The wind poses different challenges you have to consider when wanting to know how to hunt coyotes. A few questions to consider are, how strong is the wind, what direction will you be facing in relation to the wind, how will you be entering the stand location? When out hunting coyotes the wind can make or break you. When I first started calling I didn’t worry about the wind. More times than not I called with the wind at my back. The concept to this method of calling is simple, the coyote will come to the call downwind so face downwind. I killed coyotes and missed coyotes. It wasn’t until I wanted to kill more coyotes in a day instead of just calling them in, that I began to worry about the wind. So how do you “Hunt the Wind”?
3 Methods
Consider these three methods when you ask how to hunt coyotes in the wind.
Hunt with the wind in your face when the wind is less than 10 miles per hour.
Hunt a crosswind when the wind is 10 to 20 miles per hour.
Hunt with the wind at your back when the wind is over 20 miles per hour.
Hunting Into the Wind
Hunting into the wind is the method used by most hunters. We are taught when hunting any animal to put the wind in our face so the animal can’t smell us, so why not when hunting coyotes? This is great advice, it aids in getting into your stand undetected and carries your scent away from the coyote. There is a twist though when hunting predators. How far will your sound carry? If the wind is to strong your sound won’t reach the coyotes. This is why I suggest you call into the wind when the wind is 10 mph or less.
Hunting a Crosswind
When calling with a wind that is 10 to 20 mph a crosswind is a great setup. It still allows you to get into the coyote stand masked by the wind, but also allows your sound to carry. Most of the time approaching coyotes are going to try to get downwind of whatever is making the sound. You will especially see this with educated coyotes. When hunting a crosswind make sure to leave a shooting area on your downwind side. Younger coyotes will come to the call with the wind from behind them, but those older dogs will circle downwind. When hunting with a partner, place the partner on the downwind side so the coyotes will end up right in his lap. Using the wind to your advantage will greatly increase your odds.
Hunting With the Wind
There are those times when the wind is fierce! Your sound just won’t carry when you are hunting into the wind. For these times when the wind is over 20 mph it is time to turn straight downwind. The benefit of this method is your sound will carry, but the drawback is your scent will also. If hunting alone, take an electronic call and put it as far upwind as your remote will reach. If hunting with a partner, place the partner 300 yards or more downwind and slightly off to the side of the caller. Coyotes are always unpredictible, but to kill coyotes in this situation expect to take a long shot.
Using these three methods of how to hunt coyotes in the wind will greately increase your odds of calling and killing coyotes.
