Good Morning Calling - Dave Martens with a Bobcat and Coyote in Central Arizona

With just a single day to hunt and gas prices climbing, Dave heads to a location not too far from his East Valley home for a day of mixed-bag calling.  Dave’s mission was simple–get an “AZ Predator Slam” (gray fox, coyote, and bobcat) in one day–if he called and bagged a cougar too and made it a Predator Grand Slam, that would be big icing on the cake.  The weather had prevented a multi-day hunt and he met sloppy & frozen road conditions almost immediately as he headed north.

Snow Covered Roads and AZ DPS Officers Dealing with Wrecks

Dave figured once he got to where he was headed he’d be able to get a gray fox right away and then work some other areas to find a coyote and bobcat.  As it turns out, he started his first stand with about a minute of Adult Cottontail Distress, a minute of Ravens Fighting, and then back to about 20 seconds of Adult Cottontail Distress and a medium-sized female coyote ran in and stopped just a couple yards from his Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21 and about 12 steps from his 12ga.  Bang!  Dave’s got a coyote on the quad.

His next two stands–both of which are rock-solid gray fox locations–immediately draw blanks.  Dave was undeterred and headed a little higher up the hill to a location he’s seen fox and bobcat sign in previously.  Dave got into a promising looking location and within a minute or two had located a set of bobcat tracks that had a light dusting of snow covering them.  Figuring they’re as fresh as he was going to find, he dropped into the canyon the ‘cat track headed into and set his Mighty Atom near a bush and sat down about 15 yards away under a juniper tree.  Just as he was sitting down a hard snow flurry starts blowing and Dave can’t see more than just a few yards.

Dave considers waiting until the snow stops blowing or possibly just leaving, but goes ahead with stand number 4 anyway.  Dave said the snow continued for about 3-minutes while he was calling and then stopped all at once, just as quickly as it had began.  About 30 seconds later a nice AZ tom bobcat walked to less than 24 inches from his Mighty Atom E-caller.  A single shot from his 12ga dropped the bobcat right next to the speaker.  Dave’s Wildlife Tech sound combo was exactly the same as his first stand–Adult Cottontail Distress/Ravens Fighting/Adult Cottontail Distress/Bang!

Nice Bobcat Dropped Right Next to Dave's Wildlife Tech Mighty Atom 21

Dave Martens and a Late February Bobcat in Central Arizona

It’s now mid-morning and Dave is feeling confident that a Predator Slam is darn good possibility–he’s got a bobcat and coyote strapped to his quad and several more hours to hunt for a gray fox to add to his predator collection.  Dave’s thinking that he might even be able to put a fox in the bag early and ride down into some of his better mountain lion setups and try to achieve a Predator Grand Slam.  But, in the end, as often happens with our sport, his hunting luck turned around and he called 7 or 8 additional stands (into outstanding gray fox habitat) and came up empty.

After a long ride on his quad in the dark back to his truck, Dave took inventory of his day out and couldn’t complain.  Any day you take the time to load up all your gear, make the trip out to the field in miserable weather, and call in/take a bobcat and a coyote is a great day.

If you enjoyed the story and found the calling information valuable, please subscribe to receive blog updates.  We will NOT sell/rent/give your email to any third parties.

Guest comments are always welcome — please scroll down to the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Thank you again for reading — and good calling,

Mark Healy

480-882-1210

info@wildlifecallers.com

It wasn’t a run-and-gun weekend Dave told me.  He said he and Dan were taking it easy, looking for prime areas, and calling into spots that had the terrain, vegetation, and sign they thought would be the most productive.  Their approach paid off.  Early Saturday morning this big tom came to the call in less than 5 minutes and Dave dropped it with a single shot from his 12ga.  

Dave Martens and Deuce pose with a Big Northern AZ Bobcat

Dave’s calling technique was pretty simple.  Get in tight to the best available cat cover and introduce the sound low and easy.  A mix of mice and cottontail rabbit distress  from his WT Mighty Atom 21 brought this bobcat into shotgun range.  Dave said he would have gotten louder and more aggressive and utilized bobcat vocalizations and/or bobcats & foxes fighting as the stand progressed but never needed to. 

Later in the day Dan spotted another pocket of tight brushy cover several miles from where Dave took his bobcat.  After surveying the sign, terrain and the most probable foot access routes predators would take into the heavy cover Dan and Dave set up covering as much open ground as possible.  Using the same calling technique of low & easy Dave mixed up a combo of bird distress and cottontail rabbit distress to bring this big bobcat into Dan’s shooting lane in about 4 minutes.  Dan fired one shot from his 12ga to close the deal.  

Dan Tone and Deuce the Jack Russell with a Big AZ Tom Bobcat

With two cats in the truck Dan and Dave took a few minutes and skinned them.  A little closer inspection showed one had been eating jackrabbit and the other was full of Merriam’s turkey meat & feathers.  The fact that the cats were both operating on full stomachs didn’t slow them down.  It seems that curiosity (or a little greed) does kill cats.

Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21 and N. Arizona Tom Bobcat

The remaining few stands on Saturday and Sunday morning were unproductive so Dave & Dan headed for lower elevations and into an area both of them have hunted and scouted for years.  They set up a stand with bobcats and mountain lions in mind and Dave started the Mighty Atom playing with a mix of mice, birds and cottontail distress.  Dave got no early takers and began to get more aggressive, turning up the volume and introducing gray fox & bobcat vocalizations into the mix.  After 30 minutes there was still nothing moving in and Dave started dropping in some young cougar vocalizations (whistle sound) in the mix of calls.  About 10 minutes later Dan gave Dave the signal that they had an approaching predator.  

Hoping to get whatever Dan was seeing closer to the speaker, Dave dropped the volume and kept playing various young cougar/fox/bobcat/prey distress sounds and heard nothing more from Dan.  A few minutes later Dave decided to turn up the heat on the stand even more and introduced adult female cougar communicative vocalizations into the sound picture.  There was an immediate reaction from Dan that something was now leaving.  Night was now approaching and Dave wrapped up the stand.  He discovered from Dan that a rather small lion had worked it’s way up a cattle/deer path and veered off the trail into some heavier cover and held up about 60 yards from the caller.  The lion was hesitant to cover the final distance down to the area where Dave had the caller hidden.  Once Dave introduced the adult lion vocals, the small lion turned back and left quickly on the same trail it had come in on.  Due to the size of the lion Dan never fired a shot.  

This was Dave’s second trip back into the field since rolling his quad and tearing his Achilles tendon last year in March.  It seems he still has the Midas touch.  He told me it was all about the basics of good predator calling–let the terrain, sign, cover, and a working knowledge of your intended target’s behaviors be your guide.  I say congrats on a memorable weekend–nice work Dave and Dan.  

Subcriptions to this blog are free.  

Justin shot us an e-mail to let us know and we thought we’d share their story with you. Justin writes: “Finally success! Tyler drilled this fox at 11 yards away (33 feet for you math impaired).  Double lung shot.  Don’t know if I’ll sleep tonight, but it was worth it!”

“After Tyler killed the fox last night we set it out about 300 yards from our camper. This morning we checked it and no fox!  Whatever grabbed it didn’t drag it and didn’t eat it there because there was no fur on surrounding areas. My guess is a coyote, large bobcat or mountain lion. 

Speaking of bobcat, Tyler and I called one on our second stand of today!  It came in FAST. I spotted it about 20 yards away, at a nice quick trot. My eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, Tyler sees my face, swings his head around and the bobcat spots us! The bobcat is a little too close in the line of fire to Tyler, so I couldn’t get a clear shot. The bobcat stays locked on us for about 20-30 seconds, crouches and takes off like a shot. I quickly stand up and move to my left, but he was making excellent use of cover and I couldn’t get a clear shot with my shotgun. CRAAAAP. 

Next stand we call a fox in immediately but I don’t see him until he’s cracking twigs on the way outta dodge. 2 shots from the old 12 gauge at a rapidly fleeing fox and I couldn’t close the deal. Double CRAAAP, but oh what a morning!!!!   3 stands and 2 called animals. It’s like an animal zoo up here. I love it!  Highly addictive, this hunting is. Have a great weekend brothers!

Justin”

Thanks for the story Justin, We really appreciate our readers sharing their predator calling stories with us. Now that the season is starting to get under way, we hope that you have fun out there and we encourage everyone to shoot us an e-mail with YOUR predator calling stories, we’re happy to write up the story in your own words!

Signing up for blog updates are free and easy! Just enter your info here:

Good calling to everyone!

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com

I’ve always had the hunting bug, but my father was not a hunter – not even a little bit.  He used to take me deer hunting and tell me to “go look for some over there” pointing to a mountain.  He’d nap in the truck and I’d wander around aimlessly.  Then, a local teacher and predator caller, Ken Brink, took me hunting in 1986.  Bang!!  Three coyotes on the first stand and I was forever hooked.  After a good day calling, there was never a string of bad days that could deter me from going again – I always knew my next good day was eventually coming. 

Here are a few predator callers who are passing the fun and addiction to people who can spread the word and keep the fire burnin’.

Ned and Liz Burris spent a cold November Sunday calling together, and Liz called in her first bobcat.  Liz could have been discouraged after 5 gray & rainy stands without seeing anything (she didn’t even see the coyote Ned shotgunned on the first stand until it was dead & down), but Ned kept her spirits up and it paid off.  What an outstanding day calling!

Liz Burris and Her First Arizona Bobcat - Nov 2009

Ned Burris and a Shotgunned Arizona Coyote - Nov 2009

Ned Burris, if you will recall, is an excellent bobcat caller with both hand calls and electronic calls.  You can see his previous posts about calling bobcats by clicking HERE and HERE .  Ned & Liz, thank you for the great story and photos. 

Mike Healy from Kuna, Idaho submitted this story video of he and his son calling coyotes near McCall Idaho.

Mike writes:

On a recent Idaho calling trip near McCall, we started our day off just as the sun was coming up, my son Carl is just starting to appreciate predator calling and how much fun it can be.  I let out a female coyote howl with my Wildlife Technologies KAS-2030-MM electronic caller and the response was stunning.  Nearby coyotes produced a rally howl that was so loud it made us both a bit nervous.  A coyote came in within a few minutes and I shot it at close range with my .243 Savage rifle. 

I enjoy every minute of predator calling, but Carl sometimes gets bored when we have a series of stands that don’t produce anything.  When we have a stand that produces a coyote or two, it has a way of making up for all the times we got skunked.  Keep those kids out there with you – the memories last a lifetime. 

Finally, here’s a few shots from the last two novice groups I took with me on some morning gray fox stands near Globe, Arizona. 

Marc Reindell and Harrison 'Bedhead' Healy with an Early Season Gray Fox

Justin & Tyler Gross and Alex Tackett Sporting "Civilian Camo"

Tyler Gross and his .410 Shotgun – Ready to “Tip ‘Em Over”

Yeah, sometimes it’s not easy taking the kids, but it’s worth it.  We all know how addictive this sport is – this is one addiction that’s worth passing on!!  Even if the kids don’t want to shoot, get them to spend some time outdoors and let them see some wildlife that you call in, up close, and look for the smiles, they’ll be there!

Good calling to everyone and thank you for your comments!

Mark Healy

mark@widlifecallers.com

We’d like to thank Danny for the open and candid way he shared his story and tactics.  We hope these tips work for you too. 

Danny was hunting near the Arizona/Mexico border (US side).  He was calling for a mixed bag of predators, and although he wanted to call up some bobcats or a lion, he was perfectly happy chasing coyotes.  About a half-hour before dark on a still & clear afternoon, this bobcat arrived on his stand.  Two shots from his .223 dropped the cat 12 steps from his Wildlife Technologies KAS-2030-ML. 

Danny Avey and His Southern Arizona Bobcat

 Side Note: It appears that Danny’s hair slipped off his head and got stuck on his chin.

Here is a full run-down of his set-up and the sounds, times, and volume settings:

Before setting up, Danny carefully selected his site by looking for a long & wide sandy wash that went for several miles in each direction.  The wash was very steep on both sides and had a generous amount of brush and desert trees along both sides.  In the bottom of the wash he found a medium sized bush with low-hanging limbs.  Danny turned his caller to the on position and hid the speaker inside the bush.  This is one of the techniques that we talk about often!  Make the predator (especially cats) approach the location to get a better look at what’s happening inside the bush. 

Danny took a position on the upper part of a wash bank overlooking the area he had hid the speaker.  The place he sat gave him the advantage of being able to see all potential approach locations (especially downwind) and it kept the sun at his back. 

Danny started his stand with between 2 and 3 minutes of Pileated Woodpecker Distress.  He kept the volume in the low and medium range hoping to get a quick taker that was laid-up nearby. 

His next sound was Adult Cottontail Distress.  He kept the volume at mid-range for about 3 minutes. 

At this point he was between 5 and 6 total minutes on the stand.  Danny seamlessly changed the sound to Crows Mobbing Food and turned the volume up a notch for about a minute and then back down to medium for 2 more minutes. 

At about 8.5 minutes he decides to switch back the Adult Cottontail Distress and let it run to the 15 minute mark.  While this cottontail sound is playing, Danny turns the volume all the way up for several seconds to reach out to critters that might be hanging up at a far distance, and then goes back to the middle of the scale.  He continues turning the volume up and down, hoping to create the illusion of movement and activity. 

At the fifteen minute mark there were still no takers, but Danny wasn’t done.  He changed to Ravens Fighting Over Food for 2.5 minutes and then Gray Foxes Fighting for 2.5 minutes.  The volume for both of these sounds was medium-loud and pretty aggressive. 

At the 20 minute mark, he switched back to Cottontail Adult Distress for 6 more minutes.  He was back up and down with the volume and being pretty aggressive with the upper limits.

At 26 minutes, Danny switched to the Young Cougar Whistles and let it run for about 3 minutes.  He then switched to the Adult Male Coyote Challenge Howls and and let it run for about 2 minutes.  He told me he wanted to create the illusion of predators in the area and in a dispute over rights to the still-screaming food. 

Toward the end of the coyote howls, Danny saw a bobcat casually approaching about 125 yards away.  The bobcat was in the wash bottom and was walking from bush to bush, slowly making its way to the speaker.  Danny immediately dropped the volume and went back to the Adult Cottontail Distress.  He said there were a couple of different times that he could have taken a shot at the bobcat, but chose to watch the bobcat and watch its behavior.  The bobcat used all available cover in the wash bottom and took several minutes to walk from 125 to just 12 yards from the speaker.  A caller who didn’t see the cat at 125 yards and stopped the stand at 31 minutes would have forever assumed nothing came in – patience is the key with cats. 

The bobcat stopped in the open staring at the bush the speaker was hidden in and Danny used his AR-15 .223 to shoot the bobcat just behind the front shoulder with a Nosler 55 grain Ballistic Tip.  The bobcat spun and acted as if it hadn’t been hit.  Danny took aim again and delivered another shot to the ribcage.  This time the bobcat dropped straight down.  An inspection of the bobcat showed that it had been hit both times through the lungs and heart.  The lesson here – always be ready to shoot a cat again – they are tough as nails. 

His choices of sounds and volume changes certainly adds to the argument that we, as humans, can way over-think what makes a predator come or not come to the call.  Lots of callers, me included, might assume that lion sounds and coyote challenges would scare a bobcat away.  As we see here, that’s just no so.  This says a lot about the chaos and challenges of nature that we’re disconnected from and don’t fully understand. 

Your questions and comments are always appreciated – please comment below.

Blog subscriptions are FREE – sign up at the top right of this page and please, tell a friend. 

Thank you again Danny – and good calling to everyone!

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com

1-877-734-1010