Thinning the heard.

Been having any where between 3 to 7 yotes on camera. Well now after I sat this morning I realized we have a coyote problem. I’m not seeing just one pack over and over, I’m seeing multiple packs. This morning I had 3 packs howling. Each set sounded like multiple dogs and I have 100s of tracks all over.
What can I do to target and get legal kills on these things right now ? I’m not a coyote hunter, but I am going to start war with them. Any advice is appreciated

Get one of those injured rabbit calls and call them in. Disclaimer….I don’t know if it’s legal to hunt them right now, is there a open season going on?

Buy some cheap bear bait like donuts and put that out for them. Dig a little hole and cover with smaller legs so coons and other things don’t get in there as much. Basically like bear baiting. I shot 2 yokes over my bear baits this weekend and a lot of camera pics of them eating the donuts.

Put out the word in your area and some coyote hunters may find you

Other than that, get a game call and go after them with an appropriate weapon. I guess trapping them could be an option, #3 leg hold traps and some trails end lure

Jeremy wrote:

Put out the word in your area and some coyote hunters may find you

Other than that, get a game call and go after them with an appropriate weapon. I guess trapping them could be an option, #3 leg hold traps and some trails end lure

No trapping them from me. I will shoot them happily but I don’t own any traps.
Legal season seems to be September 1st to end of February. Is it legal to use throw away pieces from a deer I shot and bait them that way ? I’m going to grab a hunting reg booklet and read it later on.

If you have a carry permit you can bring a firearm into the woods when you’re archery hunting for deer. Obviously as soon as you start shooting at a yote, your deer hunt is going to be ruined for a while though.

I know a couple archery hunters who have gone this route and they bring their .223 into the woods when they’re archery hunting. The regs specifically state you must have a carry permit to bring a firearm in while you’re archery hunting though.

Other than that, a call and a decoy as has already been mentioned is a traditional way to hunt them. Might be a little tough this time of year though, as the warmer temps often have them active only at night time.

Minnesota has no season on yotes. Shoot them year round.

Look up Rick Nelson on Facebook. He also runs Cats on the Croix. He always seems to be looking for his next pasture poodle to drop. Has some fantastic night footage on his page.

Mike W wrote:

Look up Rick Nelson on Facebook. He also runs Cats on the Croix. He always seems to be looking for his next pasture poodle to drop. Has some fantastic night footage on his page.

If I could link up with a guy like that I would give him free rights to cone take them all.

As far as carrying a fire arm, I have a carry permit, didn’t realize I could take a rifle with. I will do that. If I ruin a sit for deer to kill the yotes, so be it. They need to go

From reading the reg booklet and playing jump back and forth between 12 pages. I can legally use the carcass for bait and shoot the coyotes any time.
I guess that will be my main goal is to stick a deer with the bow so I have a carcass to use

what also works good in the winter is to use a frozen carcass. Drive a steak into the ground (before it freezes) and chain the carcass to it so they have to come out in the open. We had plenty of things to feed from the farm in the winter.

Give me a call, I’d like to squeek on a few of them dogs.
Then feed em some lead.
It give me a reason to put on the gilly.

Trapping is really the only meaningful way to thin coyote numbers. A guy just can’t really shoot enough of them… unfortunately. Those packs will get wary of calls after you shoot a couple or get busted a couple times.

Trapping is fun too and a dying skill.

ajw wrote:

Trapping is really the only meaningful way to thin coyote numbers. A guy just can’t really shoot enough of them… unfortunately. Those packs will get wary of calls after you shoot a couple or get busted a couple times.

Trapping is fun too and a dying skill.

Not much of a coyote hunter but this is what I’ve always read as well. Really hard to make much of a dent hunting them.

Honestly pretty hard trapping them out . I got 8 coyotes in 7 days running snares on 120 acres . Think I had 16 or so on the same 120 acres . Really only trapped hard 25 days I bet . All the while also calling with thermal . They just keep filtering in . Learn a lot when you drive the same fence rows over and over in the snow . This was next to a cattle feed lot , not a large one . 100 or so head is all but I wonder if the coyotes know to check these areas more frequently .

Sure is fun doing it though ! Trappings a blast if you can get past the hard feelings !

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Timely topic.

I had forgot about a sprinkler on behind the house and just went out to shut it down around 10:15pm. I had 3 coyotes about 25 yards from the house on the walkout side cruising the yard.

I’ll try to carve out a couple nights this coming weekend to sit out with a rifle and see what I can do. Last fall I shot one with a shotgun in the woods next to the house on a whim at dusk, and a buddy sat in a winter blind below the house and got 3 or 4 total on a few sits with a thermal setup. He’s nuts and enjoys that in the dead of winter on any full moon (or close). I’m going to convince him to hunt out here more this winter to hopefully knock down the numbers or at least dispose of the brave ones.

Is there data/estimates out there on coyote populations? It sure seems in this area that we have more than we had 15-20 years ago. There are very few people left who hunt them in the area. I also think fewer and fewer hunters will kill them from the stand as they don’t want to “ruin” their hunt. We always take it as a noble thing to keep the balance and shoot on sight from the deer stand, but that may no longer be the norm?

Wow. Cool photo of all those yotes hanging.

buckybadger wrote:

I also think fewer and fewer hunters will kill them from the stand as they don’t want to “ruin” their hunt. We always take it as a noble thing to keep the balance and shoot on sight from the deer stand, but that may no longer be the norm?

This is kind of how I feel. I only firearm hunt with a rifle for deer (9 day season) and I’ve passed on a yote almost every year at least once, sometimes more. I’m not against shooting one at all, I just prefer to not spook that trophy buck that might be approaching. As soon as I fire off a round, that’s the end of my deer hunting, at least for a while.

Just last season I observed a coyote take out a big black feral cat in an open bean field less than 100 yards from my stand. I had seen this cat the night before and seriously considered blasting it, but refrained. Luckily, the yote did me a favor the next morning and quickly dispatched the feline.

I have and would shoot one when I’m turkey hunting. I saw one last spring on day 2 but it was too far for my shotgun. It was eyeing up my hen decoy.

buckybadger wrote:

I also think fewer and fewer hunters will kill them from the stand as they don’t want to “ruin” their hunt. We always take it as a noble thing to keep the balance and shoot on sight from the deer stand, but that may no longer be the norm?

I feel like having a yote running around would already ruin your hunt, we are thick with yotes around the house too and when one is around the deer know and act accordingly. I don’t see them often on stand (and never have had a shot while gun hunting), but did chase a couple off of a buck I shot with my bow a few years back. I hadn’t tracked the buck yet, so they actually helped me find it but they were well out of bow range when I saw them.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
I also think fewer and fewer hunters will kill them from the stand as they don’t want to “ruin” their hunt. We always take it as a noble thing to keep the balance and shoot on sight from the deer stand, but that may no longer be the norm?

This is kind of how I feel. I only firearm hunt with a rifle for deer (9 day season) and I’ve passed on a yote almost every year at least once, sometimes more. I’m not against shooting one at all, I just prefer to not spook that trophy buck that might be approaching. As soon as I fire off a round, that’s the end of my deer hunting, at least for a while.

Just last season I observed a coyote take out a big black feral cat in an open bean field less than 100 yards from my stand. I had seen this cat the night before and seriously considered blasting it, but refrained. Luckily, the yote did me a favor the next morning and quickly dispatched the feline.

I have and would shoot one when I’m turkey hunting. I saw one last spring on day 2 but it was too far for my shotgun. It was eyeing up my hen decoy.

Half the years I shoot my deer with a rifle, I have more deer come in within a half hour.

Find a place away from where your stand is to do the killings, that way your not spooking that area for deer.

Mike W wrote:

Wow. Cool photo of all those yotes hanging.

If you can believe – theres about 20 total trees in that 120 acres , and very very few surrounding it . Ive called 6 in at once with a thermal. Thats not the silver bullet either, but thats a topic for another discussion . They are thicker than a guy realizes !

Farmer called me this morning and said he seen what appeared to be all black dog running in the pack. That would be a cool kill

We shot a black one 5-6 years ago . Was running with 2 others when we jumped em up . There was a point in my life where coyotes consumed it as you can tell .

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What was your favorite way to cook them up? LOL

isu22andy wrote:

We shot a black one 5-6 years ago . Was running with 2 others when we jumped em up . There was a point in my life where coyotes consumed it as you can tell .

I shoot em every time I see em bow or gun hunting. No exceptions. The deer hardly notice the shot but they do know when the yotes are around and they’re on high alert.
If you have coyotes in the area, the deer will sometimes move out of it.

Same with deer. I’ve shot 1 only to have another show up 15 minutes later and they walk over to smell the dead one.

My girlfriend shot a 9 pointer a few years ago. Gutting it 5 minutes later had 4 bucks come right up to us. I shot a nice 8 pointer at like 10 yards and a guy with us shot a 10 pointer.

JEREMY wrote:

My girlfriend shot a 9 pointer a few years ago. Gutting it 5 minutes later had 4 bucks come right up to us. I shot a nice 8 pointer at like 10 yards and a guy with us shot a 10 pointer.

Same thing happened with a buddy and I.
Never let the coyotes walk. Tougher to believe gim that you’d let a coyote walk but want to kill the cat ? What’s up with that ?

Read the regs closely during firearm deer season. Including youth.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Read the regs closely during firearm deer season. Including youth.

No shooting after dark ? Or what are you referring to ?