In continuing with our series on how to increase your coyote count this season, here are two more great tips in our 10 tip series.

4. Choose Your Days

Most of us only have limited spare time to devote to coyote hunting, so check the forecast and choose your hunting days wisely. Coyotes need to eat, but certain days are simply more productive for calling than others. Consider my backyard in the Great Plains. Winds of 30 mph or more are common, and high winds greatly reduce the chances of a coyote hearing my calls. Instead of wasting fuel and time on days when the wind is forecast to howl, I trust The Weather Channel to direct me to the best days to be in the field.

What are the best days? As many novelty T-shirts point out, “A bad day of hunting is better than a good day at work,” but you can make those bad hunting days a bit more productive by following this advice: First, avoid windy days, but if it’s your only option, set up in canyons, coulees and dense cover to increase the distance your calls will carry.

Call in severely cold conditions. Coyotes, like all animals, require more calories to stay warm in the midst of a cold spell. If you live where temperatures plummet below zero, use the cold to your advantage. Deep snow can have a similar effect, particularly when combined with subzero temperatures. All predators have to work doubly hard to acquire adequate calories to sustain themselves.

Although I’m sure coyotes hunt in the rain, I rarely do simply because it is miserable and hard on equipment. Fog, on the other hand, has provided me with some exciting moments in close-encounter calling. I’m not sure if the limited visibility bolsters a coyote’s confidence, but I’ve had them practically run me over in an attempt to snatch a squalling bunny.

5. Use A Back Entrance

On your next predator hunt take note of how ranchers and farmers design entrances to fields and pastures. Notice that almost all have a main gate for visitors to use. Coyotes notice such things as well and shy away from busy routes and crossroads. Oftentimes you won’t be able avoid main-gate entrances, but once you get inside a pasture look for backdoor entrances to get you into unused calling sites and out of sight from the watchful eyes of paranoid coyotes.

If you can find a rear driving entrance into a property, by all means use it, but most of your backdoor strategy will involve the use of your feet. One of my best calling locations has a main road leading almost to the lip of a canyon, but instead of taking the main trail, I shortstop and take a wide hike around the calling location. Using terrain, I stay out of sight before edging up to the canyon lip farthest from the road. The coyotes in the region don’t bed near the road, but instead retreat to the more remote canyon area where I’m waiting after coming in via the backdoor entrance.