Coyote Pro tips: The Spring Shift: Hunting the West Desert in March & April

By the time March rolls around, the heavy winter freeze is breaking and the rules change all over again. The breeding is done, and the pelts are starting to rub and shed out. If you're hunting now, you aren't doing it for a prime fur check—you’re doing it for predator control. You're punching the clock to save spring calves and give the mule deer fawns a fighting chance.

In March and April, the coyotes stop roaming the whole county. The females are heavy with pups, and they are locking down to find a den. If you want to kill dogs in the spring, you have to find the nursery.

1. Reading the Country (Finding the Bedroom)

These dogs aren't putting on ten miles a night anymore. They are tying themselves to a specific piece of real estate, and the male is working a tight radius around it to bring home the bacon.

  • The Cutbanks and Wash Walls: A female coyote isn't going to dig a den out of hardpan desert rock. She’s looking for soft dirt. Hunt the steep walls of deep dry washes, old badger holes that can be cleaned out, or the sandy bases of rimrock ledges.

  • The Water Rule: In January, a coyote can eat snow. In April, a nursing female needs to drink actual water every single day. They won’t den miles away from a water source. Find the guzzlers, the cattle tanks, or the creeks that are catching spring runoff, and you’ll find the dens tucked up in the hills nearby.

  • Tight to the Vest: Because they are localized, you can't just call blindly into a massive basin. You need to be surgical. If you find fresh tracks, they didn't come from miles away—that dog is living right in the neighborhood.

2. The Approach (Sneaking Past the Bouncer)

When a coyote is guarding a pregnant female or a den full of blind pups, he is paranoid. He is the bouncer, and he’s checking everybody at the door.

  • Don't Bust the Nursery: If you walk the ridgeline and skyline yourself, every dog in the canyon is going to hunker down and go quiet. Use the draws to sneak in.

  • The Cross-Wind Setup (Still King): He is still going to use his nose to protect his family. Set up with the wind cutting across your face. Put the caller 50 yards upwind. When he circles to cut the scent of the "intruder," he walks right into your lap.

3. Hiding in Plain Sight (The Spring Green-Up)

The desert might be getting a little bit of green cheatgrass, but the sagebrush is still the same height, and the sightlines are still miles long.

  • Get Off the Dirt: The biggest mistake guys make in the spring is trying to sit against a bush on the ground. When coyotes come in to protect a den, they don't always come running—they slink in through the sage, low to the ground, looking for the threat. If you don't have elevation, you'll never see 'em until they bark and bust you.

  • The Tripod Advantage: This is where a tripod-mounted blind pays rent. You get 2 to 3 feet of elevation, putting your eyes over the sagebrush canopy so you can spot that dog weaving through the brush at 200 yards. It hides your movement and turns a flat piece of nothing into a sniper's nest.

  • Shadow Mapping: The sun is getting higher in the sky now. Make sure you are tucked deep into the shade of a juniper or rock, and keep the sun at your back to blind 'em on the approach.

4. Speaking the Language (The Protective Instinct)

The love game is over. Now, it's about groceries and guarding the babies.

  • Pup Distress (The Golden Ticket): This is the deadliest sound in the desert in April. Play the sound of a coyote pup getting chewed on. It hits them right in the parental instinct. Both the male and the female will often come unglued and charge in, madder than a wet hen, to save the pup.

  • Back to the Buffet: The female is eating for five, and the male is working overtime to feed her. Rabbit distress, rodent squeaks, and bird distress are back on the menu. A woodpecker distress call carries great in the spring wind.

  • The Territorial Howl: A lone, non-aggressive howl is a great way to take their temperature. If an Alpha male barks back at you, he's telling you that you just stepped onto his lawn. Don't howl back. Hit a pup distress or a rabbit squeal and let him come find the trespasser.

5. Old Salt Spring Tips

  • The "Double" is Common: Because the male and female are living close together at the den, pulling a double is highly likely. If you drop the male, stay on the gun and switch straight to pup distress. The female will almost always poke her head out to see what the ruckus is.

  • Watch the Wind Speeds: Spring in the West Desert brings those nasty afternoon gales. Hunt the first three hours of daylight before the thermal winds turn the basin into a washing machine.

  • Check the Shed: If you shoot a dog and half his coat is missing, don't worry—he doesn't have mange. They blow their winter coats fast out here. Take the picture and know you just saved a couple of calves.