 

[shields shtr]

he numbers have calmed down a bit, but I'm going to make a big effort to kill the shit out of them before the calves and fawns (deer) hit the ground.

What is crazy about coyotes is that they are a lot like hogs with regards to pup recruitment. It seems like the more you kill, the more there are. There was a study done a while ago in Wyoming I think that basically surmised that if coyotes experience a high mortality rate one year, they produce enough young in the subsequent years to make up for the losses. I take every study with a grain of salt (especially nowadays), but it sort of reflects what I have seen up here in MT the last few years.

Since I got in the thermal game we have schwacked way more coyotes on the places I hunt (especially during calving season) and it seems like this year there have been more than ever. Good from a target rich environment perspective, but bad if you want your calves to live. Up here, coyotes don't get as many calves as down south I think, but they do get a few.

Really interesting on the buzzards and calves, I have never heard that before. From what I have seen, even if you could shoot 5 a year it sure feels like you wouldn't even be making a dent.

 

[Namekagon]

This is one idea for a wind out of the NW. If its ok to shoot down that road (not sure if thats a public road, ranch road, etc.) then I would sit at the intersection of the road and that E-W opening, in a position that allows you to cover as much of the road and opening in both directions as possible. Place the call to the north as far from you as you can still communicate with it, and make sure it is as scent free as possible. The Yotes will likely want to circle downwind of the call unless they are really young stupid ones. The gray lines show possible coyote approach paths. Your goal is to shoot them crossing an opening while they are trying to get downwind of the call, but before they get downwind of you.

Let me know if this plan succeeds!

 

[diggler1833]

What is crazy about coyotes is that they are a lot like hogs with regards to pup recruitment. It seems like the more you kill, the more there are. There was a study done a while ago in Wyoming I think that basically surmised that if coyotes experience a high mortality rate one year, they produce enough young in the subsequent years to make up for the losses. I take every study with a grain of salt (especially nowadays), but it sort of reflects what I have seen up here in MT the last few years.

Since I got in the thermal game we have schwacked way more coyotes on the places I hunt (especially during calving season) and it seems like this year there have been more than ever. Good from a target rich environment perspective, but bad if you want your calves to live. Up here, coyotes don't get as many calves as down south I think, but they do get a few.

Really interesting on the buzzards and calves, I have never heard that before. From what I have seen, even if you could shoot 5 a year it sure feels like you wouldn't even be making a dent.

The 5 black headed buzzard permit from what I read (no real world experience) was so that you could hang them in effigy and prevent the others from coming around. Those buzzards are super aggressive. They aren't like eagles or anything, they just are the first ones to swoop in on something and try to eat as much before they get knocked off. If that happens to be your newborn calf/sheep/goat/whatever that can't get up yet...too bad. I didn't really believe the stories about their aggression until I saw it first-hand. It was like a National Geographic episode with hyenas going after a cape buffalo and a newborn calf.

I don't think we lose as many calves to coyotes as in the states further up north. I'm sure that it has happened, but the only calves I know I lost to canines were to dogs around here. People either let their dogs run free in packs or dump them up this way. The end result is that I will frequently run across packs of 3-5 dogs at a time that are 50+ pounds each. After seeing five of them attack a cow and young calf (I killed three that time), I have no remorse for shooting dogs...which is odd since my wife is a Veterinarian. Actually, she doctored a calf that was the victim of a dog attack (not one of our calves) YESTERDAY that some old boy brought in.

I don't doubt that coyotes will fill a void that you make in their population. I think that they can naturally balance their numbers out to match food sources, and that when you reduce competition by killing some that the remainders will breed more. I like to look at my rabbit population at night as a good indicator of how the coyotes are doing.

I know for a fact though that they will come from a long ways off to eat some dead pig...so that's what I provide.

 

[LC 6.5 Shooter]

View attachment 8314958

This is one idea for a wind out of the NW. If its ok to shoot down that road (not sure if thats a public road, ranch road, etc.) then I would sit at the intersection of the road and that E-W opening, in a position that allows you to cover as much of the road and opening in both directions as possible. Place the call to the north as far from you as you can still communicate with it, and make sure it is as scent free as possible. The Yotes will likely want to circle downwind of the call unless they are really young stupid ones. The gray lines show possible coyote approach paths. Your goal is to shoot them crossing an opening while they are trying to get downwind of the call, but before they get downwind of you.

Let me know if this plan succeeds!

Just seeing this. Thx. Thats trying to cover alot of degrees of angle around you. So I dont think a tripod would work. What would you suggest as a support for the rifle. Something like a primos shooting stick

 

[Namekagon]

A shooting stick might be easier. Could also bring a buddy, and sit back to back. Place your support so its useful on the longer shots, and plan to free-hand the close stuff.