I'm going to be hunting coyotes tomorrow night, Saturday, and possibly Sunday; relatively new to it and need some setup advice.

I have three areas I can hunt...

Area #1 is a large area about an hour away, mostly all wooded. I was up there for a hike a couple of weeks ago and spotted coyote tracks in the snow almost everywhere I went. I consider this area my best shot. I have three general spots of where I'd set up in mind there, about a half mile between each spot, one mile between the two farthest spots.

Area #2 is right by home, a few hundred acres with a mix of woods and fields, good bit smaller than Area #1. Last year I was getting coyotes on camera here almost daily. This season though, nothing. Haven't had one on the camera since last spring. I know there's still some around, but I'm not getting any pics and haven't seen any tracks.

Area #3 is a small 20 acre lot also near home. It's all wooded with a deep creek valley, sandwiched between some farm fields, and more woods on the end that lead to bigger woods. I'm a little more limited on where I'd set up here, but I could have some safe shots in the back end of the place and see some distance. I don't have a camera up there, but a guy I know who did said he saw coyotes on his cameras this past archery season.

My original plan was to hit #1 hard tomorrow night, Saturday morning, and Saturday evening. Given all the tracks I saw up there, I figured that's where my time is best spent. However tonight I got to thinking, maybe I shouldn't hit that area tomorrow night and then again on Saturday, which is going to be the nicer day. I guess bottom line, I'm definitely going to want to be up in #1 on Saturday. Would it be a bad idea to hit it Friday night too? I could just hit #2 and #3 Friday night, but I think my chances aren't nearly as good.

Hunting will have to be with some light. Technically not allowed to use NV or thermal for hunting here.

#1:
Ive had poor luck hunting in heavily wooded areas. If I can I try to call them into the open, a decoy can help with this.

#2:
Coyotes will move locations if food is scarce.

#3
Sounds similar to some of the ranches we have. There is a river with lowland with thick trees and rolling hills with vineyards. I have gotten plenty of coyotes on camera in the thick woods and even seen them but every time I call they will respond from the farmland side.

If your limited to a few stands per day I would get settled in and wait for 30min to a hour before calling and don't call too much.

Thanks for the reply. I ended up hunting a night and another early morning in location #1. Hunting one morning in location #2. No luck at any of them.

Back at it again in three weeks, getting prepped best I can.

So you’re not hunting at night or you are?

What call are you using? Getting toward mating season so yote vocals are going to be producing better than prey calls down here but I’m sure if there’s snow on the ground there prey calls should still produce some.

I am hunting at night, but also trying very late evening and early morning. I've seen them out in the very early mornings. Since I'm technically not allowed to use thermal (or NV, but I don't have any NV), the more natural light the better. But yeah, I will hunt at night for sure.

I have a FoxPro, don't remember the model. Bought it used from a guy at work. I read that about the vocals somewhere else, maybe in this thread, maybe it was even you. That's probably good advice as in the past I've mostly used the prey calls and had no success. That said, I never had success with the coyote vocals either. But this has been a really easy winter. Not much snow, hasn't even been that cold. So it makes even more sense this year.

The other thing though is, I'm primarily going to be hunting an area that recently has a number of other guys hunting them. With the exception of maybe one guy, they aren't guys who necessarily know what they're doing. They're all using calls. With all that calling, I considered maybe the local coyotes will be getting wise to that. So I figured if my bait pile does bring them in, hopefully I'll be able to pattern them at least a little bit with the trail cams. If they start coming in, I'm planning to just sit and wait in view of the bait. Hopefully they'll establish a trend and I won't have to sit and wait all night. If I never see them hitting the bait much at all via the cam, I'll come up with a new plan.

ETA: Here's what I have in mind. Bait (red arrow) is about 70-75 yards away from this spot, maybe 80. Was planning on sitting against this tree or laying prone. Also considered a ladder stand.

Okay, if you’re not “technically” allowed to use thermal or NV what are you doing? Are you “technically” allowed to hunt over bait?

I’d bet the coyotes are still checking out the sounds they’re just way more careful under pressure. Try shorter times of calling and longer periods with no sound. Drive their curiosity up. Also, try some sounds not typical for your area like a prairie dog distress.  Vocals is the same thing, only use enough vocals to get a response then adjust your plan based on them or start “telling your story” with calls.

I just have to use a light. Baiting is allowed, yes.

Been six nights, lots of crows, hawks, and a possum have been on the pile. Finally had pics of a coyote last night.

Definitely what the other poster said about less of now rabbit or animal distress right now. They are mating and or are educated about now.Female  howls ,whimpers, mating, distress etc. Always play the wind.

If you are near public hunting grounds, or hunt clubs releasing pheasent, an old Lohman cackle call works awesome.
I've been working the river bottoms and local high ground with OK results, lotta off season deer hunters in my area.

With the full moon, breeding cycle, and loss of food source it usually works good from 03:00-07:00.
After that they are in wood lots and cattail marshes, imposslible to call out( local pressure).