The Best Time Of Day To Hunt Coyotes

Simply stated, the best time to hunt coyotes is whenever you can. I have harvested coyotes every hour of the day. I don’t have the equipment, nor the inclination to night hunt, so have no experience in that regard.

            One thing I have learned about coyote hunting is that there are no absolutes. Coyotes are very opportunistic and will respond to calls whenever they feel like it. Having said that, most of my successful hunts happen between half an hour before sunrise and 10:00 am. Many hunters say that the first stand of the day is the best. I often save my favorite location for this first stand, but in reality, have called more coyotes on my second stand of the day. Go figure.

I try to make my first stand of the day as soon as it’s light enough to see out to 200 yards or so, usually about 1/2 hour before sunrise. The coyote at left came in after a night time snow storm. The snow on the ground made it easier to see in the dark.

Most of the road dogs I have seen are out and about between 10:00 and 2:00. On one extended hunt I was resting in the back of my truck after lunch. I was reading a book and had my shoes off, resting my feet. Out of the corner of my eye I caught some movement. To my surprise, a coyote was walking across the open flat no more than 50 yards form my truck. A Chinese Fire Drill ensued and the coyote got away. You never know whats going to happen when you hunt coyotes.

            For some reason, 2:30 in the afternoon seems to be a magic hour for me. I’m not sure why, maybe the dawgs are just tired of sitting around and anxious to get on the move if an opportunity presents itself. From mid afternoon until sunset has been a good time to call coyotes for me as well, although not as productive as my morning hunts.

During the summer and early fall, I have found that coyote movement in my area slows down when temperatures get into the mid to upper 70s. In southern Utah, where I live, this means mid day is usually a waste of time until temperatures moderate in the fall.

            According to FoxPro Fox Data, about 38% of successful hunts occurred at night, between 8:00 pm and 5:00 am. Although that seems impressive at first glance, It’s really not too impressive considering that’s a nine hour time span.

            56% of predators were harvested between 6:00 am and 10:00 am. Surprisingly, there was a jump from half a percent between 1:00 and 2:00 to one and a half percent between 2:00 and 3:00. Seems to coincide with my 2:30 magic hour. There’s another one percentage point jump for the last two hours of daylight.

            Bottom line, the morning hours seem to be the most productive, but there’s no bad time to hunt coyotes.