# Allegan co help



## bassman00 (Feb 6, 2007)

Starting to get more serious with this coyote hunting. I just got a Photon for night on the AR. Funny things is I have shot coyotes with my bow while deer hunting but have yet to get one while targeting them. Now I'm very green and new to this but I know I'll figure it out. I'm wondering if anyone on here hunts in Allegan Co, I'm in the Hopkins and Watson area to be exact. I have about 400 acres to hunt and would like to invite anyone who could help shorten the learning curve. Let me know. Thanks

Bill


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

I have a property I hunt just south of Watson I usually can count on at least a response. My kill vrs response rate is not very good but my response rate is quite high. I usually hunt at night in thick cover with a shotgun
Shot a double there one night and got a visit from the county sheriffs deputy
I like calm cold snow cover the best more moon the better


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## skarabas (Jan 24, 2017)

bassman00 said:


> Starting to get more serious with this coyote hunting. I just got a Photon for night on the AR. Funny things is I have shot coyotes with my bow while deer hunting but have yet to get one while targeting them. Now I'm very green and new to this but I know I'll figure it out. I'm wondering if anyone on here hunts in Allegan Co, I'm in the Hopkins and Watson area to be exact. I have about 400 acres to hunt and would like to invite anyone who could help shorten the learning curve. Let me know. Thanks
> 
> Bill


I'm in the northern chunk of allegan. I've only been hunting coyotes for about two years, but I can tell you the best thing you can learn is patience. For the first few months I was hunting with night vision, I'd manage to call in a coyote once every few hunts, but not often. It was when i switched to thermal that I was able to see that pretty much every time I fired up a call, one or two coyotes would show up. And I mean every time, I just couldn't see them before with night vision. Sometimes they circle at about 200 yards, in low brush, then come in closer bit by bit scanning the area. Most of the time they'll actually sit down at about 100 yards in cover and just watch the area where the calls are coming from. The minute you shift your weight or make a sound they are gone. on the other hand, during mating season they'll often charge right in if you have mating calls. But 90% of the time you'd never know they were there with night vision, plus they focus right on that IR light every time.

I also dropped firearms in favor of big bore airguns, being able to use a silenced weapon that is effective up to 100+ yards means a missed shot doesn't spook them off, nearby humans never hear a thing either, which in my book is a huge plus.

either way if you can spot them before they get inside 100 yards, you should be perfectly able to take em out, just don't do the 15 minute stand thing, you need alot more time than that for them to come in. My most successful method is setting the caller at the bottom of a hill, and setting myself in brush at the top of the hill at around 50-100yards downwind or at the edge of a tree line. I run the caller on a fifteen minute preset and literally lay on the ground and hide under a ghillie the entire time, I don't move a muscle and I don't look up, I just listen and stay out of sight. Sometimes ill bring an lcd screen and watch the rifle scope feed from under my ghillie, but it's usually not necessary. After the fifteen minutes is up I slowly get into firing position and scan the field, 7 times out of ten there is a coyote sitting next to the caller just looking around, usually with its back to me. if there's no coyote in the low area near the caller I can usually spot them on the approach at this point. But the trick here is theyve searched the area already by the time you come out of hiding and generally aren't feeling jumpy, they're just confused at this point.

it works for me, but I know people who only have luck if they line up the shot to where the coyote "should" approach from before making calls. heck I know people who have somehow managed to bag coyotes while completely giving themselves away with spotlights.

but this is what works for me... Hill is priority, the further off you can see the better your chances are.

I should add that if you have a dog, bring it along and use a stake to set the dog about ten feet away, the coyotes aren't shy about coming in at this point as long as they see or hear the dog before they see you, they've got major tunnel vision. when I bring my dog I usually give her a fresh pig ear to gnaw on and that seems to help entice the coyotes, still gotta run a call or two though unless your dog is naturally vocal.


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## San V. Sasse (Aug 19, 2010)

Get a snipe light!! Scan the whole time and keep them.in the outer beam until your ready to drop the hammer!!

Night snipe light:
1000 yd eye shine
400 yd full body alumination


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## bassman00 (Feb 6, 2007)

Very informative post, thank you. Heading out this weekend. I have 2 deer carcasses and scraps that I'll be throwing out there also.


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