Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

With the winter weather that we’ve gotten this year, hunters know that this is the ideal time to start calling predator.

I remember my first Nebraska predator-calling trip like it was yesterday.  A friend of mine from Omaha who works as a manufacturer’s representative for a call company was on his way north one afternoon and asked if I’d like to try calling coyotes.

I’m game for anything, so I told him why not. I figured we had a couple of hours of daylight left and with the new snow on the ground; we could easily spot the coyotes.

As the sun had just set he pulled into the driveway and I figured our hunting opportunity had just disappeared along with the sun.

Well, I was mistaken as he planned on hunting after “dark”, with the two of us sitting back to back on a snow covered hillside, calling and howling at the coyotes, using the light of the full moon to spot them as they came in.

Since I hadn’t gotten back from the military  all that long ago, I wasn’t too happy about sitting on a hillside in the dark, waiting for some outraged coyote to jump me.

Too make a long story short, on one of our first set ups, he howled in a “Pack” of coyotes, intent on kicking the heck out of whomever or whatever was making all that racket.

It was then and there that I remembered that my night vision sucked!

Several coyotes cane at us from below while the others tried to get at us by coming in over the top of the ridge.

As the sounds of the coyotes charging across the frozen snow got louder as they came closer, what little hair I had stood up on the back of my neck

Setting on the uphill side, with a shotgun loaded with buckshot, I wasn’t able to see the anything until they came over the rise 20 yards from me.

Looking at three nasty growling coyotes that were coming at me on a dead run and having only a split second to react wasn’t what I’d expected.

As they charged over the hill, I pumped and fired until the shotgun was empty, managing to take out one that came to rest right at my feet and wound another which we retrieved later

Mike who was armed with a 243 also took out a couple that had come running across the cornfield below us.

It wasn’t that I was a good shot, as at that range, it’s impossible to miss, as it was purely self-defense on my part and after I stopped shaking, I informed Mike that this was the first and last time I would ever try calling at night!

It was a great experience, but one that I would from that point on only experience by the light of day, not during the dark of the night.

When I talk about calling predators, in the upper Midwest, I’m not just talking about coyotes, because you’re apt to call in fox, bobcats, badgers or even a raccoon.

There’s also could be a slim chance that you might call in a larger predator that’s made its way into our area, the mountain lion

Just thought you might want to know that!

During the warmer months, these predators have had a pretty good life, rabbits, ground squirrels, mice and birds had just had their young and there’s a lot to eat.

Because of this, they didn’t have to work all that hard to come up with a good meal.

Once the cold weather and snow arrives, they’re going to need a lot more to eat in order to stay warm.

Since they’ve made a meal of much of what was easily available before the snow arrived; getting enough to eat during the winter becomes a lot more work.

Because of this, predators will be out, on the move, looking for food and with the snow on the ground, they’re going to be easier to spot.

In the old days, predator calling wasn’t all that popular, but with professional callers like Randy Anderson from Butte, Nebraska giving seminars and producing calling videos, the sport of predator calling has grown big time.

This is part of the reason that the calls have improved, as has our camo clothing, mode of transportation and weapons we use to call and take predators.

In years past, there were just a couple of companies that manufactured predator calls.  Today almost every company that makes a duck call now puts out a whole array of predator calls.

Much of the old army camouflage clothing has now been replaced with numerous patterns that allow us to blend in with everything from sagebrush to junipers and even snow.

The new waterproof and lightweight insulation used on and in hunters clothing now give us the opportunity to hunt in the most sever weather conditions.

With the four-wheel ATV’s, hunters are now able to get back into areas that not too many years ago were inaccessible.

When it comes to calls, most predator callers use the cottontail or jackrabbit distress: bird distress calls, fawn bleat or mouse squeaker calls to bring coyotes and other predators into range.

When these old standbys don’t produce as well as they should, hunters now are able to use calls to howls, yelp and bark predators in.

These along with the electronic calls like the Fox Pro Fury; you’re able to throw all kinds of sounds out there; giving coyotes something they might not have heard before.

You can use a combination of both the mouth and the electronic calls, mixing in distress calls as well as howls and yelps.

By doing this, you can get the coyotes to believe that a group of coyotes are fighting over a rabbit meal.

I’ve found that howling doesn’t need to be used only during the winter months.  It works year round, but there are certain times of the year that a howl or yelp really shines!

This is especially true during the late winter/early spring, when the coyotes are dispersing or marking their territory and breeding.

Coyotes bark or howl to communicate with each other and if they don’t hear another coyote howl back they think that there are no others in that area.

If another coyote does howl back, the intruder has a couple of choices, one is to either head for another less populated area or two, stand his ground and take on the coyote or coyotes that will come to challenge him.

The more aggressive the howl, the more likely that the coyotes in the area will come charging in looking to kick the holy daylights out of the intruder

When I first set up, the first call I like to use is a howler.  A coyote may be resting just over the hill or in a blowout lying in the shade and when he hears the howl, he’ll poke his head over the hill to see what all the racket was.

Don’t over look any spot when calling coyotes as any wooded area, small creek bottoms or CRP field will hold coyotes.

In order to spot an incoming predator, I like to work off of a hilltop, ridge or some higher position that allows me to see a long distance.

This can be a ridge top, haystack or on top of a stack of hay bales.

If you’re going to set up on top of hay bales or a haystack you want to make sure that others know you’re there.

You’ll want to park your vehicle along the road where it’s visible or be far enough off the road where people driving by can’t see you.

The reason for this is that coyotes are notorious for lying on bales and stacks soaking up the warmth of the sun and you surely don’t want someone who is driving by to take a pot shot at you thinking that you were a coyote.

Most farmers and ranchers are happy to give you permission to call coyotes because coyotes can really be a problem, especially around calving time.

In most states, there’s no season on predators so they can be hunted throughout the year, which allows the hunter the opportunity to help control the predator population and keep your shooting eye sharp.

I like most predator callers feel that anyone can learn to call coyotes or other predators.

What you need to do is to learn as much as you can about the critter you’re after, then get yourself some calls and spend some time in the outdoors practicing with your calls.

Calling predators is an excellent way to take care of the excess predators that raise havoc with our upland birds and deer population.

You’ll also be able to recoup some of your expenses by selling the furs.  This year, it won’t be a lot, but every little bit helps now days!

Predator calling can be really exciting, a great sport that can be enjoyed year around!