Anybody have luck hunting coyotes over carrion at night? They are really cutting into my deer and turkey populations and I am looking more to population control rather than sport hunting.

I have had some luck, but it's always a carcass combined with calling combined with a good idea of when they typically become active in that area. There is little doubt that the a deer carcass or other bait pile works. There are two problems - one is that they might leave a carcass untouched for a week, then hit it hard for a couple of days. The other hard part is being there when they are.

If you really have a problem that you want fixed then I'd recommend trapping - traps work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I've had real good luck spotlighting at night. Shoot rabbits one night, coyotes the next. Might not be legal in your neck of the woods though.

I TRIED THAT THIS WINTER WITH ROAD KILLED DEER BUT DIDNT HAVE ANY LUCK,THEY MOST HAVE FED ON IT AT NITE,I NEVER SEEMED TO BE THERE AT THE RIGHT TIME,I COULD SEE SIGN THAT DOGS HAD BEEN EATING SOME,ONE DEER WAS THERE FOR A WEEK,THEN GONE ONE MORNING I SET UP AT DAYLIGHT,COMPLETELY GONE ,I COULD TELL IT WAS MOVED AND SOME HAIR WAS SCATTERED,BUT NO BONES,NO NOTHING,STILL CANT FIGURE OUT WHERE IT WENT OR WHAT ATE IT,MY DEER HUNTING FRIENDS SAY A COUGAR GOT IT(SOME PEOPLE SAY THEY HAVE SEEN ONE),I TOLD THEM I WOULD HAVE NOTICED TRACKS & THAT THEY SHOULD QUIT DRINKING WHILE THEY ARE DEER HUNTING

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Originally posted by kcfx:
...I TOLD THEM I WOULD HAVE NOTICED TRACKS & THAT THEY SHOULD QUIT DRINKING WHILE THEY ARE DEER HUNTING

I read on here a while back about using different types of bait, canned cat food, road kill, etc. depending on the area you are hunting.

A friend of mine was hunting and brought some hard dog food in a baggy and sprinkled it along the road he walked in on.

On the way out a coyote was standing right in the middle of the road eating the food and he cut it in half with his H&R 45-70. It just stood there and looked up at him and then went back to eating.

I meant to add that any bait, including carcasses, should be wired or staked down or they will end up dragging it out of your "shootin' lane".

Yes I have used carcasses as bait. I’ve tried Boned out carcasses for years, and they just don’t work as an effective attraction. If the coyotes are hard pressed for food, they’ll take a look at it but that’s about it. If an animal drops dead on it’s own out on the prairie, the coyotes are more then interested in that carcass.

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Originally posted by leadeye:
Anybody have luck hunting coyotes over carrion at night? They are really cutting into my deer and turkey populations and I am looking more to population control rather than sport hunting.

I hunt in south Texas appox. 3 miles from the Mexican border. We have a ferral hog problem in just about all of Texas. We will shoot a hog and providing no one wants it for meat, we will use for coyote bait. I have tried to stake it out ( wire it to something) but the mature 'yotes tend to be pretty smart and suspect something is up. It is weird sometimes, I've seen 3 to 4 coyotes on a carcass at one sitting and then during deer season, sometimes, the carcass will be left untouched for a week or more. I suspect it has to do with the food at hand ( field mice, rats, jack rabbits, etc.). But yes, in answer to your question, carcasses work VERY WELL! I should add that we never hunt at night over a carcass, always during the day. If you stake the carcass out in the AM then start watching in the PM and vice versa. Be sure that enough carcass scent is exposed, by that I mean the coyotes are attracted to blood and intestine scent. If you use small amounts of bait like gut piles, fish heads, then you will have to stay near the bait continously because they can & will come at almost any time and drag it off. The bigger the carcass and more intact it is the less likely they are to drag it very far. Tying it down does work if the coyotes are inmature or are not hunted very often to be wise to it. I would like to add that I do not approve of wasting meat like hogs, deer,etc. but when you have surplus of destructive hogs that reproduce faster than they are hunted,and they are not a native species, then they must be held in check.

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Originally posted by Rae59:

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Originally posted by leadeye:
Anybody have luck hunting coyotes over carrion at night? They are really cutting into my deer and turkey populations and I am looking more to population control rather than sport hunting.

But yes, in answer to your question, carcasses work VERY WELL! I should add that we never hunt at night over a carcass, always during the day.

How come you don't hunt at night. Is it illegal in texas?

quote:

Originally posted by leadeye:
Anybody have luck hunting coyotes over carrion at night? They are really cutting into my deer and turkey populations and I am looking more to population control rather than sport hunting.

I used to shoot quite a few over bait, before the method was placed on the no-no list.

This was done in the winter with snow cover so don't know if this will work for you but......

I was told to find another source of meat by the state police after my dead calf fiasco, (don't ask) so I made friends with the local butcher. The coyotes seemed to like the guts and lungs from pigs the best. Regardless, they can be picky and if they have natural food available you may have a tough time getting them to come in. My best years (winters) was when the snow was deep and they were hungry.

I had permission to use an abandoned house that looked out over an 80 acre field near the river. I put the bait out about 200 yards from the house. I "adjusted" one of the windows looking out onto the bait so it would open silently.

I would hunt the full moon only. A couple days before to a couple of days after. I would sleep with an alarm clock set to go off each hour. I would check the bait and the field and if nothing was going on I would sleep for another hour. I am sure some got by me when I was sleeping, but I couldn't take time off work to stay up all night.

As Erict said though, getting a good trapper in there is likely the best way to decrease the population.

Jim

I use pig innards also. The heart and liver mostly.
I keep them in the freezer, toss them in a 5gal bucket w/ a lid on tight and let them stew a few days. I put them in a nylon onion sack and stake them out in a field. I'm heading out crow hunting when the season opens. They are decent bait also. The wings are a great motion attractant.

Hey Wino, no it isn't illegal to hunt predators at night. Where I hunt at there just isn't any reason to. There are so many coyotes and a lot of brush/cover. You can stretch some shots out for a long ways, alot further than you should be shooting at a coyote. I won't shoot unless they are within 300yds. Maybe 400 if they are stopped or sitting. Anyway my bud who coyote hunts alot more than I do, killed 73 coyotes two years ago on one year. I killed around 20 that year and the other deer hunters killed appox. another 20 between all of them. They just keep coming in. It hasn't been quite that good since then but there is not shortage. I have thought about doing a little hunting at night but it would be at alot closer ranges. I'm not going to be buying any night vision scopes for a good while.