Probably the biggest question, for good reason, that gets asked about coyote hunting is where to find coyotes. Finding where a coyote is will definately up your odds of being able to harvest one. If you do a search on the internet for coyote numbers you will find the number of coyotes are growing. This should make finding a coyote easier, but with the popularity of more and more people going out to hunt them it makes it much harder to bring them in.
Time of Year
The first thing to consider is the time of year. During the warmer months coyotes have access to a rich supply of prey animals. They could be almost anywhere, but they will tend to hang closer to some sort of food and water source. During the winter months food gets scarce. Look for game animals and areas where livestock are being wintered, coyotes won’t be far off.
Location
The key to this coyote hunting game is to do your homework before going into the field. A great source of information are ranchers and landowners or anyone that spends time in the areas you plan to hunt. Ask questions about where they are hearing or seeing coyotes and how many. If you are going to hunt private property it is best to not go asking for permission the day you are going to hunt as this can be a big turn off. When looking for areas where to find coyotes scouting is essential.
Open Country
In the west there are some huge open valleys or big desert flats. When one looks at these areas he might not know where to start. Good places to look for coyotes are in the transition areas. Areas where the mountains start to turn into the valleys along the benches or areas where one type of terrain changes into another type of terrain. Another key place to look for coyotes is always around water sources in the dry arid desert.
Tracks, Scat, and Howling
We have talked about areas of where to find coyotes, but how do you really know they are there? I feel like there are three key elements to locating coyotes. The first is to look for tracks. This doesn’t mean that you have to get out and do a lot of walking, but it does mean that you stop and check for tracks around watering holes, creek bottoms, or washes that cross the road. Basically, stop to look in places where you think there should be tracks.
Second, pay attention as you drive down the road for scat. Coyotes will use roads as boundary lines and they will mark there territory with scat piles on the road as they are out hunting.
Last but not least is howling. One of the best ways to know where to find coyotes is through howling. Take your howler out in the evenings or early mornings and let out a howl. What better way to find coyotes than to have them respond back at you telling you they are there.
