We also take a few minutes to read a pair of reader comments from the dozens we’ve received over the last several weeks.  We provide some insight, intellectual analysis, and a rebuttal to each based on professional consultation we solicited from outside the company.

We’ve all seen it before.  A called coyote comes running in, the camera guy or the shooter need it to stop for a second or two, and someone barks.  In the dozens of times I’ve done it, the coyote usually pauses just long enough to make a clean shot, or get some photos.  Occasionally, like in this video, the coyote looks like he’s been poked with a cattle prod and getting any shot at the running dog is akin to skeet shooting.

If you click on the video a second time you can view it in full screen at YouTube.  

We are always amazed and amused by the number of people who take time from their day to send us pointless personal attack emails.  Now I know firsthand what Howard Stern meant when he said “Why don’t they just change the channel.  No one is forced to listen to me”.  Although, it would be nice to see a lib wing nut try to make a coherent argument rather than offering a simpleton death wish laced with profanity.  If only…

As always, thank you for stopping in and adding value to the Wildlife Callers Blog!  Better days in the field are what we’re all about.  If this video makes a difference on your next hunt and you bag the coyote, we’ve achieved our goal. 

A big thanks to all of you who’ve added meaningful comments in the past!  New comments can be added below this post. 

Subscriptions to the blog are FREE!  Just add your email address to the top right hand side of this page in the SUBSCRIPTION area and you’ll receive free blog updates and new posts about Wildlife Callers.  NO SPAM and we don’t sell email addresses. 

You can add a friend’s email – just let them know you did it!!

Much hunting success to everyone,

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com

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.

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

On one of my last trips to Central Arizona for a mountain lion scouting and calling trip, I found myself as I often do, in the middle of several gray fox.  Because my focus is calling mountain lions, I rarely shoot fox these days.  However, I’ve had some of the newer guys to predator calling ask me to do some educational videos of animals coming to the call.  I thought this was an excellent idea. 

Arizona Gray Fox

Because my intent is not to shoot/harvest a fox, I have the unique opportunity to film the behavior of the called animal from the time it arrives to the time it leaves.  Also, while I have the fox in the area of the caller I have the opportunity to use the sounds from my Wildlife Technologies electronic predator caller to capture and keep the attention of the animal for long periods of time.  The result is video that shows people some basic ways to scout for and to call a fox.  The video clips also demonstrate how animals respond to being called and what happens during various sound changes on the caller. 

In this video I call in a very vocal fox that comes in fast, stays for a long time, and puts on a great show. 

If you are a photographer or hunter (archery, handgun, shotgun, or rifle), there were many opportunities to get shots at this fox.

By the way… 

The high-pitched whistling noise that you hear from the caller is a juvenile cougar vocalization.  You might have thought that playing mountain lions sounds would have scared an eight-pound fox away.  Not so.  You’ve got to love the tenacious manner of the gray fox. 

Your comments are always welcome and questions can be directed to me personally at:  mark@wildlifecallers.com

Free blog updates are available by subscribing or registering for the blog.

As always – good calling and hunting to everyone,

Mark Healy

480-882-1210

(Please remember that subscribing to Wildlife Callers Blog is free and requires nothing more than your email)

In a previous blog, we posted this scouting video from one of our trail cameras.  The video shows a young lion walking down a hard-pan dry wash bottom

We noted right away that this lion was still fairly young and not going to be a ”shooter” for a couple more seasons.  However, we thought the area looked promising and this particular drainage should have a more dominant lion in it.  We were very right…

Mature Mountain Lion

Dave Martens Lion Scouting

Mature Mountain Lion

Note: The cougar in the bottom photo looks like he had a Ford F250 for dinner – whole. 

This lion was photographed on a trail camera going both directions (east & west) in this drainage.  I have cropped the photos so the fully developed & mature size of the lion can easily be seen.  This is exactly the type of cougar we’re looking to call & hunt this coming year, and now we’ve confirmed one travel section of the territory he controls. 

Someone will ask how we can be 100% certain that this is the same lion.  In the absence of a distinguishing mark or tattoo, the short answer is, we can’t.  But through our biology research and knowing what we do about their travel habits and strong territorial behavior, we are pretty darn sure this is the same big lion patrolling down “his” hardpan.

The job now is to walk up and down the hardpan and locate the areas this big cougar uses to lay-up for the day. From that field research we can then begin the process of calling into/through the area until we “catch him at home”.  For information on that topic, see our previous post here: http://www.wildlifecallers.com/blog/2009/08/19/want-to-call-more-mountain-lions-call-them-at-home/

For more information about scouting for lions and bobcats, see our posts here:

http://www.wildlifecallers.com/blog/2009/09/26/bobcat-calling-scouting-scat-identification-photos/

and here:

http://www.wildlifecallers.com/blog/2009/07/23/preseason-predator-scouting-for-calling-coyote-fox-and-bobcat-it%e2%80%99s-smart-for-calling-mountain-lions-it%e2%80%99s-critical/

Our most productive calling seasons begin in the off-season.  We wish all of our readers the best of luck scouting for and calling mountain lions this coming season. 

I’ll see you in the field,

Mark Healy

Subscriptions to the blog are free and always appreciated!  Your comments and questions are always welcome as well.

Send your questions to mark@wildlifecallers.com

Photographing wildlife is very similar to hunting, although I sometimes have to get closer and be a lot more patient. This is because I have to get more than just one shot of a given animal.

I like to be anywhere from 20 to 30 yards away. This gives me the opportunity to get a good tight photograph of that animal for cover shots. When good action shots are needed I try to stay a little farther away.

The single most important lesson I can give is this, learn about the species you are going to photograph, read all you can about that species before you even attempt to go out and photograph them.

Learn when they are breeding, what their diet consists of, and when they are most active.

After hours and days of scouting for my subject, it’s time for the shoot. I now know that the particular species I need to photograph is in the general area. People ask if I just sit and wait for animals to come by so I can photograph them. Well, it’s not quite that easy, so now it’s time to get to my stand and break out the calls.

I use hand calls once I have done my scouting, this gives me the opportunity to get the quality photos I need for my business. 

If I am shooting bull elk during the rut, I use a Primos cow call. This will make the bull think there is a female that got away from him and come running to the call to round her up. Of course finding that big bull elk is a challenge in itself. For that I use a Bugle call.

When shooting whitetail deer during the rut, I really like the Primos buck roar, paired with a doe bleet. But keep in mind that I have scared away many small bucks with this call. It is designed to mimic the sound of a very large buck and if there is one anywhere around it will respond to this call. It also straps around your wrist so while I’m shooting I can still blow through the call.

I use calls for nearly every type of mammal out there.  Some are only good for the breeding seasons when the males and females are vocal.

 Here is where the predators come in.  I love calling and photographing predators as you can call them year round.

I normally have three calls with me – cottontail, woodpecker, and fawn bleet.  I normally use Johnny Stewart and Primos calls. I like them and have had great success with them, but there are a lot of other companies out there who make some great calls. When I find something that works for me, I stick with it.

I have been using hand calls for years but recently I’ve been introduced to electronic wildlife calls from the guys here at Wildlife Callers.  I’m slowly starting to realize that e-calls are the way to go.

 The downside to hand calls when shooting photographs of animals is I have to work the call while trying to get the shot. Also, the movements caused by calling and shooting add difficulty to the process. It’s not as bad with deer, elk and ducks, but predators are another story. Predators have keen eyesight and pick up on any movement, this is where using an electronic wildlife caller has it’s advantages because I can set up the caller and my stand in seperate areas. 

The biggest difference in hunting with a gun and hunting with a camera is that I need the subject animal to hang around a while longer.  My camera is constantly moving to keep up with the action and this is where I like the idea of e-calls. The subject animal zeros in on the sound and I’m free to concentrate on getting shots.

The advantage to hand calls are they don’t need batteries, are very light, and fit in my pocket, but the subject animal will always be focused on me.

Camouflage is also a tool I use but not always necessary, but can make a huge difference with certain animals. I have photographed bull elk wearing just Carhartt jeans and a black t-shirt, yet have worn full leafy wear camo when shooting whitetail deer.

With that said, normally I am in camo while shooting because it is tailored to the needs hunters and outdoorsmen. I like having a lot of pockets and not having to worry about blending in to my surroundings. I would have to say that disguising your silhouette is also key i.e. Ghillie suit – The ultimate tool!  They can be heavy, uncomfortable, and hot, but, like I said, these are all tools I use.

When it comes down to it, all I really need is my camera and lens, knowledge of the animal I am photographing and patience.

I could go on for hours, but I won’t bore you with specifics. Thank ya’ll for the opportunity to share my experience in wildlife photography. Wildlife is my first love, photography is what I do. I have been fortunate enough to combine the two and enjoy my rewarding career.

 Thanks Again,

 Chad Messa

Mesa Sky Wildlife Photography

http://www.mesaskyphotography.com/

Chad@mesaskyphotography.com

Wildlife Callers wants to thank Chad for sharing his tips and his photos with us and our readers.  We hope Chad will continue to contribute to the blog when he has time, I’m sure our readers would appreciate that and I know we will welcome his posts anytime he wishes!

Remember, Wildlife Callers blog is free, sign up so you don’t miss a post!  Thanks for visiting, we’ll see you in the field!

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com