From a bluff along the edge of Wisconsin\u2019s north shore, I watched a January sun rise over Lake Superior.\u00a0Even with temperatures near zero, steaming seams of open water, maybe running all the way to Canada, were visible between islands of ice. To the west, pressure ridges of ice rose from the lake all the way north to Minnesota, 20 miles away.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The play of light and shadows through my binoculars took some time to sort out, but eventually I noticed a dark spot over a mile out that looked out of place.\u00a0Settling my optics, I confirmed it was a coyote, prowling the windblown ice during his mid-winter mating quest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the pack ice, I knew I could pick my way toward this coyote\u2014or brush wolf, as we called them growing up.\u00a0Spotting and stalking is one of my favorite tactics for hunting coyotes on frozen Lake Superior, especially if you throw a little calling in.\u00a0<\/p>\n I knew chances were good the coyote would bed down in a sunny spot after a night of carousing.\u00a0Calm winds worked in my favor too, as I picked my way west down the jumbled shoreline. Forty minutes later I angled out toward where I\u2019d seen him last.\u00a0 Some places where open water had frozen into a long, flat surface made for easy going.\u00a0 In others, pinnacles of broken ice sheets made for slow, treacherous walking.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Another 40 minutes passed before I crawled up a 10-foot ice ridge and began glassing the desolate expanse in front of me \u2026 Nothing. But I was optimistic he was still out there. That\u2019s how coyote hunting on the big lake goes. From afar, it looks like a lifeless arctic tundra, but with the right skills and tactics, coyote hunting here can be red hot. <\/p>\n We need long, cold and still nights for enough ice to form on Lake Superior\u2014the world\u2019s largest freshwater lake by surface area\u2014in order for it to be huntable. Preferably, strong east winds pack ice into the west end. Typically about three nights in the -15 to -20 degree range with highs around 0 degrees will tighten up the west end.<\/p>\n But this no longer happens every year. Due to climate change (according to some) or natural weather cycles (according to others), Lake Superior isn\u2019t seeing the ice cover it once did. The years when good ice ran several miles out from shore are the exception rather than the rule now.\u00a0There\u2019s still ice the coyotes use, especially if there\u2019s heavy snow cover inland, but what looks like seemingly endless ice cover one day will turn into an expanse of blue water once the wind changes.<\/p>\n This winter\u2019s been setting up nicely if you\u2019re coyote hunter at this northern latitude. We\u2019ve got snow better measured in feet than inches, but we need a string of sub-zero, windless nights to finish the deal. That\u2019s when Lake Superior is the most appealing to coyotes in search of each other during the mating season. A February coyote has a lot in common with a November buck; he covers a lot of ground to find females for breeding.<\/p>\n The mating season is the only reason coyotes go out on the ice. There\u2019s no game to hunt out there and no habitat to protect them from the elements. Coyotes will patrol the shoreline looking for prey and then venture up tributaries to scavenge or hunt, but the only reason they venture onto the lake is because it\u2019s easier to travel and find each other out there.<\/p>\n In this region, coyotes are big, rangy animals compared to their western cousins. How big? Some have measured over 70-inches on a stretcher, making you wonder if crossbreeding with wolves is more than speculation.<\/p>\n Electronic calls with remote speakers have their place in coyote hunting, but not here.\u00a0Old-fashioned mouth calls are lighter in weight and more effective on the lake. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s lack of hunting pressure or if coyotes don\u2019t anticipate danger far out on the ice, but if they can hear you, they\u2019ll likely give you a chance. That means you don\u2019t need the extra volume produced by an e-caller to bring coyotes in close.<\/p>\n For the same reason sound travels easily over water, it also travels well over ice.\u00a0I\u2019ve been able to spot coyotes nearly 2-miles out with good optics and had them respond from half that distance on a calm day.\u00a0 It might take them an hour to get within shooting range, but the adrenaline rush of watching one close is the real reward.\u00a0Never try calling one upwind of you.\u00a0With their nose, you don\u2019t stand a chance.\u00a0Even when they come from downwind, they\u2019ll try to circle and get the wind in their favor.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve shot more than a few coyotes while blind calling along the lakeshore, too. It\u2019s a good tactic when I see tracks on the lake but can\u2019t locate a coyote from my access points.\u00a0I\u2019ll hike to the lake\u2019s edge and pick my way out to the first pressure ridge before starting to call.\u00a0There\u2019s no need to spend a lot of time at these stands.\u00a0Action comes fast or not at all.<\/p>\n Another proven tactic is to intercept a traveling coyote. This works best when have some time on your hands and wind direction isn\u2019t an issue. There have been times when I\u2019ve seen a coyote heading down the shoreline away from me, unwilling to respond to a call. I\u2019ll hustle to a lake access point a few miles ahead of him and then set up an ambush (the key, of course, is to get there before they do). Here\u2019s an example of a time when it worked well \u2014 almost too well.<\/p>\n Windless days on the lake are unusual, but one quiet afternoon I saw a big dog heading west along the ice-covered shoreline. I knew there was a dead-end road access maybe three miles away. It looked like he was about halfway there when I saw him, so I drove down the highway past him, then cut down to the lake. I\u2019d barely loaded my rifle while taking cover behind an ice berm when I saw him coming from a half-mile away. At certain points I could see him trotting across vast sheets of smooth ice. Other times he\u2019d disappear in the undulating pressure ridges paralleling shore. I was ready to light the fire once when he was 150-yards out, but then he disappeared in mounds of ice.\u00a0I was frustrated, knowing he was in shooting range, but I was unable to see him. Suddenly, there he was, 15 yards away standing on top of the ice ridge I was laying on, looking at the top of my fur hat just above my scope. That one still holds the record \u2014 by good margin \u2014 for my closest shot.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another hint if you\u2019re hunting the lake, or other any open area: Watch for a flock of ravens\u2019 low, aerial gymnastics. Ravens concentrated in an area usually means they\u2019ve located a coyote.\u00a0Once I watched a trio of ravens taunt a coyote to the point that the coyote jumped into the air trying to grab one. I can only assume competition for the limited protein a northern winter provides creates animosity between species. Whatever the reason, a flock of ravens on the ice is a good sign for a predator hunter.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: How to Hunt Coyotes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nHunting Coyotes Ice<\/h2>\n
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The Coyote Rut<\/h2>\n
Lake Superior Hunting Tactics<\/h2>\n
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Coyotes in Wolf Country<\/h2>\n