Predator Call

For many years, I have considered carrying a camo net to throw over my truck when calling open, flat country.  A camo net would help hide my pickup and would reduce the distance that I would have to walk away from it when setting up to make a call.  In country where hunters or ranch hands shoot at coyotes from vehicles, coyotes become very shy of them. 

In stead of wresting with a huge camo netting, I have decided to camo my pickup in Mossy Oak Brush.  Mossy Oak Brush is the perfect camo pattern when calling open prairie country.  While reflection off of window glass may remain a problem, it is my hope the camo will be adequate to fool most critters, coyote calling will be the ultimate test. 

Last spring I was hunting bobcats with hounds near Dilley, Texas.  One of the gentlemen in attendance had a small flashlight (just over 4 inches long and an inch in diameter) that would shine down the sendero for at least 200 yards.  I wrote down the name of the light and when I got back to the office found that the company had several different models.  I looked through their catalog and found a tactical light powered by (3)AAA batteries and had a battery life of 136 hours.  They advertised the effective range to be over 700 feet which is perfect for a shooting light.In my opinion, a perfect shooting light is small, lightweight, should not have an external power source and can be easily attached or removed from a rifle.  If the tactical light was the perfect light, all that was needed was a means to attach it to your rifle or shotgun; a  sturdy mounting system that would allow the hunter to attach two round objects that are approximately 1″ in diameter to each other.  The finish of the mounting system should be such that it does not scratch any surfaces.  While we will continue to market the SL-18 Shooting Light for closer range shooting, we feel that the tactical light and bracket will be very popular with the night time predator caller.

See you outdoors,

Gary

“Are there common qualities that all good predator callers possess?”  I was asked this question  a couple of years ago and my first impulse was to answer “No” but after thinking about it, I must say that there are some things that all really good predator callers have in common.

They were all raised on farms and ranches and began hunting very early.   They continue to live in rural areas or where they can be hunting in a matter of minutes.

While they are proficient with handguns and shotguns, the weapon of choice is a bolt action rifle.  They are a little ”old fashioned” and have not joined the fad of semi-auto rifles.  They know it is patience and accuracy, not fire power that puts fur on the ground.

They are “hard headed” and most persistent.  They are confident that what they are doing will work.

When in the woods, they notice things that most hunters are not aware of.  They are good at tracking and reading sign. 

A good predator hunter avoid crowds if possible and enjoys hunting alone.

All really good predator hunters are good “dog” men.  They hunt predators or hogs with dogs.  I am not sure of the relationship other than “dog” men spend so many hours in the woods on a year round basis.

Predator hunting is a rapidly growing sport with many young hunters getting involved.  I am sure that the qualities of the hunter will change and that is a good thing for the hunter described above is a dying breed.   

See you outdoors, 

Gary

Got up early Saturday morning and took Jimmy and Lizzie out to see if we could find a coon or bobcat.  I noticed there was a slight breeze from the north and a nip in the air.  After loading the hounds, I drove past Menard National Bank and the time and temperature read 57 degrees. The dogs obviously enjoyed the cooler temperatures and hunted at a much faster pace.  As the sun broke over the horizon, I realized that my Tshirt was a little thin and had to run the heater in my pickup.  Scenting conditions were great as the cooler air and moisture helped hold the scent on the grass.  I treed 5 coons but did not see a bobcat track.  The cool mornings are a sign of the things to come.  In a month I will start calling for critters rather than chasing them with my hounds.  I will dust off my varmint calls, check my rifle for zero and get ready for another season. 

See you outdoors,

Gary

As a youngster, I thought that “rattling” was magic, a “cure all”.  If I only knew how to rattle, I would never have to experience another hunt without seeing a buck.  I could go to the woods, knock the “horns” together and all of the old bucks that had avoided me for years would come charging from the thickets.  After rattling for over 40 years, I am convinced that rattling is a truly a magic hunting technique when it works, but certainly no cure all.

While some rattling experts would want you to believe that if you do not perform a certain routine or sequence that your chances of calling a buck are slim to none.  I do not agree for it seems to me that the racket that you make may not be as important as when and where you are trying to call a buck.  My Great Uncle rattled many whitetail bucks by banging a four inch 2×4 block on the wooden stock of his rifle. 

I feel the key ingredient to successful horn rattling is to call where bucks are competitive.  As a rule, the closer the buck to doe ratio, the more competition between bucks for a receptive doe.  It seems to me that I have difficulty rattling a buck if the buck to doe ratio exceeds 1 to 4. 

If your goal is to call a mature buck, rattle in the pre-rut (the week to 10 days prior to the peak of the rut).  When numerous does are cycling as they do when the rut peaks, you can bet that a mature buck will be occupied by a receptive doe.  Rattling a mature buck away from hot doe is almost impossible.

Use the wind and terrain to your advantage.  I prefer to rattle in semi-open areas, if possible.  Older bucks are sometimes hesitant to expose themselves in wide open areas such as grain fields in daylight hours.  An area of with patches of brush or trees will give you visibility while offering a buck the security of cover.

Be aggressive.  I am sure most of you have observed at least footage of two mature bucks fighting.  There is nothing subtle about it…they are genuinely trying to kill each other.  Don’t bang the antlers together as if playing the symbols, hit the horns together and push and twist them against each other to mimic the sound of two bucks locked in combat.  It seems the more aggressively I rattle, the more aggressive a buck will respond.  A buck responding aggressively will make more mistakes by not going to the wind or looking for the source of the sound.

Use a coverscent.  I don’t believe that there is any way to mask 100% of all human odor.  But I do feel that by using the scent of a rutting buck, you can confuse a buck and buy a little time.  My favorite source for this scent is to remove the metatarsal glands from a buck that has been rutting.  Hang them on branches just downwind so that your scent is mixed with the odor of a rutting buck.  The responding buck fully expects to smell another buck or two because he has heard them fighting. 

Care of antlers.  While rattling with synthetic antlers can no doubt be effective, my favorite “horns” were removed from a buck I killed in 1987.  I have rattled literally hundreds of bucks while using this set of “magic” antlers.  I have found a way to preserve my antlers while helping them to retain their natural odor.  Remove the kidney fat from a deer when field dressing, whitetail or mule deer and melt it down in a frying pan until it turns to a clear liquid.  When it cools, it should look like hog lard or shortening.  I store it in tuperware or plastic containers in the freezer or refrigerator.  At the end of the deer season, rub the antlers down, leaving a coating of the fat on the antlers.  Hang the antlers indoors so that they are never in direct sunlight.  When next season rolls around, wipe the excess grease from the antlers and they will be ready to go.

Rattling is not magic and will not call in a Boone and Crockett buck if there is not one in the area.  Rattling can be a very effective and exciting method to help you bag your buck this season. 

See you out of doors,

Gary Roberson

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.