Decoy Dogging Action when the Weather Heats Up

Summer can be a downtime for many predator hunters, but for those looking to keep the season rolling, decoy dogging can be an exciting way to get in more action as the weather heats up. I had the opportunity to spend a few days this past May with Colten Gillum of Wyoming Predator Hunts, learning the ins and outs of working dogs on coyote stands, and the experience was awesome!

Decoy dogging has been used as a method of predator management for decades, mainly by government trappers who used it to specifically find and eradicate denning coyotes that were close to sheep and cattle herds. This technique is utilized during the denning months of April through July, as coyotes try to protect their territory around the den site. This overly aggressive territorial instinct plays perfectly into exciting interactions with the dogs.

The concept of calling with decoy dogs varies a bit from making normal stands throughout the winter months. With decoy dogging, you’re focusing more on quality over quantity when it comes to stands. In order to get a great interaction between the dogs and coyotes, you need to find an active den site and an aggressive pair of coyotes that are all in when it comes to defending that area. Not every coyote is paired up this time of year, so it’s not uncommon to see single coyotes while on stand. In most cases, however, those single coyotes keep their distance from the dogs.

In order to find an area close to a den site to set up on, you can howl from the truck and try to get the group of coyotes to answer and give away their location. In some cases, you can also go back to areas where you’ve encountered denning coyotes in past seasons. Once you decide on an area and get set up, running some howls and pup distress sounds on the e-call gets the coyotes’ attention and draws them in close enough to see the dogs.

This is the point where you never know what you’re going to get with decoy dogging. Some coyotes may see the dogs, turn, and leave. Others may come running full speed toward the dogs, ready to fight and run them off. If you’re lucky enough to get the latter reaction, that’s where decoy dogging gets exciting!

If you’re interested in trying decoy dogging for yourself, visit with Colten Gillum from Wyoming Predator Hunts (www.wyomingpredatorhunts.com) about an exciting spring/summer hunt! Then, stay tuned for Season 9 of The Last Stand, launching in October, where you’ll get to see some fast-paced decoy dog action firsthand!