LOL your talent definitely passes mine by a long shot.
Nah... I'm really pretty average. And since my eyes have started going to hell on me the last few years, I really can't even shoot worth a dang anymore, which used to be my one saving grace. Used to shoot well enough to bail myself out of some dumb mistakes on stand. Not so much anymore...
I may be missing something my personal experience has only ever been positive hunting solo or with a partner that takes it serious. Most of the time for me they tend to come in down wind stop at 200 yards then bolt my guess has been sent but I could be wrong I guess.
I think you are dead right.
They do tend to come in downwind. And stopping before fleeing when they get a whiff at about 200 yards is pretty typical. I just try to setup so that I am either giving the downwind away completely (calling right into the wind putting downwind at my 6), or so that any coyote trying to get downwind of the call is going to have a hard time getting there before I kill his azz. Wind is paramount. Unlike many callers, I have no rules about which direction to call in relation to the wind. But I pay very close attention to the wind and try to setup my stand so that I can see and shoot downwind. Frequently not feasible, of course, you just do the best you can with what you have. But over all, I think a coyotes nose is so nearly impossible to fool, that scent control efforts are not effective. The coyote that cuts your breeze at 200 yards IS GOING TO SMELL you, whether you are taking pains to minimize your scent or not. So, I don't bother... Rather, I take it for granted I WILL be detected if I allow a coyote to get into that position and setup my stand accordingly to prevent that as best I can. That said, I'm sure my total lack of scent control does cost me a coyote or two now and then. But, it's pure recreation for me, I don't make a large portion of my annual income from it anymore, I'm having fun and like I said, smoking those cigars between stands is pure pleasure for me and if a coyote is going to escape every once in awhile because of it, oh well...
And I always do better hunting solo too. It shouldn't be that way - by all logic, a good partner should equal more coyotes in the truck, but my experiences have not been that way. Even when hunting with a serious, talented partner, I usually end up with more coyotes by myself for some reason.
A partner that doesn't take it seriously is a terrible handicap and hindrance though. Making too much noise walking in to the stand, talking - AT ALL, sitting there on stand farting around making movements and not paying attention, making noise on stand etc., you need a LOT of luck to have any success hunting with a partner guilty of these things.
I have a friend that I have taken out quite a few times and he just DOES NOT get it. I've asked him, told him, repeatedly, a few very simple things. And he just doesn't take it seriously enough to comply. And while I have killed a fair number of coyotes with him along, I can also remember coyotes on every trip that SHOULD have been killed, but weren't because he just doesn't take anything I request of him seriously.
An example... We are walking in to a stand I have never made before. I don't like the view and wind situation right where we are, I want to cross a small ridge in front of us to call the next draw. But I do NOT want to skyline ourselves crossing that ridge. I have explained this concept of stealth and remaining undetected while getting into the stand to my buddy over and over. Anyway... I crawl up to the edge and take a couple minutes laying prone and screened by some grass to glass from there, trying to make sure there isn't a coyote visible that will see us cross over. I know there could easily be one watching that I can't see, but at least I can eliminate anything obvious. After satisfying myself there isn't anyting easily detectable watching, I do a low crouch and get over that ridge as fast and as low as I can and very quickly move down the hill into some cover where I get sat down. I'm sitting there, waiting for my buddy to join, wondering why he is taking so long. I look back. Dumb phuck is standing there, all six foot five of him, just standing there skylined like a casino sign, looking through his binocs, just casual as can be. I was so irritated I just got up and walked back to the truck without making the stand and when he asked me why and I told him, he just shrugged, like I'm crazy to think that standing there skylined like that could ever make any difference...
Many more expamples, of course, some much less subtle. Like, I have told him a thousand times, if we get a shot on stand, I don't care whether it's a dead coyote or a clean miss, just sit tight. Don't jump up. Don't shout. Don't move at all. Don't make a sound. Pretend the shot never happened and we'll continue the stand. I have had second and third coyotes come in after shooting the first one or two, too many times to count. Hell, I have on more rare occasions had fourth, fifth, six, seventh and eigth coyotes show up after killing the first few. So sit tight. Coyotes are social. If there is one close enough to hear the call and respond, good chance there is another one out there. My experience, the odds of getting another coyote on stand after the first one, are pretty dang good. Even if you miss the first one, I've had others come in a few minutes later many, many times. But he just doesn't think it's real. I shoot one, he invariably jumps up and hollers at me. Or, I shoot one, he jumps up and RUNS OVER TO WHERE I'm sitting to ask me if I got it and where it's at. Three different times I have had more coyotes (plural) in my scope on their way in when he ran over to me like that. Of course I never got a shot on any of them... The last time, I had killed one and was watching three more racing each other to get to the caller. He jumps up and starts running around and yelling and they disapeared like smoke. I wanted to punch him in the tit...
Noobs can make you want to pull your hair out
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Not always though. One of the pictures above is my nephew. That was his first day ever calling. And he did good, real good. Did everything I asked him to, and it paid off for him - he killed the crap out of them for his first day ever. And the true mark of doing it well, he didn't let any escape, killed every one we saw on stand. I was proud
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I think that is the best metric, to evaluate progress, by the way. How many you kill vs. how many you see. In some places, it's easy to "see" four or five in a day. But if you only kill one of them, know that you suck...
. Seriously, it does vary a great deal on terrain and other factors, but as a general rule for most of the conditions I hunt in, I'm not happy killing less than 80% of the coyotes I see on stand. With my shooting sucking like it does anymore, I'm struggling to achieve that this year so far.
- DAA