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A Cool Getaway From The Desert Heat, PVCI Novice Bootcamp

Posted August 12, 2010 By Marc Reindell and has no comments yet.

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

Categories: News & Media, Predator calling

Tags: Arizona outdoors, Arizona predator hunting, Hunting, predator callers, Predator calling, predator calls, predator hunter, predator hunting, wildlife callers

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

Posted July 22, 2010 By Mark Healy and has 1 comment.

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…)

Categories: Predator calling, electronic callers

Tags: Arizona predator hunting, bobcat, bobcat calling, calling coyotes, calling mountain lion, cougar calling, coyote, electronic game callers, electronic predator calling, electronic wildlife caller, gray fox, hunters, Hunting, Mighty Atom, mountain lion hunting, predator call, predator callers, Predator calling, predator hunter, predator hunting, wildlife callers, wildlife technologies

Coyote Pair Called on Video – Mouse Squeaks & Crow Sounds Bring ‘em In

Posted June 15, 2010 By Mark Healy and has 2 comments.

While in Chillicothe, Missouri this past January for a few days of coyote and mixed-bag predator calling, I captured this pair of winter coyotes coming to the call.

These coyotes responded in about 7-8 minutes to a mixture of mouse and vole distress squeaks combined with sounds of crows mobbing food and excited crow calling from my Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21 electronic wildlife caller. I’ve used this technique successfully many other times. I play the sounds continuously and vary the volume from medium to medium/loud. Once the predator is spotted coming in, I drop the volume to keep it/them moving toward the speaker.

Unfortunately, the shooter hit the coyote too far back to be immediately effective.

Thank you again for reading and sending us your success photos! We enjoy hearing about the success you’re having in the field. Please feel free to add your comments below.

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Good calling,

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com

Categories: Predator calling, coyote, wildlife technologies

Tags: calling coyotes, coyote, electronic wildlife caller, predator callers, Predator calling, predator hunter, predator hunting, wildlife technologies

San Carlos Indian Reservation Electronic Predator and Other Game Animal Calling

Posted May 18, 2010 By Mark Healy and has 7 comments.

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.

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

Thanks for reading,

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com

Categories: Books & Education, Predator calling

Tags: Arizona outdoors, Arizona predator hunting, digital wildlife calling, electronic game callers, electronic predator calling, electronic wildlife caller, Hunting, predator call, predator callers, Predator calling, predator hunter, predator hunting, wildlife callers, wildlife calls

Color Phase Black Bear Called and Taken In Idaho

Posted May 7, 2010 By Marc Reindell and has 1 comment.

Tom Sorenson of Base Camp Legends contacted us about a Black Bear he called in on a cool spring day in the mountains of Idaho. This is a nice color phase bear, Tom and his wife had been scouting this area for a few weeks prior to calling this beauty.

Tom Sorenson and his color phase Black Bear called in.

Tom lives in Weiser, ID and called this bear less than an hour from his home. Idaho does not allow the use of electronic game callers for big game, including bear and mountain lion. He used a Primos Hyper Lip Cow Call to call the bear. Tom and his wife took up predator calling about a year ago or so, looks like they are catching on pretty quick!

Below is an excerpt from Tom’s story:

“ The game plan was much the same as the previous week – lots of hiking and glassing, and lots of calling. Predator calling was something we’d started last year and in all the sets we’d had yet to call in a bear – call that a bit of foreshadowing. I don’t know the exact score, but I’d imagine it was somewhere around 30 sets and no bears. For the record, those are pretty bad odds. But the law of averages says that we were due.” (more…)

Categories: Predator Scouting, Predator calling