Hello everyone.

I am new to the forum, new to hunting in Texas, and I am wanting to get into predator hunting. I have most everything I need (except for an electronic caller, but I plan to purchase one soon) and I am hoping to jump into it and learn by trial & error.

So I guess the questions I have for you guys:
-Is coyote only hunting leases a thing here?
-What would you advise a guy wanting to find a spot to start out?

Thanks in advance for any insight you guys have.

Really you can lease land for whatever now a days. If you just go and ask land owners I'm sure you will get permission especially if your just doing coyotes. About the spots, myself I hunt them in a deer stand in the woods because that's where they are most comfortable. I have tried big fields but that just doesn't work in my area. I hunt in the woods and in the summer it's thick so you have to be ready. Hunting in the woods I have been on more hunts this year where I have called in a coyote than I havnt called anything in regardless if I got a shot or not. Oh and welcome to the forum

Thanks Aggieman.

You're right I probably should start by just asking landowners for permission. Seems weird to me as someone who is new to this, but it sounds like it would be the most effective way.

Yeah hunting coyotes in thick woods sounds pretty damn challenging. You probably only have a few seconds window at most to take a shot. What that time of day do you typically coyote hunt?

Oh, another question I had for you guys with coyote hunt experience:

How many of y'all use suppressors on your rifles? I have no plans to get one for my rifle since it seems like a long and expensive process. Is that a mistake?

its not mandatory, lots killed without

I hunt mid day and afternoon. I have never used a suppressor in mine

Suppressors are definitely not a requirement nor is an Ecaller for that matter.
Never heard of anyone leasing land to actually pursue predators but with the increased pressure of contest hunting it may end up at that point. Most folks hunt on their deer leases but that's just during non big-game season.
Finding places to hunt is the toughest part as you need lots of country when calling on a consistent basis.
I try to never call any ground over twice a year unless there is some special reason.
I only call from early Fall until Early Spring as that's when the weather is cooler because its something I enjoy.Predator hunting when its hot and humid is not fun and besides all the animals I pursue are raising babies right now which is where next years fun comes from.

I'd listen to every word in this post!

Awesome advice. Thank you Dstroud.

How would contest hunting lead to a scarcity of free hunting land? I can see how it might effect coyote populations in a significant way but not land available. Could you explain? Sorry guys I'm new to this so forgive me if it's a dumb question.

There is almost no public land to hunt here in Texas and what there is can be difficult to predator hunt as most is very thick tight cover. There are no doubt predators are present there but not in big numbers for the most part.
So to get access to good private ground you must either contact landowners or know someone who does own land with lots of good predator ground.
With the popularity of contests in some areas of the state every person who has even thought about predator hunting is getting in the contests and also contacting anyone and everyone they know to hunt their land for these contests.
Being totally honest any landowner who will let some person they don't know hunt their place will usually let the next guy who asks too so now your great spot is getting hammered by anyone who shows up... or you are that guy depending who was first to ask.
Texas has some of the best predator hunting in the US and the reason is everything is controlled. This past year I hunted predators in six states and while I love hunting the big open spaces of NM/Az/Co and having access to literally millions of acres of public land give me 10-20,000 acres of good Texas ground and I will get more animals called in.

Interesting. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Sounds like it's going to be pretty challenging for a guy like me who doesn't have established relationships with landowners in Texas.

Here is a video of an E-Caller that I made years ago. I still have it and it still works. This should give you some ideas to incorporate newer technology such as Bluetooth to make it cordless. https://youtu.be/tCxmXkK8Trk

Hey man that's really cool! Yeah, I've been looking a FoxPro and they are pretty expensive. Good idea.

DStroud is right, I have several places that I coyote Hunt, started out by knocking on Doors, visiting with landowners at the Local Feed Store etc. in order to get permission to hunt, I like hunting by myself or with one or two others, never hunted a Contest until a couple of Years ago, went with a Friend/Neighbor, He had the Hi Rack Rig and had all of the Country lined up, as the Contest went on we began to hunt the places I had permission to hunt! that's how I found out that I wasn't the only one that had permission to Hunt those Places! There is not much Loyalty with Landowners when it comes to letting Guys Coyote Hunt especially if they are not paying to Hunt. Hunting a place during a Contest will ruin it for that Year, and hunting a place before a Contest will likely ruin it for the Contest. Coyotes get educated real fast!

Im in the same boat with you... I am headed up to Caddo this weekend to poke around and see what I can find.

You don't have to go the Foxpro route. Primos Turbo Dawg is a good caller that doesn't break the bank. In fact, I prefer it to the Foxpros. Good luck !