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.

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Thank you again for reading — and good calling,

Mark Healy

480-882-1210

info@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

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.  

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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

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? 

Let’s make the assumption that if a domestic dog can be conditioned, then a coyote can too.  I don’t believe that coyotes can “get smart”, but I’m certain that being called and shot at will have a lasting and negative effect on a coyote’s willingness to come running back to that sound.  In prior posts I’ve related it to behavior-conditioned dogs running for the sound of the kitchen can opener.  The only difference being, the hail of bullets outcome is very negative and repelling whereas the food reward from the Kitchen Aid very positive — conditioning nonetheless.  

Therefore, it stands to reason that a coyote that hears rabbit distress cries over and over that have nothing to do with a rabbit, dinner, or anything good, that coyote will become leary of that noise.  How then can it be changed? 

The electronic callers available today have many different sounds not only from the animal your hunting, but animal sounds like crows, hawks, and eagles that can be used to build a realistic “sound scene” that breaks from the traditional “waaa -waaa – waaa – waaa” rabbit cadence and provides the illusion of predator/prey/scavenger interaction that’s real and happening right now.  

So, what is a “sound scene”? 

Generally speaking, it is using a dozen or more sounds on a stand in an attempt to replicate a very busy and chaotic living scene surrounding a prey animal that has been brought down by a predator.  I always try to bring in the sounds of the prey distress and then mix in the sounds of coyotes fighting over food, foxes barking out warnings, or female cougars being aggressive and territorial.  Then to that I add the sounds of scavengers like crows, ravens, and even hawk screams.  In short, I make my scene come alive with animal activity and competition for calories. 

There are a few things that support this calling style. 

First – It’s successful.  I have called lots and lots of predators using this technique.   I have all of these sounds (and then some) on my Mighty Atom 21.  I may as well make use of them. 

Second – My time in nature has shown me firsthand this pattern of predator/prey/scavenger behavior.  For instance, on one of my hunts: 

After watching a cow stuck neck-deep in a soupy mud hole, yelling and raising heck for a half an hour (without stopping) I wandered over to see if there was something humane I could do. Just about 18 inches, or so, of her back was sticking up. She’d been struggling and getting deeper in the mud with her every attempt to get out.

Another Cow - Victim of Drought and Ravaged by Predators & Scavengers - Post Mortem

When I got down to the muddy pond, I noticed that coyotes had eaten a hole in the hide on the upper left hind area of the cow. They had eaten away at the muscles along the spine, the back flanks and had pulled guts up and out of the cows gut-sack leaving chewed-up intestines laying on the ground still connected to the screaming cow. To make matters worse, the crows had come in and pecked both eyes out and eaten the front two inches of it’s tongue.

This was a ghastly scene, and I learned a lot from it. While I wasn’t there, that scene was filled noises of scavenging & predatory critters competing for those calories and trying to survive. It was absolutely apparent they did not have the capacity to feel anything for the cow. Screaming dinner… Quiet dinner… They didn’t care, so long as it was dinner. 

Additionally, even though it couldn’t see me, the cow screamed the whole time I was next to her – never pausing.

Not wanting to be accused of a crime (the world we live in) I ended up finding a Game & Fish rep and sending them down to dispatch the cow.

Third – If you watch nature shows like the Nature special  Yellowstone: Battle for Life, you’ll see that the process of predators hunting and consuming prey is sometimes fairly quiet and fast (like a red fox finding a vole and quickly chewing it up) and sometimes it’s a very noisy process (like a wolf pack killing an elk, consuming it while surrounded by crows, hawks, eagles, and magpies, and then killing and consuming a coyote that ventured too close).

What happens in nature supports both calling more quietly and calling aggressively with several sounds.  So I have adopted an approach of starting out a bit more quiet with fewer sound changes, and then getting progressively more aggressive and loud as the “sound picture” I’m creating turns into predator/prey/scavenger scene that deserves investigation by the predators in the area.

This process is covered in more detail, with sound choices, in this blog: Gray Fox & Bobcat Calling – What Sounds? When? How Long? How Loud?

Truthfully, there aren’t a lot of guys that will outlast 24 months of blank stands and still head out for month number 25.  Most would have called it quits in 90-days!  What a shame that would be – this is a very rewarding pursuit.  Actually, once you get the hang of it, it’s completely addictive (in a positive and good way).  So use your e-caller and all of the natural sounds that it can bring to bear on every stand and set-up you make. 

If you enjoyed this blog, subscriptions to it are FREE!!If you have any questions on how we do this or the electronic predator calling equipment we use just click here or give us a call toll-free at 877-734-1010.  We’re happy to help.

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Thank you again for reading – have a great fall season!

Mark Healy