New Mexico Mountain Lion – Called in Tularosa – By Danny Batastini
This mountain lion was taken by world champion predator caller Dusty Wood, the story of this hunt was sent to us by calling champ Danny Batastini.
Predator Hunting Museum – By Danny Batastini
The only museum of its kind, from a one of a kind predator caller
In 2004, my wife and I decided to buy a motel in Carrizozo, NM. As luck would have it, one of the first guys I met was Dusty Wood, the 2003 World Coyote Calling champion. He and I hunted together several times in southern New Mexico. They didn’t have a predator hunting club in NM at the time so I decided to start one. The New Mexico Predator Callers Association was born. The original club was a small club but it grew and another chapter in Albuquerque was formed. This is a large club that holds a couple big hunts out of The Sportsman’s Warehouse every year.
I had some old predator hunting memorabilia from my days in California hanging around so I decided to start a predator hunting museum. We had a large area in our motel lobby to house it. Amazingly people started donating items to put on display and the museum really started taking shape. Within a couple years, we probably had about 150 to 200 people visit the museum and most were very impressed and thankful that there was a museum dedicated to the sport. We put our motel up for sale and we couldn’t take the museum with us. Mike Dillon from FoxPro happened to come by with Dusty Wood one day to see the museum and was inspired. I thought FoxPro would be a perfect place to put the museum and related my idea to Mike. In a short time Dusty came over to help box things up and we sent it all to FoxPro where it is now displayed and has been added to since. FoxPro has done an excellent job with it.
Best regards,
Danny Batastini
Please see my other posts at http://predatorprofessionals.com
(In my own section)
Giving a Little Respect to Ol’ Wile Coyote – By Danny Batastini
Responsible game management means coyote hunters must harvest with tomorrow in mind.
Good outdoorsmen believe in game management – and why not? It makes good sense as it keeps the future of hunting intact for future generations. When it comes to predator hunting, predators such as fox, bobcat, badger, bears, mountain lion, etc all have seasons with just a couple of states being the exception. However, in the southwest I know of no state that has any kind of a season on coyote. They may be taken year round. It sounds to me like Mr. And Mrs. Coyote don’t get much respect.
As a predator caller, I have always respected the coyote to the utmost. I have never hunted them during the denning season (March thru June) unless there were some depredation problems to deal with – which is understandable. Coyotes do, at times, need to be controlled. To me, it makes no sense whatsoever to take a female coyote that has a den full of blind and hungry pups or to shoot one with six pups yet to be born. Your one bullet could take out six pups – that’s six less for you next year! That doesn’t add up to be good sense in my book – unless, of course, you’re doing depredation control. Then it makes perfect sense.
Many of you will know that the US government has undertaken many coyote eradication programs and all of them have failed. The coyote is too hardy an animal. He always makes a comeback despite the eradication efforts. Some eradication programs have met with limited success by simply Danny Batastini reducing the number of coyotes in a particular area so, as with the cockroach, we will never eliminate him (thank God). In areas where there is no coyote management, maybe serious predator callers should consider not taking coyotes during the denning season of March through June (the pelts aren’t worth anything then anyway!). I would give those little prairie wolves a chance to grow up thus giving you a worthy adversary later in the year. Before anyone jumps out of their skin or starts “chuckin’ a wobbly”, this is just my opinion – I only wish it were yours too if only out of respect for the animal.
Of course you can do as you like, but hopefully you will give this some serious thought. Maybe we all can practice a little “non-required” but sensible game management thus ensuring very good hunting for the predator caller. I’ve hunted the coyote for most of my adult life in almost every western state and over the years have developed a very high respect for what is probably one of the smartest predators in North America. I hope that you too will develop a respect for this animal – if you haven’t already.
Thank you and Good hunting!!!
Respectfully,
Danny Batastini
