Looking for suggestions for cheap coyote bait to hunt over at night.

I've had decent success using milkbones and smelly canned dog food.

Wondering what you guys use and why.  Seems like something that really smells might be better than what I've been using.

Scraps from the butcher, or chicken parts from someone that just killed chickens.

Small puppy,don't miss.

How about oily sardines
Not a hunter but noticed coons seem to come out of the wood work

Not a problem with cats.

My neighbor does a lot of yote hunting and trapping.  Some of his favorite baits for trapping are left over parts from deer, or scraps of other meat.   If you happen to have some rabbit scraps that might be good too, as that is a favorite coyote food too.   I would imagine chicken livers or something else like that could be useful too.

I've heard about the cat trick, but guessing that is a great way to get in a bunch of trouble with the local game warden if you get caught trying it.

Don't people still advertise free kittens to good home?

I knew some guys, let's just say, a pet carrier, a kitten to put in it.
A farmer used a larger wire dog create with a lamb in it. He put the lamb in while the flock was there in the pasture, then herded the flock away,leaving the lonely, sad sounding lamb. The AAR made me jealous. Results were real quick. I don't know how your state feels about shooting over live bait.

Some laws' are just stupid. In WV there was open season on Coyotes all year long, but there was a limit of one a day IIRC.

I think I'll go with this and give it a try.

The live bait concept sounds interesting, but I don't really want to work that hard plus I don't have any willing volunteers...

If you lived in a colder climate...

1. Roadkill deer
2. shallow frozen pond
3. break hole in ice, partially submerge deer carcass
4. Let refreeze, trapping carcass in ice
5. Wait
6. shoot

Look at Tactical trapping solutions. They sell coyote lures and bait. Cannot post a link in this thread otherwise I would. He knows his stuff

Rotten eggs.  Get a dozen and scramble them, they rot in no time.
Might want to look into getting a call as well, the ones around here will come out of the woodwork when called.
Any old rifle will do, so long as it is centerfire and accurate.
What you can do is hang a white sheet behind your bait, and the little goblins will be silhouetted while they are checking it out.  You can even put a little headlamp or something behind the sheet, it doesn't bother them at all.

A kitten in a HaveAHeart trap is great bait.

Good idea on the rotten eggs.  Hadnt thought of that one.  Tried calling with very limited success now that the ones that show up get shot last couple of months.  Got night vision to make it easier....just need them to show up and the rifle takes care of them.  Seems like I take out a male/female and they get replaced by a male/female in about a month based on the trail cams that pick them up.

I ordered a case of these to try out.  The milkbones and dog food dont seem to be as effective as they were initially.

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Bacon grease works well here.

OP,
Are you suggesting that you put out a bait of some sort and than shoot coyotes as they come out to eat it?

Because that doesn’t work. It has never worked and it will never work.
Period.

Not sure if serious?

That is exactly what I'm suggesting.  I must be an exception because I've killed 2 last month using that technique.

How does it work?
Stop by the Piggly Wiggly on the way to your hunting spot for a can of sardines. Sneak out in a field and dump the smelly goo out, run and jump in the bushes and get ready for the coyotes to come running?

Asking for a friend...

Takes a few days and they’ll start patterning as long as there’s food.  Dead livestock is the best bait.

Piggly Wiggly (or maybe it was Dollar General) for the win tonight....

Either way, Charlie dont surf

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LOL my HS science teacher used to take his two little girls to those free kitten ads. They'd both pick a different cat. He'd relent and get both.
Take them home and feed his snakes.
Rinse and repeat!

Know a couple dog men who made bait station out of road kill they would pick up. Deer, dogs, cats, coons. They killed a lot of coyotes.

Now I know you’re full of shit. How’s a coyote supposed to smell the PB&J you set out in the field for him if he’s smoking a stinky cigar?

5 gallon bucket.. fill with chicken meat scraps.. fill with water, stick a rope in the bucket.. freeze, remove the meat ice chunk and tie the rope to a tree so the yotes can’t move it.. ( only works obviously in cold temps)..

#4 - I keep telling them, Charlie dont surf!

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Using sardines?

Yup.  I also spread some dry/cheap dog foot over the area nightly to keep the activity up and view trail cam pics every morning.  Lots of coons/possums/fox visit every night.  I throw a can of sardines out when I start seeing yotes on the trail cams.  Not sure if its the sardines or the yotes atually targeting/hunting the coons/possums over the bait area but it works.  Coons/possums are the early warning system - when they head up the trees get on the gun and 30-60% of the time its because of a yote coming in.  They easily spend enough time smelling the ground and/or eating whatever to get a shot.  I'm set up about 70 yards from the bait area.  Dollar General has 15oz cans of sardines for about a buck a can.  They had $1 shipping last week (may still have) so ordered several cases.  Amazon has the same stuff but I think its about $2/can.  Pour the sardine juice over an old sock or rag and hang on a limb.  Sling the sardines over the area so they break up into a bunch of pieces when they hit the ground.  All kinds of critters come to feast.  Sit, wait, shoot.

Around here there's so damn many of them you don't need bait.

Wounded rabbit call and some patience.  Several years ago a friend killed nearly a dozen in one sitting out behind his grandmothers house (they'd been snacking on her cats).

Sounds like fun!

A boxful of puppies because kittens aren't loud enough.

@brunsome-

IDK what part of GA you are in but I have run bait piles in SC from McCormick County up to Oconee Co. That will put us in similarity. I have used bait piles pretty regularly since ~ '08. This is what I have found. I always put at least one trail cam on the pile to get an idea of what is coming, from where and what time of day. This is what I have found.

In all that time I have yet to have a coyote spend any time at or in some cases even come to a bait pile in the warm months. I have put road kill deer or butcher scraps out in the summer and have it only touched by buzzards.

I will not waste time putting out a pile until at least this time of year and usually stop around the first of March.

Make sure you stake down or tie out the limbs and head of every thing you put out. I have a metric shit ton of videos from trail cams of bobcats and coyotes feeding on bait piles. I even have a video of a bobcat managing to free a deer carcass from being tied to a pine tree and dragging the deer about 60 yards off into a thicket out of camera view.

If you pick the right area you'll have as many bobcats hit the bait as coyotes. I also have a video of 3 bobcats at one time on a dead deer.

Unless you have an ideal setup, I would leave the bait for them to eat and as a means of holding them in a given area for a few days and then call for them in a favorable wind no closer than 200 yards of the bait. I say this from the perspective of the time involved. Yes you can hunt over the bait and wait on them or you can bring them to you on your time.

Trapping scents for coyotes can also have them coming to a certain area on the regular. If I am hunting a new area I will put up a camera on a dirt road that has tracks and fresh coyote scat. I will put a gob of the trappers scent out in front of the camera and within a few days you'll have a good idea of what that property holds. It will also catch the attention of deer and other animals. I cannot tell you how many buck images I have of them hitting a scent station.

Don't waste your time doing things like scent control when putting out the bait. If you put up a camera you'll learn real quick a coyote can tell the difference between a hot and cold track. I have had them hit bait or a scent station within a couple hours of putting it out.

Really, in the SE don't waste your time trying to hunt over the bait. It is not like up north where food sources can seriously get scarce in winter, and the bait will be a near certainty. They will always have rabbits and mice here. They are hitting the bait because it is a easy meal. That is why I suggest calling near it in areas that they may bed in but don't spook them from a easy meal that is drawing them in.

If you put out small critters like chicken house throwaways make you a fish basket folded flat of wire fencing that will require them to struggle to get the chickens out. Fish can be a powerful odor attractant too. Pretty much any butcher or this time of year, deer processor will give you all the scraps you can haul.

If you can put your bait in an area they will be comfortable coming to in the day. If you put it in the open buzzards will find it near immediately. The buzzards will spook the coyotes. I have several trail cam videos of this. I would say 9 times out of 10 the bait will be hit at night. A place you can drive to and dump it, but that is near a creek, or in a thick pine cut over at least 5-10 years old, or near a drainage ditch, hedgerow. All are good spots. Spots that will be hard to sit back 200 yards to hunt, and that is the point. You can slip in and with breeding season coming up, let out a few howls and usually it is on.

Sweep or rake the leaves clean around the area you will use if you do not have a camera, so you can see tracks and where they come from and leave to.

To be honest, a fresh roadkill deer works best in my experience. If you have 3-4 in the area they will clean it up in very little time.

Turn your cam on video as you'll see some cool stuff. I have a video of a possum standing on a deer side having a snarl down with a pissed bobcat. The bobcat left and the possum continued to eat.

The possum is actually standing on the deer.


Claiming the deer in the name of Spain.

@HootieWho

Thanks for that info and videos Hootie - very much appreciated and your experience and tips are great to read about. Fairly new at this so any tips are appreciated.

I'm in NW Georgia. I've been tossing out dry dog food and a can of sardines pretty much every other day.  Get lots of coons/possums that come up every night to feed on the buffet.  Also have 6 trail cams set up for both inbound and outbound surveilance, which has paid off getting to see when the yotes come in at what times and how long they linger about. I live in a semi suburban setting with a lot of DNR land behind my house which is where they hang out this time of year.

Bait area is behind the house about 75 yards and I'm set up with a tripod in the garage shooting out a back window.  Using old FLIR scout hand held thermal for my spotter and digital NV with IR for the rifle.  Not high speed gear compared to some of the good stuff but it works to get my feet wet in the night hunting arena. Looking at a WP PVS-14 and Pulsar Thermal scope for this coming year hopefully.

Havent tried road kill or deer scraps yet but that sounds like a good idea.  Will stop by a deer processing place this week and see if I can get a bucket full of stuff to put out.

Have pegged 4 so far this year using that method and havent tried calling yet though. I think the yotes are basically hunting the critters that are feeding over the baited area for the most part.  Occasionally the trail cam pics indicates they stop and linger about grazing for a bit.  I also think the first 4 I shot werent that smart and/or were just more curious than the one or two I've picked up on the cameras as of late.  They briefly stop by either early or late for the most part. Sometimes its 8-9pm and sometimes its 3-4am typically.

Basically my hunting tactic is to watch the critters feed and when they take off like somebody threw a grenade in the middle of them thats when I get on the gun and wait as thats usually when a yote comes in.  The coons/possums are the early warning system so to speak.

Awesome, it sounds like you are set up! When I made the comment about waiting them out I didn't realize you have a place to do it comfortably. By all means rock on! I think you'll find that if you can put a deer out you'll have them in "feeding" a lot longer. I'll have to look back through all my pics but I think they averaged about 10-15 minutes on site eating when the deer was staked down. They also seemed to hit the bait around the same time every day so long as there were no major changes in weather. A good cold snap would have them all over it.

I'll be honest, checking the cams and getting pictures, especially of the bobcats was about as fun as hunting. My BIL actually used my AI AX to pop one of the bobcats from nearly 400 yards away where we had a calling spot set up with view of the bait pile. At one point I put a dim solar light over the bait with a red filter on the lens to aid in the trail camera resolution. After a few nights the bobcats, coyotes, and other critters paid no attention to the light.

I mentioned deer and bigger chunks because I had some issues with smaller meals back when I first got started. I had a buddy blind on the bottom of a cutover and creek run that the coyotes ran nearly every night. I had a good hookup for dead chicken house chickens, and dumped a 5 gal bucket worth in the middle of a small food. All I had at the time was a cheap red spotlight. Plan was to listen for them coming through the leaves on the creek run, then light them up and shoot. Well about 2 hours into it I heard the tromp-tromp-tromp of a coyote coming through oak leaves behind me, got my light and gun up ready to go. Soon as I did another one darted out of the cutover before I could get the gun on him, snag a chicken in full run and disappeared into the creek bottom. I'll be damned if while I was searching for that one the one I heard didn't dart through and snag a chicken himself.

I started using deer and bought a PVS-14 from TNVC not long after.

I usually get 4 4' pieces of rebar, cut the tissue on a deer's back legs where you hang them from and drive the rod into the ground through that slip, hammering it in. I hammer the other two up front and use 550 cord to tie the head and front legs down. I've got video somewhere of a coyote tugging at a dead deer tied to a 8' tall pine. He pulled until he got the pine bent over near completely. He never got it free though.

Hunting them is addictive! Please keep posting your kills.

Thanks again Hootie

Had one rush in and snag a possum over the bait area a while back.  Was so fast by the time I got the spotter off my eye he was gone.

Will keep after 'em

Neither do their cousins.

Charlie dont surf and neither does Carlietta.

Female dog down 2 nights ago while coming in to check out the bait area. 8pm, 70 yards, 50grVMAX for the win. The more I watch and learn from my bait area the more I'm convinced that the yotes arent too interested in the bait, but more so the critters that visit it like coons and possums. Again, the critters were my early warning system when they scattered and climbed trees before the yote came in. Picked up another yote on the trail cams last night so I guess I'll be out again tonight.

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Say hello to cousin fox -

Nice fox!

I see them quite often but dont shoot them.  Waiting on their bigger cousins

Never shot one until recently, they are beautiful animals.  Still have it in the freezer trying to make up my mind what to do with him, he's too prime to let go.

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My chickens and cats thank me for not waiting :)

Burned another one over the bait area last night.  #6

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I had mine done as a trappers hide. I also had the skull cleaned and bleached.

They look good on a plaque with the hide hanging underneath.

Had coyotes all summer but now that the deer carcasses are out all that’s showing up is the other predators. Never thought I’d bag this guy. We think he’s been getting our guineas and geese.  Also reported to have been taking cats and recently killed a dog, but marks and a broken leg lead me to believe it’s true and the dog didn’t go easy.

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Wow, congrats sea2summit.

Burned one last night.  Been dam busy around here lately. 50gr VMAX to the head kinda gave him the bug eyed look...

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That is an instant classic.

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Buddy of mine uses buckets of dead chickens from local poultry farms.  He's got several spots where they dump them and they check them at various times during the night.  He's in the dozens for the year.  Looks like you have a good system running as well.

I see them at the farm but have never baited them.  We have a lab and 6 small corgis that I worry about.  I basically just pick up a spot on the hill overlooking one of the bigger pastures and set up a camp chair and just sit their and wait for them to cross. I've only got two and about 6 possibles. I'm not what you'd call "good" and shooting them.

CHRIS

@sea2summit

LOL LOL LOL

Keep after them.  Chickens would certainly work. Get a comfortable setup and use a tripod on the gun and that should help.  NV is a game changer X100

I debated about trying the bait process as I have a dog and 2 cats to look after.  Baited area is about 250 yards from the house.  I set up 70 yards from it.

I believe the yotes are out there all the time but I had no idea how many until I set up multiple trail cams over the bait area.

I gotta know, do you smoke while hunting them or jest chew on that cigar until the appointed time?

LOL. I smoke one walking out to my set up area.  Usually burns about half of it, so I set it aside while hunting.

If a yote goes down, it gets 1/2 a cigar.  If not, I finish smoking it while walking back to the house.

So if my math is correct, I'm down 2 cigars total over the last month or so...

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He’s right you know. Just call them.