Night Hunting Coyotes

It should be no secret that setting up a quality coyote bait for the night hunting season is no easy task. First one must select that perfect location that provides effective cover for spooky predators as well as good shot opportunities. Small ponds, fields and clear cuts are prime locations. This small wood lot pictured below, required about 12 hours of work with the chainsaw and hauling brush to get it "perfect". AND of course most importantly you got to make sure nobody dies.

To attract coyotes (night hunting) and other predators like fox and bobcat (legal day hunting only) your bait pile must contain protein sources to entice these scavengers. My bait pile this year includes deer, hog and one ill fated porcupine. Local butcher shops will be able to provide you with meat scraps BUT if you have the means, nothing attracts coyotes quite like a stinky old beaver carcass. 

In previous years, I have been plagued with coyotes and other predators stealing away the bait too quickly. I have tried to solve this problem, in past years by freezing the bait into 5 gallon buckets. This makes the hungry coyotes scratch and dig at the frozen "soup" throughout the entire season as it freezes and thaws. 

This year, as you can see in the picture below, I am trying something new. By wrapping the bait in chicken wire, I hope to make predators "work" at the bait, slowing down the time it takes to eat it all and providing me the added benefit of hopefully allowing a better shot opportunity. I currently have a game camera capturing video on the bait site, so stay tuned to see how this experiment ends. *Note in Maine you must clearly label your bait sites.

A comfortable 70 yard shot from the coyote blind, clear of visible obstructions, helps to make sure every shot opportunity amounts to a clean ethical kill. Note I attempted to tuck the hunting shack into the wood line but after over a month in the same location, I feel confident in assuming that it won't bother the coyotes.

Though may rifle options exist for the hunting of coyotes and other Maine predators, for quick follow-up shot opportunities, easy of use, reliability and a laundry list of possible modifications, it is difficult to beat the AR15 platform. Pictured below is the R15 in .223 . . . nicknamed "my Precious" (see her in action). It is topped with a Nikon 2x7 variable power scope. 

When the cold winds howl and the temperatures growl, it pays to have as little exposed to the elements as possible. A heavy curtain with a peep hole just barely large enough to fit through the rife's barrel and  scope provides visibility without sacrificing loss of heat. To the left, hangs the light switch to the red light that will illuminate the bait site on overcast or moonless nights. When operational, it runs off a 6 volt battery and the switch attaches directly to the rifles front hand guard.

The angle of death awaits any Coyote (Night Hunt 12/16/12-8/31/13), Red Fox (10/15/12-2/28/13) or Bobcat (12/1/12-2/14/13) that approaches the bait site.

HOME SWEET HOME!

I Saw a Fox Out Fishing

Old Red Checks Out a Discarded Pike Skeleton at a Bait Site

There used to be an old joke my English teacher would tell us to provide assistance in using proper writing style. It went something like this:

Frank: I saw a fox out fishing the other day.
Bud: Cool, did he catch anything.

It had something to do with putting the indirect object “fox” in between the direct object “I” and the verb “Fishing”. A better way to write the sentence would obviously have been, “I was fishing yesterday and saw a fox.” Man, that just gave me a serious headache. Anyway, when I saw this game camera picture the other day this memory was the first thing that popped into my head. Enjoy!

Trapping

This story starts with the discovery of a water stained box recently rescued from my parents basement. On the outside, scribbled in faded permanent marker, were the words trapping supplies. Within the confines of the slowly disintergrating cardboard, were my old and well rusted leg hold traps.

Upon opening, I was immediately flooded with many happy childhood memories of outwitting fox and coyotes with dirt hole and scent post sets. I started trapping when I was 8, immediately becoming addicted. For me there was something deeply intoxicating about checking the trap line each early Fall morning. The anticipation of a wild animal caught by my "trickery" was an amazing experience for a young sportsman. At some point during my reflection, I determined that this trapping season I would once again try my luck at capturing a few wiley canines.

An examination of my old traps showed that the years had not been kind and only a few were servicable. The logwood dye had blackened and magically somehow managed to save a few #2 Victor coilsprings from certain destruction, wrought from several decades in a damp basement.

Equipped financially much better than I was in middle school, I put the heavily rusted antiques aside and invested in 6 new #2 coil springs by Bridger. Where trap design has changed little in the past 20 years the process for blackening and preserving them against the elements has changed significantly. "Speed Dip" is now the new dyeing method and takes minutes rather than hours. The only drawback is that traps must be aired out for months before they are ready for fox and coyotes. Due to time, I will be airing mine for one month so this year trapping may be an experiment in frutility!?!? I hope it is enough time!

Another major advancement, is the creation of "disposable" stakes. These wonderful creations, eliminate the need to use rebar stakes that were practically impossible to retreive at the end of the season or when it was determined that a set needed to be moved. These new stakes are driven with a special tool and then easily retreived by pulling on a second wire attached to the anchor that reverses the direction of the device and allows it to be easily extracted. Apparently, gone are my days of swearing and herniated disc that occurred with the removal process of the old stake systems.

With traps preped and supplies secured the next step in this process would be securing a trapping licence. I was worried that IFWs records would not include my adult trapping licence but they were able to find it and issue me a new licence in minutes!!

Lastly, if I do in fact manage to actually catch something, I secured a couple handmade stretching boards from an oldtimer at the recent trappers rendezvous in Sidney, ME. Yeah, I could have purchased a couple of those fancy wire stretchers but for me the wooden option was the best fit and reminds me of the ones I used to have as a youngster.

Well off to the wilds to pre-build a few cubby and dirt hole sets! Will keep you posted as the season opens on October 18th!