Wildlife Callers

A Cool Getaway From The Desert Heat, PVCI Novice Bootcamp

Our friends at Phoenix Varmint Callers club are holding a novice callers bootcamp in the cool pines of Payson, AZ this upcoming weekend, Saturday, August 14th at 9 am.

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

No Wolf Season This Year, Now What?

Since last week’s ruling on re-listing the Wolf to endangered species status, we’ve been asked what can be done going forward and to restore wolf hunting.

Based on a legal technicality regarding ESA (endangered species act) stating that de-listing of a species cannot be done on a state by state basis, the management of the species by Montana and Idaho were shot down.  Wyoming did not propose a wolf management plan based on the fact that Wyoming does not classify the wolf as a big game species. Wyoming lists the wolf as a predator and allows for the trapping and killing on sight of wolves throughout most of the state. As a result, wolves were not de-listed in Wyoming last year and Wyoming did not propose anything different for this year either. 

This is a very good article written by Keith McCafferty for Field and Stream magazine on what can be done to try to possibly reverse this ruling in the future:  Who’s to Blame for Wolf Reinstatement(and What You Can Do About It)

We encourage our readers to write to the appropriate people in Wyoming (and other states that have Wolf populations, however minor) mentioned in the article and encourage them to change their way of thinking.

We don’t want to see the SSS (shoot, shovel and shut up) mentality take over, our sport, and hunting in general is already being attacked.  This would only give the “anti-hunter” people even more fuel to attack our right to hunt and our ability to pass traditions along to our children.

We will continue to pass along any information about this subject as we get it.

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Good hunting!

Marc Reindell

marc@wildlifecallers.com

Predator Calling Sound Pictures – What are You Telling Your Target Predators?

There was time when a single sound of a crying rabbit from your Johnny Stewart mouth call was all you needed to bring Wile Coyote running.  Today the calling pressure is on and times have changed.  Call more “un-callable” critters and get the most from your e-caller by using the whole sound library! 

  

Back in the day… 

Mark Healy and an Arizona Coyote & Gray Fox that Fell for Cottontail Distress - circa 1986-87

a tape recorder with a Johnny Stewart rabbit distress tape, or my Circe twist-top 3-sound mouth call would give a guy plenty of opportunities to call and shoot predators.  When I started predator calling in 1986, the sport was only somewhat popular and unless you called the same spots over and over, the chances of calling at critters that already heard that same ol’ song before was slim.  This was the same time in Arizona hunting history when guys got a December  “Any Antlered Deer” tag and would NOT even consider hunting for a Coues Whitetail!  My, my, how times have changed as thousands of hunters apply for what’s become just a handful of December Coues tags.  

These days it seems that just about everyone who likes hunting has added or wants to add an electronic predator call to his or her hunter’s gear bag.  Several years ago the predator hunting videos took off in popularity and people got excited about calling coyotes, bobcats, and other critters, to the business end of their rifle — especially in states where their chances of getting a deer and/or elk tag was fading every year.  With this sport’s new-found explosive popularity over the past decade, the chances of calling into country that hasn’t been called is slim.  

I just finished talking to a guy who called for a full 2-years with a mouth call before he ever called his first coyote.  Now, I will say that I appreciate this young man’s tenacity!  However, if he’d had some better techniques, better understanding of his quarry, and better calling equipment, I firmly believe he could have cut that figure down by 1 year and 11 months.   

But how?  (more…)

Fall Hunting is Coming Fast – Is Your Scouting Gear Up to Date?

We’ve added two new compact trail/scouting camera styles and 4gb memory cards to The Wildlife Callers’ Store.  Don’t just hunt. Hunt where you know there’s a trophy! 

 

Are you an outfitter?  Hunting or Calling Club Member?  Please call for details on bulk purchasing rates.  We can save you even more money on a group order!  Toll Free 1-877-734-1010 

Regular readers to The Wildlife Callers’ Blog know that routine scouting has been a huge part of our success in calling mountain lions.  Before we spend a lot of time mountain lion calling in a particular area, we use trail cameras to find out if an area is getting frequent cougar activity.  These cameras are also part of our scouting arsenal for Coues Whitetail and Elk. 

We’ve had great luck with the infrared flash DLC Covert trail cameras, believe other people will too, so we became a distributor.  They have a fast 1.2 second or faster trigger, take excellent 5mp photos and up to 60 seconds of video.  We’re offering these great little cameras as a single unit and in a money saving twin-pack.  To see specs on these battery-friendly, compact cameras in our store, just click on the photo, or CLICK HERE.  As of this blog post we have them in stock and ready for immediate delivery. 

Covert II Trail Camera by DLC

There is another compact game camera that caught our attention as well.  Wildgame Innovations has taken some of their best & time-tested trail cam technology and put it in a much smaller case.  (more…)

San Carlos Indian Reservation Electronic Predator and Other Game Animal Calling

San Carlos is a spectacular place to hunt, both in terms of the scenic views and the variety of predators you can call there.  But, is it legal to use your electronic caller on their reservation?

 

As of this Wildlife Callers blog post (May 2010) it is NOT legal to use an electronic call to call/attract any animals with an electronic call on the San Carlos Reservation. 

San Carlos Indian Wildlife & Recreation Regulation 002-M

 You can access the regualtion by CLICKING HERE and then choosing “Regulations” on the left margin.

 

Yes, some of the rules and regs on San Carlos have changed often and this one is no exception.  However, better to know the current rules and either use hand calls, or go somewhere else.  I’ve hunted on San Carlos for the past 24 years and I will be headed elsewhere until it changes back.  Dave Martens and I have spent thousands of dollars in permit fees on San Carlos and we’re not sure what they’re trying to accomplish with this rule.   Hopefully it will change soon, but until it does the hand calling crowd will have it all to themselves!!

San Carlos has also been a hot hunting spot for out of state hunters looking for lots of ground to hunt and reasonable daily rates for predator calling and small game hunting.  If you know an out of stater that likes predator calling and hunting on San Carlos, please pass this blog post along.  The San Carlos Game & Fish guys have always been great with us, but they absolutely will ticket violators and confiscate your caller.

Thank you again for your questions that give us these opportunities to do some research and blog about it.  As always, subscriptions to the blog are FREE. 

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If you have any comments, please scroll down and add them below in the comments section. 

Thanks for reading,

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com