coyotes

[XBT]

The 2006/07 coyote season is over for me. We did very well (fifty-two coyotes), considering we lost six weeks of the season due to wife’s medical problems.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/retiredBT/2006coyotes10.jpg
XBT and son (#1 gunner and all-round top hand on coyotes)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/retiredBT/2006coyotes11.jpg

XBT and wife (#2 gunner)

[45 2.1]

A good season and some very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Navahojoe]

Nice pictures! Is there a bounty or something on Coyotes in Utah, or they sold to a fur buyer for the pelt? Reason I ask, Alabama has no bag limit or closed season on Coyotes. They are a pain in the rear in some urban areas. Of course with a population of about 250,00 people where I live, no way to shoot at them. At the sound of the hammer falling, just before the powder ignited, the police would have one swarmed
like yellow jackets.

regards,
NavahoJoe

:castmine: so I can :Fire:

[Ivantherussian03]

That is a nice bunch of fur!

[XBT]

Nice pictures! Is there a bounty or something on Coyotes in Utah, or they sold to a fur buyer for the pelt? Reason I ask, Alabama has no bag limit or closed season on Coyotes. They are a pain in the rear in some urban areas. Of course with a population of about 250,00 people where I live, no way to shoot at them. At the sound of the hammer falling, just before the powder ignited, the police would have one swarmed
like yellow jackets.

regards,
NavahoJoe

:castmine: so I can :Fire:

The county pays a $20.00 bounty on each coyote and last year we got $28.00 each for the hides. Good pay for doing something that’s so much fun.

[versifier]

I'm not sure that the coats would get thick enough in the far SE for them to be worth a lot as fur. We would have a great season getting three or four when I was still at it! That's one helluva haul. I'da looked a lot more smug if I pulled that off. :drinks:

[Dale53]

XBT;
Congratulations on a good season. I am NOT a coyote fan. They have practically wiped out the small game in SW Ohio.

Dale53

[carpetman]

XBT--Give us the full poop. What part of Utah? Do you call and if so what type-electronic or mouth? Night,day or both? What rifles? Do you use coyote poop for anything---heck if not you could build a good story as you already have the credentials with the pictures of results. I would have thought the hides would bring more--coyote skin hats bring a pretty steep price.

[wills]

XBT--Give us the full poop.

Coyote poop was a notorious indian.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=147319&postcount=62

[shooter575]

XBT,nice haul. Some times I think there are that many are out in my back 40 when even I can hear them!

[XBT]

XBT--Give us the full poop. What part of Utah? Do you call and if so what type-electronic or mouth? Night,day or both? What rifles? Do you use coyote poop for anything---heck if not you could build a good story as you already have the credentials with the pictures of results. I would have thought the hides would bring more--coyote skin hats bring a pretty steep price.

Carpetman, We mostly hunt the western part of Utah because it’s near my home. I use both electronic and mouth calls, depending on the conditions. I have found ether one will work fine, provided the coyotes haven’t heard a call before. The electronic calls have a bit more volume and I like to use them in windy conditions. We hunt daylight hours only.

We all use .22-250 rifles; my son’s and mine are the old Ruger 77V models with the medium heavy barrels, with Leupold 3x9 scopes. We always shoot from sticks and can usually kill anything that stops out to 300 yds. or so. The shooting sticks are a great aid in field shooting. I also carry a short barreled 12 gauge fitted with a super tight choke. Loaded with three-inch #4 buck it is good out to 45-50 yds. The shotgun is laid on the ground near my right leg and is used when one comes in quickly and runs into the caller without stopping.

I have been calling for about forty years and the highest price I ever got for fur was $72.00 each, and I expect to get about $30.00 this year. That is an average price per coyote on a large lot, some individual hides will run much higher or lower of course.

Several years age my son started writing about his experiences hunting coyotes. I may have posted the first few pages here before, but as I think it may be of some interest here it is again.


COYOTE HUNTING
“A pair of coyotes trotted noiselessly across the sagebrush choked sands of the desert as the blood red dawn of morning gave way to first light. Without warning, the shrill scream of a cottontail rabbit in the throes of death pierced the chill air in the distance. The lead coyote froze in its tracks for a split second while pinpointing the location of the sound before breaking into a run with the second coyote hot on its trail. The screams gradually grew louder as the predators closed the distance spurred on by the determination to fill their bellies with fresh meat.

I had been hunting coyotes for a year or two before that fateful fall morning in the Utah desert. A Remington 788 chambered in .22-250 was my weapon of choice while an experienced guide who also happened to be my Dad was teaching me the art of calling coyotes. Actually, it wasn’t really a choice but rather a necessity since it was the only suitable coyote gun I currently owned. I had been given the gun as a Christmas present a little less than a year earlier at the tender young age of nine. My Dad, who usually goes by the name of Jim around his acquaintances, also preferred a .22-250 although his was a Ruger M-77 Heavy Barrel with a Leupold 3-9 power variable scope. Out of experience he started packing a second gun on his coyote forays in the form of a shotgun primed with number four buckshot buffered in a three-inch magnum shotshell. I had recently been put “in charge” of the shotgun anytime I was sitting within a few feet of my dad as he operated the magical record player that had fooled many a coyote into thinking it was about to get a free meal. I had yet to have any need for the shotgun until that crisp morning. I had been scanning the horizon in anticipation for a varmint to appear; but I was nowhere close to being prepared for what was about to happen.

The cold sand was being torn up as the pair of coyotes dodged and darted through the brush all the while narrowing the distance to our position just below the skyline on a small ridge. When they broke around a small hill the lead coyote looked like an F-16 with its afterburners wide open. It was moving so fast its feet were a blur as it closed the last 80 yards to where I had been enjoying the quiet stillness that only the solitude of the desert can offer. I was so startled by the speed and proximity of the coyotes I was unable to speak, let alone alert my dad who was on my right side and could not see the pair of coyotes because of an exceptionally large sagebrush blocking his view. Somehow I managed to blurt out an incoherent noise, which was recognized immediately by my experienced guide as pure, undiluted panic. He yelled, “shotgun, shotgun” and my brain jerked my frozen body back to life.
I grabbed the shotgun and at the same time kicked the shooting sticks out from under my rifle. Just as the Remington landed in my lap an ear-deafening roar erupted from the 12 gauge. Unfortunately, most of the pea gravel sized pellets slammed into sagebrush, which until that moment had been resting peacefully about ten yards in front of me. In all the excitement I had swung and fired on the coyote that happened to be directly behind the brush at the exact moment I jerked the trigger. I later blamed the mishap on the near poisonous levels of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins. Luckily, I managed to jack another magnum into the chamber, and the second shot found an unobstructed flight path to the confused coyote. The buckshot pounded the big dog before the smoking hull from the first shot had time to find a suitable landing spot on the ground. One down, one to go.

Unknown to me, the trailing coyote had veered off the path of the first dog about 30 yards in front of me. At the sound of the first shot, the female hunkered down and really started to tear it up across the sandy surface. If you think a coyote on a dead run coming toward a call is fast you should see them when they are heading back. The ground at my dad’s feet rattled as he touched off the Ruger. A split second later the coyote started a cartwheel and was dead before it had lost all it’s momentum and came to a rest less than a hundred yards away from the warm barrel of my dad’s .22-250.

That was my first coyote taken with a scattergun. I have taken many more since that time with a shotgun, and still hundreds more with my trusty .22-250, and the adrenaline rush has never gone away. Coyote hunting for me has been something I look forward to every fall when the leaves start to turn a rusty auburn color and a chill starts to develop in the morning air.”

[Ivantherussian03]

So I am curious. Are you calling these animals? What kind of call? What are shooting with ? And I am curious about the load? bullet size? Do the bullets do much damage to the pelt? What distance are shooting at? I am just curious.:coffee:

[carpetman]

XBT--Western Utah--what towns and counties? I read somebodys Coyote Hunter site once and he said a .17 cal was THE only rifle to use. Said a small hole that was easy to sew up was all it did. Reason I mention this is would a smaller hole possibly increase their price? I'd like to see what the 5mm(.204) would do. When you use an electronic caller do you you just let them run continiously? I've seen people use them that way and it doesnt seem right to me.

[Scrounger]

XBT--Western Utah--what towns and counties? I read somebodys Coyote Hunter site once and he said a .17 cal was THE only rifle to use. Said a small hole that was easy to sew up was all it did. Reason I mention this is would a smaller hole possibly increase their price? I'd like to see what the 5mm(.204) would do. When you use an electronic caller do you you just let them run continiously? I've seen people use them that way and it doesnt seem right to me.

No, Ray, don't try your Sheridan for this; the coyotes will have you for lunch...

[carpetman]

Scrounger--I'm sure you know there is a fairly new on market 5MM centerfire-think it's called Ruger.204. I have long thought in airguns that the 5mm(.20 cal)was the best of both between the .177's and the .22's. Speaking of Sheridans,I recently purchased an in sad shape old Sheridan from a guy at Accurate. I ordered rebuild parts and it's at my gunsmiths now. I never messed with them,and perhaps rebuiling it would be something I could do????

[Scrounger]

Yes, Ray, I'm aware of the .204 Ruger. But I'm strongly of the opinion that we have had a sufficient variety of calibers for many years, and the new editions are merely market enhancements and ego trips. There is nothing the .204 Ruger can do that can't be equaled by the .17 Remington, .223 Remington, or the .22-250. I love the .17 Remington but I don't have one now, simply because the .223 can match its performance, and cases, bullets and very reasonably priced loaded ammo is available in so many more places. I'd still like to see you get a coyote with your Sheridan; your reputation would be made for life.

[XBT]

Ivan, Lately we have been using Hornady 50 grn. v-max bullets. I think about any varmint bullet in the 50 to 60 grn. area would be fine. Mine are loaded with H-4895 to a velocity of 3700-3800-FPS.

My preferred range to take the shot is in the one to two hundred yard area, but often you must just take whatever is presented. As stated above we can usually (but not always!)hit well out to 300 yds. Close shots are taken with the shotgun.

A good hit with a fragile bullet that does not exit will not damage the hide, but occasionally we need to repair a hole. I use a curved needle and monofilament fishing line to sew up the holes. This is a common practice here, well known to the fur buyers, so the price they pay is adjusted accordingly.

Carpetman, I hunt mostly Tooele, Box Elder and Juab counties. It’s close to home and handy, but there are coyotes all over the state and you could hunt them anywhere.

I usually don’t call continually, preferring several short series of calls. The sound of the call and the cadence is not too important. If a coyote is interested, almost anything that sounds like a small animal in distress will work fine.

I have tried several calibers on coyotes and have decided for me a .22 cal. at the highest velocity possible is the way to go. We often take shots at long range and the .17’s and .20’s or even a .223 is much harder to make good hits with at any distance. If you are hunting in different terrain you may find something else works better. One well-known Arizona hunter and writer usually carries only a shotgun, but that would not work well where I call.

Oh, and the coyote poop? It is of no use when calling, but I have been known pick up a piece and smell it to determine the freshness. This is best done when your wife isn’t watching, as women don’t understand such things.

[Ivantherussian03]

have you shopped around fur prices? 30 bucks seems low. An Ak fox ranges from 1 one to 90, the average last year was 56 or so. Is it just market conditions.

[45nut]

Scrounger--I'm sure you know there is a fairly new on market 5MM centerfire-think it's called Ruger.204. I have long thought in airguns that the 5mm(.20 cal)was the best of both between the .177's and the .22's. Speaking of Sheridans,I recently purchased an in sad shape old Sheridan from a guy at Accurate. I ordered rebuild parts and it's at my gunsmiths now. I never messed with them,and perhaps rebuiling it would be something I could do????

I had a guy down in southern cal rebuild my silver streak to as new specs. its a hammer compared to the .177's

just not enough feral cats to really show it's stuff. [smilie=1:

[XBT]

Ivan, I sell at the Utah Trappers Association auction which usually brings the best price in this area. Coyotes from here are not as well furred as the ones from further north and the prices are somewhat lower. A good red fox here will sell for about thirty dollars.

[handyrandyrc]

XBT, sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe next fall I'll have to join you for an adventure and see how it's done. I've always been intrigued by coyote hunting.

[nighthunter]

This thread is very good reading and the pictures are excellent. I'm sort of envious as I have wanted to hunt coyotes in good habitat for a long time. The coyotes we have in Pa. usually have mange and are not as responsive to calling. I have had very good success on fox in my area and they provided a lot of enjoyment and a base for a lot of good stories. Thanks for the reading material.
Nighthunter

[KCSO]

In NE the fur prices fell so badly that most guys quit trapping, then the mange hit and this year you can't hardly find a coyote. It will take a couple of years to get them back. That is some haul of fur, I haven't seen a load like that since we quit trapping.

[Slowpoke]

Nice, Most of those look really Pale color wise.

I know from experience that string of fur represents a lot of hard but fun work.

I always hated skinning coyotes, fox and cats were more my speed.

I am surprised you don't have a cat or two with that many coyotes.

I used to average about one cat for every ten coyotes when calling in the low country of S., AZ. in the foothills the percentage would increase. The fox and coyotes would end about mid Feb. fur wise but the cats would stay nice right thru to the end of March.

Used to always look forward to attending the fur auction every February, good memories.

Good luck

[carpetman]

Art I agree most new stuff is a real fine answer to a non question. I'm sure the .204 falls into that catagory. Having other stuff that would be similar is why I haven't bought one.