Our way of coyote hunting

In eastern Iowa, I hunt with a bigger (10-15) group of guys. We use dogs and radios (yes it is legal in iowa as long as shotgun deer season is closed). We use buckshot (4 Buck) exclusively for two reasons. 1) Sometimes the dogs run the yotes closer to farm houses/buildings and we don’t want guys blasting rifles around them. 2) Safety we don’t want other hunters or our dogs shot. I’m all for using a rifle when calling them but when running them it just isn’t an option that we choose to use, besides the thrill of the chase if more enjoying to me then the kill. By the time we shoot/the dogs catch a yote, the hide isn’t worth a whole lot. We usually just turn them in for the bounty if they were shot in a county that has one. We do sell a few of the real good hides but they aren’t worth much this year around my part ($15 max). This a a great sport to get through the winter and we haven’t run into many farmers who will say no to people hunting yotes in fact, most of them let us drive through their fields or whatever we need to do to kill them. With work, I don’t get out as much as I used to, but the group still hunts 5-6 days per week. Each year we average around 100 coyotes. My first time this winter was last saturday, I brought 2 guys along that have never hunted this way. They had a blast and in total the group killed 8 coyotes (our best day ever). I know I am in the minority on my approach to hunting coyotes, but we are successful in the population control and have a great time doing it.

Rookie,

I was discussing possibly doing a little coyote hunting with a friend this coming weekend. I have never actually gone coyote hunting but have shot a couple with arrows from a treestand. I grew up fox hunting with my father here in northeast Iowa and I miss it. As you probably know there just aren’t enough fox around any longer to hunt them. Back in the 60’s and 70’s we would drive around and use a spotting scope to locate the fox and then get within range and shoot them with Reminton Model 70’s in .222 cal. Back in the early 60’s there were bounties on fox because there were so many of them. There were no coyotes back in those days around this neck of the woods. The last few years when it has been too-cold to fish we would go crow hunting but I would love to try my hand at coyote hunting this winter. It sounds like you hunt coyotes kind of like the old circle fox hunters used to do it. They would circle a section of land and all drive to the center of the section. They all used shotguns as well. My buddy thought that it sounded like fun so we may have to at least get out and give it a try. We have plenty of land to hunt up north of you by Richardsville and south of you west of Bernard. I still have my predator calls and I even have my white overalls from the old fox hunting days. I have heard there was a group out west of Dubuque that hunted coyotes with dogs. It must be your group. 100 coyotes in a winter is good. My dad shot 37 fox one year in the mid 60’s. Back then the bounty in Clayton County was worth more than the hides. The hides really went up in value in the 1970’s. I shot two fox in 1976 or 77 on a weekend home from college. One fetched me $90.00 the other $45.00. The $90 hide was from a young female and was almost perfect. The $45 hide was from a large male and was also a nice hide but I blew half of the best part of the hide away. I would have no idea what a fox hide would bring these days. I’m sure nothing like they did back in the 70’s.

Eyehunter

Rookie,

I was discussing possibly doing a little coyote hunting with a friend this coming weekend. I have never actually gone coyote hunting but have shot a couple with arrows from a treestand. I grew up fox hunting with my father here in northeast Iowa and I miss it. As you probably know there just aren’t enough fox around any longer to hunt them. Back in the 60’s and 70’s we would drive around and use a spotting scope to locate the fox and then get within range and shoot them with Reminton Model 70’s in .222 cal. Back in the early 60’s there were bounties on fox because there were so many of them. There were no coyotes back in those days around this neck of the woods. The last few years when it has been too-cold to fish we would go crow hunting but I would love to try my hand at coyote hunting this winter. It sounds like you hunt coyotes kind of like the old circle fox hunters used to do it. They would circle a section of land and all drive to the center of the section. They all used shotguns as well. My buddy thought that it sounded like fun so we may have to at least get out and give it a try. We have plenty of land to hunt up north of you by Richardsville and south of you west of Bernard. I still have my predator calls and I even have my white overalls from the old fox hunting days. I have heard there was a group out west of Dubuque that hunted coyotes with dogs. It must be your group. 100 coyotes in a winter is good. My dad shot 37 fox one year in the mid 60’s. Back then the bounty in Clayton County was worth more than the hides. The hides really went up in value in the 1970’s. I shot two fox in 1976 or 77 on a weekend home from college. One fetched me $90.00 the other $45.00. The $90 hide was from a young female and was almost perfect. The $45 hide was from a large male and was also a nice hide but I blew half of the best part of the hide away. I would have no idea what a fox hide would bring these days. I’m sure nothing like they did back in the 70’s.

Eyehunter

Great, we got some action in here I myself am partial to calling them in, but have no problem with hound hunting. I also have never used hounds so I cannot say how I would like it. What breed of hounds do you all use to run coyotes? I have a friend that lives in Iowa and he hates the coyotes as well as all the farmers around him, so hunting opportunities do exist if a person takes the time to ask for permission

Great, we got some action in here I myself am partial to calling them in, but have no problem with hound hunting. I also have never used hounds so I cannot say how I would like it. What breed of hounds do you all use to run coyotes? I have a friend that lives in Iowa and he hates the coyotes as well as all the farmers around him, so hunting opportunities do exist if a person takes the time to ask for permission

Rookie,

Yote hunting with hounds has been something i’ve wanted to do the last few years and it really sounds like a rush. I coon hunt with walkers and really enjoy doing that in the fall but this sounds even better. We shot a big male last week while we were out pheasant hunting near rickardsville which was the first one for me this year. Always good to hear that someones whacking a few yotes around here to help the pheasant population.

Dubiceman

Rookie,

Yote hunting with hounds has been something i’ve wanted to do the last few years and it really sounds like a rush. I coon hunt with walkers and really enjoy doing that in the fall but this sounds even better. We shot a big male last week while we were out pheasant hunting near rickardsville which was the first one for me this year. Always good to hear that someones whacking a few yotes around here to help the pheasant population.

Dubiceman

I second that….wouldn’t mind letting the hounds do some of the chasing. Never done it, but sounds like a rush.

Just another way of doing things…The way we do it.

The past couple of years we have set out in groups, and done small drives for yotes, much like the typical deer drive. Someone always seems to get some shooting, but the more you hunt them like this in an area, the wiser they get. They always seem to find an out. Anyways, I shot 3 yotes this year during the gun deer season, all on drives. Probably why the deer pop is at a lull, too many predators. Good luck to all.

I second that….wouldn’t mind letting the hounds do some of the chasing. Never done it, but sounds like a rush.

Just another way of doing things…The way we do it.

The past couple of years we have set out in groups, and done small drives for yotes, much like the typical deer drive. Someone always seems to get some shooting, but the more you hunt them like this in an area, the wiser they get. They always seem to find an out. Anyways, I shot 3 yotes this year during the gun deer season, all on drives. Probably why the deer pop is at a lull, too many predators. Good luck to all.

We hunt around Richardsville several days a year. This year I’m sort of out of the loop as I’ve only been out once. This ice on top of the snow is no good for the hounds (most of the dogs we use are walkers or black and tans), the ice just rips their pads to no end. There are actually two different groups of us west of dubuque. The other group usually stays south and we stay north (the other group hunts in bernard). I don’t have any dogs myself, but have been hunting with this group for 7 or 8 years.

We hunt around Richardsville several days a year. This year I’m sort of out of the loop as I’ve only been out once. This ice on top of the snow is no good for the hounds (most of the dogs we use are walkers or black and tans), the ice just rips their pads to no end. There are actually two different groups of us west of dubuque. The other group usually stays south and we stay north (the other group hunts in bernard). I don’t have any dogs myself, but have been hunting with this group for 7 or 8 years.