Jon Collins and Joey Wirth discuss the top coyote hunting mistakes.
Welcome to the FoxPro podcast brought to you by Fox Pro [music] game calls. Top coyote hunting mistakes. Welcome back to the FoxPro podcast. We have Joey Worth joining us of Close Encounters Guide Service. Joy hunts with tons of people throughout his guiding season and notices a trend of mistakes that some hunters make. I'm sure I make plenty of them myself. I know I do, actually. Uh, but we're going to cover a few of those and hopefully it helps some of us out. Joy, what's going on, old buddy? Oh, just trying to trying to function in the daytime this time of year. I uh been been guiding non-stop. So, sleep sleep is hard to come by for the for for three or four months this time of year. Yeah. You actually uh guiding last night and then going to be guiding again tonight, aren't you? Oh, yeah. I got uh I got a couple guys in from Kansas. Uh they were here last night. They're here tonight, too. And then um and I've got I've got people I mean I think I've got almost every night booked between now and like February 10th. So I got a I got a pretty good string of hunts coming up. How many uh and you might even know off top of your head, but what's a ballpark figure? How many different hunters do you hunt with throughout the throughout the year of pleasure hunting and guiding? Dozens. Dozens. I mean upwards of a hundred. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. because I'll get, you know, two or two or three guys on a trip normally. Yep. So, you spread that over out over, you know, our our night season's four months long. So, 120 days and if I guide 80 or 90 of those, I mean, it adds up pretty fast. I mean, we could be, you know, 150 plus maybe. Right. Right. Well, h how has the calling and guiding been uh for this season? I know I know Jace and uh Mike Dylan came out there with you and Jace he was lucky enough he drew a a bobcat tag for Illinois which is pretty coveted and uh he filled that pretty quick within the first night or two and I think they had a fun trip and I've I've noticed you posting several cats I guess is uh that state must have more cats than what some people realize. Oh, well, I wish I wish the bi the DNR or biologists and the politicians writing the the legislation on our cat season would realize how many cats there are in Illinois because um I I I cover I mean I hunt 10 different counties in Illinois and I see cats in all of them. So, I mean it's anecdotal, but it's a pretty big sample size. But yeah, Jay's Jayce's cat he killed that on night one. It was if anyone hasn't seen it, it's on a a Fox Pro episode, but it was a weird stand. The cat was coming from across the road and the domestic dog got between us and the cat and ran the cat off and then we had to spot and stalk the cat because you can't shoot across roads. So, we had to get on the same side of the road as the cat to be able to kill it. It was it was it was a funny stand. But yeah, those guys those guys had a pretty good hunt. The weather weather shut us down a little early, but uh that man, as coyote hunting goes, it's the season's been that way. If the weather has been good, the calling has been pretty good. M and and as far as the cats go, I think I've had eight clients who have had cat tags. Seven of them have had shots on coyotes and six of them have killed cats. Nice. So, if I could get people here with tags, we got a really high high percentage chance of getting on a cat and getting one dead. What about you mentioned uh the bobcat opportunities. How's the how's the coyote calling been? I'm sure you've been showing all your all your uh clients plenty of coyotes, haven't you? Yeah, we man, like I say, it's weather dependent and the weather this season has just been so up and down. Um, when the weather's been good, we're having phenomenal nights. Um, but we've had a handful and like I say, I feel like it's usually weather related, but um, we've had a handful of slow nights this season, but for the most part, we're seeing, you know, 15, 20, 25 coyotes a night. I think last night we saw 15 coyotes that kill a handful of them. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's that's solid. That's very solid. Um, and uh, like we was saying earlier, through your guiding adventures and and just pleasure hunting with other people, you see you see a fair share of mistakes. U, and we're and we're going to talk about a few of those here. And, uh, just wanted to say right off the front that we're not singling anybody out or or nothing like that. Um, I make I make mistakes on [laughter] my mistakes. it on video. Yeah, I' I' I've definitely I'm definitely not immune. And you think I would have learned by now, but I tell people all the time, they want to they ask me, "I'd love to go hunting with you. We'd like to go learn and all this." I said, "Listen," and I say this all the time, you come me, you going to just learn some bad habits is what you going to learn, [laughter] right? Yeah. It's it's frustrating for for everybody. you people people see the videos and they see the success and they think that mistakes never man there there there are times I'm made to look like a like a a beginner all over again and sometimes I'll have whole days like that where it's nothing but mistakes so that but you know you do it long enough and sometimes those are the days you remember the most is when everything goes wrong. Yep. Yep. Well, we got I've got 10 or 11 here uh that we'll touch on. Um, a lot of them is pretty pretty simple. Pretty simple stuff. And uh, a lot of us, you know, avoid these pretty pretty good. But I I still think this is a podcast for beginners and veterans alike. Even even if it's something for the veterans, y'all might not make a one of these mistakes anymore, but it's still something that you can look back. I'm like, "Yeah, I remember when I used to do that and get a little chuckle out of it or whatever." But, uh, we'll go ahead and get started with them. And the first one, uh, Joy, that I'd like to hear you talk on is lacking shooting fundamentals. I'm sure you see that some while while guiding. I do. Yeah. So, the I I haven't kept track of the numbers this year. I didn't keep exact track of the numbers last year, but the year prior was the best uh for the night season. speaking directly to our fourmonth night season. Um it was the the highest percentage for hit and recovered coyotes with clients. Yeah. And and I like I say, I give clients a lot of grace when they miss because I'm sure I'm sure, man, they're I'm sure they're nervous. Like I if I have to shoot in front of people, I get a little nervous. Um if they're using my gear, they're not familiar with it. There's there are a lot of factors there. But um the I don't count a shot attempt with clients unless it is under 200 yards and stationary. And the hit and recovery rate was 35% that year. And that was the highest rate that I had ever had. And the year before was 28%. The year before that was 27. So, you know, you think about that and that's a that's a pretty pretty low rate, right, for only recovering a third of the coyotes that are getting shot at under 200 yards. Yeah. And Yeah. And so, you know, when I when I think about shooting fundamentals, have you ever had formal shooting lessons? Well, it depends on what your what your definition of formal is, right? Like a prof like a professional level, like a you know what I mean? Well, I know I know I've never I've never No, I never have. But I will say that my younger years, my dad started me out at a very young age. uh you know 7 8 years old maybe even younger shooting 22s and that was a weekend you know weekly event through pretty weather and uh I will say I I did get a pretty good start on fundamentals but far as you know actual lessons from a professional no yeah and that's that's so a testament to that is like that's how you got your start I got the same thing it was just kind of a a family member kind of taught me and you know you you you come to find out sometimes that f you know not everyone's a professional level shooter so you do develop bad habits. Um I would bet that out of my clients that have been here I mean 95% of them have never really been taught properly how to shoot and how to properly squeeze a trigger because that's that's one thing with clients that I get to see the most is them shoot. Um I get to see how they settle in on the coyote. get to see how they're holding or how still they're holding or not holding and how they squeeze the trigger. And I'll have them dry fire and I always watch their finger placement and their grip and there are little things that that most of them do that are really incorrect when it comes to fundamentals. even as far as how they're standing when they connect to the tripod when they're when they're, you know, when they're getting set up on the tripod, they're just kind of either standing completely vertical, they don't have a base, their feet are together instead of having an a an athletic base and being really grounded to that tripod. But that that the fundamentals um we spend a lot of money on equipment and scopes and tripods and um man, take a take a weekend and go do a shooting class. It it can't hurt, you know? That's that's shooting is the that's what makes the coyote dead on the receiving end. Like that's one of the most important parts of coyote hunting. And and guys guys guys will spend money on equipment, they'll do all these things, but they won't go and take a take a simple shooting course just to really brush up on fundamentals. It makes a difference, right? And I guess if you know if you're not able have the time to go take one of those or the money, um just getting some trigger time on your own, hunting positions and stuff like that go a lot go a long way for sure. Yeah. And that's that's um I know I know whenever I go and self- film, we were just talking about this last night. My night season lasts till March. I take April off. May I'll take a trip somewhere and I'll sell film. Right. By the time by the time I get on a gun in May, I I haven't touched a trigger in probably five or six months because I'm guided. And I get I get on a gun and man, I'm like, man, I'm rusty. So staying up on your fundamentals matters, too, because it you know, when you take time off, it shows. Yeah. No, no, no doubt. And uh I you know, think that's something I never thought of. That's the first time I've ever been asked that question, I guess, about taking shooting classes. But thinking back on it while you've been talking to him, thinking about dad, he he was it might as well been a professional course cuz he was pretty pretty rough rough on me and my brother was shooting, [laughter] you know, we he learned and you know, and I in thinking back it it has it has paid off. I was sitting there trying to think um I'm usually pretty efficient. You know, I'm not patting myself on the back or nothing like that, but if there's one thing I can do, I do think I'm pretty efficient with my shooting on animals. I was trying to think I can only think of two misses uh in all of 2025. We're in 26 now, of course, but in 2025, I think I only had two misses. And I did shoot uh maybe three or four coyotes. um maybe three that I can really think of that I had to do a follow-up shot. They didn't they didn't run. I mean, they dropped right there and they was still I'm always if one's moving, I'm still I'm going to put another one in him type thing. So, it wasn't like they weren't going to lay there and die. It was just to speed the process up type thing. But, I didn't shoot the first coyote in 2025 that was hit and ran off and I did not recover it. Now, I had some hit that ran. I ain't trying to say I didn't make some poor shots, but I was pretty efficient. I don't think maybe a couple misses and three or four three maybe follow-up shots for the whole year. And that I got to I got to give that to my dad. I mean he you know thinking back on it yeah I guess I have took a few classes when I was got [laughter] he was rough on us. He was rough on us. Some hard some hard taught lessons. And and tell you what too it's no different day hunting with a shotgun. I watch a lot of clients, we do those, you know, real tight, oh, I mean, you were here. You saw what it's like. Like, uh, I can hand someone a shotgun and immediately know their experience level with how they handle it. And, you know, a lot of people don't spend a lot of time on a shotgun, especially with high-speed shooting. Um, and and that's that's a skill like shotgunning is a very defi refined skill. Very I've I've seen very few clients that I felt like were really skilled with a shotgun. Well, hey, it's it's pointing that out. That just made I did shoot one coyote this year that that I hit and did not recover and it was with you. I just now for remembered that it was in one of those cornfield cornfield stands. Yeah. Yep. That was a that was a Yeah, but I mean we were we were watching a a wad of coyotes go working like shadows through that corn. I forgot about I forgot about that one. I used to try to I usually try to block those out of my memory. Oh, I got I've got vid I got video evidence of that one. There's no running for that one. No. [laughter] Well, Joy, is there anything else you want to say before we move to the next one that covers uh lacking shooting fundamentals? Yeah, talking about um just getting reps in, there's there's a big disparity between shooting a target and shooting an animal. Animals, you know, they're not stationary. They're moving around, they're fidgeting, they're doing things. If it's in season, you're at the end of a stand and, you know, [ __ ] season is in or, you know, whatever's legal. Um, it doesn't hurt to go ahead and get those reps in if you're trying to, you know, coons do a lot of damage. I get a lot of farmers here that complain about the crop damage the coons do. So, you know, just to just to get some trigger time in, we're we're going to shoot coons, too, if we're at the end of a stand and coyote coyote or cat hasn't come in because I I'll tell you, I am I am a I'm a and I don't know why, but I'm a an a slightly above average hunting shot, but as far as target shooting, I'm awful. I am not a I am not I'm Same way with a bow. When I go to zero a bow, if my first two or three shots don't feel perfect, I'm just gonna go home. [laughter] It's just gonna spiral out of control. No, I I know other guys like that. I I've I've been around several people that's a lot better on game shooter than they are on paper or steel. So, yeah, it makes sense. Well, let's let's move on to number two. And this is kind of keeping right on the on the same trackish with shooting. This is choosing when to shoot. And I've also got shooting at move moving targets there as a as a second part. And I'm going to go ahead and put a a I guess an aster here for shooting at moving targets. There's some people that 100% can shoot at moving targets and they're very, very, very efficient at it. But those guys that can do it, they're they're a step above. Shooting at moving targets is not for everybody. So I'll let you take it from there, Joy. Yeah. And you're and you're right. There are there are some guys who are just very natural at it. I'm not one of those guys. I've killed some runners, but I'm I'm uh like I'm kind of a statistics guy when it comes to hunting. I want to do things as efficiently as I can. And the longer I've I've guided, the more I've realized that, man, I I used to let let clients shoot at runners and then very rarely would I see him get hit. And I'm like, man, it's we're just burning that stand up. We're not going to call much much if anything in after the field is shot up. That group of coyotes is probably done for a good while because the whole area is, you know, and we stopped shooting at runners and started focusing on the call, right? What can I what can I do to either get that coyote stopped for a stationary shot or call coyotes back in? Last night, we had we have multiple stands where, you know, a coyote would come in and either get missed or killed and then call another coyote in after that. But if we shot the place up shooting at that runner that was missed, you know, we're not going to call in another coyote after that, most likely. Um, but as far as as far as um the choosing when to shoot, I think that's something that's really overlooked because I see, as a matter of fact, it came up last night. So, we had we had a stand where a coyote was hard charging. He uh basically got perpendicular to the wind, you know, kind of crosswind setup. Perfect. Um, coyote comes in. I say, "Hey, I'm going to stop it." I stop it. 1 second goes by. 2 seconds goes by. 3 second. Bang. And right as he shoots, the coyote starts moving. Yeah. Yep. And the And I've I've talked about this briefly, um, I think on an episode with you actually. What one of the things that I focus on is as the coyote's coming in, I'm anticipating the stop, right? So I I know that coyote's not going to stand still forever. He's just not. They They are finicky animals. They're highrung. They move start and stop and move and go. Cats are a different story. Cats will sit on their butt for 10 minutes and watching them move 20 yards and sit on their butt. But keeping that that crosshairs on the coyote as it's coming in and anticipating the stop and shooting it within a second and a half of it being stopped is going to be way more efficient than having that coyote somewhere in the sight picture, stopping it, settling your crosshairs down on it and then it takes a step as it moves. Right. Right. Right. And I that's what that I would say as far as shooting mistakes that I see clients make, that's probably for sure number one. Yeah. And that could be that could be a number of factors. That could be that could be nerves. That could be experience. That could be they just never think about it. That could be um they're not familiar. They're fumbling with the equipment if it's new equipment or they're just not getting enough reps to be super familiar with it. So they're messing with their ball head trying to tighten it down before they shoot. That there could be a lot of factors in that. But but situating your shooting style to where you're quick on the trigger when the coyote stops. That's a good one. Um like I've even I've even I've made the mistake before where a coyote comes in and it stops to mark its territory and I settle in and I go to shoot. Man, I know that coyote's getting ready to just start trottting again. Yep. And instead of like letting it do that and then stopping it with the call that you know, usually I'll howl on the call to get it to stop. Mhm. and and instead of doing that, I I thought I can I can get this shot in and this. So, I rushed and of course, he takes a step right as I pull that trigger and I shoot right right past him. And um but I would say that's the biggest mistake I see clients make. Well, you know, and I think and you kind of alluded to it there. I think there's a happy medium there. You can definitely rush shots and definitely wait too long. I'm usually on the ladder. Um, I'm very bad about milking coyotes, but Well, we we have cameras in front of us and that's [laughter] that's de and that's developed a habit with me and uh is just I was sitting there thinking we was talking about efficiency there earlier and I was talking about, you know, did have a couple follow-up shots and I have had coyotes run. One of the last coyotes I killed the same that's what it was. the coyote popped out and if I was just if I was just calling and killing I'd have shot it right then and I wasn't going to get much footage of this coyote. It wasn't one it come from from a thicket that was way out in front of me and watch it come straight in. This coyote come from right to left come right out of a wood line. So I was like dag on, you know. Yeah. I'm there to Yeah. Exactly. So I'm there to film. So, I just milk this thing for and we're talking about instead of 3 seconds of footage, I got like 11 seconds of footage. Okay. So, this coyote runs out, comes on out in the field and gets up there close to the call and I stop it again and it's looking around and I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting. I was like, finally my brain's like, you need to shoot this thing. And and just like you was talking about just as soon as the trigger was breaking over the coyote lunges like towards the call. Well, guess what? what would have been right there on the point of its shoulder ended up being like center punch like right there at its back rib type thing. Of course, it turns and runs and runs like 30 steps. So, I'm bad about that. But I see a lot of people, especially when people are hunting with other coyote hunters. Uh they kind of get in that competition, see who's going to shoot the coyote. Oh, yeah. And they rush shots that they they should have waited. You know what I mean? I mean, I've seen people shoot at coyotes as they're still running to the call. Yeah, man. I see those I [laughter] see those videos on Facebook and they just they it's uh you know, it'll be captioned all like 400 yard running shot. Well, the coyote was at at 75 yards trotting in and they shot at it while they were trotting and missed, but then happened to hit it on the run on the way out and I'm like, I don't know if I'd brag about that one. [laughter] Yeah. Well, it's one thing too when you're hunting with a group and I understand a competition and you get to rag on each other and everybody wants to shoot a coyote and all that type of stuff, but man, there's s, you know, such thing as efficiency as a group as well. You know, instead of rushing trying to beat the other guy to the trigger, you know, if you're all out there to kill coyotes, you know, maybe you should not rush and wait for that coyote to stop and get a good solid shot in it. I'm team dead. like whatever is going to give us the highest percentage chance of getting that coyote, you know, in the truck, that's what I want. I don't care who who kills it. But but talking about the camera, that's that's a luxury you and I have had that a lot of people haven't is that we focus on the video and the content and the animal, not the kill. Right. Yeah. So, we get to watch these coyotes. And something you and I have learned is how much more you can get away with. That's right. Letting letting that coyote work. Um, I mean, in my videos, half the coyotes I shoot have already, you know, they're on the way out. They've I've got as much as I can get and they're on the way out going to shoot them. And this is a huge benefit that thermal hunters get is that they're they're watching this coyote at a distance in the dark, feeling comfortable coming in, and they get to read body language, right? Versus a coyote that just busts out of the cover and you got to shoot it, right? So, what something these guys these guys from Kansas last night and they're like, you know, we're here to learn. We were trying to pick up tips and um the very first stand we have a coyote come hard charging out of the timber to us. It gets to like I don't know two and a quarter and just stops and it's facing us and I'm like okay we're going to switch sounds and see if we can get it get it moving again. Well, it comes in a little bit and then all of a sudden that cow goes from facing straight toward us to completely perpendicular. and he's facing directly to the side, but he's looking toward us. And something something I have found, you know, spending so much time trying to milk coyotes to the call is that when a coyote changes the direction he's facing, you might want to go ahead and get him killed. Yeah. If he goes from forward facing toward the call to kind of to the side, he might be thinking about leaving because I I find whatever direction their chest is facing is usually the direction they're going to go. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. So 100%. So when as far as choosing when to shoot, if you see that and that coyote might be thinking about leaving, you might want to go ahead and get them killed. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think another thing just to I guess the fix, you know, what can people do for this is, you know, don't rush a shot just because you know you've got a subpar opportunity. But whenever you get a good solid opportunity, go ahead and put a bullet in that thing's chest or shoulder long. Once once he's once he's in that, you know, a range you feel confident in, go ahead and go ahead and get him dead. If you're not if you're not filming, there's no need to get him, you know, nose in the call. Yep. Yeah. You know, that's one thing. It's sometimes coyotes can be hard to come by for some people, you know, depending on where they hunt and how much ground they've got to hunt. So, everyone that they get called in the range is earned. You might as well make it make sure your shot counts to to get them on the ground. for sure. You know, that that hurts watching out run off that you missed. Oh, yeah. When you've had a series of dry stands and then and then you uh you try to you wait too long or screw it up or miss or Yeah. Yeah. It it hurts. It'll hurt your feelings. Yeah. Oh, and that's usually when it happens. You've been grinding for two or three days, seen the first hair of fur and all of a sudden here comes one popping out just as pretty as can be and then you miss. [laughter] You have that you have that moment where you debate leaving yourself your stuff in the field and just walking back to the truck. I've been punching there and [laughter] cussing yourself and somebody and nobody and trying to cut find somebody to cuss. Ain't nobody with you. Oh, hunting hunting with Tori, you know, down in the timber and stuff, the swirling winds and stuff. I've I've seen I've seen [laughter] I've seen all the frustrations hunting with Tori before and uh I mean I've had them too, you know. it it uh when things when things are going wrong, you're so frustrated, then it's just like the icing on the cake when something like that happens. Yep. Yep. Well, let's move on to number three. And this is this is more more shooting. Uh a little different here. U not being familiar familiar with your equipment or optimizing your equipment. Yeah, that that's a huge one here because I get a lot of clients, they travel in. I mean, I've had people from every state. Um, I've had guys come down from Canada to hunt and they don't they don't want to travel with their guns, right? So, they'll use mine. I've always I always have two high-end setups ready to go all the time. And I, like I said earlier, I give a lot of grace when clients miss using my equipment. That's that's a trigger they've never squeezed. That's a leveling base they've never manipulated. That's a scope they've never looked through. There's You put me on a gun and a setup I'm not familiar with, I might struggle a little bit. So, being being familiar with your equipment, um, you know, even starting our hunts, I'll have clients that dry fire the guns just to get familiar with the trigger. And even then, sometimes those triggers surprise guys. It's just different than what you're used to. And man, getting those rep getting those reps in, it it matters. And staying on top of it. Uh, just like like I was saying earlier, when I have that that little hiatus from being on a trigger, then I go to self film every May after that that time off, I'm Man, I'm I'm nervous cuz I'm I know I'm I know I'm rusty. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And it's uh [sighs and gasps] it's one thing if you're like you're talking about, you have clients that come in and use uh your equipment and things don't work out, you know, cuz hey, they're not going to be familiar with yours. But it's another thing when they own their own equipment and they're still not familiar with it. And I and I I see that sometimes. And these these scopes in particular, man, these thermal stuff, man, high techch stuff, these ballistics calculators and all this. It's it's above my head. Like I'm a I'm I'm such a I I mean I'm I'm such a neanderthal when it comes to technology. I saw some people I you know they've been compl I've been watching on Facebook these guys complaining about certain LRFS and and you know rangef finding stuff and ballistic calculators and some of this stuff and they're going on and they're talking well you know for 800 you know it's like man I can't even I can't shoot one during a day at 800 yards. My solution is just to get the coyote closer. [laughter] That's the only that's I'm not a good I'm a coyote caller not a sniper. Yeah. Well, it's like those guys last night. They're like, "How are these guys putting up such big numbers in contests? They shooting them way out there." Well, I said Ohio getting away. Yeah. Like different states, you got different tactics. You know, in in Texas, they're doing it in high racks, they have different tactics for that. But like these guys in the Midwest who are doing it, well, guess what? Those ballistic calculators. Oh, it definitely pays off. Holy smokes. You know, there are guys putting up big numbers in contest. They're not even turning on a call. They just get out of the truck, see a coyote field, and shoot it. Yeah. Yeah. Range it, shoot it, pick it up with an ebike, rinse and repeat all night long. Yeah. And it and it, you know, if it it is a killing contest. It's a numbers thing. If it's, you know, it's not it's not a testament to calling, but they're exceptional shots. I had a I had a client 100% I had a client earlier this season. Uh he's a prolevel PRS shooter, and there were these coyotes out there 705 yards. And here when you start getting closer to that half mile mark, a lot of times the coyotes don't want to come that far. They got drainage ditches or roads or whatever. Yeah, they'll hang up. And he looks at me, he goes, "You want me to kill him?" I'm like, "Can you kill him?" He's like, "Yeah, yeah." And he dropped a double at 705. Like, man, goodness, there are not a lot of guys in the country who could just confidently say aggressive. You want me to kill that pair at 700 yards? You know, there there are guys out out there like that now. These new optics, like learning your equipment can really really I mean, exponentially up your numbers. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I there's several guys it's out there. There's some boys up here in the Dakotas and some other guys out some western states and in eastern states, too, uh that I see they do put up some big old numbers and they're talking about shooting these coyotes at, you know, six, seven, eight, 900 yards. I'm like, man, that is crazy impressive. I can't see that far. I don't want to walk out there and get them [laughter] my little, you know, most of the time I'm shooting like a 22 250. Yeah, I ain't killing no coyote tonight on No, [laughter] sir. Might have pour 250 a bounce off a coyote tonight on you. But these guys, it's it's really revolutionized the game. You know, before it has it. Before four, you know, three or 400 yards was a long shot. And then they're they're average shooters making that shot now. You know, if you're not if you're not killing coyotes at, you know, five to 700 yards, it's hard to keep up in the contest seat anymore. and and them boys, they can uh they definitely have the shooting fundamentals and they're definitely familiar with their equipment. That's that's a fact. Yeah. They're check they're checking all those boxes. Yeah. And that's that's thing, you know, for number three there, being familiar with your your equipment or optimizing your equipment. That's that's how you remedy that is trigger time. Just get out there and get out there and actually use it. You know, I think one thing I'm I'm a big I've said this for years, talked about this numerous times. I bring it up in seminars. I'm big on practicing from a hunting position. Yes. You know, there's so many people go out there and they'll shoot off a table or a bench or whatever just and that's fine for checking zero and all that stuff, but you know, hey, if you're going to start shooting off a tripod or night, you know, day hunting off a tripod or if you're going to start night hunting off a tripod and stuff, but you never shoot off your tripod. You need to practice with that. You need practice with that. I agree. I do think a bench has its place as far as zeroing and and making sure your trigger squeeze is consistent like for doing that just to make sure there's no variation. You're just taking those variables out, right? Just to make sure I'm going to focus on this one aspect. Doing it on a bench is the best way to do that. But you're right, shooting standing on a tripod is a totally different thing. You know, the just the way the wind hits you while you're standing, you're like a sail catching that wind. It's a lot harder to be still on a tripod than it is shooting off of a bench. Well, I I shied away from a shot and almost embarrassed that I did. They ra was ragging on me just a few weeks ago. Uh this is night hunting. You know, I'm a night hunter now, guys. Welcome. Welcome to the dark side. Well, this coyote was came in and we had a we should have pushed up like another 50 or 60 yards. We was on this bank that kind of stairstepped down and we should have went down to the next stair step to come down in this pasture field. Well, these coyotes had called three coyotes come from forever away. When they first started coming, I was like, I couldn't even tell that they was coyotes. And I was like, well, they've got to be coyotes cuz they're coming to us, you know, and finally they get up there, we, you know, they're coyotes. They're coming. We got a left right crosswind and all a sudden they said, well, we're going to circle down wind on this guy. And that's what they do. in this this bank I'm was kind of telling you about how the stair steps down got us in trouble. Anyway, so I got the these coyotes are coming and they they finally decided they're wanting to circle on us and like I said this how the stair steps down um in these benches it ended up making you know they got below that and we couldn't see them. Come up there pretty close. They probably got within 70 yards, but they were right there on the downwind side. And of course, they smelt us and then took back off and they go out there and they stop and it's like 360 yards. And uh buddy was with me, he's like, he's watching through the scanner and he's like, "Shoot them things right there." They are. And I'm sitting there looking at the LRF and I'm like, I don't I don't feel I didn't feel confident standing up. I never shot that far standing and I didn't shoot. I let him I let him go. Now people sitting probably listening like, "What you mean you didn't shoot? You let him go." I just did not feel comfortable shooting at him. And so I didn't pull the trigger. Yeah. Well, walking back to the truck and then riding around, listen to him mouth at me and everything else, I'm like, "Man, I should have just threw one out there. Let's see what happens." But guess what? When I come back home, I shot a few shots standing at 300 plus at a steel target just to get some confidence and see how I could do. And you know, um, I missed a target a couple times the other day trying to, you know, it's different. You got to, you know, shooting one at 100 yards or 50 yards or whatever standing is totally different than shooting one on out there. And 300 and something yards ain't nothing. You know, if it's been daytime and I was sitting on my butt how I usually do, I wouldn't thought twice. You know, I'd have I'd have mowed that sucker down. So, I've got a great appreciation for these guys that can shoot that six, seven, eight, 900 yard coyote from standing position off a tripod at night. That is insane. It's an It's an impressive skill and it's I'm I'm with you, man. It's not one that I have. And if I'm if I'm pleasure if I'm pleasure hunting and it's over 200 yards, I'm losing confidence. If it's if it if if that LRF says 225, I feel a little less confident than if it says 175. And I don't know if that's a mental thing or what, but I I'm I'm just not a long range guy. I'm just I'm just not I mean, I've killed them. I've killed them in the fives and sixes. Um in fact, most of the ones I shoot at at that distance I kill, but I just I don't feel that confident. I just don't get the I don't get the reps in. That's why I rarely I rarely take I gotta be pretty mad at him to take that shot. [laughter] That's right. After a booger barking at Yeah. Yep. [clears throat] All right. Well, let's move on from that and let's uh go to number four here. And this is kind of getting back into the actual stand setup and actually calling and hunting. And this is one that we've harped on for years. And you cannot leave a top mistake out. And these all these mistakes here we're talking about this is for nighttime and daytime calling. Okay guys, but this is the I think this is the number one mistake and this is disregarding the wind. The wind the the wind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. M and the way the way I approach a stand, I look I look at the wind as one of those factors that I can take advantage of. Now there there are times that yeah they they back door they and that's that's the thing about night hunting versus day hunting. You know in in Illinois it's it's a fields with tree rows and timber. A lot of times we'll have tree rows and timber on every side of us. So you we don't know where the coyotes are coming from. So when you go to set up, you're setting up based on where you think those coyotes are. Exactly. Exactly. Now, now if I'm day hunting, if I like say I'm summertime day hunting and I'm found scouting family groups, like yeah, they're going to stay pretty put and I can use the wind and get in on them so long as it doesn't swirl. I can get us right on top of those coyotes using the wind. And nighttime nighttime is one of those things, man, you can set up and they can be 180 degrees opposite of where you think they're going to come from. Yeah, of course. Yeah. But but the wind is also a tool in the sense that at night you can be mobile. You can move. You can use that darkness to your advantage. And and you kind of know where that coyote's going to go based on where he's coming from and what the wind's doing. Yep. And and last night we we had a stand last night. I was talking to this um coyote was being vocal in the timber. I'm like, "Look, if he comes out, he's going to do this exact thing based on where we are, where the call is, what the wind's doing, and where he's starting at. Like, we're going to kill him right over here." And just textbook. You do it long enough, and coyotes don't always do what they're supposed to do that you you do that long enough, and you can use that wind as a tool. You can say, "Hey, we're gonna we're going to walk a hundred yards further downwind to cut that coyote off." Because when he comes out, he's going to be using the wind and get downwind of the call. So, we're going to go down there and kind of meet him that way when he comes out, he's coming straight toward us and not downwind of us. Yeah. So, that's And you get that from experience and woodsmanship. Yeah. Yeah. Being able to figure that stuff out. But just ignoring the wind and just th you know, throwing it out there and being like, oh, you know, and there there are times where I've seen coyotes run through my set cone downwind and still come in. Um Yeah. It's rare, though. Yeah. Yeah. It it it Well, yeah, it's an outlier 100. I'm not saying to do it, but yeah, I'm saying it's [laughter] an outlier. I've seen it kind of a never say never kind of I wouldn't trust it. Yeah, but that's but that that talking about that long range shooting and knowing your equipment and as that happens that coyote between, you know, between the 100 yards where
he's probably still going to stop in there. So, if you're familiar with your stuff, you got your calculator set up, you got a pretty good chance of, you know, getting a shot at that coyote, even though he's winded you. But, I mean, I'm not I'm not saying to give him the win. I'm not saying any of that. But, Right. But, yeah, the wind the wind I think the wind is the most important factor because if like those shotgun stands we did this this summer, man, you get one little swirl and it blows into that corn and cover that they're in, you're not seeing anything. No. And you know, there are times where where we'd hear coyotes running toward us through the corner and feel a little swirl and boom, they just hit the brakes and turn around and run off, right? You know, they're they're 10 yards away, but you you can't see them, but they caught that little bit of wind. And man, we watched we had a triple come in. They back doorored us last night on the wrong side of the road at a killable distance. They were dead to rights if that road wasn't there. And I had that side. But um I said I said, "Watch this coyote." And these these guys that are hunting with me, they don't they don't have a lot of experience. They only get to go a couple times a year out in Kansas. And this coyotes running run and all of a sudden you see his nose lift up and just completely does an about face and you know sprints off three times faster than he came in. Right. Right. And and you know you watch coyotes do that at four, five, 600 yards sometimes. Their noses their their old factory senses are incredible. Yep. Yep. And I think, and I've said this before, I think this is, you know, as far as disregarding the wind, I think it's probably the number one mistake that new coyote hunters make. You know, new new hunters to the sport. Uh they just don't don't appreciate the power of a coyote's nose. And it has more to do than just with, you know, starting calling the stand with your wind blowing right to a coyote. It's more than just that. Yeah. It comes down to how you place your call. you know, not taking taking into consideration how the wind is blowing, how you actually place your call, um your approach into a stand. You know, if you're going to walk by this big thicket that might be holding coyotes and your wind's blowing down there as you walk by it, well, guess what? That hunt's probably already over if the coyote was actually in it, you know? I mean, they've already put them on edge. So, you've got to take in consideration the wind for many different things. You you definitely don't want you you wind blowing to a coyote when you start calling. You got to check it out for your approach. Uh definitely take it into consideration placing your call and talking about these guys shooting long range. Guess what? You start talking about too much further over 300 yards, especially over 400 yards, you better be paying attention what that wind's doing if you want to hit that coyote. Coyote's a small target and a wind can definitely push a bullet all over the place. That's a fact. And that's that's um another thing to add to that list with regarding the wind is being able to see where the coyote's going to go based on the wind. Mhm. Because you know, you'll get some of those coyotes that are straight line of the call. Sure, you'll get you'll get those outliers. Um but more often than not, they're going to circle start circling at some point. And if you can't see where that coyote's going to go, if there's cover over there where he can wind you at that distance, he may never break the cover. he may circle in the cover the entire way. So if you're not if you're not set up in a way that has to pull them out of the cover, you're going to lose that battle every time. And the like [clears throat] the daytime shotgun hunts call placement is huge based on the you miss that call placement by five or 10 yards. That's the difference between seeing coyotes and not seeing coyotes. Yeah. Or at those distances. Yeah. And that and not just the cornfield stuff. It's it's with putting them in shotgun range. You know, you could you could misplace that call by a foot. Yeah, I know it sounds pretty extreme, but it could be mean the difference you getting a coyote and shotgun range or not. So, and that just takes experience. It takes experience and and putting a few things together, seeing coyotes approach and stuff and you know, and then you'll get where you have a pretty good idea how a stand's going to unfold. You know, you'll go into a stand and say, "Well, I should have coyotes out here in front of me. I got a left or right crosswind. I'm going to set my call up here 40 yards angled out to the left hedging it up there in the wind. Kyle's going to circle right here to the right. I'm going to go ahead and have my guns pointed right here. When he gets on that hillside right there at 76 yards, I'm going to put one in his chest. He's going to die on the X. You can actually do that. You can actually place coyotes. You can steer them. Yep. Yes, 100%. I I agree. And that and you know that that again is kind of something you and I learned from filming because we have to do that in a way that puts the coyote in front of the camera. Oh yeah. And dead. Like it it's a totally different thing when you add that camera in there how much you improve as a predator hunter because it it changes what you have to do and you have to be so much more precise about everything. Yep. Yep. And there's always those coyotes going to prove you wrong. Oh my god. So so many of those. So, I feel like where I hunt, there's a lot of those. Yeah. [laughter] All right, let's let's move on to the next one here. Number five. Uh, this is not utilizing terrain and cover. Uhhuh. Now, I'm going to I'm going to hear your thoughts on this because I'm probably going to be the the the antagonist in this one. Okay. Well, I think there's utilizing terrain and cover. I think it's actually um two parts. Um, and this is for nighttime and probably not as much nighttime and for your approach, but I think a lot of times you got to take take advantage of terrain and cover as you approach a coyote stand too for daytime calling in certain parts of the country. Um, and then at night time, you know, if you got the darkness of night on a dark moon and all that type of stuff, you know, it's it's hard for them to see you. So, it's not I guess it's I really can't speak on it much because I'm still very much a rookie at at nighttime stuff. So, I really can't speak on that and you'll have to do that. Uh, but especially when you're setting up, you have got to utilize terrain features and cover. Um, you know, if you're sticking out like a sore thumb, you can get a you can still get away with it, especially if you're not moving, but if you got to do any kind of movement and you're sticking out there in the wide open, you're probably going to get picked off. Um, I like having a backdrop if all necessary. I like having cover around me. I like using shadows if possible. I'll, you know, there's times I'll if I can get in a shadow, I feel like I'm invisible. So, a lot of times during daytime calling type stuff and I just see so many people that will set out with the sun up with it just blurring right down on them. It would it could get in the shadow 10 steps from them if they just moved another 10 steps. And but you know, I I just see that a lot with people not use or they disregard a backdrop. I got in trouble with that first starting off trying to do the nighttime stuff. I had it in my head that I was like, you know what? I can set up wherever I want to. It's dark. They can't see me. Then I go out there, set the call out, start calling. Coyotes come out and all a sudden they flare off. I was like, what in the world? What's going on? on. So, I go back here and get my call and um I look back and I can kind of see my tripod and stuff and it's just wide open back behind it on the on the skyline. Yeah. I'm like, well, good grief, I can see that. I can see what the problem is. I guarantee you the coyote solid so I got, you know, I'd get myself in trouble. So, I learned pretty quick, get down on a hillside where I've got, you know, hard ground behind me that's busting me up or get in that tree line, that grow up fence row, have that barn at my back or whatever, this uh row of hay bales, just whatever to give me a backdrop and it, you know, I feel like it helps a ton. And over self- filming and stuff for years, taking advantage of of cover and shadows, it's paid off big. And I've just I've just seen myself get burned too many times and other people get burned by not taking advantage of cover. So, I'm going to I am I'm going to kind of be a little bit of a counterpoint to that. Okay. Um I I agree with you 100% that if you have cover available to you, use it. Mhm. Now, something something I've experimented with in the daytime um and I've done it I've done it in multiple states, different terrains, there are some coyotes that are just they're just they're going to pick you out from 400 yards. Y like if you're just standing there and I've gotten I've gotten some I actually talked about this in a in a bit of a video or in a little bit in a video where there are times where I will give up a little bit of cover to get a little more visibility where I can see better where I where I have a better view. I'll make that trade-off sometimes. No, I mean that's that's a good point. I mean, cuz you know, you got to be able to see if you if you cut your vision down, you're just cutting out, you know, what you know, saying a coyote. And I've got I've gotten pretty good at pretending I'm just a fence post, right? [laughter] Like I'm not a I'm I'm not a narrow. Maybe I'm more of like a power like an electrical pole or something. [laughter] You ain't no Tost is what you're saying. No, sir. No, sir. But uh like like there are a lot of my videos where the coyotes will run out into the field and they'll stop and finally like at some point they'll see me there and of course I'm hiding behind a rifle on a tripod and a camera. So I'm just some stuff, right? Yeah. I'm a broken up human figure that's standing there and that guy will look at me and he'll do that thing where he'll kind of lower his head and raise his head and get a different angle. And you you've seen them do that. They do that headbomb thing where they're trying to figure out what you are and they don't really know and they start to trot away and then I'll stop them with the call and shoot them. That's a lot of my videos end that way. Um the big one you are you said it exactly is the movement. Well, that's number six. Might as well talk. [laughter] Yeah, that's the reason I had them in this order. Yeah. And that that movement is Man, I could not tell you how many times I've been in that position because like you said, we milk that coyote for all it's worth. Right. He's he's going to the call. He's facing kind of our direction. And that little movement where I have to move my hand from my camera arm onto my my trigger, that 3-in movement from right to left, man, they've picked me out doing that so many times. And that's that's a big part of why I shoot them on the way out is because I know I can stop them still in frame with the camera and they're not going to bust me when they're trottting away from me. Because I I've been busted. I mean, a couple dozen times. I'm a slow learner, you know, and and I've been busted. That little movement going from my camera arm onto my gun to be able to pull the trigger, it's enough for them to just tuck tail and run like you lit their tail on fire. Yeah. And and that that to me and even at night time, um, talking about being silhouetted, one thing I've thought about is like a coyote's angle when he's looking, he's, you know, his head's a foot and a half, two feet off the ground, right? Oh, they're low. Yeah. They're looking up at everything, especially if they're looking uphill. So, at night, I'm always trying to find the place where I'm and I'll get I'll give that up. I'll be silhouetted. Um, but a lot of times, as long as you're not moving, you can get away with it. You can get them within 200 yards before they'll start to figure out what you are more often than not. Well, how much how much movement, you know, like I said, number five was not utilizing terrain and cover, shadows, and we just transition right into number six, movement when calling um say nighttime hunting. How much movement can you get away with? And do you see clients and stuff where you're like, "Guys, y'all have got to be still, man." I Yes. Like I've I've I'll get guys like like on shotgun stands, you know, we're calling the coyotes howled 75 yards in the cornfield and they're sitting there swatting mosquitoes and I'm like, "Y'all just you got to just suck it up cuz they can see you do that. They can they'll see us before we see them if you're doing that." Um I've had I had another another client, bless his heart, and he'll he'll get a laugh out of this because they'll know what I'm talking about. But we were on a stand and a bobcat comes in and you know, I'm pumped. I've never gotten great video, daytime video of a bobcat, so I was excited. Oh, them bobcats will pick off. You can you can twitch your nose and they'll catch you. Turns to me, raises his hand, points out to the field, say, "Hey, there's a bobcat out there." And he's like waving his hand at the cat. I'm like, "Hey, stop." And the cat just turns around, runs off. [laughter] Like, man, we can't we can't do that. Then then, but the you know, the the inverse of that is a great example from last night's hunt. these guys. And I've I've seen this a handful of times. I think that if a coyote smells you, your hunt's over. Yeah. I think at night, if a coyote I don't I personally don't think coyotes see much better than us at nighttime. I really don't. I think that they pick up movement and they know if a movement's unusual. Yeah. Is what I think. Um, I think that you might have So, so if if people go back and listen to to Tori on the podcast, he'll talk about how every one of these coyotes has its own personality. Yep. It has its own temperament. It has its own tolerances. So, you might you might call a coyote in that if it sees something sticking up there in the middle of a field, it's just it's it has no interest in figuring out what that is, it's leaving. Then you have other coyotes that might see it, know it's a thing, not know what it is, not assume that it's dangerous, and just come come trotting in on the on one stand last night. We turn on the call. We're so it's a bright moon last night and we are standing on top of the hill. Huge field, wide open. There's not cover within 500 yards of us in any direction. Right. Mhm. And I we turn on the call. We're not 10 seconds in and we look over and there's a coyote standing at 75 yards. I mean, just standing there looking at us. Three there's three Neanderthals standing in the field. Right. [snorts] Right. And and I'm like, "Oh, man." I'm like, "As soon as he stops, we need to get him dead like now." And uh I'll I'll be dang if that coyote didn't just hard charge the call. And I growl at it to stop it. And and I hit the just reflexively to stop the coyote. I hit the preset to how I got Boon Lone Wine House playing on 32 literally 5 feet in front of this coyote's face. Like like I mean if in this coyote's face. Yeah. Just standing there and they shoot it. Right. So that happens. We switch sounds. We get into into some social sounds. Submissive beggars on. That was on We called that one on uh KG Cottontail as a matter of fact. Um switch over run a couple hs getting the submissive beggar. Here comes a Ky hard charger straight at him. Starts the hook. I'm like, "Hey, he's going to get the win. He's going going to go to the right." Get him out there 175 yards, I think. 150 to 175. That coyote gets out there, parallels to us, stops for maybe a second and a half. The guy wasn't quick on the trigger. Coyote runs off, right? So, that coyote had a totally different tolerance for us standing there than the first coyote. So, so we keep calling. We get into pound town. coyote comes out of the exact same cover, comes in, lays down in the field about 400 yards away, just lays down. So I'm like, we throw the book at it, it won't budge. I said, "Guys, we're going to rabbit hunt this thing." Said, "Double check your safeties. Walk single file. We're going to just walk toward that coyote until we can do something with it." It could it couldn't pick you off. He walked straight. We w I'm no exaggeration. We walked within 68 yards of this coyote multiple times. Got it to lift its head, look at us. We were playing we were blaring the siren on the call just trying to get it to stand up to shoot it. Really? Really? I swear to God. Yeah. And uh you know we would take we would knock off 10 yards at a time. 10 yards once we got under like 150 we'd walk 10 steps and set up just assuming that the the sound and the movement and everything. No. Kyle would raise his head, look at us. Couldn't have cared less that we were there. We got within 68 yards and finally I'm like listen when he raises his head again kill him. And they we shot him and killed him. There's per perfectly fine coyote laying out there. And I've I've seen that. I see that a couple times every year where coyotes will tolerate that. We we were we were yelling. The guys were talking about going to te they ate a Texas Roadhouse that night and they literally gave it a Texas Roadhouse yehaw at the coyote trying to get I'm not I'm not I swear to God it [laughter] was the funniest thing ever. And this coyote would not stand up. Well, do you think there's a do you think there's a a possibility that he did see you, but he felt safe laying there? Thought he was hid from you. 100% saw us. 100%. There's no way he didn't see us. There's no way. He just thought he was he thought he was hit. We were 68 yards. The the coyotes. We had shot two coyotes. Man, I wish I could get around some coyotes like that. Man, this was the world's dumbest. I don't know if he was deaf and blind or what, but that but we shot a pair earlier that night that was at like 85 yards and I I could literally see him with my eyes. It was that bright out. Like there's no way that coyote didn't hear us and see we were yelling. If I if I have had a baseball, I could have hit him with it. But it it it goes to that sometimes and I've seen stuff like that before. I've had coyotes do the exact same thing at night where I you know they do that. You're never 100% sure if it's a coyote. I've had times where my son was with me. We walked out there, got within 75 yards of it, click my headlamp on, shin it on, it'll stand up, stretch, yawn, and set on its butt. Like, that's a coyote. Better shoot it. And yeah, just I think different coyotes will have higher levels of tolerance for different things. Um, scent is usually not one of them, but Right. Right. But but man, I I just I don't know. It's it's a weird thing where there are some coyotes that are their personalities, they're so timid, I don't think you're ever going to call them in. And then other coyotes you can almost walk up and grab them. Like it's just it it's a it's a big spectrum. So how many nights how many nights do we have where coyotes are doing that thing where they're laying out in the field and couldn't care less about the call and we're having a slow night and we're wondering what we're doing wrong and the coyotes are just acting like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what's your what's your final final thought on movement when calling? I think movement is generally bad 99% of the time. [laughter] So, so but kind of goes back to that woodsmanship and experience thing. There there's times when you can get away with moving. It can be a be a benefit. Yeah. Now, now there are a lot of times like moving on coyotes. Yeah. At night if there are Oh, you mean you mean moving on coyotes? Well, I'm just talking about movement in general. You know, a lot of times there's a coyote out there and you're you're moving. There's movement. When you're calling, it's over. They picked you off and it's gone. But it sounds like there's times when in certain situations, just like the story you just talked about. Yeah. You It wasn't just movement like barely moving your hand or shrugging your shoulder. Y'all got to That's a lot of movement. When we got under 150, I was intentionally like like dragging my feet through the cornstalks trying to make noise just to get it to stand up. Yeah. And it just it it didn't matter. And like I say, I've seen that before. I don't see it a lot, but I see it every season. Um, but there are times where, you know, if coyotes are hung up at 600 yards where cutting that distance in half is the difference between getting them to come in or not, that proximity is is a massive factor. I think being inside that bubble really matters a lot as far as getting them to respond to the call. Yeah. So, as far as movement movement as far as that goes, I think is something that is a tool in the toolbox that can be utilized a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's move on to number seven here. And uh don't have to spend much time on this one because it's pretty straightforward. Number seven for a mistake. I've [clears throat] been guilty on this one. Still guilty every once in a while. Sometimes it sometimes it bites me and I know other people do this and I think we've talked about this in the past, but uh start calling before you're fully ready and set up. [laughter] the the if anyone's watched my videos on YouTube, the best this is a do as I say, not as I do kind of thing. The best advice I can give is put a round in the chamber before you start calling. That way you don't click on an empty chamber with a coyote in front of you. Yeah, I I have a couple dozen videos of me doing that. And somehow somehow I've never had a coyote get away when I've done that. I've still managed to get around in the chamber and get it killed. There's there's more than just load, you know, loading your gun. It's just like, you know, like you're talking about, you start calling, you hit play, like you're in a hurry. You know, you get your call out and you you get you're just barely set down. You just go ahead and hit a preset or something, start playing. You're think, well, one ain't going to just pop out right off the bat. I got time to load my gun. I got time to get set up on my sticks or tripod and get situated and all that type of stuff. But how many stands you been on? where you set up and you started playing and within seconds, John, that one last night spawned from thin air, right? At 75 yards, it it I walked the call uh about 40 yards from us, scanned when I got out there, felt like I could see everything in every direction. You know, the call's on for 10 seconds and that coyote standing there. And and this was a tip I gave the guys last night. Um, talking about readiness, one thing I do to cut off that split second of reaction time is I'll always start with my rifle pointed at the nearest cover because it's going to be the the if a coyote comes from there, I'm going to have the least amount of time to react. Yeah. If it if it comes from there. [snorts] And that's I just refer to it as covering my short side. Yep. And that's that's one thing that I I like to do, especially especially day hunting because it's not unusual to have one just pop out. And you day hunting is a little different. You need to usually get them killed a little quicker. Night time you can let them work. They're a little more comfortable. They're a little more relaxed. They don't feel exposed. Um but [clears throat] just just that little tip of covering your nearest your having your gun pointed at your nearest cover that has I feel like that's helped me pick up a few coyotes over the years. Yeah. And and I think the main main [clears throat] thing for for that topic is, you know, you need to be ready to kill something when you hit play. That's a fact. So don't hit play, then try to get set up. Go ahead and be set up, ready to ready to do the dirty work. You know, be ready to kill something before you hit play. Cuz when you hit play, it's on. Yeah, it is on. And and day hunting, once you hit play, you don't want to be fidgeting with your tripod or adjusting your gun or, you know, that that movement. That movement will get you picked out. Man, I've been I've done some of the dumbest stuff. I've been like walking back to my stuff. You know, usually I'll set a camera down and and you know, all my junk over and go set the call out. There's been times like I've turned a remote on as I'm walking back, I get five steps from my setup and I go hit hit play on something because I think I've got time and that's the stupidest thing. And that's me. So, I mean, we're not single anybody. I'm talking about stupid stuff I've done in the past. Oh, yeah. Like I said, we might do it next week and know it's stupid and still do it. Our our mistakes are video documented. So, [laughter] yeah. Well, if I mess up on that, I ain't showing nobody. Oh, you don't you don't give that you don't give that to Jace. Jay, you don't let Jace edit that in. Well, usually if I turn if I sit down and there's one running in after I've done it, I' i've already screwed it up. So, [laughter] well, let's move Let's move on to number eight here. And, uh, we don't have to spend a ton of time on this either. We've been on here for for a while. But number eight is not making a long enough stand. Now, this is this this is pretty much recreational hunting. I know a lot of, you know, contest hunters, they're not going to be making a long stand because they got they got to get stands in to get the you know, there's they got to hit a number of stands to get enough coyotes in the truck. But if you're just recreational hunting, having fun, just trying to get coyotes killed, it it is a thing not making a long enough stand because if you get up too early, you could be walking away from coyotes. I'll I'll tell you who the best I think the best testament to that is is uh Greg Gallagher in Tennessee. Greg Greg will sit on a stand for an hour, an hour and a half because he so he explained it to me because I asked him why like why do you do that? and and uh his thing was he didn't have a lot of properties that are real close together and he may only get to do a stand or two in the evening. He may only get to do one stand. So, he'll just slow play a property and he'll kill coyotes at the 45 minute at the hour mark. Like he'll he'll kill them that far into the stand. Um uh I know I know depending on time of year, I will lengthen my stands. This time of year is probably when I do the longest stands. Yeah. because I'm I'm implementing a sound from every category that could trigger a coyote. Yeah. I'm giving them multiple prey distresses. I'm giving them lone house, pair how and group how. I'm giving them social sounds, breeding sounds, fight sounds. Like I'm giving them a sound from pretty much every category. And it's because there's a huge variety of coyotes in different different aspects of their life that will trigger to different types of sounds. Just like like that stand last night, we killed one on prey distress, called one to a social sound, and then called another one to a fight sound. Um, and we had another stand earlier in the night where we had one 30 seconds in, hard charge into rabbit, and then got him to respond to house and played some social sounds, could get him got him closer to the edge of the woods, got him to break on a fight sound, and we were 26 minutes in when that second coyote got shot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. normally proves it right there. Yeah. And no, you know, our night season starting in November, November, December, if I go over 20 minutes, like we we've we're either watching coyotes on the field trying to get them to move or we've, you know, we got something going on that's holding us there. Yeah. But but yeah, this time of year, I mean, we're doing 25, 30 minutes sometimes and killing coyotes in that that end of end of stand time frame. You know, it it I know it there's a lot of factors that come into play that determines uh stand length and stuff like that, but you know, you can never make too long of a stand. Yeah, there's no such thing as that. Now, I know understand if you got certain a number of stands you're trying to make that day. Yeah, I get it. Uh but, you know, you can never make too long of a stand, but you can definitely make one too short. I guarantee you a lot of the guys and gals possibly that's listening in on this podcast, think back. How many times have you walked out to go grab your call and look up and there's a coyote running in or a coyote running away or whatever. You know that coyote was coming and if you stayed there just two minutes longer, you'd have killed it. Yeah. And it's happened to you, hadn't it? Oh my god. Yes. Yeah. Numerous times. Numerous times. And and what's bad about it is we get in such a rush, right? Yeah. How much time did we take to situate our gear, drive to that property, walk into the stand, set up, only to call for 12 to 15 minutes, and then leave a coyote in the field. We got in such a rush, you know, the the most important part of getting the coyote in front of you, we we short change sometimes. And and I even told those guys last night, I'm like, you know, had that coyote, I was lucky enough that that coyote started started barking in the woods. I could tell he was agitated. No, not booger bark. A lot of people misunderstand barking. They they hear a coyote bark and they always think they're busted. And that's that's not always true. Um that this coyote was barking in the woods. I'm like, he's he's dead. Like, we're going to kill this coyote. But had he not barked back at some of those social sounds, I don't know that I'd have stayed 25 minutes. I pro I probably would have left and we'd have left that coyote there in the woods. Yeah. Yeah. A very a very very killable coyote, right? Well, let's move on to number nine here. And uh this is interesting one. This is can get uh for for some regions of the country and some hunters can be kind of I don't know if it the proper term is taboo or or what. It's definitely arguable. uh but not understanding the coyote life cycle and how to apply it to calling. Yeah, that that especially if you're a year round coyote hunter, you're a year round coyote hunter and you've got not you know your coyote density is not out of this world. I think it is very key for you to understand that life cycle and how to apply it in the field. Yes, you just nailed that. The guys the guys and this is fine because this is their terrain. It's where they hunt. is how they hunt. It's their experience. I'm not taking anything away from that. No, no, no. If you're in if you're in an area where your population is high, and I've hunted, you and I have hunted all over the country. We know that different states have disparities in coyote population. Yeah. The difference they the guys actually looked up the number last night. Kansas has approximately three times the coyotes that Illinois does. Right. And and man, I've been in Kansas. I've done there was a two-day stretch where we did 19 stands and did not put eyes on a coyote. Yeah. So, there are pockets where it's pretty dry. Um, but that said, the guys that have areas with huge population, they're they got a million acres of public land. It's continuous. Um, they don't have to worry about that. They're coyotes, you know, every mile. Uh, a lot of places don't have that luxury, right? And if you are a year round coyote hunter, understanding their their life cycle, where they are socially on the coyote calendar, that'll dictate the proximity that you need to have them at a collable distance. That will dictate the types of sounds that they are more or less susceptible to. That will dictate more the length of your stand. Like there are huge factors in that that you can exploit depending on time of year where the coyotes are socially because their their behaviors change throughout the year. this transition right now this transition right now into breeding season I'm like finally these things are finally turning on and and all of the coyotes are reacting to pretty much all of the different sounds where whereas even in November I noticed the trend that the young coyotes weren't coming to the super aggressive fight sounds um there were even stands where we'd be watching young coyotes in the field and it was like they didn't know what prey distress was yet they'd hear Their ears would peek up. They'd lift their head. They'd be interested. They'd go back to what they were doing. And all of all of the coyotes we were calling in on prey distress or fight sounds were older coyotes. Bigger coyotes. Yeah. Yeah. But all the coyotes we were calling in on social sounds were younger coyotes. Yeah. Yeah. And it it's like that understanding their biology like that it it gives you a huge advantage because you don't you don't know when you go to a property say you're going blind into a property you don't know if there are no coyotes there a couple transate coyotes a breeding pair was there a family group born there this past year what dynamic did they have going on socially and how can I exploit that and that you know that was last night was a huge testament to that because we we exploited those those family groups that were born there this summer. Most of the places we went, I would tell the guys like, "Hey, there's a family group born here this year. We're probably going to kill them on or call them in on multiple different types of sounds." Yep. And most of the stands, we called coyotes in on We'd have a single come to prey distress and then have another single or a pair come to social sounds or fights. That's how I like them to come, too. Strong out. Yep. And they were and they were different ageass coyotes. They were they were reacting to different types of sounds. Yeah. Well, and that's that's one thing that I I feel like we do a good job with on this podcast. If guys go back and and listen to past episodes, we we try to educate people on what's going on at certain times of year. I mean, we got monthspecific podcast, time frame specific podcast. It'll tell you what's going on in a coyote's life and what types of sounds and sequences and tactics that you can apply in a field and will help you kill coyotes during that time frame. And you can take those tactics and apply it at that time and then save different calling styles and tactics for another time. Yeah. So that that that's a big one. I hope I hope I hope people appreciate like the conversations that you and Tori have on this podcast. They I hope people understand what you're handing them as far as how useful that information. It's not just information that's like, "Oh, that's a cool fact." No, that's that's that's applicable. [laughter] That's Yeah, it is. It is. But what I'm saying is like the real value is that it's applicable. You can use that information to your advantage. I I do it all year long. And there's there's a reason why I'm able to do what I do. And it's because the the I would I mean really the biggest part of it is going to be the scouting and understanding the life cycle of the coyote and why what they're doing right now. Yeah. And and you can exploit that. If if you if you just kind of put a little bit of thought to it, you can use that to your advantage big time 100%. We got one more here. Number 10. And I think this is a big one. Um this is a mistake. I make this mistake all the time. I've already made this mistake in 2026 doing this right over here on a property right down the road. We're six days old, John. I [laughter] know it. I know it. Over over hunting properties or groups of coyotes. That's that's a that's like the gorilla in a room for some people. Yeah. So, you you kind of you kind of nailed that right there. is one thing that I do is that's different than than a lot of guys is a lot of guys think, oh, I have this property to hunt. Well, I don't I don't Yes. I mean, I have properties to hunt, right? But I don't look at it like that. I have a group of coyotes in that area to hunt, right? Yeah. Because if I think about it as I have a property to hunt, which means I can go in from here, I'm limited on that. Like if if I [snorts] have a group of coyotes to hunt, what's and this goes back to understanding their life cycle, what's going on with that group of coyotes socially, right? If there was a family group born there, it's going to completely change whe
completely change how I call that versus if I think there are a couple transients, right? Yeah. And I personally I think you can call any group of coyotes four times per year as though you have a completely clean slate and it's every time their social structure changes right you know I think we can call them during breeding denning uping family bust up you know to to quote the terminology that's popular today u I think you can hunt any group of coyotes any any time during those parts of the life cycle like you have a clean slate because they're going to react a little bit differently. Their priorities have changed. Their triggers are changing a little bit. They're going to they're going to react differently. Um I I think they're going to react differently to a fight sound during different times of year. Y um I think they can always be effective, but I think there there are times where it's more effective. Um that said, I also think there are outliers. If I go to our night season starts in November, if I know there was a family group born there in the summer, usually unless there's some kind of catalyst, that family group is still going to be within a rough proximity to where they were born that summer. So in November, I go in there, I'm like, "Okay, there are young coyotes here. I can go in and just run some prey distress. I don't need to burn this property up. I'm going to go in. I run, you know, 3 minutes of rabbit. A coyote hard charges. We shoot it. We grab it. We get out of there. I feel like we could probably go back so long as the wind is good and everything's okay. We didn't have other coyotes that came in and winded us or busted us. I feel like I could probably go back there within a few weeks and call up more coyotes out of that group. Yeah. I might run different prey distresses or I might switch the vocals or I might do something a little differently. But but over hunting properties is like you have you have dogs, right? Oh, yeah. You've played they've been causing trouble to [laughter] during this podcast, right? Well, they you you've played fetch with a dog before. Oh, yeah. You know, it's it's Pavlov's dog. It's Coyotes are a great example of conditioning. Um when you're playing, and this is no different than calling coyotes in and getting busted. If you're playing fetch with a dog, and you fake a throw, the first time that dog will run out to where the ball has been, and it'll run back. Couple throws later, you fake it again, it'll run halfway, realize you you faked it, and it'll come back. Couple throws later, you fake it again and it starts to go and decides not to because it's been tricked twice already. No, they learn. Yeah. And and coyotes conditioned exactly like that. You're not gonna get one over on them too many times and not get them dead. But, you know, they're going to they're going to figure out what's going on. And unless you are in one of those states that has a massive population and a lot of acreage to hunt, then yeah, you're going to have to go back and hunt the same brooks multiple times. And and that's the thing. I think you've got to it [clears throat] depends on where you're at across the country. You I think you've got to go gauge your coyote population and your density. Um I'm in a state that doesn't have We've got coyotes. We don't have a ton of coyotes and that's what I do. I'm hunting I'm hunting groups of coyotes just like you mentioned earlier. Um and I'll hunt the same properties multiple multiple times a year. You know that denning/puffering time frame. Then I'll hit them again during family bust up. Yeah. Maybe again in the dispersal and definitely hitting them again during the breeding season. And if I play the cards just right, I'll kill coyotes off that property every time. All those time every time I go. But I can definitely go too much. But you know, you do have certain properties and there's definitely certain parts of the US where they have such a good population and good density. You can kill the entire family group off that property. Oh yeah. within a [laughter] week or two weeks there'll be a transient move in and they could just keep going back and just keep going back and keep going back but there those places aren't everywhere. Yeah. Talking about uh coyote densities like last night those guys like I said they're from Kansas and they were looking up the numbers the rough and this just they don't know how many coyotes are anywhere really. They're just estimating but you know coming from Illinois. Okay. So if somebody from Virginia or Pennsylvania comes to Illinois to coyote hunt they're going to think there are coyotes everywhere. A guy from Illinois goes to Kansas and thinks there are coyotes everywhere. Someone from Kansas goes to Texas. Like like that trip that trip I made this year in October. I went from Nebraska to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, back to Texas, back to Kansas in three weeks. And man, it was like the further southwest I got, the more coyotes I saw. [laughter] Yep. and and it uh you know you go to place you think there are a lot of coyotes and then you go to pockets of Texas and it's just like good lord like they there are places there you can literally do a stand every quarter mile or half mile and see a coyote. Yeah. It's just it's just different and the way you would approach that. Yeah. The way you would hunt that's going to be totally different than how you would go and hunt Illinois. I always I think it's so touchy when I see people giving advice to other people, especially online and stuff. They don't really know the entire situation. You've got one guy that's never hunted but his anywhere but his area. Yes. And you have another guy that's never hunted anywhere but his area. And it might be I like using Pennsylvania for example because Pennsylvania has such a rich hunting history. There's so many people that hunt there. I mean there's they sell hundreds of thousands of hunting licenses like 6 or 700 700 thousand hunting licenses a year and they just go go hammer hammer hammer and they're great hunters but they might not have the numbers or the properties that other people can hunt and I guess what I'm getting at you'll see you'll see some people like you know kills tons and tons of coyotes but they might live in a state where there's more coyotes than there are people you There's states there's states that have a total population of people that is less than what Pennsylvania sells for hunting license. Montana probably states like that where there are billion coyotes. Wh I Wyoming I think but 500 some thousand people in Wyoming, South Dakota, the maybe not one of the Dakotas is the same way. Maybe both of the Dakotas, you know, they're selling more hunting licenses in the state of Pennsylvania than some states actually have, you know, people. Yeah. [laughter] And it's just it's just so and I guess what I'm getting at is some of those states is going to have a high coyote population, high coyote density, and a very low density of people. And it's just, you know, it's hard to compare those states. And it's hard to tell how many times a guy in South Dakota or North Dakota or Montana or Wyoming, Kansas, how many times they can go hunt these properties, go hunt these this area compared to a guy in Pennsylvania. Yeah. And that's, you know, Virginia or, you know, whatever. Yeah. There's always a big difference. Texas and Texas is its own thing. Texas man, it's a crazy there's tons of people and tons of co. It's a different planet down there. It's just it's just different. And it and there are pockets of Texas where God bless Texas, right? I get I get messages from I get messages from guys in Texas like, "Hey, you know, really struggling, new to coyote hunting, can't seem to figure it out." And I'm like, "Man, y'all are in Texas." [laughter] Yeah. And it's just It's just like it's just like Yeah. Not every place in Texas is is equal, you know. So, I don't know. It's just one of those things that's that you really got to watch, I think, is just over hunting properties and over hunting groups of coyotes. And, you know, some people uh are blessed to be in those right spots and right pockets where they can just keep hammering away and you just got and then other people are not. And I think you just got to be mindful enough to realize which which type of spot you're in. Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's really there's something to be said for kind of managing expectations. Like you're just Exactly. You're you're not going to put up you're not going to put up huge numbers in, you know, some of those northeastern states as you are in the South or Southwest or even the Midwest. You're just you're just not. And that's and some and some people do. You know, you'll see some guys up Pennsylvania that that just absolutely kill it. And but in Pennsylvania that are good. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's just it's just one of those things that you can't be somebody that's got five properties. You can't have less than 600 acres and expect to kill 300 coyotes. Yes. You know, and watching this guy that's got just endless amounts of public and, you know, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of private lock gate ranches. And you can't look at them like, "Hey, I'm going to kill just as many coyotes as they've got with my 600 acres." It just don't happen. No, it's just not. It's not. And there's there's so much nuance throughout the country from terrain and human population, coyo population. There's so much nuance in in how how you can hunt those places efficiently that that unless somebody's really traveled the country and hunted all over and not just like gone their yourself and hunted and found the coyotes and done the scouting and done the work and like gone from scratch. You know what I mean? Like it's different to go hunt with somebody who lives in an area who's good in their backyard, but but unless you're going and and figuring it out from scratch, finding the coyotes, getting access, and then being able to hunt them, it's really hard to understand the the the disparity from state to state or even little region to region. Yeah. But it's it's it's part of why we love it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, we've covered uh we've covered a pretty good little amount of mistakes here and hopefully people can can can learn from them. I'm I'm still trying to learn from them, but we'll have a uh we'll have a maybe a top 10 tips coming up before too long. But, uh you know, just to just to cover this again, you know, this stuff about shooting fundamentals and choosing when to shoot, when not to shoot, and being familiar with your equipment, a lot of this stuff just get trigger time. get out there and and practice with your equipment. Know your equipment. Um, choosing when to shoot and all that type of stuff, that's going to come with time. You just got to get coyotes in front of you and that'll come pretty quick. Disregarding the wind, that's a pretty easy one to fix right there. Stuff like utilizing terrain and cover, movement while calling, start calling when you're not ready and not set up and not making long enough stand. All that stuff is very, very easy uh to correct. And I tell you, coyote hunting can be sometimes it's just the easiest thing in the world on some stands and then times you'll be in stretches of dry spells. It mean it seems like it's the hardest sport in the world. [laughter] So like I said earlier, every coyote that you call in is earned. Might as well take advantage of no matter if you're killing half a dozen a year or a thousand a year. Every one of them. You've earned every one of them in my book. But Joy, we appreciate you coming on here. I appreciate you having me. I always enjoy talking to you and I appreciate what you guys at FoxPro are doing, putting all this information out for guys to use and and how much of a a huge asset that is for people. I hope I hope uh guys are really taking advantage of it. Yeah, I think and I think a lot of guys are. I always feel like we're just cover the same stuff all the time. I mean, you only talk about coyote hunting so many different ways, but [laughter] Yeah, but we we always find we always find a way to talk about it seems like. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I talk about coyote hunting all the time. That's for sure. After I get done recording this podcast, I'm actually jumping on somebody else's podcast, letting them talk to me, ask me questions. Oh, nice. Well, it's about time somebody gets to put you in the hot seat. Oh, I get asked a lot to do these things and I get so burned out sometimes. Like, [gasps] you know, [laughter] right. But I try to do every one of them that everybody asked me to do. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's just it's it's a it's good to network for sure. It is. It is. Well, you still got how much how much more guidance season you got left? This ain't gonna come. This will be out like like first part of February, I guess. Okay. So, the night season ends March 15th, but I've I don't have clients. I got a couple scheduled past the middle of February, but I'm actually moving to Kansas. So, so I'm kind of I'm kind of cutting my night season off early and and heading west. What about that? Well, congratulations. Thanks. I'm pretty excited to to get out of So that's what you're That's what you're trying to do. You're trying to leave. You're trying to get away from a lot of people and try to go where there's less people and more coyotes. Yeah. Well, what's funny is I'm actually moving to a bigger city, but Oh my gosh. Where you going? Witchah. I'll be in Witchah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, I'm going to be I'm going to be a city boy before too long. But I'll be Good thing about Good thing about Witchah though, you know, 30 minutes in any direction and you're pretty much in the sticks. So that's right. That's right. So I think I can I can I can make that tradeoff. I just uh I'll be that neighbor that minds his business and never [laughter] has never seen. So well Joy, good luck the rest of your guiding season. I hope it's filled with success and [snorts] uh we'll definitely be having you on here again in the future. Is there anything you want to say before we get off here? Uh, no. Just like I said, I appreciate everybody who listens, everybody who watches the videos, you know, uh, take advantage of the resource that the FoxPro podcast has given you. It's massive. We hope everyone enjoyed this episode and we hope you join us again right here on the FoxPro podcast.