I know I'm opening up a can of worms here, but I'm truly uneducated on the subject. I live on a property that abuts 2,000+ acres of corps of engineer land. This corps land is protected from any kind of hunting, which means it is an unmanaged breeding ground for a lot of wildlife. Great in some respects, but not so much for others.

We've been trying to thin out the pig population for years through trapping/hunting (on our property), but have never really focused on the coyote population.

I am not, by any means, against varmint hunting, I have just always been primarily motivated to hunt by the desire to fill the freezer.

We see quite a few coyotes cross the pastures and I know there has to be a TON on the corps land.

What are the primary reasons you hunt coyotes and what do you do with the animal after you kill it? Leave it in the field? Save the pelts? Other?

I've done some reading about their predation on the fawn population, and this has been the primary reason why I'm looking to start hunting them.

Simple. They can and will kill my livestock. I have rode up on a cow standing guard over a half eaten newborn calf. I have rode up on a cow that was down trying to calve and coyotes packed up on her, finished off the calf and started on the cows soft parts. I have seen cows that were down, coyotes started on both ends and met in the middle. It's nature, I know. But any time I have a chance to shoot a coyote, that coyote gets shot. They are either left laying or hauled to the bone pile that they helped create.

Managing populations. We had waaaay too many this year. One helihunt usually yields 4-5. This spring we had one that yielded 26. Our fawns are bound to respond positively.

We do it trying to help with fawn/calf survival. Coyotes do not get a pass from me either, shot many while out deer hunting. I was told a neighboring ranch had a helicopter come in this past spring and they shot over 300 hogs and almost as many coyotes, on 40k acres. We were actually there working and filling feeders and saw/heard a lot of shooting that weekend. Said its the most he'd seen shot in the 10 years on the place.

I hunt coyotes because I love the challenge. I hunt a number of large cattle ranches that want me removing some of the coyotes because of predation on livestock and wildlife. Several of these ranches also go to the expense of hiring trappers because they feel the need to control coyotes is that important.
I do not skin coyotes that I kill in South Texas as the pelts are not worth anything. In New Mexico, where fur is good, I generally carry the good "haired" ones to ranch hands who skin and sell them for a little extra spending money. Years ago, when the fur market was strong, I skinned all the coyotes. I have arthritis in my hands and fingers so bad that pulling a hide is impossible.
Adios,
Gary

itchy trigger finger anyone?

We seen some "pretty" coyotes on occasion here in North Texas. Maybe I'll give skinning a shot.

We don't run cattle (hay farm), but I am concerned about the deer population. In all honesty, I've been reluctant to shoot them in the past. Yes, I'm one of those "they look like dogs" people to a certain extent. I would feel differently if they were killing calves and affecting my livelihood though. Even if I don't get into actively hunting them, I believe I'll start shooting them as I see them.

On a few places where I hunt and the landowner has cattle, the instructions are "Shoot all the hogs you want, and every coyote you can"!

I’ll kill one just to watch it die.

There is nothing like fooling a coyote to come the call. Spotting eyes at night is always a thrill. Seeing one come into a wheat field covered in frost is a beautiful thing. Challenge is a good term! 2011 drought took a toll on our deer in Throckmorton County. Coyotes didn’t help the return of numbers due to their impact on fawns. We also run stocker cattle, mainly on wheat. I have watched many a group of male coyotes work a sick calf. They are truly unique and beautiful animals! But they are predators. So they get hunted and shot when seen. We try to kill as many as we can. But, about sundown on a cool evening, the surround sound of them sounding off and locating each other makes me think we haven’t made a dent.

I have coyotes, deer, hogs, etc.; no real shortage of any wildlife. My problem is pigs. I have watched a yote take a pig out of a bunch more than once. They swing by, snatch one and keep going. Quite a sight to see. I have never personally seen them catch a deer of any size or type.

To my mind, they are the only predator that takes hogs. They are on my side in this battle. I always give them a pass.

🤠

I hunt them for fun, that’s all.

My family is situated around the San Angelo to Ballinger area. Before the deer rebounded in the 70s and later, coyotes were the animal to hunt. Lot of goat and sheep raisers in the area, back then asking to hunt coyotes was as natural as breathing. To deer hunt meant a trip to Colorado.

First I love the challenge, setting up and getting an old yote into shooting distance and getting a shot using a hand call is about as satisfying as it gets. You have to get a whole lot of things right to accomplish that. In the 70's I was a hide hunter and everything had value, west Texas yotes would bring 35 dollars so all were skinned. Today I just take a pic or two and haul the carcass out of sight.

I hadn't hand called in many years but last year my brother came down and we went over to the big ranch and did a little early morning calling. We got up 3 yote's and only got one shot and didn't connect with that one but it was one enjoyable hunt. "It was good to know I still got it". I was using a Burnham Brothers Mini Blaster which in my opinion is the best all around hand caller you can use. You can squeak it, change pitch and volume and with the soft mouth piece really get that fading quivering distress sound.

The secondary reason for hunting them is predator control. I'm on the ranch daily and if certain populations are getting out of control I can usually take care of that myself, In the grand design there's just less need for our larger predators in the eco system, we can take care of their job fairly easy. With hunting becoming so popular and prices involved, it doesn't take many yotes to start digging into profits or opportunities. Folks running cows, sheep and goats don't need any competition, those markets are hard enough as it is without yote's eating your inventory..

I don't like them

Gary,
How did you get started hunting on the cattle ranches? Did you already know the property owners? My challenge is finding property to hunt coyotes on.

I kill them because they kill my goats. I shoot them, trap them, snare them, if I see one on the road I will run over them. I hat ethe mangy basturds.

Never pass on one and always leave it. Would not waste the time to even look for it after the shot. Hardly anyone targets them around here myself included, I have precious little time for hunting so I target whitetails or grey squirrels, coyotes do not get a pass. If all I have on me is a pellet gun I’ll try. Might sound cold, I don’t care. They need some work.

I was fortunate to grow up on a ranch in South Texas and knew a lot of ranchers in the area. In the 60's, hunting was not as commercialized so I had the of most ranches that I knew. Later in life, my reputation for calling and killing coyotes grew and since many of the large cattle and sheep folks wanted the coyotes gone, they would ask me to hunt. You are never going to eliminate all the coyotes by hunting but you can control the population which may reduce the predation on livestock.
I realize that most predator hunting is done in darkness with the aid of thermal and other night vision; however, I am still a fan of tricking a coyote in his backyard in the daylight. I am old fashioned...still shoot a bolt gun without a can, 3x-9x optics usually set on 5x or 6x. I agree with HWY_MAN and am a huge fan of the Mini Blaster but find that we get more and better video when using the ultrasonic e-caller as the attention is directed away from the hunter and cameraman.
The wind has been the worst this year over any year that I can remember. Wind generally accompanies drought conditions and we dang sure have that. I was in the Panhandle last week and I don't think we made a call with winds less than 20 mph.
Adios,
Gary

Very fun to hunt plus helps deer herd

My father has chickens and sheep in E Texas. Fenced in and with Great Pyrenees dogs but they still manage to get in sometimes and wreak havoc. When I lived there, we only got glimpses of them every once in a while. Now I want to try and actively call them in and shoot them. It is actually why I joined this forum. Try to learn a little by reading from posts by active hunters. One of these days I'll get a chance to go up there for a few days and take a crack at it. I'm sure I will ask questions as I inevitably fail a few times.

We had our biologist out and told him about our efforts to thin the yote population on the property.

He told us TP&W is of the opinion now that this isn't doing any good. He told us they think there are two types of yotes. Those with a home range and then the wanderers. When you kill yotes on your ranch the wanderers find and fill the vacuum.

Is it true that a coyote won't eat a Mexican?