How loud should I play my coyote call?
One of the features often considered when selecting a predator call is available call volume. When it comes to coyote call volume, bigger isn’t always better. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with having more volume available, you just don’t need ghetto blaster capabilities when calling coyotes.
When starting my stands with prey distress, I begin with the volume just loud enough that I can barely hear it. If there is a coyote close by that your cautious approach has not spooked, you don’t want to alert it with top volume rabbit screams. If you have been careful in your route selection and stand set up, there could be a dog close by. The quickest response I have had to a call was 45 seconds. It’s not unusual to have one respond within minutes of turning on the call.
The coyote in the photo on the left seemed to materialize out of nowhere less than a minute into a stand. Always be ready to shoot before starting your calling sequence.
Gradually increase the volume until you can hear it well, usually not at full volume.
When playing coyote vocals, it might be better to start out at a louder volume. Try to match the level of a real coyote.
When to use lower volume
If you are fortunate enough to be hunting an area with a good coyote population, it might be wise to call at a lower volume. This way you won’t need to travel as far between stands to find undisturbed coyotes.
When to crank up the sound
There are some situations that warrant a higher sound volume. When hunting thick cover the foliage will break up the sound cone and reduce the distance sound will travel. You might need to crank it up a bit.
Wide open terrain would be another situation that could benefit from louder calling. Still, start out low and build up to higher levels.
Hunting areas with low coyote numbers means that they could be responding from longer distances. A higher volume will reach out for these more remote dogs.
Hunting in a strong wind can be difficult, but sometimes you just need to try making the best of a situation. Your scent will travel the same direction as most of your sound, so you’ll need to turn it up to battle the wind, trying to get your sound out there far enough for the coyotes to hear it on your up wind or cross wind side.
To summarize, start out low, gradually increase volume to the level that will reach coyotes at the distance you expect to find them. Keep in mind that coyotes hear much better than we do, especially at higher frequencies. In addition, higher frequencies seem to travel farther. For closer calling try lower pitched sounds like fawn distress or adult rabbits. For longer distances use higher pitched sounds like young rabbit distress, pup distress, or rodent distress.
This big male (38 pounds) took his time. After playing prey distress and pup distress for 20 plus minutes. At this point I had the volume almost maxed out. I switched to MFK Hooked Pair and was about to give up on the stand when he appeared in easy shotgun range.