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Welcome to Ed Ciri's Outdoor Classroom, a well known authority
on predator and big game hunting. Ed is a registered outfitter and president of
Ciri Game Calls in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sit back and get comfortable
as Ed talks about coyote howling and how you can use a coyote holler
to increase the success on your next hunt.
Hi, I'm Ed Ciri.
I've been hunting coyotes for over 30 years and during this time
I've caught several thousand coyotes. What I want to do today
is talk to you about the coyote language, about howling for coyotes,
about how you can use a coyote howler call to both locate the position of
coyotes and to call coyotes in for a good close shot.
My goal today is to make you a better coyote hunter.
The coyote is one of the most
interesting animals in North America
and he's believed to have lived on the continent for the past 14,000 years.
He was given the scientific name
canis latrans, which means barking dog.
Now there are about 19 known subspecies of coyotes and there's only
minor differences between the different coyotes. One particular difference
that's interesting to hunters is the size of the coyotes.
The eastern coyote is considerably larger than the western coyote.
Eastern coyotes living in New England and eastern Canada will average and weight around 40 pounds.
While western coyotes they typically average between 20 and 25 pounds.
Now we have some coyotes in the Rocky Mountains we call mountain coyotes
and they'll average closer to 30 to 35 pounds.
Now generally there's not very many differences other than the size of the eastern and
western coyotes that make any difference to hunters. And no matter where you
hunt in the United States, whether it's in Alabama, California,
New Hampshire or Maine, the coyotes are generally quite similar.
And the coyote vocalizations are quite similar. Now coyotes generally
stand about two feet tall at the shoulder and they're about four feet long.
Most coyotes have fur that is either a gray to a reddish brown
in color. Now some coyotes will appear almost white
and some almost black. I've never seen a jet black coyote nor have I ever seen
an all white coyote. But you'll see quite a bit of difference
in the variation of the color of coyotes. In the summer the coyote's fur is short
and stiff and it's not very attractive. It's only the prime winter coyotes
that make the best fur. And coyote fur typically is prime
in the month of December. The coyote is an exceptionally good hunter.
And he has highly developed senses of hearing, eyesight
and smell. He's a much better hunter than you or I.
So when we hunt coyotes we can't out hunt them. What we have to do is we have to out smart them.
And that's how you can become a successful coyote hunter. Learning the tricks of coyote hunting
and learning how to out smart a coyote. Now the coyote's
not selective in what he eats. He eats anything that's available to him.
Coyotes feed on all kinds of game animals from antelope to deer. In the winter
they'll take down elk. They particularly enjoy feeding on the smaller animals.
Rabbits, rodents, mice and rats. And they eat a lot of insects.
In the summer we see coyotes feeding on a lot of grasshoppers and other bugs.
Another thing that's interesting about the coyote's appetite is that he
loves to eat snakes. And I've seen coyotes catch and eat a lot of snakes.
When coyotes eat rattlesnakes they have a particular technique for grabbing it by the
tail and shaking it until they break the snake's neck and kill the snake so they don't get
bit. Coyotes also eat a lot of other things other than
animals and insects and snakes. They eat a lot of vegetables.
In the western states here the farmers grow a lot of chili and the coyotes will get out in
the chili fields and eat the chili. In areas where they grow watermelons
coyotes will get out into the watermelon patches and ruin a whole crop of watermelons by
taking a bite or two out of each one. Coyotes often pair up with a
member of the opposite sex and remain as a pair.
They breed in late winter usually about the third week of February and about sixty
days later they have their litter of pups. The litter of puppies may range from
anywhere from three to seven or eight pups. But generally there's four or five or
six in a litter. They raise the puppies in a hole in the
ground that we call a den. And while coyotes are pregnant during the springtime
the coyotes are generally digging quite a few dens to have available for their
pups. And we've seen coyotes dig ten or twenty den sites within a mile
during the spring. Now while coyotes are raising their litter for the
first few weeks in a den if anybody disturbs the den site or if the coyotes
feel that's a dangerous place what they'll do is they'll take the puppies out during the night
and they'll move them one at a time to one of the other den sites.
Occasionally two females will use the same den and they'll raise the puppies
together or they'll use adjacent dens and they'll be two coyote den sites
within just fifty or a hundred feet. The majority of the feeding and
care of the pups is done by their parents and is common for several other
coyotes in the family group to assist with the activities of guarding the den
and bringing food back for the puppies.
Now let's get on to the coyotes voice and howling for coyotes. In order to learn to
howl you need to know some of the theory behind howling and the basis for what makes
howling for coyotes an effective way to identify their location and call them
into your position. Most coyotes travel in a certain
area during their daily activities. This area is most often referred to
as their home range. Within this home range they have a specific
territory which they claim and they call their own.
As coyotes travel through their guarded territory they mark and identify the
boundaries to let other coyotes know that the area is off limits to them.
They make their mark by urinating on small rocks, bushes or
clumps of grass and these marks are typically referred to
as scent posts and if you get the opportunity to go out and watch coyotes
during their daily travels you'll see they are constantly
marking scent posts around their territorial boundaries.
The basis for what makes howling work is that coyotes defend their
territory from any strange coyotes that come into it.
So if a coyote hears or detects a strange coyote in his territory
his natural instinct is to go and investigate that coyote and
if he doesn't particularly care for him there will be a fight and he will try to run the coyote out of
his territory. So you as a coyote howler will go out
and you will make coyote sounds in an effort to convince a coyote
that you are a strange coyote in his territory and if you can do that
you can expect that the natural instinct of a coyote that hears that will be to come and
investigate the source of the sound which would be you and so that's the theory
behind coyote howling and it's what makes coyote howling so effective.
The key is to know the right vocalizations to make
and then be able to go out and make those sounds in order to fool a coyote
and let him think that you are a strange coyote in his territory.
Now let's talk about
the voice of the coyote.
His ability to communicate
and what we think he is saying.
With a call to the coyote
and what we think he is saying. With a call
and the knowledge of what kind of sounds or coyote vocalizations to make with that call
we can communicate directly with coyotes for the purpose of identifying their location
and to call them into close range. Those of you who have domestic
dogs can learn a lot about coyote vocalizations. The vocalizations
of both coyotes and domestic dogs have some very close similarities.
We know that coyotes make at least 12 different sounds when they communicate
with one another but from the standpoint of the hunter we only have to learn
a number of these sounds and these are the ones that coyotes use when they
call other coyotes to locate their position or when they call other coyotes
in the effort of getting the coyotes to come toward them and these are the sounds that we want to learn
to make with a coyote howler. You'll find that there's only a few of these sounds that we'll need to learn
and you'll find that they're relatively easy to make with a Siri coyote howler.
Coyotes make two different kinds of sounds when they communicate. They make barks
and they make howls and the various vocalizations of coyotes
are often combinations of barks and howls and you'll need to learn
a few of these combinations to be a good coyote howler and it will be helpful for you
to know these sounds when you're hunting coyotes. Now coyotes make
two different kinds of barks. The first I describe as an aggressive
bark and the second one is a non-aggressive bark and these are very
distinct sounds and it's easy to tell whether it's an aggressive bark
or a non-aggressive bark. Those of you who have dogs at home
will easily recognize these different barks. A dog will bark at a mailman
or an intruder in the house with a very aggressive sounding bark. He may bark
or signal another dog in the neighborhood with a non-aggressive bark. So listen to your dog
and that will help. Let's take a listen right now and listen to a coyote
making some loud aggressive barking sounds.
One characteristic
of an aggressive bark
is that it's very loud, it's very coarse, and it's very distinct
which is different from the non-aggressive barks of a coyote. So again let's
listen to a couple aggressive barks.
Now let's talk about non-aggressive barks.
Non-aggressive barks are distinctly different from aggressive barks
from several standpoints. One is they're not as loud, they're not as coarse,
and the sound is not as clear as a coyote.
Now let's talk about aggressive barks.
One is they're not as loud, they're not as coarse, and the sound is not constant
with a non-aggressive bark. The volume of non-aggressive barks taper off
as the coyote makes them. So let's listen to a non-aggressive barking sound made by a coyote.
Now let's talk about coyote howls.
Just like the barks, I recognize two different distinctive kind of howls that coyotes make.
The first one I call a flat howl. It's a howl of
constant pitch, and it doesn't change very much. It may taper off a little
at the end, but not too much. Let's listen to a coyote that's making a flat howl.
The second
kind of howl that
coyotes make we call a
fluctuating howl because that's exactly what it does.
The pitch of the howl fluctuates as he makes the howling sound.
The pitch of the howl fluctuates as he makes the howling sound.
It's a real distinct and easily identifiable howl. Let's listen to a coyote
making a fluctuating howl.
Now we've
talked about
aggressive barks and non-aggressive barks
and flat howls and fluctuating howls.
These are four different kinds of sounds that coyotes make, and they're very easy
to distinguish from one another. If you hear a flat howl, you'll know what it is.
If you hear a fluctuating howl, you'll be able to recognize that too.
If you hear an aggressive bark, you'll know it's an aggressive bark, and if you hear a
non-aggressive bark, you'll know it's a non-aggressive tapering off bark.
So that's pretty simple, right? Well, that part's pretty simple, but the problem is
that coyotes combine the different barks and howls when they make vocalizations to
communicate with one another, and the different combinations will relay different
information, and you need to know some of the different combinations.
So let's go ahead and talk about some of the different coyote vocalizations that are
combinations with barks and howls. The first
thing that we'll talk about is the most commonly heard coyote vocalization,
and it's called a lone howl. It's not that the coyote's lonely, it's that he's
by himself making a howl all alone.
And this is what a lone howl sounds like. Typically a lone
howl starts out with one or two short barks, and then it goes into a
flat howl. Let's listen to a coyote making a flat howl.
So the lone howl is a flat howl
that usually has one or two short barks in front of it. Super easy for you to
identify, you know what it means, it means hello who's out there,
and it will get a response from a nearby coyote.
The interesting thing and the important thing about a lone howl is the response of
coyotes that hear it. If one coyote makes a lone howl,
and the other one answers him, they approach one another. So they may be a mile away,
coyote answers the first coyote, and then he starts to approach that coyote.
Now in coyote howling, if we go out
and we make a lone howl, we get a coyote to answer us,
we can be relatively sure that he's approaching us.
Now they don't always answer lone howls, they may just hear a lone howl.
If you go out and you say hello, who's out there? He may not answer you, but he still
may approach you. So when you howl for coyotes, whether or not you get
an answer, it's important for you to know that the coyote may be approaching you.
If you get an answer, you can be really sure he's coming. If you don't get an answer, you can't be that
sure, but there's a very good possibility he will still come, and we've
seen this many, many times when we're out studying coyotes. We'll go out and make a lone howl,
while we're watching a coyote, he won't answer us, but he'll approach
us. And so one important thing to remember when you're howling is just because you don't
get an answer doesn't mean that a coyote is not approaching you, or has not heard you.
Another very similar vocalization of coyotes
is what we call a group howl. A group howl is
more than one coyote that's making lone howls. So if we have
two or three coyotes together, and each one of the separate coyotes is making
a lone howl, we call that vocalization a group howl. Now let's listen
to some coyotes making a group howl together.
Now this group howl we believe has the same meaning
as a lone howl. And so often we'll make a lone howl, we'll get
a group of coyotes to make lone howls back at us. Again we can be
relatively sure that those coyotes are going to approach us. Very similar vocalization
to the lone howl, but a group howl is made by two or more coyotes.
Now let's talk about another type of vocalization made by coyotes where
they combine different sounds. This is called a group yip howl.
A group yip howl is again several coyotes making vocalizations at the same
time. And it's a more intense vocalization than a group howl.
And it has a little different meaning. Remember the lone howl and the group howl was
one of these hello who's out there or where are you. Well a group yip howl
has a different meaning. A group yip howl is a vocalization made by
a group of coyotes to identify the location of their territory
to other coyotes in other nearby territories. Let's listen to a group
yip howl. This is a very, very common vocalization that I'm sure many of you have heard.
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