UncleZeb
New member
Greetings fellow outdoorsman.
I've been reading posts on the forum, learning and enjoying from everyone's stories. So I decided I should join and share some of my experiences, lessons and stories.
So basic rundown I decided to pursue calling seriously this season as I have not been able to run a trap line for almost a decade due to military obligations, starting a family and now falling into a new career with longs hours and traveling that is just simply not conducive to legally and ethically maintaining a product trap line.
This is year I finally could not take it and decided I had to put up some fur. The itch was bad as the last time I had caught coyote, fox or cat had been on pre-deployment leave in 2010 with my old man. So I decided to dig into some rat-holed fun money and give myself a loan to buy an E-caller. With the impression "[beeep] everyone is using those now they must work". Those adds in Trapper and Predator caller make them sound like a bug zapper for fur! The only thing I've ever had prior was an old WF-4 long range jackrabbit call I'd carry in my shirt pocket to stop, or spook up critters when I was out hunting.
So know at this point I was armed with a fancy electronic call(foxpro CS-24C) and the promise to shoot enough fur on my off days to pay back the money I pillaged from the rat-hole. I felt I couldn't screw this up. I mean I've been hunting and stalking big game since I could walk and trapping since I could set a #2 coil. Well like most people the first time I set out I failed miserably in bagging an fur.
I went out to a spot where I had got coyotes in snares and knew where they had dens. Set up where I expected the coyotes to be using a cross wind, avoided sky lining myself, gave my self a concealed position with shooting lanes etc. I thought everything was perfect. I sat down and proceeded to play the finest audio rendition of squealing jack ever to be recorded or so I thought. Thirty minutes go by and nothing comes in. I decide to play a locator sound, knowing absolutely I'm close to coyotes. 5 seconds into Foxpro's obnoxiously high pitched coyote locator call I hear a pack of 5 300 yds up the hill in the sage behind me. Wile had taken the high ground I had been busted the whole time and they were just sitting their watching me the whole time.
That whole day and for several times out after I still came home empty handed. The closest I came to getting a coyote downed was during those first couple weeks was during a day particularly warm but windy day. I decided to set my stand up just like I would if I was trapping problem coyotes for ranchers. I found a fence line that spanned a draw with cattle in it that ran perpendicular to the wind. Setting the call down in the draw I gambling the warm wind would keep my smell from falling into the draw I successfully called a coyote in. Those cattle in the draw pointed him out like bird dogs it was fantastic. All I had to do was put the reticle on him squeeze the trigger. I'm 28 years old and have never had "buck fever" till then. It wouldn't of mattered if that coyote was at 5 yds or 500 he was very safe and had earned a community college education that day.
Luckily my next outing I found redemption, with a fresh snow on the ground,wind and temperatures that would keep many other callers indoors I bagged my first coyote well actually first two of the season. My first stand of the day provided nothing but howls that allowed me to maneuver to a new location. At my second stand I was able to call in a female within 35 yds and give her an injection of No.4 buck. Having read on here that one should be patient for any secondaries. I had set up Fox bang on the call with pup distress. The cacophony of Wile's death rattle and the pup distresses brought No.2 in. No.2 came running right up to No.1 stopped and went oh $@&!. Forgetting all fundamentals ever learned on the skeet field I shot at No.2 not in front of. Having emptied my shotgun and give No.2 ample time to gain ground. I fumbled for my AR15 in the snow. Standing up taking a deep breath to I put the 4x reticle a foot in front of No.2's nose, squeezed the trigger and rolled here. I paced her to be roughly 130 yds.
So with that I'm hooked, while not quite hitting my goal of 10 coyotes in the fur shed I have got 4 big western coyotes that may bring me a couple hundred dollars when they go to sale. I've called in 18 coyotes so far and taken shots on Nine coyotes, missed two and failed to recover three. Two of those three having been knocked down then magically reviving to get up and run 1/4 mile into the sage.
This I believe is in part to using a 16inch AR with 55 gr sierra HPBT. As all 3 I've recovered shot with this gun and load all had exit holes about 1/2 inch. Not enough speed or to strong of a bullet jacket. So while I could just be screwing up the shots. I do believe I'm not using the optimum load and rifle combo. So needless to say I'm going to jump to a 22-250 with 50-55gr bullets.
I've also kept a call log of what calls on the electronic call have brought in coyotes, and I have yet to bring two coyotes in on the same sound. While 18 is not a big number I got the idea electronic callers have been overused around my area. This idea was further perpetuated when at 2 different areas I had people set up their new christmas toy within 500 yds of my stand while I was pulling a coyote and blow the whole area. So needless to say I started using handcalls, while December has always been slow I've been able to bring in coyotes in spots where I've had zero luck with the E-caller. Enough for my buddy to humble himself with some good misses.
In regards to hand calls I've been messing with coaxers a lot more lately as I've had coyotes get hung up around the 400 yard mark. However murphy is a bastard, mouse squeaks work great until a coyote spooks up a mouse. I've had two hung up yotes that got to move with squeeks that kicked up a mouse, pounced ate it and walked back into cover. That and golden eagles like mouse squeaks too, apparently some coyotes don't like raptors with a 6 foot wingspans.
So anyway a little long winded hopefully some of you guys get a kick out of it, and hopefully some of you in the same boat as me can take something from my experiences so far. Thanks to all the guys on here who have shared their thoughts, tactics and stories. They've definitely helped me get started down the rabbit hole.
I've been reading posts on the forum, learning and enjoying from everyone's stories. So I decided I should join and share some of my experiences, lessons and stories.
So basic rundown I decided to pursue calling seriously this season as I have not been able to run a trap line for almost a decade due to military obligations, starting a family and now falling into a new career with longs hours and traveling that is just simply not conducive to legally and ethically maintaining a product trap line.
This is year I finally could not take it and decided I had to put up some fur. The itch was bad as the last time I had caught coyote, fox or cat had been on pre-deployment leave in 2010 with my old man. So I decided to dig into some rat-holed fun money and give myself a loan to buy an E-caller. With the impression "[beeep] everyone is using those now they must work". Those adds in Trapper and Predator caller make them sound like a bug zapper for fur! The only thing I've ever had prior was an old WF-4 long range jackrabbit call I'd carry in my shirt pocket to stop, or spook up critters when I was out hunting.
So know at this point I was armed with a fancy electronic call(foxpro CS-24C) and the promise to shoot enough fur on my off days to pay back the money I pillaged from the rat-hole. I felt I couldn't screw this up. I mean I've been hunting and stalking big game since I could walk and trapping since I could set a #2 coil. Well like most people the first time I set out I failed miserably in bagging an fur.
I went out to a spot where I had got coyotes in snares and knew where they had dens. Set up where I expected the coyotes to be using a cross wind, avoided sky lining myself, gave my self a concealed position with shooting lanes etc. I thought everything was perfect. I sat down and proceeded to play the finest audio rendition of squealing jack ever to be recorded or so I thought. Thirty minutes go by and nothing comes in. I decide to play a locator sound, knowing absolutely I'm close to coyotes. 5 seconds into Foxpro's obnoxiously high pitched coyote locator call I hear a pack of 5 300 yds up the hill in the sage behind me. Wile had taken the high ground I had been busted the whole time and they were just sitting their watching me the whole time.
That whole day and for several times out after I still came home empty handed. The closest I came to getting a coyote downed was during those first couple weeks was during a day particularly warm but windy day. I decided to set my stand up just like I would if I was trapping problem coyotes for ranchers. I found a fence line that spanned a draw with cattle in it that ran perpendicular to the wind. Setting the call down in the draw I gambling the warm wind would keep my smell from falling into the draw I successfully called a coyote in. Those cattle in the draw pointed him out like bird dogs it was fantastic. All I had to do was put the reticle on him squeeze the trigger. I'm 28 years old and have never had "buck fever" till then. It wouldn't of mattered if that coyote was at 5 yds or 500 he was very safe and had earned a community college education that day.
Luckily my next outing I found redemption, with a fresh snow on the ground,wind and temperatures that would keep many other callers indoors I bagged my first coyote well actually first two of the season. My first stand of the day provided nothing but howls that allowed me to maneuver to a new location. At my second stand I was able to call in a female within 35 yds and give her an injection of No.4 buck. Having read on here that one should be patient for any secondaries. I had set up Fox bang on the call with pup distress. The cacophony of Wile's death rattle and the pup distresses brought No.2 in. No.2 came running right up to No.1 stopped and went oh $@&!. Forgetting all fundamentals ever learned on the skeet field I shot at No.2 not in front of. Having emptied my shotgun and give No.2 ample time to gain ground. I fumbled for my AR15 in the snow. Standing up taking a deep breath to I put the 4x reticle a foot in front of No.2's nose, squeezed the trigger and rolled here. I paced her to be roughly 130 yds.
So with that I'm hooked, while not quite hitting my goal of 10 coyotes in the fur shed I have got 4 big western coyotes that may bring me a couple hundred dollars when they go to sale. I've called in 18 coyotes so far and taken shots on Nine coyotes, missed two and failed to recover three. Two of those three having been knocked down then magically reviving to get up and run 1/4 mile into the sage.
This I believe is in part to using a 16inch AR with 55 gr sierra HPBT. As all 3 I've recovered shot with this gun and load all had exit holes about 1/2 inch. Not enough speed or to strong of a bullet jacket. So while I could just be screwing up the shots. I do believe I'm not using the optimum load and rifle combo. So needless to say I'm going to jump to a 22-250 with 50-55gr bullets.
I've also kept a call log of what calls on the electronic call have brought in coyotes, and I have yet to bring two coyotes in on the same sound. While 18 is not a big number I got the idea electronic callers have been overused around my area. This idea was further perpetuated when at 2 different areas I had people set up their new christmas toy within 500 yds of my stand while I was pulling a coyote and blow the whole area. So needless to say I started using handcalls, while December has always been slow I've been able to bring in coyotes in spots where I've had zero luck with the E-caller. Enough for my buddy to humble himself with some good misses.
In regards to hand calls I've been messing with coaxers a lot more lately as I've had coyotes get hung up around the 400 yard mark. However murphy is a bastard, mouse squeaks work great until a coyote spooks up a mouse. I've had two hung up yotes that got to move with squeeks that kicked up a mouse, pounced ate it and walked back into cover. That and golden eagles like mouse squeaks too, apparently some coyotes don't like raptors with a 6 foot wingspans.
So anyway a little long winded hopefully some of you guys get a kick out of it, and hopefully some of you in the same boat as me can take something from my experiences so far. Thanks to all the guys on here who have shared their thoughts, tactics and stories. They've definitely helped me get started down the rabbit hole.
