What would you do?

[shoots_5]

Ok, so I discovered a cow elk carcass on my in-laws farm about 15 yards into the thick timber from the edge of a field. I set up a trail cam on it just to see what's been feeding on it. I think I'm going to go back down on wednesday or thursday to check the camera but also wanted to see if I could bust a coyote on it. Do you think a distress call would make a coyote leave an elk carcass to go 15 yards and peek into the field? It's way too thick to pull any kind of a sneak on it.....so, my question is, how would you hunt it?

 

[edge]

Do you have any farm equipment to drag it out into the open by a couple of feet, or knock down the vegetation and hunt from anywhere elevated?

edge.

 

[shoots_5]

Dragging it could be an option, but I'd rather leave it where it is if possible. I wonder if I would get an aggressive response to a howl? Do coyotes run off other dogs from a carcass?

 

[Mountain Goat]

Dragging it could be an option, but I'd rather leave it where it is if possible. I wonder if I would get an aggressive response to a howl? Do coyotes run off other dogs from a carcass?

Yes, they are very teritorial. There have been some magazine articles over the years about guys using dogs to hunt coyotes, not for chasing but as bait. I don't remember the details other than one must be on his toes in order to not lose a dog. I bet a howl caller would be a good option. I think dragging the kill into the open would be my first choice. It's not unusual for a carcass to get dragged around.

 

[JD338]

Bait hunting here in MI is very productive. Some fellas use road kills and set up 100 yds down wind.
Move the elk carcass to your vantage point. The song dogs will still be all over it.

Good opportunity to test out that new 338 Lapua. :wink:

JD338

 

[DrMike]

What is your reason for not wanting to drag the carcass? Moving it won't disturb the coyotes. However, if your concern is getting the carcass into a field, I understand. To be certain, some people have used dogs as bait for coyotes.

 

[shoots_5]

The concern on dragging it is more or less my father in law not wanting it in his field and, it's been so damn wet here that I would make a pretty big mess trying to move anything by tractor right now....I could move it into an open spot outside of the field, but it would be a rather long drag and I'm guessing the elk would probably come apart in the process. I think I'll try doing some howls and maybe a few distress calls and see if anything gets curious enough to show itself. I set my trail camera on video about 10' from the carcass so hopefully I'll have some interesting video to show of whatever comes in for a snack....I'm really hoping to catch the cougar that has been spotted up there on camera (or a bullet, whichever comes first).

And JD338, you have no idea how badly I want to introduce a coyote to one of those 285gr BTHP's! :twisted:

I love watching people's faces when they ask me what in the world I'm going to use my 338 lapua for, and I tell them it's my new coyote gun!

 

[6mm Remington]

shoots_5 I had a place a few years ago I had permission to hunt coyotes on. I mostly called or spot and stalked. One day I went down and there was a road-kill whitetail deer just on the edge of the highway. I knew that it would be moved by the Highway department eventually, but I saved them the trip. My buddy and I loaded her up and took her to the 8000 acre ranch I was hunting and dumped her out where she could be seen by the rancher as he left his house, as he also shot the coyotes to try and keep the numbers down.

So we left this deer in a nice location. The rancher not seeing her fed a ring of hay all the way around the deer in a circle about 100 yards in diameter with the deer in the middle. We were calling in another location on the ranch, and when we came back only about three hours later there were three coyotes on her at about 10:30 AM. There were cows in a circle completely surrounding the carcass with these three coyotes ravenously feeding away.

Obviously we could not shoot how things were, so I told my friend we were going to be a farm truck. I drove down slowly to the edge of the cows and into the circle. We drove towards the coyotes real slow and just pushed them towards the edge of the cows. They didn't even leave the carcass until we were about 15 yards from them, and even then they never ran. We just slowly pushed them towards the edge and out through the cows. Once they were clear and we were clear, we hopped out and got two of them with one getting away. It was pretty darn cool. I think I was most surprised by two things, that they were there right in the middle of the morning, and that it had only taken a couple hours or a bit more for them to find her and start feeding.

Maybe if you can't move the whole elk, maybe you could lop a rear quarter off or cut her in two just in front of the rear quarters and drag that portion out to the edge of the field from where you could see the carcass from a distance, and finally get to try out that 338 Lapua! Mike is always giving me grief about my 6mm Remington bouncing bullets off of critters. I'm not sure the 338 Lapua is enough gun! Isn't there a famous gun writer who always preached "use enough gun"? :mrgreen: I think I'd try that, and then you would still have a great chance at getting something off of it. I think with the scent carrying and bringing in critters that a rabbit or other distress call would still work even though they have this easy meal. I'd sure try calling from down the edge of the field hidden someplace! Good luck and you need to show us photo's of a 338 Lapua and a DRT coyote!
David

 

[DrMike]

Maybe Fotis will lend you one of his antelope guns. That should work pretty well for coyote. I wouldn't want anyone to be embarrassed by one of those puny 338 bullets bouncing off a yodel dog. This is a merciless crowd here, and they would never let you live such a situation down.

 

[6mm Remington]

Maybe Fotis will lend you one of his antelope guns. That should work pretty well for coyote. I wouldn't want anyone to be embarrassed by one of those puny 338 bullets bouncing off a yodel dog. This is a merciless crowd here, and they would never let you live such a situation down.

See, I knew it wouldn't be long! Fotis has lots of Weatherby's of all flavors to assist should you need it!

 

[shoots_5]

Ok, the game plan is to sneak in there in the morning on Wednesday and get hidden in the opposite treeline and try some calling, starting with some howls and challenge barks and then distress sounds. If nothing emerges then I'll head in and check the trail camera and depending on the condition of the carcass will try to drag a portion of it out where it's a bit more visible and see what comes in later in the week if it's still there.

And if anything does happen to show itself I'll for sure post pictures and if we're lucky....maybe even some HD video! :lol:

Oh, and just in case the 338 fails to bring down the mighty coyote I'll have my buddy pack my suppressed .17hmr for backup. But hopefully it'll be enough gun, cause I can't afford a bigger one!!!

 

[cloverleaf]

Ok, the game plan is to sneak in there in the morning on Wednesday and get hidden in the opposite treeline and try some calling, starting with some howls and challenge barks and then distress sounds. If nothing emerges then I'll head in and check the trail camera and depending on the condition of the carcass will try to drag a portion of it out where it's a bit more visible and see what comes in later in the week if it's still there.

And if anything does happen to show itself I'll for sure post pictures and if we're lucky....maybe even some HD video! :lol:

Oh, and just in case the 338 fails to bring down the mighty coyote I'll have my buddy pack my suppressed .17hmr for backup. But hopefully it'll be enough gun, cause I can't afford a bigger one!!!

I think you got a plan there....as has been said yotes are territorial....especially if there is food in the offing. I think you could leave the .17 home... Good Luck CL

 

[JD338]

shoots_5

Maybe another option......

If you can get about 40 yds down wind in the thick stuff, use a shotgun. A 12 ga 3" mag loaded with #4 Buck through a turkey choke is very impressive out to 50 yds. My longest shot with #4 Buck was on a big male at 55 yds, just hammered him!

JD338

 

[Elkman]

I was thru Beaverton last saturday, if you wait another day or so you can "float" her to the edge of the timber.

 

[HTDUCK]

shoots_5

Maybe another option......

If you can get about 40 yds down wind in the thick stuff, use a shotgun. A 12 ga 3" mag loaded with #4 Buck through a turkey choke is very impressive out to 50 yds. My longest shot with #4 Buck was on a big male at 55 yds, just hammered him!

JD338

Gospel right there!

JD338 you oughta see what a 10 guage loaded with 3 1/2 #4 buck can do! :mrgreen:

 

[shoots_5]

Well, got off to a late start....trying to get out the door with a 2 year old is hell for being on time! Anyway, got down there well after daybreak and set up and did some howling and nothing....did some distress calls.....nothing. So I went and checked the trail camera and it only caught one coyote on there but the elk had been eaten on a bunch since I put it up (it's a POS trail cam). I did flip the elk over and found a nice bullet hole right behind the shoulder....someone made a hell of a nice shot on it but apparently is a really crappy tracker!

On a positive note after looking at the trailcam pics I did find out that Multicam seems to be quite effective!