Prepping for Your Hunt
Check local hunting regulations. As with any hunting activity, when hunting coyote, it is very important to obey any local hunting rules, regulations, and restrictions, both to ensure the safety of yourself and others and to ensure you don't unknowingly break any laws. In the United States, hunting laws can differ from state to state, so research hunting laws in your state before leaving on your hunting trip. Because, especially in agricultural communities, coyotes can be considered pests, and because they are not an endangered species, there are generally few restrictions on hunting coyotes. However, there are sometimes restrictions on the ways in which you are allowed to hunt coyotes. For instance, in West Virginia, though there is no limit on the number of coyotes you may hunt, only .22 caliber ammunition or smaller is legal for hunting coyote. If in doubt about which locations are safe and legal or hunting, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's online hunting site locator, which allows you to search by state, zip code, and type of game.
Know where to look for coyotes. Coyotes are common throughout most of North and Central America. Though they originally lived mostly in prairies, grasslands, and deserts, the coyote has now adapted to live almost everywhere - even in urbanized, metropolitan areas. The best bet for finding coyotes is to look for them where their wild prey (small game, birds, mice, etc.) live. Fields, brushy creeks, riverbeds, and light forests are all good places to hunt. Because they are livestock pests, most farmers will be happy to give you permission to hunt coyote on their agricultural land as well.
Bring an appropriate weapon on your hunt. Because coyotes weigh, at most, 50 pounds, you won't need a large-caliber weapon to bag one. In fact, as noted above, in some jurisdictions, it's illegal to hunt coyote with large-caliber weapons. Flat-shooting .22 rifles are fine choices for coyote hunting. In shorter-range situations, like in wooded areas or at night, shotguns can also work well (where legal). Deer-sized rifles will work fine in a pinch. With shotguns, opt for a 12-gauge that has a tight spread at up to 35 yards (32.0 m).
Bagging a Coyote
Stay silent on your hunt. Coyotes have a reputation as cunning animals with keen hearing and eyesight. Unless they've become accustomed to human interaction, they are likely to flee when they hear you coming. Because of this, it's important to be as quiet as possible on your hunt. Below are a few easy ways to reduce the sound you make on your hunting trip: Don't slam your car doors when you arrive on-site. Try to reduce the noise that your equipment makes as you move with it. For instance, don't let two hard metallic objects (like the scope on your gun and your binoculars) clang together as you walk. If you're hunting with partners, don't talk freely. If it's necessary to communicate, have your partners come next to you so that you can talk in a hushed voice or a whisper. After you settle into a good position, stay still, getting up to move only when you have decided to try a new spot. Once you're in position, you may want to wait in silence for 5-15 minutes before making any calls.
Approach your hunting site stealthily. In addition to minimizing the amount of noise you make on your hunt, it's important to reduce your visual profile (and your scent) as much as possible. Use natural cover when it's available to you, staying behind hilltops, tree lines, and rock formations. Avoid places where you can be easily seen, like clearings and hilltops. When the wind allows, try to approach your hunting site from down-wind to minimize the chance of a coyote detecting your scent. Finally, use natural and artificial obstacles, like cliffs, rivers, and roads to your advantage. Keeping these at your back guarantees that coyotes won't be able to circle behind you, or, if they do, they'll be highly visible.
Look for the signs of coyote presence. Though they can be elusive and crafty, like all animals, coyotes leave telltale signs of their presence. Coyote signs include: Coyote tracks - small prints similar to those of a dog. Prints from the coyote's front feet, at about 2–3 inches (5.1–7.6 cm) long and 1.5–2.5 inches (3.8–6.4 cm) wide, are generally slightly larger than those of their back feet, which are about 1.75–3 inches (4.4–7.6 cm) long and 1.3–2 inches (3.3–5.1 cm) wide. Coyote calls - dog-like barks, howls, and yelps. Especially common at dawn and dusk. Coyote scats (droppings). Coyotes like to deposit small piles of their droppings in prominent places where other animals (and humans) are likely to find them. Scats may contain fur from recent kills.
Find a good shooting position. When hunting coyote, you'll want to find a well-hidden position where you comfortably remain still and stay on the lookout for upwards of half an hour at a time. Ideal shooting positions offer good cover, enough space for you to sit or lay comfortably, a clear view of the area in front of you, and/or a place to steady your gun. Look for rocky outcroppings, knolls, small ridges, or plant cover at the edge of a field. When you've found a good spot, settle in and stay quiet, scanning the direction from which you'll have the best shots at coyote. Camouflage can help you keep yourself concealed from wary coyotes in your shooting position. Consider investing in a quality set of hunting camouflage before embarking on your trip.
Wait 15 minutes, then use a call. After you've settled into your shooting position, briefly stay still and quiet while remaining on the lookout for any signs of movement in the area in front of you. If nothing presents itself after about 15 minutes, use a call. Calls are small tools that imitate the sounds of certain animals - you should be able to find them at any hunting shop. For attracting coyotes, your best bets are to use calls that imitate the distress sounds of their prey and the communicative howls and yips of coyotes themselves. Rabbit squealers are reported to work well, but you may also want to have a selection of other distress calls at your disposal, so you can cycle through them. Try to use calls that are appropriate for the location and time of year that you're hunting, based on the types of small prey that are common in the area.
Wait. As with most types of hunting, coyote hunting is a waiting game. Be patient - coyotes are unlikely to show themselves immediately. After you make your calls, wait 15-20 minutes before making another. You may want to cycle through your different calls to test the effectiveness of each. Between calls, stay vigilant, looking for signs of movement. If you don't seem to be having any success, wait 10 more minutes, then leave and proceed to another site. It's a hunting superstition that the prey presents itself right as the hunter is getting ready to leave.
Use bait or a decoy (optionally). If you're having trouble luring coyotes into shooting range, consider using an artificial decoy (such as an old stuffed animal or a commercially-available decoy) or an actual dead animal (rabbits work well.). Place your bait or decoy an ideal shooting distance away from your hiding place, then return to your hiding place and wait. If possible, use a distress call that matches your bait or decoy.
Making the Most of a Bagged Coyote
Make a clean kill shot. Though many hunters kill coyotes for their meat, some prize their pelts for their softness and beauty. If you intend to hunt coyotes for their fur as well as their meat, plan on trying to kill every coyote with one, clean shot. This serves a dual purpose - not only will it minimize damage to the coat, but it minimizes the chance that the coyote will be able to run and hide before dying, wasting the kill and leaving you without meat. For the best chance of killing the coyote quickly with one shot, aim for its vitals, specifically, its heart and/or lungs. A coyote's vitals are fairly far forward on its torso - its small heart lies in the lower portion of the torso just forward of the animal's forelegs, while its larger lungs are slightly above and behind the heart. A shot in the area above one of a coyote's forelegs is likely to hit one of these organs. A shot to the head is also very likely to kill a coyote in one shot. However, coyotes' heads can be fairly small and hard to hit. Even if you don't want a coyote's pelt (for instance, if you're simply killing the animal for meat), try to make a clean kill shot. Shots to an animal's vitals are the quickest, most humane way to kill an animal. Messy kills can prolong a dying animal's suffering.
Make sure the coyote is dead. As you approach the coyote you've shot, look for signs of breathing or movement. A coyote that's wounded, but not completely dead, should be put out of its misery as quickly as possible with a bullet fired into its head (or, if you're very confident in your abilities, by slitting its throat). Be careful around wounded coyotes - though it's unlikely for a full-grown person to be killed by a coyote (let alone a dying one), it may be able to inflict a bite. If, by some chance, you are bitten by a coyote, get medical attention. Even if you're not seriously injured, you will want a doctor to ensure the bite didn't carry any disease.
Act quickly after the kill. As with all game, time is a concern after killing a coyote, as its body will begin to attract bacteria after death. Nearly all hunting resources recommend field dressing a killed animal immediately after killing it for the best chance at preservation. Though there is no need to be frantic, if you're interested in taking a coyote's meat, it's best to start field dressing or skinning the animal as quickly as you can to ensure its overall freshness. The weather and environment you hunted the coyote will make a difference in how quickly you need to move - generally, colder temperatures allow dead animals to "keep" for longer.
Field dress and/or skin the coyote. Field dressing is a technique common to most types of game hunting which involves removing a dead animal's internal organs, leaving essentially only the meat, skeleton, and hide. Field dressing is done to eliminate the smell and mess of the animal's innards, to reduce the weight of the animal carcass, and to ensure the animal products most hunters are interested in - meat, hide, etc. - are as clean as possible. Field dressing can be done on the ground, though it may be much easier if the coyote is hung from a tree or sturdy pole. Once the animal's innards have been removed, you may remove its skin, or, alternatively, you can immediately hang and skin the dead coyote, leaving its carcass, organs and all. Whatever parts of the animal you leave in the field will rot or be eaten by other animals. Coyotes, because they're small and light, loan themselves to easy skinning in the field. However, if you've field-dressed your coyote and you're hunting in cold weather or you can get its carcass into a cold place in a reasonably short amount of time, you can also transport the animal home to skin it. However you choose to skin a coyote, be sure to carefully clean yourself afterward to prevent the spread of disease and/or parasites from the animal.
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