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Mountain Lion Scouting Video – Scent Station Behavior

Posted April 21, 2010 By Mark Healy and has 2 comments.

For mountain lion callers, scent marking areas are key to successful cougar locating.

Dave Martens and I have placed trail cameras in dozens of locations that have rendered great photos & videos of mountain lions. It wasn’t always as easy as it is today for Dave to locate a lion hot spot to place a camera. Dave’s many hours in the field and the experience that’s come with it, allow him to quickly size up a long ridge or hardpan wash bottom and hang a camera that will produce lions nearly 100% of the time.

Some guys will say, “hey, I’ve taken lots of pictures of lions on my deer cameras on such & such waterhole”. That’s great and we love to get pictures of lions anywhere, but keep in mind we rarely put cameras on waterholes. We’ve had much of our success calling lions well away from waterholes and we’re more interested in how lions travel in their territories and where they go to lay-up after they’ve been to water.

There is, however, a feature that we always look for when scouting for lions. When we find it, our success in finding lions travelling through the area has been 100%. That feature is scent marking areas, or as well call them, scent stations. There are times when we locate a small area that is literally covered in a wide variety predator poo — and poo from many other critters as well. The spot that you’ll see in the video is one such place. Since finding this location we have taken still photos and videos of several lions, fox, bears, and other predators. This location, which unfortunately is well off the beaten path, if called frequently will eventually produce a lion.

Have a look at the first video of a fox, bear, and coati, using the scent station:

Then, have a look at this female lion (we’ve taken many pictures of her) and the way she behaves on the scent station:

Just like humans, where there are ladies the guys seem to just show up. We’ve taken a few photos of lions much larger than this female that we hope to someday call. We have worked diligently in the area to find the best places to call from and be able to see lots of open areas and tight cover. Now it’s a matter of getting the stars to align and be there calling when one or more of the mountain lions are home.

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Thank you all for reading and good hunting,

Mark Healy

Mark@WildlifeCallers.com

Categories: Predator Scouting, Predator calling, fox, mountain lion

Tags: Arizona predator hunting, bobcat, calling mountain lion, cougar, cougar calling, cougar hunting, fox, gray fox, Hunting, Mountain lion, mountain lion hunting, predator callers, Predator calling, predator hunter, predator hunting, Predator Scouting, scouting, wildlife callers

Coyote Finesse – Dave Martens and Dan Tone Turn the Volume Down and Nail This Pair

Posted January 28, 2010 By Mark Healy and has 3 comments.

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers Blog and his buddy Dan Tone of Apache Junction, Arizona teamed up for a day of mixed-bag predator calling just after our last heavy rain and snow storm. Two coyotes and one gray fox later, they’d had a great morning.

Dave and Dan figured they’d find some hungry & willing predators after five-days of hard rain and snow throughout the state. They headed into Arizona’s Unit 23 and in four wet & muddy stands, called in two coyotes and one gray fox. The coyotes pictured below both came right to the speaker in under five minutes. The gray fox came in super-quick too, stayed in tight cover, and ran out just as quick as he’d arrived.

Dan Tone - AKA "The Shotgun Sniper" and Two Excellent AZ Coyotes

The project for the day was to set up in good locations, keep the volume down, and see what some quiet calling would do. Dave kept the volume on his Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom at 1, 2, and 3 all of these stands.

Here is his calling sequence in more detail: (more…)

Categories: Predator calling, coyote, electronic callers, fox, wildlife technologies

Tags: Arizona predator hunting, calling coyotes, coyote, electronic predator calling, electronic wildlife caller, gray fox, Hunting, Predator calling, predator hunting, wildlife callers

Midwestern Success! Illinois and Missouri Hunters Share Their Photos & Tactics

Posted January 12, 2010 By Mark Healy and has no comments yet.

We started Wildlife Callers’ Blog for a very simple reason – info sharing that creates more success every time a predator hunter heads out to call. Here are two customer stories that were submitted to us just last night.

A big thank you to Doug U. of Illinois and Jason S. of Missouri for sharing their photos, calling tactics, and stories.

Doug from IL says:

I was driving down the highway when I noticed two red fox bedding down in the middle of a snow-covered cornfield. I pulled off the highway and made some phone calls until I figured out who owned the property. A few phone calls later I had permission to go and call for the reds.

I chose a downwind location to enter the field and walked to a pile of snow about 100 yards from the bedding location. The foxes must have been asleep, because they didn’t jump and run. I placed my Mighty Atom 15 behind the snow pile and took up a position about 80 yards away, lying down. I started the stand with cottontail distress, nice and low. It took the male fox just a few seconds to commit to coming in and, bang! he was running hard toward the snow pile. The fox came ’round the snow pile full speed and wasn’t able to stop before colliding with the call and knocking it over. While it was wondering what the heck was going on, I shot it with my .17 HMR and dropped it right to the ground.

Doug U. of Central Illinois and his January Red Fox & Brand New Mighty Atom

I noticed the other red was standing down the field watching what was happening and I was setting up to shoot that fox too. However, the way the second fox travelled, I would be shooting toward the highway and decided to pass. That fox eventually ran off.

This was my very first setup with my new Mighty Atom and it worked very well. The .17 HMR did very little damage to the fox, and it will make an outstanding mount!

Jason S. of Trenton MO told me: (more…)

Categories: Predator calling, coyote, electronic callers, fox, wildlife technologies

Tags: Arizona predator hunting, calling coyotes, coyote, digital wildlife calling, electronic game callers, electronic predator calling, electronic wildlife caller, fox, Predator calling, predator calls, predator hunting, wildlife callers, wildlife technologies

Gray Fox & Bobcat Calling – What Sounds? When? How Long? How Loud?

Posted January 11, 2010 By Mark Healy and has 7 comments.

We get asked often what our “sequences” are when we’re calling predators. It’s truly more than just a sequence of sounds that calls critters in, and I’ll explain my process of choosing sounds on a stand, the volume, the length of time I play them, etc. To kick this off, I’ve chosen gray fox and bobcats as the target animals.

Choosing gray fox and bobcats to write about was an easy choice. The hard & fast way gray fox come to the call is a confidence booster for any predator caller, and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want to call more bobcats – ever. And, the truth is, bobcats aren’t terribly hard to call – they are terribly hard to see. I absolutely believe that most bobcats called in go unseen by the caller.

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers AZ Bobcat & Fox Double!

Generally speaking, bobcats come slower to a call and use cover all the way in. There are always exceptions to this rule, but more often than not they will be slow and methodical about their approach. Also, if you’re serious about harvesting more bobcats, take binoculars on every stand. Once a bobcat has gotten a visual on the speaker or the bush it’s in, they will stop coming and sit down. A motionless bobcat in a bush at 30 yards is nearly impossible to see without binos.

Here is my fox & bobcat method and my typical sound list: (more…)

Categories: Predator calling, bobcat, electronic callers, fox, wildlife technologies

Tags: Arizona predator hunting, bobcat, bobcat calling, bobcat hunting, calling coyotes, cougar, cougar calling, electronic game callers, electronic predator calling, electronic wildlife caller, gray fox, predator callers, Predator calling, predator hunting, wildlife callers, wildlife technologies

The Gray Fox Video That Wasn’t – Equipment Lessons Learned

Posted December 23, 2009 By Marc Reindell and has 4 comments.

Mark Healy and I went calling mountain lions this past weekend and as usual, I packed up the video camera and gear in hope of capturing a cougar coming to the call. I have been getting better with the use of the Canon GL1 that we use and was feeling pretty confident that if a cat came in, I would be ready to capture the event on film.

We left early Sunday morning to head up to the area where we know Mt. Lions are roaming based on our scouting and trail cam footage. We arrived at our first stand just as the sun was coming up, clear and cool, and called for just over an hour. No lions, so we moved on to our next stand and set up. Same result, no cats, but it was a perfect day and we were trying some new set ups that we hadn’t tried before.

Our third stand saw no action, so we took a break for lunch and started to head off for our next stand. When we reached our next location, we had company there, the first other hunter we’d seen all day. We moved on to another location that we’d not been to in a while but knew cougars were occasionally in this canyon from past scouting efforts.

Mark got the the caller set up and I prepared the GL1 on the opposite side of the canyon, perched on the edge overlooking the canyon below. Mark returned and set his seat about 5-yards from my location, fired up the Wildlife Tech MA-15 and started calling.

Now, we’re normally ”cats only” on our hunts, but after three 90 minute stands and no action, we were getting a little bored. At roughly the 3 minute mark into this 4th stand, the partridge in distress caused a very large gray fox to break cover and run for the caller. Mark said “man, that’s a nice fox” and asked me if we should take him, I said “why not, but let’s make sure we get it on film”. I picked up the fox in my viewfinder, tracked him as he made his way to the caller, bounding up the steep, rocky face of the canyon to the mesquite the MA-15 was located in.

The gray fox circled the brush and emerged just to the right of the caller, Mark took aim, asked if I had him framed up, and fired. The fox jumped, and took off down the canyon, Mark was beside himself, couldn’t believe he missed a cheesy 91-yard shot! I tracked the fox on the GL1 for over a hundred yards until he disappeared into the brush of the canyon bottom.

We change sounds and within 2 minutes, another gray fox that couldn’t resist pileated woodpecker distress emerges from the brushy canyon bottom and starts toward the MA-15. I picked him up right away in my viewfinder. This fox is just as big or bigger than the first – we’re obviously in the land of the giant grays. I find the fox in my viewfinder and as quickly as he started up to the caller, he does an about-face half way up the canyon wall and leaves.

I’m wondering what made him leave, when Mark tells me a third gray fox is on it’s way and exclaims it’s even larger than the first two. I quickly had this fox in my frame and followed it’s approach without missing a beat. He climbed to the top of the canyon about 75-yards from the speaker and heads toward the caller along the rim of the canyon. I lose him temporarily in some brush but pick him up emerging on the other side and continue to film as he approached the caller. The gray fox perches just above the caller, broadside in full view, again Mark asks if I have him, I say yes and zoom in, awaiting the shot.

Boom! Looks like a direct hit! Then the fox takes off up the hill towards the canyon rim, looking like he hasn’t been touched by the shot! Just as disbelief is setting in that Mark missed again, the fox leaps toward another rock, loses his oil pressure, and drops in mid leap! Amazing! I have this all on film, it’s going to be some of the best footage we have yet! We are both pretty excited but we continue to call for a while longer.

Gray Fox 12-20-09

We finally end the stand & Mark retrieves the fox about 12 yards from the point of impact. He finds a clean ribcage shot through-and-through, and almost no damage to the fox at all. It’s no wonder he took off like he did, the fox probably didn’t even know it had been hit! The fox is a very large male and has a very thick, shiny gray & brilliant red winter coat. He’ll make an outstanding full-size mount.

The next day, I fire up the GL1, excited to view the great footage from the day before. I’m stunned, the video is scrambled and although partially visible, not viewable! I’m beside myself. I pop in another tape, it plays fine and now I realize that I had a defective tape in the camera the whole day – major disappointment sets in.

We would have liked to have this video posted here, but we’ll have to settle for the photos. The tape was brand new and there was no reason to believe it would be defective. Lesson learned, check all the equipment, including new video tapes, the night before.

Hey, at least it wasn’t lost footage of a mountain lion coming in. I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com

Categories: Predator calling, Wildlife Photography, electronic callers, fox, mountain lion, wildlife technologies

Tags: Arizona predator hunting, calling mountain lion, cougar, gray fox, mountain lion hunting, Predator calling, wildlife callers, wildlife technologies