My first weekend in a nutshell

[The Outdoorsman]

Well I got out this weekend but with no luck. I only spoted 6 does in the two days i hunted. It had snowed here back on Thursday so there was still snow on the ground. Saturday I was able to hit 5 stands with either a cross wind or the wind in my face. As I had some stands in the woods, I made my way to each one as slowly and quietly as possible. Even on my way to my first stand, walking the edge of a field in the dpression (which would keep me unseen by any yotes in the field) I did see a small gut pile, a bird or something, didnt think much of it other than something is hungry so I figure thats a good sign. I started out with a couple of howles to see if I could get a response back, but nothing. So after a couple of mins of silence I hit the rabbit distress call. from there at each stand I would mainly use the rabbit distress call and pretty much stayed away from the howles. When I headed back to the Jeep, I looked for that gut pile I first found and found a couple feathers near it and just a bloody spot where the pile was, wasnt able to see any tracks as new snow had fell, but my guess was that it was a crow or something that ate it. In the late afternoon hunt, I decided to go to the neighbors property to hunt a couple areas. as I made my way around his pond to hit the trail into the woods, there were tracks all over the icy pond and a deer hide on the back end of the pond near the dam. Felt like I should have hunted there. lol Sunday (different property from Saturday) turned out to be another zero for me. I hit only 4 stands that morning as I was moving thru the crunchy woods as quietly as I could. but still with playing the wind and trying to set up on the edges of the food plots and trails in the woods, I wasnt able to get anything to show itself. Again, I only used a couple of howls all morning and stuck to the rabbit distress call. I feel my biggest concern is getting from stand to stand without being spotted in the woods. But I knew this wasnt going to be easy going into it. I would only blow on the rabbit distress call twice at each location and sit prepared for something to pop out. Do you think this is not enough calling? just want share my weekend hunt with you, looking to get back out in a couple of weeks and hopefully get some to come in. I feel that I have put alot of knowledge in my head so far, but still have so much more to take in like I really havent scratched the surface yet. but Im willing to put in the time to be better/sucessful at this.

[Prairie Ghost]

How long were you on stand?

I generally call 30secs than wait 3-5 minutes and repeat and am generally on stand 25 mins if the call is carrying far. If you are in deep woods where the call can't carry you might want to shorten you stand length some but make sure you not leaving after 10 minutes. I would make an effort to double the amount of stands your getting in a day.

Did you do any locating in the dark before you went out calling?

[The Outdoorsman]

I stayed in each stand for 20-25 mins each. I plan on hitting more stands next time out for sure. The only howling I did was a lone howl here and there throughout my stands. Made sure I wasnt consistant with howling, wait, then distress call, tried to mix it up a little. When I did howl, I didnt hear anything in response to it. Maybe they werent there??

[Prairie Ghost]

thats tough to say this time of year they are just starting to get in the howling mood. Remember a howling response is proof of a coyote no response is NOT proof of a lack of coyotes.

[The Outdoorsman]

Got it!

[Tbush]

sounds like your putting in your time ... your useing a rabbit in distress.. are there rabbits in the areas your calling?? if so just stay with it, when I first started calling I never howled and still don't howl that often just tryed diff.distress sounds till something worked...good luck

[The Outdoorsman]

Yeah there are rabbits in the area. I will keep at it. I would really like to get a coyote or two to reply back to my howl but I know that takes time. I have the Primos Ki-Yi call and im going to try and work on my deer distress call as well to give them something different to hear.