The disappearance of deer fawns, small games, pets, and even livestock is pegged on the exploding populations of coyotes throughout the country. This is one of the most adaptable of the canine species, with excellent senses of smell, hearing, and night vision. So, when is the best time to hunt coyotes?
After dusk and before dawn. Although nocturnal hunters primarily, coyotes can be called successfully during the day. If you want to cross their natural habitat paths, the hours after dusk and before dawn is the best time to call coyotes. Not only will you see coyotes in the darkness, but they are at their most audible during the night.
Coyote hunting features long seasons, an ever-expanding range, and generous bag limits. This has made the sport very popular while helping conservation efforts for reducing the scavenging predators from the wildlife landscape. All hunting is fun, but coyote hunting stands on top for its thrills and excitement. First, there’s the calling part, which hopefully will lead to a confrontation with the snarling dogs.
Best Coyote Hunting Time
What’s the Best Time to Hunt Coyotes: Night or Daytime?
Coyotes are most active at night, and in areas where night hunting is allowed, you’ll effectively reap considerable harvests. This is time that coyotes hunt, and food calls will bring them out of cover.
Before sounding the call, select a spot with efficient cover, being aware that coyotes are intelligent and wary predators. Keep the wind in your favor, and mask your scent too, as a coyote will smell you out from a significant distance.
Early morning can be when coyotes are finishing up their nocturnal activities. Try a few sets of calls as part of your strategy but don’t over-do it.
In winter, when it’s colder, coyote activity doesn’t drop off even in mid-daytime. Seeing as coyotes are opportunistic predators, you can spot or even stalk while calling them to an imaginary free meal.
In the evening, coyotes have been dozing in their dens and are hungry, eagerly heading out to hunt. Make your call tactics sound like there is food where you’ve set up a kill zone.
Start early in the late afternoon, as the coming dusk is prime time for hunting coyotes.
The Best Season Time to Hunt Coyotes
People sometimes want to know the time of year to hunt coyotes. They ask if coyotes are more prevalent in the fall, winter, spring, or summer.
Over the years that I have hunted the canines, I found that three predominant times stand out as the best time to call coyotes. These times accord me the most success from my coyote calls, and I have tried and tested these periods in different regions.
Early Fall Coyote Hunting
At the beginning of fall, usually around early October, younger coyotes are venturing out for the first time. The juveniles have only started fending for themselves and are not entirely familiar with the dangers around them.
These immature coyotes are more likely to respond to a call, especially if you use a rabbit distress call. Younger coyotes will come out to check what the racket is all about, more out of youthful curiosity.
More mature coyotes can also be easily attracted by pup in distress calls during early fall. The natural attraction occurs when the parent coyotes hear the calls they’ve been dreading all summer when their pups were younger.
During the early evening or pre-dawn hours of early fall, coyotes are busy hunting for food as temperatures start to drop.
Using food source calls such as bird, rodent, or rabbit in distress will work well. Coyotes are striving to pack on some fat before the winter, and food calls will whet their appetites and curiosity.
Coyote Hunting in the First Week of December
November is when the deer hunting season comes to an end. As you can imagine, what has been deer-killing fields for a couple of weeks is full of scavenging coyotes once the guns stop shooting.
When I am hunting deer, I will always catch sight or get a snapshot of coyotes from my well-placed cameras on the trails. I make a note where these sightings are and will head back after deer season ends.
The first week of December sees me scouting back to locations where I had spotted coyotes and calling them. Using this tactic, I use howling vocals or yip calls, and my coyote harvests have always been astounding.
This makes all coyotes in the area eager to check out the sounds others make when they’ve happened across a mound or deer innards.
Hunting Coyote in Their Breeding Season
The coyote breeding season comes in mid-January, all of February and early March. Let’s call this general period late winter to early spring in many areas around the country.
Just like with deer, tom turkeys, and barking elk, coyotes are not immune to the excitement of the rut.
This is the best time to call coyotes, and there are a large number of exciting calls that you can use. There is also an increased movement of coyotes in whatever area you are hunting in, seeing as males will travel far and wide searching for mates.
As the best time to hunt coyotes, the breeding season calls imitate those sounds that they vocalize. Males will offer challenge howls while the female’s howls, whimpers, and chirps will intentionally start territorial wars.
A challenge howl call during the rut will illustrate that a new coyote has invaded a territory, causing many intrigued coyotes to come into range.