Chris B

I'm really late to this party but I wanted to suggest that maybe the bounty would not cost taxpayers any money. I was thinking that maybe the DNR will take the furs, give the bounties, and then sell to fur buyers and recoup their money. I have no idea what fur prices are but it appears you say the going rate is about $50? Maybe the DNR planned that if they can sell at least half of the furs brought in (some may not be salvageable if shot by larger calibers or mange, etc), they will break even. Is it possible the DNR could make money off of this bounty? Something to think about...

I'm on the FoxPro Hunting Forums and one of the NY Prostaff guys (Andrew Lewand) Hunts solo quite often and I asked him about running lights and he said he sits and runs his scan light and then when he catches eyes, he sets the scan light down and switches to his kill light to finish the job. I'm sure it's difficult and would take some practice but that's what he does. I would still find it very difficult to run the scan light, call, switch lights, and then continue using the call to pull them in if they hung up. I just hunt with a partner, like you said it makes it a lot easier

I think they make sprays that people use for their plants and flowers to keep deer away. I know nothing about it or $$ but thought maybe you could spray the perimeter or if its too much space, maybe spray the areas where deer enter you yard. IE: any deer runs or anything.

I don't have any experience with that light specifically but just keep in mind that brightest isn't always best. An animal can spook no matter what color light if you "burn" them with the bright beam. If you pick up eyes, move the beam upward so that you are using the very outside portion.

I run a Lightforce Walkabout 170 for scanning and have an EWT Kill Light 250 mounted on my gun to light them up on the kill. Extremely happy with both. I run red lights btw

The best advice I can give you is that 90% of your success will be in your setup. Don't let your wind blow into where you expect them to be while walking in and setting up. I like crosswinds, a wind in your face will have lots of them sneaking in behind you and busting you. Also, at night I run my scanning light continuously

Got some trail cam pics of a couple small bucks over the weekend. One had both horns and the other had had dropped one horn but still had the other.

First thing I would do is pay off all my debt and give my parents a huge amount of my winnings and send a few million a piece to my small circle of best friends. From there I would start talking to some of the landowners I know on some of the adjacent properties from my house and try to give them offers they cant refuse to sell me their land or at least a chunk of it. and then from there I would probably buy a Ferrari

If I shot what I thought was my Lifetime buck already, I would adjust to trying to consistently shoot a good buck year after year. Say my buck of a lifetime is a 140 class. I would try to consistently shoot bucks in the 120 class range. there's always a chance of shooting something bigger though....ya just never know what can happen.

Coyotes are the most challenging animal to hunt in my experience. I have only killed one in the past 6 years that I have invested in hunting them. I don't have any sources but I have been told that for the eastern coyote, 1 encounter every 12 or so stands is average. I would take a rough guess and say I probably make 40 stands a year for them and I have about 3ish opportunities for a kill (visual) a year. I would like to think that I've gotten pretty decent at covering my bases but they have a knack for finding the smallest holes in my game plan. I have also found that I have had the best luck so far calling them before deer gun season.

congrats way to go! In the future, plan to set up differently and use different calls at times. They adapt fast and giving them a new look really helps!

you should check out the FoxPro forums, there is a wealth of knowledge on predator hunting and the guys on the forum are super helpful. Like Chrisw said, they are a lot harder to call in and kill than people realize. I found that out the same way most newbies do. Make scent control your number one priority and make sure your wind isn't blowing into the area you want to hunt while walking in. I like to put my e caller upwind so that the coyotes want to "fall in my lap" while getting downwind of the caller. I also like to stay a minimum of an hour on each stand. Start your caller on a low volume and work your way up through the set. One other thing I have learned, for me, is that you gotta give them something for a wind advantage. That's why I like crosswinds. A lot of the time, coyotes that come in for me hang up on the wood's edge and don't want to come out in the open, even at night. So a setup where you can shoot to that edge will help you. If not, u can turn the caller down to where you can barely hear it and it can pull them in, or switch to a coaxer sound like a vole squeak, barely audible to your ears, to try and pull them in. It is also a rule of thumb for our eastern coyotes that you might have a coyote show itself to your calling 1 out of 12 stands. So be patient and keep at it. a lot of times I think coyotes come into my calling, investigate, and leave without me ever knowing. Hope this helps some and feel free to PM if you have any questions at all. Be sure to build as much knowledge as possible before getting out there because the first stand in an area will be your best shot. You will also learn something every stand you make. Just make sure to cross your i's and dot your t's bc every "mistake" you make in your setup, they will capitalize on it.

We set up right at last light on the edge of a green field above heavy cover where we know is loaded with them. Sat quiet until darkness hit and in this case we waited until we heard them howl. used a mouth call to howl when they lit up and then went to my FoxPro crossfire with decoy. When the coyote popped into the field, I turned my call to almost inaudible and after a minute or two it drew her in to where I could get a shot.

Does anyone know how to rotate my picture? When I open it, it is right-side-up. But when I attach it, it turns sideways

Correct. In my experience, Anyone that has land or a farm, or lives in the country does not like coyotes. Of course there are people that do but no one that I have personally talked to. Regardless, my response was geared more towards the fact that it seems much easier to get permission to hunt coyotes than other game species.

I know of some guys that use road kill deer. Not sure the process or legal requirements to acquire them, they talked about it on a diff forum. I recall them saying make sure you wear rubber gloves to handle so you don't put your scent on it

I have found that NOBODY likes coyotes. I guess fox could be considered a different story but anyway... It seems that just about anyone is willing to give permission to thin out the population, as long as it doesn't interfere with the deer hunter's season. I have picked up a couple properties just by keeping an ear out and picking up on conversations and then suggesting myself to help. At work, my boss' wife (I work for a small construction company) mentioned hearing coyotes howling in their field and being worried about her kids and dog. I explained that I coyote hunt all the time and that I may be able to help rid them for her. It has come to the point that she is basically begging me to come hunt them. A girl I've been seeing for a little while now mentioned that her cousin had her cat eaten by coyotes and that they are looking to hire someone to come take care of them. I told her to call her cousin and offer that I could come do it for free...Now that property is mine to hunt as I please. My friend and I have been coyote hunting a farm he has permission to deer hunt and we got one coyote so far. When my friend went there to drop off some fresh walleye and venison tenderloin as a thank you for the hunting permission, The landowner's sister was there and through some conversation he was able to bring up coyote hunting. Now we can coyote hunt the landowner's sister's property and possibly the neighbors as well. It seems that permission for coyote hunting is starting to spread like wildfire for us. You could also knock on some doors (I suggest waiting until deer season is over so that doesn't play a role) and you could pick up some spots that way. I just try to explain that I will only be hunting predators outside of deer season

in October we got into a couple family groups and got into them like crazy at one of my properties. Some of my other spots were hit or miss, I did flush a grouse yesterday while checking trail cams. Dying to get the bird dog back out, she's going nuts not being able to go!

I have never planned on using my DMP's opening day. I hunt real hard for bucks and like to try and get that taken care of before I shoot a doe. Plus I like to get with a couple buddies the last couple weeks of the season and have "management days" where we all go out together to places that we have been seeing lots of does and try to get a couple....Sit first and last light and do some drives, it's a lot of fun. However, I am changing my tune a little. Before I would never shoot a doe during bow but now I have no problem doing so if a chip shot presents itself the first 2 weeks of bow. And as far as gun, I would only shoot a doe opening weekend if it was last light and a large doe comes into range that doesn't appear to be getting run by a buck. I did shoot a doe Monday afternoon after work, and that was by far the earliest in the season I have ever done so.

get 'em! I love being able to hunt right out back of my house. especially when the drag home is all down hill!

I, myself, could never understand why guys would wanna put drives on opening weekend but to each their own. I have a friend who spends opening weekend with a handful of guys and they put drives on like crazy....just aren't the sitting type. What irritates me is when I'm in my stand opening morning and see two guys come sneaking into my setup through the thick pines and I hear one guy say to the other "hey, take your orange off through here" as they cross onto posted property that I'm hunting and start trying to push the property. People have no respect

I might have heard 15-20 shots all day in 7S. No shooting at all between 11-3 +/-. I saw 2-3 does, a real good buck, and either another doe or a smaller buck all before 9:30am. Unfortunately for me the buck had to either funnel left towards me, or funnel to the right.....of course he went to the right, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Didn't see a thing again until 4 when two smaller does came by me but I let them walk. Then I spotted two deer blasting across the field from across the road at sundown as I was packing up to leave.

I seem to see more deer when the barometric pressure is up. 30.1+, I get more excited to get out there, but don't let it dictate my hunt.

awesome... I got similar pics of a couple bruisers fighting a couple years ago. What are the chances, right?! They are my favorite