2016 - 2017 Predator Hunting!

[grampy]

Didn't see a thread dedicated to predator hunting, for this season, so here it is! Successful hunts? Unsuccessful hunts? Tips? Gear used? Comments? Lets hear em!

Went this morning on the farm property for our first coyote/fox hunt. Conditions were perfect! And we saw some tracks on the way in. Set up with a bunny decoy, a foxpro E-caller and a double dog mouth call. After 15 minutes or so, had two coyotes trot across the top of the ridge about 300 yards away. But we never got them to show down where we were set up. So after 45 minutes, we picked up and moved a half mile to a 40 acre field bordering a thick swampy area and got nothing again. But saw no tracks in this area either. It was fun to get out, and next weekend is a full moon so hoping for more action then! Still, we got some fresh air, a nice walk and a few good laughs! So the coyotes and fox won this one. Hoping to get on the scoreboard next week!

[wooly]

I've been out twice so far but haven't had any takers yet.

My calls, time, and experience are pretty limited, but I make up for that with effort and determination!

I use a rabbit, a howler, and my Torch when I'm feeling lazy.

Seeing some good track sign around here now on the land I can hunt for both fox and yotes.  I couldn't wait for the creek to freeze any longer so I packed up some carcass parts and pieces and delivered them today to an area that's seeing some k-9 traffic. I don't have much faith right now in calling one in with all the competition from the seasons unrecovered deer still laying around out here. I'll probably try to wait 'em out quietly over my own carcass early on until they get the woods cleaned up, and actually start  hunting down their critter meals again.

Threw a couple cams up over them again to see what's shakin' after dark since I'll only be out in the daylight.

 

I checked two fox holes on the property today and both are showing pretty steady use as well with worn trails and dirty observation mounds in the snow. Both of them are out of sight of my set up, but well within hearing range of my calls, and scentable to my carcass for anything passing through. My neighbor told me today she heard a pack of yotes going CRAZY back there this morning.

I didn't have the heart to tell her,lol....

 

 

[moog5050]

Great way to ring in the new year!

[diplomat019]

Going on a pheasant preserve hunt in February.  Spending the night up there.  Probably going to get out at night for some calling.  I bought an icotec a couple years ago and have a red light mount on my setup.  

[Five Seasons]

what do you guys do with dead yotes? I'm not hunting fox, and main goal is pop control. Just leave em?

[chrisw]

what do you guys do with dead yotes? I'm not hunting fox, and main goal is pop control. Just leave em?

The skulls make pretty cool euro mounts, there may be a trapper around that's willing to take the hide if it's any good, or even the urine for that matter. I usually at least take the tails, unless mangey. A skinned out carcass goes on the baitpile...

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[turkeyfeathers]

Skin em. Buy a wire stretcher. When dry , send to Moyles minkery to get tanned. Great keepsake you've outsmarted one. Friends will love them as wall hangers 

[grampy]

We have started a tail board in the barn. Also had a couple hides tanned for various projects. Will do a scull mount or two. The rest goes on the pile but it seems nothing will eat them.

[Paula]

1 hour ago, grampy said:

We have started a tail board in the barn. Also had a couple hides tanned for various projects. Will do a scull mount or two. The rest goes on the pile but it seems nothing will eat them.

Are you talking about fox? Why do you think nothing eats them?

[Five Seasons]

so a hungry yote wont eat another yote? I don't know if that makes sense to me or surprises me considering they'll eat the heck out of a gut pile.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

9 minutes ago, Belo said:

so a hungry yote wont eat another yote? I don't know if that makes sense to me or surprises me considering they'll eat the heck out of a gut pile.

Not in these parts...It seems like the other meat eaters do not like the Vermin either. They lay and rot regardless the time of year around here.

[grampy]

13 hours ago, Paula said:

Are you talking about fox? Why do you think nothing eats them?

The fox will get picked at a bit and the deer bones and other scraps, get eaten quickly. But even the crows don't seem to bother with the remains of the coyotes. I don't have an answer, as to why this is. But the sun, weather and bugs were the only things that took care of the coyotes we put out there last year.

[airedale]

20 hours ago, Belo said:

what do you guys do with dead yotes? I'm not hunting fox, and main goal is pop control. Just leave em?

I hate to waste a good hide and will try to utilize any varmint kill I make if at all possible if the fur is good. I have several trapper friends that with a quick phone call will gladly take anything I do not want to mess around with as long as the hide is not damaged too bad and worth something. 

When the fur market is strong I will carry a small pocket skinning gambrel, hang it off a tree branch and skin the animal on the spot, that really lightens the load just carrying the hide when heading back to the truck. Skinning in the field was always done back in my coon hunting days where sometimes you can get a bunch. Only takes a few minutes time once you get the hang of it.

Al

Edited January 4, 2017 by airedale

[Five Seasons]

yeah until I have money to buy a .223 (and ny kinda killed that dream) I'd be utilizing a 12 gauge or 30-06. cant imagine it's worth skinning those.

[turkeyfeathers]

Limited knowledge on rifles but there's a few "more" fur friendly rounds out there.for the 06    #4 buckshot in the 12 is a great lethal combo and more fur friendly

Edited January 4, 2017 by turkeyfeathers

[dbHunterNY]

20 minutes ago, Belo said:

yeah until I have money to buy a .223 (and ny kinda killed that dream) I'd be utilizing a 12 gauge or 30-06. cant imagine it's worth skinning those.

12ga is fine with a larger pellet turkey load or buck shot.  i would use T shot.  30-06 i used a lot but also didn't care if the hide got ruined. i was taking them for other reasons.

[dbHunterNY]

i got busted often without a remote e-caller.  i just blew hand calls.  so they were looking for me.  used scents on either side of me and that helped.  a better basic setup that started working is a remote e-caller with a little flag or better this spinning fur tail i have.  setup so they're coming from the side with the wind straight away (wide open field edge) or directly behind small clearings or draws.  scents go out 30 or so yards off each shoulder.  those deodorant sticks worked well.  haven't hunted them in years though.  dogs are much more effective but then again i've known some to shoot crazy numbers each season. for educated dogs turkey calls worked ok.  this time of year where there's one turkey there's more.  never hunted them that serious and now not at all.  if you want to learn without another good hunter with you, the Randy Anderson DVDs are awesome.

[sodfather]

I've got a savage 223 and is fur friendly 

[Five Seasons]

1 hour ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Limited knowledge on rifles but there's a few "more" fur friendly rounds out there.for the 06    #4 buckshot in the 12 is a great lethal combo and more fur friendly

I know. but the 06 is something I own. I don't have the money for a new rifle and scope to shoot yotes. Heck I still don't know if I want to buy the e-caller lol.

1 hour ago, dbHunterNY said:

12ga is fine with a larger pellet turkey load or buck shot.  i would use T shot.  30-06 i used a lot but also didn't care if the hide got ruined. i was taking them for other reasons.

 

t shot?

[dbHunterNY]

13 minutes ago, Belo said:

I know. but the 06 is something I own. I don't have the money for a new rifle and scope to shoot yotes. Heck I still don't know if I want to buy the e-caller lol.

 

t shot?

yes 3.5" Hevi-shot Dead coyote T-shot.  expensive stuff but i bought it on sale way back when and used points from Cabelas card.  slightly blown pattern but still okay out of one of my carlson sporting clays extended Med chokes.  was shiny though so i had to wrap the choke in electrical tape.  60 yards out coyotes ran but not far. 40 and under they ran away like a rock pile.  you can use a good stout turkey load just fine too.  more like a 40 yard setup though.

[dbHunterNY]

never had luck tight in.  i'm sure i got busted more often than i realized.  like more open with any grassy or brushy broken edges.  rabbits like those edges and therefore so do yotes.

[wooly]

2 hours ago, Belo said:

yeah until I have money to buy a .223 (and ny kinda killed that dream) I'd be utilizing a 12 gauge or 30-06. cant imagine it's worth skinning those.

Cheaper to just buy.., and learn how to use a needle and thread!

Even an unskilled seamstress like myself can do some crafty quilt work, and patch some pretty big ugly bullet holes.

 

I threw last years yote on the carcass pile.

BIG mistake IMO.

Never saw, or got another trail cam pic of a yote over that site the rest of the season. Not sure if I blew it by killing one right over the pile or not, but throwing that skinned carcass on there did absolutely nothing to help me out on future hunts, that's for sure.

Tracks in the snow in that area COMPLETELY disappeared there after, and that carcass layed there all through spring turkey season.

I did see a woodpecker hammering away at the fat a few times, but other than that, nothing else touched it. From this point forward, they'll be buried or disposed of far away from hunting sets.

Edited January 4, 2017 by wooly

[Five Seasons]

Honestly wooly, my intentions are pop control... so if the tracks disappeared I wouldn't be bummed. Our yote population is pretty moderate but not severe. They're not hunted hard if at all, but the deer have been taking a beating so it's one thing I think I can do to help. I also counted at least 6 fox during deer season which is up from the 1 or 2 I tend to see. I don't know if I'd shoot a fox... I find them kinda neat, but I know they're not helping my turkey season out either. a fox mount would be sweet. a 30-06 fox mount might take some talent

[dbHunterNY]

57 minutes ago, Belo said:

Honestly wooly, my intentions are pop control... so if the tracks disappeared I wouldn't be bummed. Our yote population is pretty moderate but not severe. They're not hunted hard if at all, but the deer have been taking a beating so it's one thing I think I can do to help. I also counted at least 6 fox during deer season which is up from the 1 or 2 I tend to see. I don't know if I'd shoot a fox... I find them kinda neat, but I know they're not helping my turkey season out either. a fox mount would be sweet. a 30-06 fox mount might take some talent

a fox will run down a young fawn to eat it.  we've seen it.  one day we had a JD gator and two four wheelers in a wagon train around a fawn and then ran a fox off.  didn't realize why the fawn was running and bawling so much until the fox appeared in a dead sprint after it and started trying to nip at its rear.  bear coyote and about anything else puts them low in the pecking order but they still have a go at.