The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, is helping to mitigate the loss of habitat in this area by contributing $150,000.00 to help with restorative measures within the burn area. The RMEF does a lot of good, weather working to preserve land for Elk habitat, or fighting to keep Wolf predation of Elk to a minimum.

To read the full story of the RMEF’s effort to help out Arizona’s Elk affected by this devastating fire, Click Here. I am a proud member of the RMEF and glad to see that the members dues are put to good use to benefit Elk and their habitat. Supporting organizations like RMEF benefit all hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, including those of us that enjoy predator calling.

I encourage you to become a member of the RMEF or other like organizations that work to preserve our lands that we enjoy to hunt, fish and other outdoor activities.

As always, we appreciate our readers comments.

All the best,

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com

CLICK HERE for a map to the Glendale Arena

The ISE show in Glendale is Arizona’s once-a-year chance to celebrate the outdoors with family and friends, capture show-priced bargains, and meet face-to-face with guides and lodge owners from nearby and around the world.

CLICK HERE to view the ISE website, get more details, and purchase tickets.

Predator calling & hunting has seen tremendous growth in popularity in Arizona and across the United States .  Recognizing that trend, Wildlife Callers and the ISE will be providing three FREE seminars over the four day Glendale, AZ ISE expo.  Seminar types, times and dates are as follows:

Seminar One: Predator Hunting Basics – The 101 Class

Topics: How to get started in predator hunting.  The quarry–a brief discussion of the target animals–coyote, fox, bobcat, and cougars.  The equipment.  A discussion of predator calls, guns and gear for every budget.  Where to hunt.  A discussion on where to find the animals you’re looking for, stand selection, scent control & wind direction considerations, shooting lane visibility, and more.  When to hunt.  There are seasons for predators in Arizona–we’ll discuss that briefly.  Audience Q&A session will be provided.

Presenter: Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers

Day/Time: Thursday Feb 24 from 12:30 to 1:30

Location:The ISE’s RMEF Adventure Theater

Seminar Two: Predator Calls–Electronic Calls vs. Hand Calling

Topics: Choosing your first predator call or your next call.  A discussion and demonstration of modern electronic calls and a variety of hand calling equipment–stand selection and proper setups for each will also be discussed.  Audience Q&A session will be included.

Presenters: Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers and Rich Higgins of the Phoenix and AZ Predator Callers clubs.

Day/Time: Friday Feb 25th from 12:30 to 1:30

Location: The ISE’s RMEF Adventure Theater

Seminar Three:  Calling Mountain Lions with Electronic Calls

Topics: Techniques for locating and successfully calling cougars with electronic calls and digitally recorded mountain lion vocalizations.  Terrain & Sign: Where in Arizona are lions found?  What is a caller looking for when choosing a calling location?  Sounds: A discussion of lion vocalizations and how to make them part of your “sound picture” you’ll create with an electronic caller.  Set-Ups & Time On Stand: Call ‘em in tight cover, or across canyons–a discussion of two stand types.  Optics: Best practices with binos.  Audience Q&A session included.

Presenter: Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers

Day/Time: Sunday Feb 27th at 10:30am

Location: The ISE’s RMEF Adventure Theater

We had a great time at the ISE show last year and look forward to meeting new and old friends at the Glendale Arena.  While you’re walking the floor, don’t forget to look us up and stop by the booth.

The Wildlife Callers' Team - Marc R, Dave M, & Mark H

Good hunting to everyone–we’ll see you in Glendale,

Mark Healy

info@wildlifecallers.com

Some states do allow the public, via the voting booth, to determine how wildlife is managed.  California voters do not allow mountain lions to be hunted.  As a result, many more encounters between lions and humans have occurred and several people have been killed. Pulblic safety should be a priority.  Just last month a Mt. Lion had to be killed by police in Berkeley after the large cat wandered into the city.  Several Berkeley citizens, seeking the protection of the government, called police to the scene. After police acted appropriately & lawfully and killed the lion, a memorial was erected for the lion at the place it met its demise and a backlash against the police for “overreacting” began.  How would these same Californians have reacted had the cat attacked a small child and dragged it off? 

The right of states to manage wildlife is currently being challenged in Idaho and Montana in the wolf hunting controversy. The ability of these states to control wolf populations has been temporarily knocked down by the federal court, giving wolves (that have reached a sustainable population and then some) far more rights & protections than the elk, moose, and deer.  And let’s not forget cattle ranchers and sheep herders whose livelihood’s depend on the well-being of their livestock. These western states have all but been excluded from game management within their own borders. 

Allowing an emotional voting population to determine how states regulate and manage wildlife populations is a slippery slope. People not familiar the science behind biodiversity and the way game animal balances are established by trained wildlife biologists and state game managers can be easily swayed by emotion, fear, and anthropomorphic fallacies or ”the humanization of wild animals”  into cute, cuddly creatures that in no way resemble their true counterparts in the wild.  

It’s more than obvious that I believe in state’s rights and think hunting regulations, game animal population management, predator control, and other aspects of hunting are best left to state game agencies.  I’m voting YES on AZ Prop 109.  But, what do you think?

Should hunting and fishing become a constitutional right with management reserved to professional biologists & game managers or should it be maintained as is?  Would you like to see these protections in your state?  Is there a downside I’m missing?

We’d like to hear from you on this, so feel free to comment.  As always, it’s free to subscribe, just enter your info below.

Thanks for reading,

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com

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

Rich Higgins, well known coyote behavior expert, and others will be conducting seminars and clinics on proper calling techniques for the beginning predator caller, but seasoned callers may be interested in attending as well.

Seminars will cover:

• Proper set up
• Firearm selection
• Stand selection
• Rules and Regs for predator hunting in AZ
• Sounds used for calling and why
• Use of ladders for calling in heavy brush

Directions to the bootcamp are as follows: Take 87 north through Payson and Strawberry. 6 or 7 miles past Clints Well, just past the Blue Ridge Ranger station, go east on FR 95. About a mile in take FR 513 to the left and follow it to the Boot Camp site. Signs will be posted as well to guide you to the site. Camping will be available for those that may want to head up Friday evening and stay for the weekend.

You may also want to attend: The AZ State Calling Contest that will be held at Cabela’s in Glendale, AZ on Saturday, August 28th at 3PM. Registration for the event begins at 10 AM and a seminar on Intro to Predator Calling will be held at 11 AM.

For more info on both events, contact Rich Higgins at 480-474-7581.

A good way to get out of the hot desert and get yourself geared up for the upcoming season!

Good hunting!

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com