The topic of how to call educated coyotes gets brought up quite a bit among coyote callers and always makes me question….How did they become educated? Can a coyote be educated? There is no doubt coyotes are sharp animals but educated seems a bit of a stretch to me. I believe a more correct term would be conditioned. This may simply be semantics and is probably better off left to another discussion. With that said, your best opportunity to call in any coyote is on your first attempt. In many places in the U.S. like the vast public grounds out west or smaller private properties of the east, this may be almost impossible. Another factor to consider is the time of year. In the early fall, there are many young coyotes that are eager to come to the call. As the fall turns to winter there are fewer coyotes and of those left some may have had a bit of conditioning/schooling. Thus, the term “educated coyote”.
So how do you deal with educated coyotes? I revert to the first paragraph and suggest you first hone your shooting and calling skills so that you do not give them a free education and condition them not to respond. I used to poke fun at other callers and tell them in my neck of the woods we did not pass out educations but rather rides home in the back of the truck. While somewhat funny there is some truth to this. Do your best to be a part of the solution and not the problem. Practice good fundamentals of fieldcraft, calling, and shooting and you will be a part of solving this perceived problem.
Coyotes are like I said “sharp” but also quite simple-minded. You’ll find many posts about their ability to smell, hear, and see. While these abilities far exceed ours, let us not confuse this with intelligence. Even the most simple-minded human possesses much more intelligence than any coyote. Therefore we must use this information to deny the coyote the ability to use their main defenses. Let us also try to identify their other assets and deny them of those as well. Coyotes by nature are extremely wary and suspicious. If anything is perceived to be out of place they will go on high alert and either retreat or not respond at all. Those so-called “educated coyotes” are even more suspicious and wary.
So how do you go about all of this? To defeat their best defenses such as their nose, simply keep the wind in your favor. It is physically impossible for them to detect you if you deny them the ability to either get downwind of you or cross your track. The latter is often overlooked. Second, are his ears…apply common sense here. Be quiet! This is not hard to do. Last but not least, if they watch you approach your stand location, they will not come.
With me so far? Here’s a quick story that will help put this into perspective. You approach your calling location as if the coyote is a well-trained sniper. If they smell, hear, or see you it’s game over. This will help you understand the importance of getting there undetected. To you, it’s just hunting but to him, it is life or death.
Once you’ve accomplished the steps outlined above, you will need a plan to call them. Coyotes respond to different types of calls for different reasons. Examples could be food, mating, being territorial, and curiosity to name the most important. While using vocals are all the rage, (and I like using coyote vocals) they are not my go-to call most of the time. I would choose a particularly good distress sound. An example would be the “Cottontail #1” sound on the Convergent Predator Pro app. Even the wariest coyote is still an opportunist and must eat. Ahhh the Achilles heel. This may be a good time to mention; they don’t have to fight, challenge or mate another coyote to survive, but they must eat.
Another important thing to keep in mind is what I call “jumping through hoops”. This simply means that the easier you make it on them to respond the better the chance they will. To put this in perspective, I like to be as close to the target as possible, keeping obstacles away that would impede their approach. The faster you can get the coyote there the higher your chances are to be successful. You want them to react positively to your efforts without allowing enough time to become suspicious. This is best accomplished by using a very good caller like the Bullet HP Bluetooth Game Call and by playing high-quality sounds such as “BB Raspy CT” on the Convergent Predator Pro app. The sounds used should be designed to elicit predatory instincts. Busy sounds with a lot of excitement, and emotional, terror-like content are great for triggering this type of response.
There are lots of coyote hunters out there today. Many of which try to shortcut the fundamentals and have conditioned coyotes to respond negatively. If you want to be a successful caller you should assume they are all educated, do not shortcut the fundamentals. Do your best to make sure the coyotes ride home with you and are NOT further educated.