Some of you might remember me from last year on this forum,as "twohand".Last year was also my rookie year at coyote hunting. I tried very hard to bag one,I went out several times  ,,day and night,sometimes till 2 am and very cold.I never did see or hear one but did see some fresh tracks a few times.The area I hunted last year ,close to where I live is not known to have alot of coyotes,but are a few.
 
   Me and my coyote hunting partner went to my Uncles 300 acre farm this weekend to bow hunt for deer.There are more coyotes in this area,but we never have hunted it in the past for them.I took my howler to see if I could get a response  during one of the late nights.
 
   Well,last night my friend shot a 9 point.We put our bows away ,grabbed a launtern and started tracking it.We found it about 11 pm in a set of very thick woods.As he was gutting it ,I realized I had my howler in the back pack.  Decided to give it a try.I give a lonesome call( it sounded pretty good too,I'm still learning this call)  A few seconds later we heard a single deep bark,we looked at each other and decided this sounded more like someones pet dog .No sooner said ,,,we heard a definite challenge bark and it was not very far away,100-150 yrds.I then returned a challenge bark and got another back and it seemed closer.
 
    I was not especting this response and realized we had no weapon or light that would throw a beam.I quit calling and we did not see or hear it again.
 
   This is the first definite response we ever recieved and it was awsome.
 
 
 Although we was not hunting for them,if we had been.I wasn't sure what I needed to do next to draw it in closer.(Not that I wanted to in that situation)
 
      In a real hunt would I want to keep responding with a challenge call or go to a rabbit in distress?

If you have already used the challenge & got response, then switch to a rabbit distress....This tells the coyotes that there are others in the area eating THIER food supply...It should bring them running in.

Rockinbbar

Yep, I remember you!  Welcome back to THL.
 
Rockin' has it right.  I'd have done exactly the same thing as he suggested, especially at this time of year.
 
Good luck!
 
Az