Well, I'm certainly not a noteable caller but I do get a poke at a song dog I've called every now and then so here is what I do...
I select a location where I can see a lot of country to watch for coyotes that are responding to my calling. Usually, this is higher ground (within shooting range) than surrounding country. One time a buddy and I set up on the edge of a big canyon and the sage was about 5' tall. we weren't very far apart but couldn't see each other. My buddy was watching two dogs working their way toward us coming off of a pretty good slope across the canyon when he "felt" something watching him. Yup, it was a coyote not 6' from his feet. The coyote dove over the edge of the canyon and started to run down toward the bottom which was about 100 yards away from us. Buddy hollered at me to take the one in the bottom which I did. He shot at the two that were apporaching down the slope and got one of them. We both tried to get the other but it got away. We both were using 223s, mine a Sako Vixen, his a Kimber.
I pass up favorite calling spots if the wind isn't right. But I look for the wind to be in my face or from the side.
I try to approach the spot to call from without showing myself to the country I will be calling toward. In other words I try to sneak over the "rim" or into the shooting location as close to where I want to call from as possible. This is where some scouting comes in handy.
Once I get over the "rim" I try to sit BEHIND, not in front, of some type of bush or sagebrush to breakup my outline.
I then determine how I want to rest my rifle while calling. On my lap? Leaning against the bush? How will it be handiest for me to put into use in this calling situation.
I pull out my compact binocs and scour the country side to see if there is any action going on out there. Depending on how much of a vista you have this might take 10 minutes or so. This time is well spent letting things get back to normal.
My very first calling sequence is pretty muffled and soft. I remember one set where I used my dogs squeeky toy as a first call and brought in two coyotes within a minute. I believe you can scare the wits out of them if you try to bugle them in from the next county with your first go.
I will blow on the call no more than 1 minute at a time. I will wait 3-5 minutes between calling sequences. And when I call I try to make it sound like something is tearing the guts out of the critter I am trying to imitate. I use short breaths as I don't believe rabbits have huge lung capacities so my sounds are short. I start each sequence with a rather strong "voice" but I trail it off like the rabbit is losing energy and about all tuckered out.
If I have a dog coming that hangs up in I might give a few "whimpers" on the call.
I like to hunt with a buddy so one is calling while the other is the shooter. If this is the case, sometimes I will just lay on the ground behind the bush and watch the show while doing the calling for him.
When buddy hunting, I like to sit so each has a different view but can still whisper back and forth IF necessary. I've tried to buddy hunt where one is a hundred yards from another and in the broken type of country I call in it doesn't seem to work too well for me.
I will stay in one stand for as much as 30 minutes depending on how much (vast) the area I am calling into. If the area is really big (i.e. you can see for a mile or more) I will call much slower and not as often on a stand like that as the coyote must cover a lot of territory to get into range and you don't want to over call.
If the stand did not produce any dogs and I am buddy hunting, one of us will raise up very slowly with rifle at the ready while the other is still seated and is ready to shoot. The movement of getting up will cause any dog who you hadn't seen to bolt and then you will have fun with a running shot at a dog in high gear.
'Bout all I know on the subject. so guess you can see why I'm not always sucessful. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
