Wildlife Callers

Bobcat & Fox Double Play, Again!-Guest Post By Scott Francom

Wildlife Callers welcomes Scott Francom’s first guest post. Scott is a field rep for GameTraks callers and has been featured on our site once before after spending a day in the field with Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers.

Scott sent us some photos of his Arizona predator hunting double down day last week, we asked him to share his story with us and he agreed, read Scott’s story here.

Scott Francom - AKA Hyperwrx on the Internet

Scott Francom - GameTraks field rep.

Josh Ebert and I go calling together about once a month and when we get together,  we generally always have the same results – bobcats and gray foxes.  It’s not hard to understand why our take always includes these two species of predators.  We both have grown to enjoy the terrain these two species share and the unique way in which they both come to the call rivals nothing else in the Arizona desert.

Our most recent excursion had us knee deep in Junipers and crawling up and down large boulders.  Josh had scouted the area previously on a deer hunt and knew there were gray foxes in the area and where there are grays there most certainly are bobcats.  We quaded in on a rough forest road to an overlook with a vast collection of tan boulders and smaller rock formations.

7 springs 2

Josh and I separated ourselves on the downward slope and I positioned the GameTraks caller between us on the flat ground.  I sat on the ground,  slipped my shooting sticks over my Savage .17hrm, and pressed the button that began the Johnny Stewart Gray Fox Distress soundbyte on the GameTraks caller down below.  The valley lit-up with the squeaking and raspy growling of a hurt fox.  Five minutes of this and I heard Josh lip squeak to my far right. (more…)

Bobcat? Fox? It’s a BobFox!

Dude, where’s your tail?!

 

Long time predator caller Matt Avey of Glendale, AZ and I headed out Sunday the 8th for a day with the new Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom (available here).  The caller performed flawlessly and we had fun with a large group of javelina on our third set and a few gray fox the rest of the day. 

We were calling in a spot that was completely new to Matt and one that I hadn’t been in for the last 21 years.  On the last stand of the day we called in a pair of beautiful Arizona gray fox.  The one pictured below was the second to arrive at the eighteen minute mark.  Without a tail and the length of time it took to come to the stand, I thought it was a young bobcat.  Matt wasted no time shooting it, and whispered he’d gotten a better look through his scope and it was actually a gray fox. 

Arizona Gray Fox w/ Bobtail

Arizona Gray Fox w/ Bobtail

Arizona Gray Fox w/ Bobtail

Arizona Gray Fox w/ Bobtail

 

 

I haven’t seen anything like this before.  The tail didn’t look like it had ever been injured, and appeared to be a genetic flaw. 

We had varied success throughout the day and called another pair of fox in a sandy wash with brushy/rocky canyon walls surrounding it.

 

 

 

 

 

This gray fox pictured here with the Mighty Atom came in charging hard at the 5 minute mark.  (more…)

Grey Fox Calling Video – Scouting and Success Go Hand in Hand

A morning trip to scout for mountain lions turned into grey fox filming.  This is a great video of how a fox can be manipulated with a variety of prey sounds and fox vocalizations. 

 

Don’t miss our updates.  Subscribing to the blog is free, we won’t sell your info or spam you, and it can be done on the upper right side of the blog page – Thank you!!

While in the field recently, I was working my way along a decomposed granite road looking for lion tracks and other lion sign, when I came across the tracks in the photo below:

Fox Tracks on Tire Marks

Fox Tracks on Tire Marks

When I found these fox tracks I noticed right away that they were right on top of a tire track, indicating that they were at least more recent than that tire track. I took some time to evaluate the tire track the fox had walked on and found the tire track was on top of all the other tracks on the road, thus it was from the last vehicle to drive through.  The area is fairly well travelled and my best guess was that the vehicle had passed through the prior evening. 

Realizing that the fox tracks were just a few hours old, I set up my Wildlife Technologies electronic caller in a rocky canyon running adjacent to the roadway. (more…)

An Arizona Desert Predator Calling Double – Bobcat and Fox

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers was calling for mountain lions in central Arizona and takes a bobcat-fox double!

 

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers AZ Bobcat & Fox Double!

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers AZ Bobcat & Fox Double!

 

Dave set out for a day of calling mountain lion in his scouted areas.  It turned out to be an amazing day in the field, despite not seeing any lions.  Dave called six grey fox on one stand and several more throughout the day.  On one of his stands, he called this bobcat and grey fox combo and decided to take them.  Because the target animal was mountain lion, Dave let several foxes walk away throughout the day. (more…)

Steve Craig – Tell us about your best day predator calling

 Steve Craig – The “Mountain Lion King” from Cottonwood Arizona shares a great wildlife calling memory.

Steve Craig is one of the most recognized names in predator calling in North America, and is one of the foremost authorities on calling mountain lions using their own vocalizations. Steve is also an expert in the use of Wildlife Technologies electronic wildlife callers and the library of digitally recorded animal sounds provided by that company. We are very pleased to post Steve Craig’s work on the Wildlife Callers’ Blog.


   (more…)