THE SILENT TREATMENT
To successfully hunt coyotes during winter, it’s often easier—and more effective—to leave the predator calls at home
Advertisement
#4 Baiting
Where legal, baiting can be one of the most successful strategies for coyote hunters. It’s possible to hunt over the likes of undisturbed roadkill, a rancher’s dead pile or winterkilled big-game animals. However, you won’t always find such baits in an advantageous location for hunting. In that case, you can either try to work with what you’ve got or strategically place the bait in a different area.
The best area to place bait should be near heavy cover. This helps the coyotes feel secure when approaching the bait, and confident they can slip out of sight with just a few bounds. Likewise, the hunter should be able to approach the bait site and slip into shooting position without getting detected.
Advertisement
As with an ambush, the best set-up should be 200 metres from the bait. That distance offers the perfect compromise between not being seen and having an easy shot. And, of course, the prevailing wind needs to be in your face. Setting up at the crack of dawn is usually the most effective strategy, although coyotes can visit a bait site at any time of the day. How long you wait and watch is merely a factor of your patience.