Zero-Sum Coyote Hunting at Long Ridge

Over the past month I have come to the conclusion that Long Ridge coyotes are either A. Real smart, B. Really well fed, or C. Scarce as hen's teeth. Maybe all three? I have been out three times, once with electronic, and twice with hand calls, and have called in not a single one. It is the first year I have taken an active interest in coyote hunting though, so I have lots to learn. I have never hunted them except passively while deer hunting excepting one hunt last year. Our huge fawn loss this past season got me fired up, and I've had a blast doing it, but, no results. Last Sunday two other hunters joined me. I decided to hunt our perimeter trails, and they decided to hunt up on the mountain. Our method is to set up, and call about every five minutes. If none appear within 20-30 minutes we move on to a new spot. Between the three of us we must have hunted a solid 7-800 acres, and none were seen. The mountain hunters returned to their first setup at the end of the day, and coyote tracks had materialized while they were gone. Perhaps we are moving on too soon? 

Behind the raccoon you will see the remains (feathers) of a chicken. This poor bird died in the coop, probably egg bound, and I placed it out in the forest over a week ago as an offering. I placed a game camera fifteen feet away and was lucky to get the following pictures. 

 I appears that the raccoon found the chicken first and would not let the gray fox near.

 Raccoon sated and leaves, gray gets to nibble on the skeleton on the right.

 Not too happy with the camera going off every thirty seconds...

 Finally after those bones...

                                Thirty five minutes later, no bones left except the one he is chewing...

 Same fox an hour later?

 Day late and a dollar short, here is a red fox...

 Absolutely cannot believe it's gone...

 Six days late and completely broke, wily coyote comes on the scene...

 Where WAS I all week he's wondering...

 Hopeful, but hungry...

 Still carrying the Colt - just so comfortable... I DO want to hunt with my 11-87 though, since I saw a guy on a Primos DVD take a coyote at 68 yards with one. It dropped like a stone.

 The electronic caller below crapped out just as we were leaving, so we all used hand calls...

 Looking South from LRDC you can see the eleven AM sun still below the pines. In a month or so it will begin peeping and crossing just above them so we'll get some heat! 

So! We need the secret to hunting coyotes in heavily forested areas! What are YOUR secrets! 

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net