Do you kill more coyotes with an E-caller?

gil_wy

gil_wy

New member
Well, as you see on my "loudest Foxpro" thread I'm thinking about an e-caller. Now for the biggest question....Do you kill more coyotes with an e-caller than you did with hand calls? I usually hunt with a buddy and one of us will call from the upwind side while the other is 30-50 down wind. It has been very effective. Will an e-caller do anything for us in this particular situation?
 
Think of it as adding a third person that does all of the calling for you and your partner. Only this third "person" can be put in places where a normal sized person couldn't hide. It'll keep an animal's attention off of you and your partner's human forms, movement and will even draw an animal out of your scent cone. It never runs out of wind if you remember to make sure the batteries are charged. It doesn't eat your food, drink your drinks or fart in the truck. You can sell it or upgrade it and it doesn't care or get hurt feelings. An E-caller is one of the best partners you'll ever have. Oh, yes you probably will kill more animals as now you'll have two shooters and one of them won't be the main focus of the animals as they come in.
 
From a different perspective, I've killed way more coyotes with a hand call than electronics. I feel the two main reasons:

- The ability to change things up quickly on a hand call, based on the situation.
- Proficient stand setups due to not having to march out and put out an ecaller. Exposing yourself and spreading scent.

Or it may be just a personal preference thing.

Tony
 
I've called more with hand calls. But I don't like having to tote any more than I have to. A friend of mine only uses fx3.
 
I found when I used my hnd calls more than my electronic, I clled more with hand calls. Now that I use my electronic more than my hand calls, I find I call more with electronic.
 
I do not know about more with the ecaller than ones with a hand call, but I have called more over all since I got it. The ecaller is a tool that in certain situations is the best thing, in other sitiuations a hand call is better. Hunting solo, I almost always use the Fox Pro, but with 2 of us it depends on stand, wind etc. I like the Ecaller, cause i can sit up above the call with a better vatage point than I usually can get away with hand calls.

Use the call right and you should be able to call just as many with the ecaller as hand calls, in some cases the ecaller will be abetter choice in others stick with hand calls.
 
I think it's about the same for me. I started using an ecaller because when I turn 65 I won't need hearing aids. If you check the DB level on a blown call you will find it at a level that damages your ears.
 
Gil, just buy a minaska, WT or Fx5, and we'll go hunt. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

IMO the coyote vocals on an ecaller are worth the price of admission. Also, you can blare that thing as you open fire, stopping the pack for multiple shots. I've called em back after shootin at them. We have an older foxpro, and always use hand calls, but turn on the "coyote pack goin nuts" sound as soon as we shoot. stops the leftovers every time. But, on the fx3, of which I've hunted over, the hurt pup and all the howls just work awesome, all the way into april. Not to mention the Antelope sounds, an screamin Jack. Good stuff.
 
Not to mention all that volume for our gentle winds and wide open spaces.....a long way from your ears.

The only sad thing here is, not as many point blank shotgun kills. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
I have used both extensively, and hand calls reel 'em in alot better than my E caller.

I have used the E caller with some success over the last 3 years, but the little machine just falls short of a well used open reed.

I have no idea why, but the hand call out produces my E caller here in the Northeast by quite a large margin.

If a major manufacturer wants to send me a state of the art E caller to field test, I will re-evaluate. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Mine is 3 years old, and maybe the older style doesn't sound as realistic. I'm sure this is why the speaker configuration has been upgraded by some E caller manufacturers.

Newer models may fare better /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

 
Here in the semi-tropical southeast the remote controlled e-caller is the way to go. With hand calls here they will get down wind of you and you get busted a lot of the time. Too much vegation so getting the caller away from you is a great asset.
 
Alot depends on this answer. In the spring/summer with a good decoy dog and a good holwer you can do as well or better than an e-caller in "most" situations. But anytime of the year what an e-caller will do is position the coyotes for your benefit far better than hand calls.

With a remote range e-caller you can dictate the coyotes approach far better than a mouth call that I have seen and know to be fact.

Areas that receive alot of calling pressure with an e caller sounds are unlimted virtually and you can mix and match and play out a true to life scene in the field. Not many hand calls can you make sounds like coyotes fighting over food or be as realistic as a challange pair of coyotes with mouth calls. Howling there are some darn good voice holwers that can put both the e caller and mouth calls to shame. If your not one of them then a high quailty recording is second best in my book.

I use my e caller alot for locating coyotes and calling them in, mainly because of sounds selction,volume and playing out real life scenes quicker and easier than trying to duplicate that on a box full of calls and some just can't do what true live recordings can. In my mind the best coyote locator is a real siren with the wails and high pitches, made for police and rescue but many years ago the smart ones found out it really makes the coyotes sing in a non agressive manor. Those that can't afford or want to spend money on a siren can have the next best thing with an e caller, a copy of a good siren sequance.

Digital has taken calling to a new more relistic level, I look at it as an advancement like motion decoys for other species and true to life sound. If I where a betting man fall/winter an e-caller in areas of pressure will far out produce a mouth call "most" of the time. Again don't forget the ability of a remote caller to postion coyotes where you want them that is a very important key to success and great shot opportunities.

As calling gains in popularity things the e caller can gain you over a reed call are great enough to warrant the exspense and heavy use of a good unit.
 
I have only called in and killed one coyote, but I can tell you I killed it with my Ruger 22-250. I would never even think of trying to kill it with my E-caller, dont think I could get close enough anyways.
Just my thoughts for what they are worth.
Chris Crawford Ltd.
 
Very interesting thread. Chris Crawford should have made his post in the humor section, as I think he meant it that way. Hell, he wouldn't want to break an ecaller hitting a coyote over the head anyway. On a more serious note, it is the combination of hand calls and a well positioned ecaller that does the deed the best, especially hunting by yourself a lot. As far as spreading scent, etc., that Tony Tebbe was mentioning, you won't do that if you know your country good enough to make the right approach, and drop off the caller on your way to your nest. A lot of the answers to this subject lie in where you are hunting also. I hunt a lot of those PhD coyotes like old Gerry Blair used to write about, and the high quality electronic callers are a big time asset in that case. You'll probably call just as many in with hand calls if you are really proficient with them, but there is no way you can make the coyote show up exactly where you want him to with a mouth call by itself. Now obviously, that covers the big majority of situations, and it is my opinion, not written in stone. Late in the calling season, when the alpha males and females and the semi educated yotes have heard a great variety of attempts by hunters with mouth calls bought at WalMart, the true sounds of a good ecaller, combined with decoys, scents, and proper placement away from the hunter increases your odds of success many times over. Finally, if you have your "Nest" located properly, the odds of you seeing the coyotes you call in are much greater with a well placed ecaller. Hell, I have had several coyotes nearly jump in my lap when hunting alone using only a mouth call. I made a quick decision that I didn't like that much. If you are wanting to make a pack or a big pair think that either a pair of strangers or even a pack of strangers has invaded their territory, the combo of several good mouth howlers and the howls off your ecaller placed 75 to 100 yds out is something you can't imitate with mouth howlers alone, unless you are an expert ventriloquist.
 
I don't think either one, out performs the other, as far as "calling" coyotes.Both have been used successfully for a long, long time,and have proven themselves.If a guy uses primarily mouth calls ,and only has limited experience with an electronic, or course his opinion is, he calls more coyotes with a mouth call, than an electronic....thats what he uses most. It really takes some solid experience with both, to see where the advantage of an electronic comes into play.I do contend you'll kill more coyotes, using an electronic call for the simple fact, you can now move that place the coyote is coming to, the call, or caller, if your mouth calling. Thats the real advantage of an electronic, more so than the sound your making.
 
Ill answer your question with YES , the reason ,Like many others said placing the animal where i want it to go , And sound library. Its impossible to mimic alot of the sounds you can and do use on a stand . The ecaller is worth its weight in gold to me as I do guided hunts with guys that have never sat a stand before. Placing the animal where i want it is just plain necessary .Its hard enough to kill a coyote , and when your setting a stand with a rookie the odds really stack up in the coyotes favor . I will say this , the best work i do is with a mouth blown call and a ecaller both on the stand . Jerry .
 
I agree with Jerry and the others that say both are effective.

It is tough to say which is more effective, honestly. There will always be those that say "I have called more in with this or that", but that goes directly to which one they use the most. If a guy calls with hand calls 90% of the time, of course he'll call in more with hand calls, same for electronic calls.

That said, I feel the electronic call is almost a necessity in some situations. For instance, this past weekend we were out in some pretty good country. We called in a lot with hand calls, but there were times, without a doubt, where the FOXPRO reached out and touched some coyotes that weren't responding to the hand calls. I don't know if it is different decibles/wavelengths or whatever, but the FOXPRO seemed to get the sound out there in the wind and distance than the mouth calls. I actually saw on through the Bino's that would look our direction (1/2 mile away) but would not come to the calls, we switched to the FOXPRO and on the first series that same coyote looked and came hard to an unfortunate end.

I do know that there are a lot of guys that are extremely loyal to their hand calls, and that is great and comendable, but I know that the electronic call does things that a hand call can't. I can't make bobcat in heat sounds with my hand calls or even bird sounds for that matter. The sound library that FOXPRO has, and probably others but I own FOXPRO's, give me access to sounds that I will probably never be able to mimic.

It is well worth my $300 bucks, even if I call in 1 extra, but that is just me.


C
 
With an e-caller, you CAN always use mouth calls if you want/need to. Like others have said too, its like a full time calling partner, you can call with 'em if you feel like it. that's the way I see it.

Kyle
 


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