The Start of the Coyote Hunt

With the change of the season, with the turn of open ground to snow covered, thus my interests change. From ‘coon hunting and open water fishing to trapping and drilling holes in ponds to look for a fish. Another pursuit of mine is that of coyote hunting, which is a tradition of the Ferguson family, passed to me from my grandfather.

Southern Iowa has one of the highest concentrations of coyotes in the country, and sportsmen from all over the state, like myself, head south in chase of the wily ‘yote. Coyote hunting is fast- chased and a good sport of comradery as dozens of hunters will be with hunting with you.

There are two ways to hunt these predators the first is that of calling them using prey-in-distress sounds, and the second, the way that I primarily hunt is that of using hounds to chase a coyote into a brushpile or until it is too tired to run anymore. Both ways are very efficient and several coyotes can be hunted at the same time.

The only thing that is needed to be able with hounds is snow, and fresh snow at that.  Fresh snow allows a dog to be able to pick up the scent of a recent coyote track very easily and because of this it is much easier for both man and dog to hunt the coyote.  The morning after a fresh snow it can be guaranteed that the hunters will be in pursuit of coyotes, with shotguns and highpowered rifles wildly being shot, and CB radios been excitedly talked through.  

I'll be hunting all Christmas break and will update on the 'yote count to all those interested.