tt35
New member
Since we test all the products we sell at No Off Season ensuring they work and are worthy of NOS representation, I've been demoing a Primos Alpha Dogg e-caller. This caller is a totally new design with some unique features and an easy-to-manipulate remote. I had been trying to get this unit into the field so when an opportunity to make a couple of stands presented itself, I just basically pulled the Alpha Dogg out of the box, stuffed some batteries in it, scrolled through the menu and went hunting. Not being very Techno by nature, that's saying something about the ease of operation.
My very first stand with the Alpha Dogg was in some tighter cover so I double carried the shotgun and rifle. It was a nice day and the stand was in a productive area so I stuck with it and was rewarded when a coyote appeared across the opening looking at the caller and almost directly at me. I waited for him to move behind a sage to the right before raising the shotgun. He stopped surveying the area the sound was coming from with his head and upper chest visible. A load of Dead Coyote T-shot put him down decisively at 25 yards.
This is the biggest coyote I've shot in two or three years. The photo doesn't do him justice. He had beautiful long gaurd hair all the way down his flanks. A good start with the new caller!
My next opportunity to hunt the Alpha Dogg caller came last thursday. I went to call some stands I hadn't been to in a couple of years. The first stand again had a coyote's ears coming in towards the caller but for some inexplicable reason, it just turned around about 25 yards from the caller and left never offering a shot. I'm still figuring out this shotgun-coyote thing and my set-up just didn't offer enough openings in the brush to give me a shot. By the time I got up it was too far away for a good shot. Oh well, the caller seems to be working!
I made a few unproductive stands before making it to a basin that has been pretty good in the past. Just a few minutes into the stand, a coyote comes out of the sage into the grass of an old burn. It was big country and I had the Alpha Dogg up pretty loud. (This caller does produce some volumn.) Unfortunately, I was busy getting a range and getting the rifle ready and failed to turn the caller down. The coyote came to about 150 yards from the caller and moved away. He wasn't spooked bad and he started to poke around at a lasered 322 yards. Long story short, the wind was hard right to left and I didn't allow enough for it and missed. Where is my kid when I need him? A couple of Hail Mary shots on the way out made sure he learned his lesson....
The last stand of the day had a nice female show up at around 18 minutes. She skirted the opening the caller was in but stopped facing me and the caller. The 35 grain Berger from my .204 found it's mark this time. After several hours of windy calling, I called it a day.
I took the new Alpha Dogg and my gear on a delivery Saturday afternoon. My first stand was dry but on the second stand a double came in hard to Baby Cottontail Distress. They checked up at about 15 yards staring at the Jack Attack decoy. The female died at 21 yards with a face full of DC. Another Hail Mary sent at the retreating second coyote wasn't very close.
I had time for one more stand before dark. I placed the caller in an opening and sat my chair next to a large clump of greasewood where I could see the caller and the downwind. (Titus' Rule.) Several minutes into Mad Jack I hear a coyote thundering in over my right shoulder. I turn my head slightly and look out of the corner of my eye and see a slight movement of the coyote as it stops at the edge of the brush line ten yards away. As I wait for him to commit into the opening, he moves to his left and now he's about four feet from me right on the other side of the bush I'm sitting next to! He starts to come around "my" bush but doesn't go and I knew he figured something was up so I jumped to my feet and pasted him at about 15 yards as he did the classic leaving-while-looking-over-his-shoulder move. He was still surprised to see me.
I didn't weigh this coyote but he was undoubtedly the fattest coyote I've ever killed. I'm quite certain I saved him from a cardiac arrest. This dog had been eating well. Another Alpha Dog meets it's doom by the Alpha Dogg!
So, what's my take on the Alpha Dogg caller? I'll give a more complete review before long but let's say that it's proven itself worthy of a place in the No Off Season line-up. And, in the mid $200 range, it has a lot going for it.
http://no-off-season.com/store/electronic-calls/Primos/alpha_dogg
Good hunting,
Tim
My very first stand with the Alpha Dogg was in some tighter cover so I double carried the shotgun and rifle. It was a nice day and the stand was in a productive area so I stuck with it and was rewarded when a coyote appeared across the opening looking at the caller and almost directly at me. I waited for him to move behind a sage to the right before raising the shotgun. He stopped surveying the area the sound was coming from with his head and upper chest visible. A load of Dead Coyote T-shot put him down decisively at 25 yards.
This is the biggest coyote I've shot in two or three years. The photo doesn't do him justice. He had beautiful long gaurd hair all the way down his flanks. A good start with the new caller!
My next opportunity to hunt the Alpha Dogg caller came last thursday. I went to call some stands I hadn't been to in a couple of years. The first stand again had a coyote's ears coming in towards the caller but for some inexplicable reason, it just turned around about 25 yards from the caller and left never offering a shot. I'm still figuring out this shotgun-coyote thing and my set-up just didn't offer enough openings in the brush to give me a shot. By the time I got up it was too far away for a good shot. Oh well, the caller seems to be working!
I made a few unproductive stands before making it to a basin that has been pretty good in the past. Just a few minutes into the stand, a coyote comes out of the sage into the grass of an old burn. It was big country and I had the Alpha Dogg up pretty loud. (This caller does produce some volumn.) Unfortunately, I was busy getting a range and getting the rifle ready and failed to turn the caller down. The coyote came to about 150 yards from the caller and moved away. He wasn't spooked bad and he started to poke around at a lasered 322 yards. Long story short, the wind was hard right to left and I didn't allow enough for it and missed. Where is my kid when I need him? A couple of Hail Mary shots on the way out made sure he learned his lesson....
The last stand of the day had a nice female show up at around 18 minutes. She skirted the opening the caller was in but stopped facing me and the caller. The 35 grain Berger from my .204 found it's mark this time. After several hours of windy calling, I called it a day.
I took the new Alpha Dogg and my gear on a delivery Saturday afternoon. My first stand was dry but on the second stand a double came in hard to Baby Cottontail Distress. They checked up at about 15 yards staring at the Jack Attack decoy. The female died at 21 yards with a face full of DC. Another Hail Mary sent at the retreating second coyote wasn't very close.
I had time for one more stand before dark. I placed the caller in an opening and sat my chair next to a large clump of greasewood where I could see the caller and the downwind. (Titus' Rule.) Several minutes into Mad Jack I hear a coyote thundering in over my right shoulder. I turn my head slightly and look out of the corner of my eye and see a slight movement of the coyote as it stops at the edge of the brush line ten yards away. As I wait for him to commit into the opening, he moves to his left and now he's about four feet from me right on the other side of the bush I'm sitting next to! He starts to come around "my" bush but doesn't go and I knew he figured something was up so I jumped to my feet and pasted him at about 15 yards as he did the classic leaving-while-looking-over-his-shoulder move. He was still surprised to see me.
I didn't weigh this coyote but he was undoubtedly the fattest coyote I've ever killed. I'm quite certain I saved him from a cardiac arrest. This dog had been eating well. Another Alpha Dog meets it's doom by the Alpha Dogg!
So, what's my take on the Alpha Dogg caller? I'll give a more complete review before long but let's say that it's proven itself worthy of a place in the No Off Season line-up. And, in the mid $200 range, it has a lot going for it.
http://no-off-season.com/store/electronic-calls/Primos/alpha_dogg
Good hunting,
Tim
