Coyote Hunting Tips: Coyote Hunting Sounds on Your E-call
In this article, I am going to go over some coyote hunting tips that seem to get underrated as a key element to a hunter’s success while calling coyotes. I will be discussing 3 important reasons why I believe having a wide variety of coyote hunting sounds on your E-Call will increase your odds while out calling coyotes.
Let’s get started.
1. Keeps You from Educating Coyotes
You know the first time you heard the song “Eye of the Tiger”? You were probably like, “Hey, I like this song,” and listened to it a few more times before you got really burnt out and didn’t care to ever hear it again. From that point forward, you could without a doubt identify that song within the first few beats…
BA…BA BA BA…BA BA BAAAAA… (You get the picture.)
I believe, coyotes respond the same when you go out and play the same sound over, and over, and over. Yeah, it may have worked the first few times you used it; however, coyotes are going to grow familiar with that sound over time, and it’s not going to be nearly as enticing once they do.
Especially if it’s followed by a big scary BOOM and they witness their buddy drop next to them. Or they hear you talking after you stop calling. Or they see you once you get up to get your call.
Whatever sound you once thought was the magical go-to…is now the “get-the-hell-out-of-here” button for coyotes in the area that have grown familiar with it.
Now, you may have a transient coyote move into the area who hasn’t caught on to your game like the locals have, but for the most part, playing the same sound repetitively will educate coyotes and make them far more difficult to call.
Think about how many coyotes you didn’t know were sitting in the brush watching you get up—and then ran off after you pressed stop on the remote for your e-call and leaned over to tell your buddy how shocked you were that “a coyote didn’t show up.” That coyote now associates that sound with danger, and unless you switch it up, he is going to live a very long life.
2. From Subtle to Intense
This is a topic that I personally have never heard anyone else discuss, but I feel it is a key tactic that I use to consistently succeed while calling coyotes.
When I talk about having a variety of sounds, I am referring to a variety of all sounds—howls, rabbit, pup-distress, rodent, etc.
When I organize my sound files on my caller, I do so from the most subtle, to the most aggressive/intense. I always start off subtle, whether it’s a subtle female interrogation howl or a subtle baby cottontail.
I do this for two reasons.
One, not all coyotes are aggressive and territorial. Starting a standoff with a challenge howl could potentially scare off any submissive coyotes in the area. If you start with a subtle interrogation howl and a nearby coyote replies back to you with a challenge howl—that’s your cue to step it up to a more aggressive challenge howl sequence. If you start your stand with a subtle interrogation and you get a pack of coyotes to serenade in response, I like to respond with a more intense serenade. This gives that group of coyotes the idea that an intruding coyote pack has infiltrated their turf, which may cause them to come investigate.
When playing a rabbit distress sound, I like to start with a subtle baby cottontail on a lower volume, just in case there is a coyote close. Sometimes less is more and staying soft and subtle gives just enough stimuli to catch the coyote’s attention and trigger their feeding instinct/curiosity. If I run a subtle cottontail distress sound for five to ten minutes and nothing shows, I then switch over to a louder, more intense rabbit distress that can be heard from longer ranges.
I have also found this strategy to be effective when a coyote initially responds to a sound and then hangs up. For instance, recently I had a coyote rolling in to a subtle pup distress. He then hung up and lost interest at about 400 yards, but he recommitted and ended up getting smoked at 40 yards after I switched it up to a more aggressive and intense pup distress.
3. Play a Different Tune
Most predator hunters buy an e-caller and stick with the stock sounds. If you live in an area like I do, there are quite a few predator hunters, and sometimes multiple hunters will end up calling the same ground and therefore the same coyotes.
With this being said, these coyotes likely hear the same stock e-caller sounds played by different hunters, and they are likely to grow familiar with those sounds and ultimately become educated.
I do hunt ground that I know is called by other hunters. I have had a lot of success on ground that I know is called by other hunters. I believe a big part of my success has been due to utilizing a wide variety of sounds from stock sounds to downloading the sound libraries from companies like Predator Tactics, a predator hunting light company, and Bos Predator Acoustics.
They offer sounds in mp3 format that will play in almost every e-caller available today. The predator hunting sounds by Predator Tactics are superior in clarity and can be played at very high volumes with very little to no ambient sound, electronic echo or distortion. The coyote sounds by Bos Predator Acoustics offer a variety of coyote calling sounds, but it is mainly made up of aggressive coyote vocals that perform well.
The sound libraries from these two companies are going to keep growing and offering fresh new sounds. You will never have to go stale in the field with some old and out-of-date coyote hunting sounds, no matter what electronic game call you are using.
Don’t Let the Coyotes Catch On to Our Game
Having a wide variety of sound options gives you the ability to change it up and refrain from educating coyotes, entice educated coyotes, and build intensity which can be the ticket to sparking a stubborn coyote’s curiosity and closing the distance.
Coyotes are smart and unpredictable, so it makes complete sense why we—as predator hunters—need to be smart and unpredictable by using a variety of coyote calling sounds when out stacking fur.