Coyote Hunting with a motion alarm

[NY Region 3 Trapper]

Anyone see the North Woods Law show on Animal Planet a reality show of the Maine game wardens? The game warden was staking out Coyote hunters that would hunt over bait piles, while sitting in a constructed blind. The hunters installed two motion sensors on stakes that would trigger their cell phones to vibrate when a coyote would walk thru. I wonder how effective that would be? Nothing comes to mind that would prevent that technique being used in NY. Have to check the NY Guide.

[PREDATE]

I've considered trying it out.

On PredatorMasters forum under the "baiting" section there is a 90+ page thread with alot of discussion on that topic.

[NY Region 3 Trapper]

Thanks. Just checked it out. Seems interesting enough to look into it. Just thinking how to make the notification aspect of this technology work for deer hunting considering how many times I tend to snooze in the deer blind.

[Doc]

It all sounds easy enough, but just think about the precision of placement that would be required. After all, how far is the range of those sensors. If they cover too much ground, every leaf and moving branch will set them off. If they don't cover enough ground you will have to have an amazing knowledge of exactly where they will be coming in. And if you know that much about exactly where they will be coming from, your own eyes ought to be able to cover those spots. I think it's an idea that sounds a whole lot better than it really is.

[hunterman7956]

I think sportsman guide or cabaleas Gander allready has this permiter something supposed use was for deer..I know I saw it somewhere.. Maybe it had to do with zone control??

Edited January 25, 2013 by hunterman7956

[PREDATE]

As a deer hunter you know that deer can just appear outta nowhere Lol, so it would be nice to have a few down the trail a little ways to alert you to get ready. As DOC said relying on it to cover a wide range sounds like more hassle than it's worth, especially when you have to leave more scent when setting them up, but if you have a specific trail/rub/scrapeline then it might be useful.

Using it for coyote baitpiles could help. I've sat over baitpiles all night with no action. Partly due to having the bait out in the open. Coyotes are cautious by nature and keeping bait somewhat secluded is best, but @ night if they're in the brush they don't stand out like they do in an open/snowy spot. I don't like to shine the light if I'm hunting over bait, so the alarms could be invaluable for that.

[Zhe Wiz]

Thanks to this thread I've bought and have been using the Chamberlain CWA2000 next to my bait pile to catch coyotes (and foxes, as it turns out) hitting it at night. It has worked very well with very few false positives, in fact I've NEVER had a false positive at night, though I did have a few daytime false alarms when it was really windy last week. The only thing I did NOT like about it, was the green LED that flashes on the sensor whenever movement is detected. That might work fine for it's intended use, but it seems to spook the Coyotes a bit. Because Chamberlain hid the LED behind the same lens as the sensor, I couldn't simply tape it up from the outside.

So, I ordered two more sensors (need 'em anyway!) to experiment on. Turns out it's VERY simple to cover up that LED, and probably remove it if you're electronically inclined. Two screws is all that holds the circuit board on. I popped those off and dabbed some black silicon over the LED. I had to be careful not to get any on the motion sensor which is right next to it, but that was pretty easy too. I used a toothpick to poke the silicon into the gaps between the LED and the motion sensor. Seems to work great! I can no longer see any light leaking out.

So anyone looking to do the same thing, I highly recommend it. You can get one sensor plus the inside receiver for just over $50 on Amazon right now, additional sensors are just over $20 each. The range of the sensor to the target is SUPPOSED to be 30 feet, but it seems to be a little more "near sighted" than that, though I haven't done a lot of repositioning it or measuring it to confirm my suspicions. The range from the sensor to the receiver is excellent. It's supposed to be 1/2 mile. Mine is 180 yards from the house, and I can have the receiver just about anywhere in the house and it picks up the alarms.

Zhe Wiz

[NY Region 3 Trapper]

That's so cool. Kind of what this forum is all about. Good Luck. Keep us posted on your success.

[NYBuckHunter27]

Someone in the predator/small game thread used this technique and was successful with a coyote. and the coverage of these are about the same as a trail camera.

[josephmrtn]

yes that was Zhe Wiz

[Zhe Wiz]

That's so cool. Kind of what this forum is all about. Good Luck. Keep us posted on your success.

Yes, I have had one successful coyote kill using it so far. It's the thread called "A Good Yote". I've also passed on several (or maybe one many times!) foxes as well.

I replaced the sensor with my light blocked version yesterday. Hopefully my scent will die down in a day or two and they'll start visiting again. Will definitely post if I get any more.

Thanks for the idea. :-). We have WAY too many around here, need to thin them out.

Zhe Wiz

[bkln]

Hey Wiz, how does it work? When the sensor detects the movement does it beep/buzz? doesn't that spook the game? Or maybe you have hooked up to your phone somehow? Tell us more...... Thanks

[fasteddie]

Would an electronic sensor be illegal to use while hunting ?

[bkln]

Why? we can use electronic calls, why not sensors? I haven't seen anything in the regs, if you did show us where.... Thx

[Zhe Wiz]

Hey Wiz, how does it work? When the sensor detects the movement does it beep/buzz? doesn't that spook the game? Or maybe you have hooked up to your phone somehow? Tell us more...... Thanks

It's two parts: an outdoor, battery operated sensor and an indoor, plug-in (or battery operated if you want!) receiver. When the sensor "sees" motion, it sends a signal to the receiver causing it to beep. Except for the LED that I disabled, there's no other indicator on the outdoor sensor that it has been tripped.

Zhe Wiz

[PREDATE]

Would an electronic sensor be illegal to use while hunting ?

I can see where they might create an issue for big game hunting. Technology is beginning to diminish the "fair chase".

As for coyote hunting, I don't think they'll raise much stink about it. After all, it's perfectly legal to release a pack of hounds on a single yote while said hounds are trapsing all over posted property. Then when the hound gets it's toes pinched in a foothold trap, the owner wants to cry and moan about it.

Aplogies for my ranting, but coyote baiting alone recieves it's fair share of scrutiny "ooh, the poor, defenseless little animal", they say. Nevermind the coyote that gets ran ragged accross the county to be gunned down "firing squad" style.

You may call hunting with hounds "sporting", but just not my style.

I call predators and bait them once in a while. Baiting is not easy( unless you're doing it from your living room).

Baiting actually differs none from deer hunting. Long hours in the stand, often not seeing a single creature. That is, unless you're doing it from your warm snug bed. Then you can just flip to animal planet!

[josephmrtn]

Would an electronic sensor be illegal to use while hunting ?

ive seen deer trail monitors that had a unit that they connected wirelessly too that the light flashes when a animal passes by...

[Cabin Fever]

I like the motion sensor idea! Definately gonna look into it for myself!

[Zhe Wiz]

Well, it worked again tonight. Alarm woke me up at about 12:10am, just a few minutes ago. Confirmed it was a coyote with the binocs, shot her with 22-250 at around 170 yards, no light. That's 2 using this method in about 2 weeks.

Another adult female, haven't weighed her yet, but she's in the 35-40 range I think. This one was calmly eating. I suspect because of the blacked out LED she suspected nothing. I did have to shoot her twice, hit a little low on the first shot.

Now then...back to Animal Planet. :-)

Zhe Wiz

Edited February 11, 2013 by Zhe Wiz

[PREDATE]

Now then...back to Animal Planet. :-)

Zhe Wiz

I hear ya"!

I can hardly wait for shark week!

Nice yote.

[Cabin Fever]

Nice!! Two less females out there producing pups this year!! Keep plugging away!!

[NY Region 3 Trapper]

Good job.

[Zhe Wiz]

Nice!! Two less females out there producing pups this year!! Keep plugging away!!

Agreed! I was very happy to see it was another girl! It's actually the THIRD female in the past 3 weeks. I shot a smaller one (probably this year's pup) in broad daylight a couple weeks ago.

I'm a little sleep deprived this morning (took a while to get back to sleep after the adrenaline rush!) but lovin' the motion sensor setup. It's incredibly accurate, and with the blacked out LED, they have no idea they've been busted. Hopefully I can take care of a few of the "smarter" ones that haven't been coming out during the daytime.

Zhe Wiz

[mac]

Wiz, a lot of the reviews for the product say the volume on the receiver isnt loud enough and that you really need to be right next to it with no other noise going on around you. Can you confirm what the loudest volume setting is comparable to ? Seems like a less expensive package than the Dakota but I want to know if its a case of " you get what you pay for " ? thanks

[Zhe Wiz]

Wiz, a lot of the reviews for the product say the volume on the receiver isnt loud enough and that you really need to be right next to it with no other noise going on around you. Can you confirm what the loudest volume setting is comparable to ? Seems like a less expensive package than the Dakota but I want to know if its a case of " you get what you pay for " ? thanks

Yep, saw those reviews. The tone is high pitched, and I suspect a lot of us don't hear that frequency as well as we used to. For me a combination of tractor driving (I grew up on a dairy farm) and gun shooting w/o protection (I don't do that anymore, even these coyotes and the 7 deer I got this year were shot with ear muffs) has left my left ear very weak. I don't hear that tone well if I'm sleeping on my right side, but I still hear it.

I am a DEEP sleeper, rarely hear anything, but I have the receiver in my B/R and it wakes me up. With normal noise and the receiver in the same room or the next room, there's no issue hearing it. My wife, who has NOT ruined her ears, can hear it all over the house even with the TV on. Is it blast your ears loud? No. Is it loud enough? For how I use it, yes. I have a sensor in the mailbox too. When the mailman comes, even with normal "day time" noise I hear the alarm. Our downstairs floor plan is very open though.

Plus keep in mind you can program up to 8 sensors, each one beeps one time for it's number, so the first one you connect beeps once, the second twice, and so on. I have the yote bait pile next to sensor 2, the first beep wakes me up, the second confirms it. If you have trouble hearing, Adding a couple sensors to increase the number of beeps is an option. You could also buy more than one receiver and have one upstairs and one downstairs, for example, though that obviously increases the expense.

Bottom line is I think it's loud enough. Similar to my UPS when it starts beeping. I was worried about it when I bought it, I'm not now. It's hard to know if it would work for you, depends on your hearing and how loud your environment is. Try it, if it doesn't work, send it to me, I want a second receiver. :-)

Zhe Wiz