Predator Call

Just completed an article for the JOURNAL OF THE TEXAS TROPHY HUNTERS magazine on the use of scents, coverscents and clothing designed to reduce human odor.  It will appear in the July/August issue to my knowledge.

I know that there many companies that make a very good living producing scent eliminating products, animal scents and coverscents.  I feel that in some situations, these scents can be effective at least to buy you a few more seconds which can be very important when trying to take a shot with a rifle or bow. In my opinion, the degree a hunter should go to eliminate or mask his odor should be dictated by the critter he or she is chasing and how close you need to get to that critter to make a killing shot.  But until proven wrong, I am going to continue to hunt into the wind.

See you outdoors. 

One of my really good friends, Travis Hall, Public Relations for BROWNING and I hunted turkeys this last weekend.  We called an average of three gobbling two year old birds within shotgun range every time we sat down!  We had a great time and killed four of the birds, allowing the others to walk off. I was somewhat concerned that we did not see a bird of any other age class than two years old, proving that we have had a number of hatch failures over the last several years.  The good news is that we have good moisture and adequate ground cover to assure a large hatch this spring. 

This is a great year to introduce a youngster or beginning hunter to spring turkey hunting.  See you outdoors.

Hunting is enjoyed by a lot of people.  They like to spend time with their fellow sportsmen in the woods hunting.  Many look forward to the mountain lion hunting season because they are fascinated by big cats.  And there are several hunting areas that are perfect for hunting mountain lions. Some outfitters have guides and hounds that accompany hunters on their hunt.  Having an expert guide increases your chances of having a successful hunt.  And you will enjoy the lodge where you will be staying and trading stories with fellow hunters.

Matt Martinez of Dallas, Texas passed away on March 13, 2009 after a lengthy battle with cancer.  Matt had been one of my closest hunting partners over the last ten years.  While most will remember Matt for his culinary skills, I will remember him for his quick witt and love of the great outdoors.  To my knowledge, he is the only world class chef who hunted coyotes.  He understood that it took more hunting skill to trick a coyote on his turf than to kill a monster buck from a blind.  He was patient and understood that hunting did not necessarily mean killing.  No matter how slow the hunting or brutal the weather, Matt would not complain. I had the honor to visit with Matt a few weeks ago.  Walking with the aid of a walker, Matt never mentioned that we might have hunted our last hunt, rather talked about how good the hunting would be next fall.  He was eternally optomistic and had a special way of making everyone around him feel you were important to him.  While I cherish the time we spent in the woods, it is the time we spent in camp that was most special to me. 

I hunted the open plains in New Mexico 8 days in January.  On three of those days, it was the quietest that I have ever seen it there.  I was almost afraid to turn on the electronic game caller at low volume as the sound seemed excessively loud.  In the past, I would have considered these to be excellent days but with only one coyote responding in three mornings, I have changed my mind.I feel that the reason for the lack of productivity is due to a couple of reasons.  One, as quite as it was you could hear the sound of a pickup driving on the ranch roads from miles away.  Since the ranch hands shoot at the coyotes from the trucks from time to time, the dogs keep track of where they are.  Even though we are hiding our truck and walking several hundred yards from them to make a call.  The coyotes did not want to go near the area where they last heard the truck noise.

Another reason that I feel the coyotes were inactive is a coyote feeds with his nose.  While he will use his eyes to see prey, he will not bite it until he tests it with his nose.  There was so little wind that I could not tell where the pressure was coming from.  When I looked at the Stick Tease (a turkey feather attached to a fiberglass rod) near the caller, I saw it move 360 degrees.  When a coyote cannot decide where to go to wind his prey, he is very nervous. 

On all three days, the wind decided where it would blow from around noon.  It was then that the coyotes started coming to my calls and hunting improved.

My Great Grandfather, Erskine Outlaw was one of founders of the South Texas Wolf Hunters Association back in 1920.  The association was a group of hunters that ran coyotes down with hounds rather than call them with predator calls as we do today.  The association would host an annual hunt or meet on a large ranch.  Men, women and children would camp, cast their hounds and fellowship for most of a week, casting their hounds three different mornings.

This event had grown so large that in 1936, LIFE and TIME magazines sent reporters to cover the event.  I recently purchased a copy of the LIFE magazine covering the event.  It is reported that there were 150 men horseback and over 1,000 in vehicles trying to keep up with the 257 hounds that were cast that first morning.

Too much grass is a problem that I rarely encounter when coyote hunting in Texas and New Mexico but this year is the exception.  While 2008 was not above average for precipitation, we did receive most all of our rain in August.  This late rain created a great situation for growing much needed grass going into the winter.  Since I was born and raised on a ranch, I am going to be the last person to complain about rain and especially too much grass.  Thought not complaining, I must say that the abundant tall grass greatly affected my animal calling this winter. 

The tall grass kept me from making a call in New Mexico when I was there in October and November.  It was not until I returned to the big ranch country in January that I was able to see a coyote in some areas.  I just returned from a ranch in North Texas where grass greatly impaired my ability to make a call where coyote sign was everywhere.  There were many occasions when we would stop the truck and walk into an area that from a distance looked fairly open, only to walk back to the truck without making a call.  When calling coyotes, it is better not to make a marginal call than make a call where the coyote has most of the advantages.  It is difficult enough to get a coyote up and kill him when the odds are stacked in your favor.

Burnham Brothers continues to lead the predator calling industry by bringing more folks into the game.  While Mossy Oak has partnered with Burnham Brothers since the mid 90’s with the four part EYES FRONT video series.  Two years ago, Gary Roberson owner of Burnham Brothers convinced Savage Arms that this time was right to build a rifle dedicated to this sport, then came the Model 10 Predator Hunter.  This past year, Roberson worked with Jon Allen and Jon LaCorte of Nikon Sport Optics to produce a riflescope specific for coyote calling. This past weekend, Mossy Oak, Savage Arms, Nikon Sport Optics and Burnham Brothers met in northeast New Mexico for a coyote hunt.  While the coyotes were not responding as well as we hoped, we had a great time and visited about what we can do to help this great sport to continue to grow. 

This last week, I received emails and text messages from some young hunters who had recently purchased Compucaller III’s.  One of the young fellows is from Mason and had just won a calling contest in Mason with 36 gray fox taken in 24 hours.  Another young gent from San Angelo won the Sonora hunt last weekend with 20 gray fox and a bobcat.  I met a couple of young hunters at Cleburne and sold them a Compucaller III.  They carried it to the field that evening and called up 5 coyotes, one cat and a fox on three stands.  The next night he hunted again and killed eight coyotes. 

It is great to see all of these young guys out there hunting instead of doing all of the things that get so many young folks in trouble.  Predator control costs taxpayers over $100 million annually and these young hunters kill predators at no expense to any one.  

Last spring, I had the opportunity to turkey hunt with Jon Allen, General Manager, Nikon Sport Optics.  We had a great time and a friendship developed almost immediately.  While hunting turkeys, Jon and I started talking about the virtues of the perfect predator calling riflescope.  A few months later at a Nikon Shoot in Kerrville, I met Jon LaCorte, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Nikon Sport Optics.  Over the next month or two, the two Jons and I visited on the specs of the predator calling scopes.  I was finally able to put my hands on one of three prototypes at the 2009 Shot Show in Orlando, Florida and brought the 3-9×40 Coyote Special in Mossy Oak home with me.

As soon as I returned to Texas, I mounted the scope on my Savage Model 10 Predator Hunter and went to the range.  The first shot impacted the target 2.5″ to the right and 1″ low.  Since the riflescope features precise hand-turn 1/4″ click adjustments, I moved it 10 clicks to the left and 8 clicks up.  The next shot cut the vertical line one inch above the bullseye.  I fired two more shots and that produced a .6″ group in spite of a 20 mile per hour crosswind.

The characteric that makes this scope different is the reticle.  Instead of the usual crosshairs, the vertical and horizontal lines are interrupted by a 3″ open circle.  With my .223 shooting one inch high at 100 yards, I simply put the target inside the circle and squeeze the trigger.  When we first began conversations about building a riflescope for calling predators, my primary concern was to develop a product that would reduce target acquisition time.  With this scope, you simply see the target area in the open circle and shoot, there is no need to find crosshairs or look for a dot.