Below-zero temperatures aren’t everyone’s favorite, but for some of us, that kind of cold is welcome – at least for short periods. Ice fishermen love it because it makes the ice a lot thicker, and that means it’s safer. But unless you have a really good ice hut, it’s not a lot of fun to actually fish when it’s 30 below.
Coyote hunting, on the other hand, is better the colder it gets. I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because the dogs aren’t as active in the night, when it’s even colder, and they figure if they’re going to find some food, they’ve got to do it while the sun is shining. Or maybe it’s because when it’s that cold, the food they’re after is less likely to run away when they come slinking by.
There might be something about the cold that makes the sound of the call travel better. Maybe those frigid temperatures make it easier for the ‘yotes to hear the rabbit in distress call, so they come from farther away to investigate.
Or maybe it’s because when it’s that cold out, I just don’t move as much as I would if it were warmer. When it’s twenty or thirty below and I’m sitting out there in the snow, I’m bundled up from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, and there is absolutely no skin exposed. And when I get settled in, all my layers create a warm little bubble around me, but if I move the slightest bit, it disturbs the bubble and cold air finds the weak spots. I do whatever I can to keep from twitching even the slightest muscle. I’m pretty sure I don’t even blink.
My only other thought as to why coyote hunting’s better in the cold is that when it’s that cold, it’s possible the coyotes don’t believe a human could be trying to trick them. Maybe they think nobody would be that stupid to sit out in that kind of weather.
Whatever the reason, coyote hunting’s just better the colder it gets.
