I have been doing some night hunting with the nearly full moon and have been treated to being surrounded by the different packs of coyotes sounding off in all directions in response to my locator howl. (I use an open reed Bill Austin and a Tally Ho for my howls)

My question is, When the twiglight howl goes off between the packs is that a signal that they are up and ready to hunt or that they have just finished the hunt and are bedding down for a while? I wish I was Dr. Doolittle some times...... My thought has always been that it was a start signal but I wondered what you guys think.

BTW the coyote in my area are nearly spot on with the solunar tables with their howling sessions coming in the hour peak window every time I have been out lately.

i think they start out with,"anybody out there" then go to "this is our area"
when we howl we are asking if any coyotes are out there. then if they are close enough i start saying"I'm going to kick your butt" most other coyotes will shut up but the dominate pair will come to see who thinks he is the tough guy. they may howl on the way or may not. but if you are in there core area they will come. if one keeps agressive howlng to you you should keep throwing insults back to him.
i do a lot of calling and what i say is hello anyone out there. if they answer i sneak in closer then either give a aggressive howl to them or give a I'm going hunting howl{just a short flat tone howl with no barks} then wait a few minutes then start the distress of choice.
if I'm just scouting I'll give the anyone out there call and if i get the aggressive howl back and don't want them to come in I'll follow with a 'Hay there is danger over here howl" this will stop them and you can come back later to call them.
with time and experience you will figure out what the coyote is trying to say every thing from danger{a couple barks with a fluctuating howl}
to a aggressive howl{a couple barks with a flat short howl}both of these are remarkably similar. its one of the most often made mistakes either to fluctuate your aggressive howl or to think the flat tone aggressive howl is a warning bark howl and leave the stand.
the dominate pair give a muster howl either when heading out or returning to a den site or when they want the group to get up and go hunting a short flat tone howl. the group will give the group howl in return either to welcome a coyote back or to show there groups territory. kind of like saying welcome home or look out this is our turf
when i hear a muster howl I'll use just a distress call in a effort to get any of the coyotes to come. when i hear the group howl and it sounds like they are speaking chinese they are welcoming a coyote home. get close and try a lone howl to get them to answer back then go to distress. this might bring any of them in. if the group howl has one doing a aggressive howl with it that's the dominant male he can be targeted by aggressive howling back. both the dominate pair should come or all will.
this time of year you can use the female invitation howl which is saying "hay big boy I'm over here and I'm looking for some company"
it is a long lone howl with a little fluctuation to it.
from march threw the summer they are real territorial and if you get near the den {or just go close to water dens are close to water} any bark or howl will get a response. pup in distress will get fast action this time of year.
remember you are trying to tell a story to them.
hello, I'm going hunting, rabbit ouch ouch ouch.
hello, you are to close if you come over here I'm going to kick your butt.
hello, oh your over there oops look out there is danger here [To stop them from coming]
hello, this is my area,i'm tough and I'm not leaving.[response to a aggressive howl}
or even hello i feel good [chinese] then move half way to a responce,then go to a distress. you are trying to get the coyote to beat the stranger to the meal.
a person can figure out a lot of the coyote talk by experience and use it to his advantage

cmiddleton....

Welcome to Hunting Nut... Good to see you here!






Chet

Cmiddleton thanks for the lesson. I have been out two nights in a row under this full moon. I've setup 6 times and have had yotes answere on 4 of the setups. On one setup I had 3 different groups (or pairs) of dogs answere. I've yet to lay eyes on a single critter and some howled very close (100 yrds.). Now I realize that once I have them fired up I was unknowingly giving them the "danger howl". I really have know idea what I'm doing but it has been very exciting. I have the e.l.k. power howler, so I just go out and let it rip, with great results. Hopefully with my knew knowledge I can connect. Thanks again Huntingstoneboy.