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Posted by Baldknobber (Member # 514) on February 28, 2011, 07:46 PM:
 
Obviously when you enter a contest a couple of states away you have to prepare somehow. Do you pre-scout, have a partner from that area, pre-hunt in advance, leave a day or two early to get permission? How do you guys do it? What works for you? How much time do you spend in preparations?

[ February 28, 2011, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: Baldknobber ]
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 28, 2011, 11:06 PM:
 
Yes, scout as much as you have the time. You need to know exactly where you will start and should have figured out as many stands in advance as you have time for. The second day, you need to be prepared to change plans, depending on your results previously, and have your travel time back to check in estimated very accurately.

It would be nice if all your gear is ready to go, stashed where you can get to it quickly and maybe spares of everything if you have them?

All pretty basic stuff. Work quick and efficiently, don't take breaks, eat and drink between stands.

It's a sprint and a marathon rolled together. Don't make any mistakes and don't miss!

Good luck, LB
 

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Posted by Baldknobber (Member # 514) on March 01, 2011, 01:51 AM:
 
Sounds like you would be running on adrenaline and be wanting a hot shower by the end of the contest.
 

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Posted by 4949shooter (Member # 3530) on March 01, 2011, 02:27 AM:
 
It sounds like a lot of work.

Are cash rewards the motivation?

[ March 01, 2011, 03:37 AM: Message edited by: 4949shooter ]
 

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Posted by the bearhunter (Member # 3552) on March 01, 2011, 03:18 AM:
 
scouting is KEY!!. its nice to KNOW there are coyotes in the area instead of hoping there are. we try to coriograph our stand sites and a time frame for each. my partner and i usually split up 2 miles apart and we try to meet back at a cental location at the same time.eating and drinking is done going to the next stand.not sitting idol. timing is everything. i minute can cost lottsa money. shot placement is very important. one can waste alot of time chasing a cripple expecially when you don't recover it. pick a partner that you click with. it helps!!
 

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Posted by 3 Toes (Member # 1327) on March 01, 2011, 06:27 AM:
 
I always found that a bikini wax reduces chafing. Manicure and pedicure are a must also. A hangnail can ruin the whole hunt.
 

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Posted by Randy Roede (Member # 1273) on March 01, 2011, 02:22 PM:
 
Note to self,

avoid any one on one time out in the middle of nowhere with Cal Taylor!!!
 

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Posted by Baldknobber (Member # 514) on March 01, 2011, 08:22 PM:
 
Cal, beware of those Brazilian bikini waxes. Brutal!
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 02, 2011, 09:13 AM:
 
I'm kinda disappointed. I always thought Cal was a Man's Man, but (in my opinion) this waxing stuff is for sissies and queers. Girly girls. Of course, some of my best friends are sissies and queers, so don't think I'm a bigot or prejudicial. I just had Cal pegged all wrong. Dang!

Good hunting. LB
 

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Posted by tlbradford (Member # 1232) on March 02, 2011, 09:19 AM:
 
He didn't say it was for him. Maybe he just likes his partner clean and gussied up.
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 02, 2011, 10:44 AM:
 
Mebe? But, in the meantime, Roade's advice looks good. No Brokeback moments for this kid. I hate surprises.

Good hunting. LB
 

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Posted by 3 Toes (Member # 1327) on March 03, 2011, 06:37 AM:
 
Oh, and next you guys are going to tell me that I shouldn't be using sunscreen and moisturizing lotion while outdoors to keep from getting wrinkles. I especially like lilac scented stuff. And I suppose no hair gel either. You know that something as small as your hair blowing in the breeze can tip off a coyote and copius amounts of hair gel fixes that problem!
 

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Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on March 03, 2011, 06:59 AM:
 
3Toes;
Do you feel that it's important to match the lotion scent to the area, as in apple scented hair products near apple orchards for example????

This could be serious secret stuff!!!!!!
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 03, 2011, 08:16 AM:
 
Yes, we're telling you that. Unless you don't care about your reputation? Fufoo? Lilac? MOISTURIZER? When did the weatherbeaten look go out, up on Brokeback? I'm confused!

Is violence still an option, or maybe a hug?

Good hunting. LB
 

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Posted by 3 Toes (Member # 1327) on March 03, 2011, 06:03 PM:
 
I can relate this best in another story. I'm trying not to pick on baldknob too bad, but once I had the good fortune to meet a guy from Utah that had killed numerous huge mule deer. A real nice guy and we were visiting and I couldn't help myself and I knew I had stuck my foot in my mouth when I asked, "where did you kill these huge deer?" He just looked at me and grinned and asked me point blank if I wanted him to lie and tell me somewhere, or just let it be at the fact that he wasn't telling. I apologized and told him I knew I had asked the wrong question as the words left my mouth. Same with the info BK is asking for. Surely he doesn't really think that any of the guys that are proficient contest hunters are going to give away secrets on a public forum, or privately for that matter? So just poking a little fun, he's still a good guy.
 

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Posted by Baldknobber (Member # 514) on March 03, 2011, 06:42 PM:
 
Cal, poking is OK. Just was adding up the dollars and cents and seems to me that if you live two states away and have to go and procure permission and scout(this all takes times as you well know) that by the time you've scouted and got permission, returned home, and then went back and competed that you've just pissed away a boatload of money. Travel and lodging and food.

Hell for that amount of dinero you could buy a new rifle and a good burris, or maybe buy a Swarofski. You could go to a good Walt Woodard roping clinic. TWICE. God knows I need that since I havent picked up a rope in at least two years!
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 03, 2011, 09:13 PM:
 
I think you are beginning to see the problem. More than scouting, you need some good connections.

Good hunting. LB
 

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Posted by George Ackley (Member # 898) on March 03, 2011, 09:52 PM:
 
Wow, ok i will ask
were in his first post did he ask where to kill coyotes?

quote:

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give away secrets?

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quote:

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There's a big difference between finding an area with a good population of coyotes and finding an area with a good population of RESPONSIVE coyotes.

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Do you call an area some months before a contest to figure this out? Or do you generally go by vocal response? I've never hunted in a contest, it's a curiosity post.
 

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Posted by Wily E (Member # 3649) on March 05, 2011, 07:52 AM:
 
Unfortunately Smithers, there's only two ways I know of to figure this out. First is to actually call the area ahead of time or to find out whether others have called it before you and what their response was.

I had the misguided belief that if coyotes haven't been called too much and they are in good numbers, they would respond readily to calling in that particular area. Since then I have been in places where coyotes were in good numbers, where I knew there was not a lot of calling pressure, and the coyotes simply were not responsive. It's a real head scratcher.

I believe there is four major factors involved with unresponsive coyotes in that situation (responsive defined as coming to the call as opposed to a vocal response):

1. Heavy coyote population.
2. Heavy prey base.
3. Good habitat that allows coyotes to move around with less detection.
4. Warmer weather.

As far as vocal responses, I have never been to a place where I did not readily get a vocal response regardless of the amount of calling being done in that area. Simply put, coyote vocalizations are too much a part of every day coyote life.

~SH~

[ March 05, 2011, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: Wily E ]
 

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Posted by smithers (Member # 646) on March 05, 2011, 08:38 AM:
 
How far ahead do you call an area before the contest? Can I assume that past experience with an area plays a major role in your decision making process when it comes to calling or pre-calling? If you've had success several years in a row with taking coyotes out of an area, do you bother pre-calling?

[ March 05, 2011, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: smithers ]
 

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Posted by Wily E (Member # 3649) on March 05, 2011, 11:43 AM:
 
Smithers: "How far ahead do you call an area before the contest?"

If I have never been there before, a day or two before just to study the reaction.

Smithers: "Can I assume that past experience with an area plays a major role in your decision making process when it comes to calling or pre-calling?"

Absolutely.

Smithers: "If you've had success several years in a row with taking coyotes out of an area, do you bother pre-calling?"

If the coyote population and calling pressure has not changed, I don't expect the response to.

~SH~
 

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Posted by Cayotaytalker (Member # 1954) on March 05, 2011, 12:01 PM:
 
Wily E, I never reply to any of your post but thats not because I don't read them or get any thing out of them because I do. Thanks.
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 05, 2011, 12:03 PM:
 
You have to carefully sample an area, just to be sure, and keep the stands very short, if you have doubts. Then, what you do, is another basis for disagreement, but for me, I would shut down and not disturb the coyote. Hopefully, he will become disinterested and move out without any contact. You don't need very much sample.

Scouting a month in advance can be useful and meaningless. The one thing it will do is give you an idea of the moon phase and real general things, cover, water, available food sources.

I have seen very high population areas become nonproductive or at least not up to the potential because of (I think) food availability.

Sometimes coyote scat is composed exclusively of things like grasshoppers, grapes, melons, mesquite beans and last year, at the campout in southern AZ, the coyotes were eating a seed pod that kinda looked like elm seeds, if you think of them as a seed in a sandwich or a fried egg. I saw a lot of scat that was composed entirely of these seeds, which was, (believe it or not) new to me. The coyotes were not very responsive in a lot of areas.

However, most of the contests are later in the season after harvest and seed pods have opened, fruits and berries have dried up.

One thing I have put some faith in, over the years is observing the rabbit population. It is my thinking that seeing a bunch of tame rabbits as you drive the area means that there is not a good population of coyotes keeping the bunnies on their toes. You would think, "hey great" lots of rabbits means lots of coyotes but I have not found that to be the case.

On the other hand, just because you aren't seeing rabbits doesn't mean they aren't there. I'm speaking of driving and not getting out and actually looking for these things. I always check sandy washes for tracks. The fact that you don't see fresh tracks in new snow may not be an indicator, either. For instance, I have driven a god looking road and not seen a single track for ? twenty miles, and hunted it at night and there was lots of coyotes.

As far as the very best clue, I don't know what that is, short of hunting. It sure as hell is not vocal activity, either spontaneous, or due to your howling. Sometimes they aren't vocal and sometimes, they aren't moving either.

Why that might be, is food for another completely different subject of discussion. But, I put a lot of stock in barometric pressure, weather conditions, and moon phase, which is why scouting before a big hunt is always a gamble, if you make decisions based on what you saw one or two weeks previous.

Good hunting. LB
 

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Posted by smithers (Member # 646) on March 05, 2011, 03:10 PM:
 
So, it's pretty much like I used to do back in my bass fishing tournament days. Pre-fishing w/out using hooks and let 'em go before they get to the boat.
 

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Posted by RonFin (Member # 3483) on March 08, 2011, 08:42 PM:
 

quote:

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put a lot of stock in barometric pressure, weather conditions, and moon phase,

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