Predator Call

I purchased my first deer rifle when I was thirteen years old.  Being a southpaw and wanting a bolt gun, my options were somewhat limited.  Savage Arms was making the Model 110 in a left-handed model and Remington was beginning to build a few as well.  After comparing the two rifles and pricing, I chose the Savage in .270 caliber.  Over the last 40+ years, “Old Nasty” has served me well.  I have no idea how many deer, whitetail and mule deer have fallen to this sweet shooting rifle, but no doubt in the hundreds. 

While working the Savage Arms booth at the NRA Convention in Phoenix this last season, I found myself handling the recently introduced Model 14.  The smooth action, straight stock and 24 inch barrel in the magnum calibers were most appealing.  The Model 14 features a new bolt release, cleaner lug that locks the receiver to the action, hinged floor plate and Accutrigger.  Another feature that I am a huge fan of is the three positon safety.  The first position locks the bolt and prevents firing.  The second position unlocks the bolt but does not allow firing.  The third position (full forward) is the “fire” position.  When walking through the brush which I seem to do quite often, I have had a problem of the bolt on my rifle hanging on brush and coming open, ejecting the round.  The locking position prevents this accidential ejection from occurring. 

A few years ago, I hosted a predator hunt along with Winchester/Olin in South Texas.  The writers and the folks from Winchester/Olin had hunted Nilgai on the King Ranch before arriving in Tilden to hunt predators.  The .270 WSM had been recently introduced and the group was testing it’s killing power on the tough gray ghost of the Texas plains.  The group of hunters had orders to shoot all Nilgai cows in the shoulder region with 140 grain Fail Safe ammo.  The results were amazing as 17 of the 21 cows dropped in their tracks.  The guides on the King Ranch had never seen a rifle of any caliber perform as the .270 WSM.  After hearing this report, I had to have one.

I mounted a Nikon Monarch 2.5-10×42 BDC on the Savage 14 with a DNZ mounting system.  I have not found a system that is so easy to install as this new one piece system.  If you have not seen this new mounting system, I strongly recommend that you do so.

After zeroing the rifle 1 1/4″ high at 100 yards (zero at 200 yards) while shooting 150 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertip ammo, I was ready to take it on it’s inaugural voyage.

I decided to deer hunt at the head of a rough canyon for a period of time and if nothing showed, to move west with the sun at my back to another huge bowl where I had seen deer in the past.  After sitting for about an hour and freezing until I was shaking like a leaf, I decided that it was time to make a move.  As I stood up, something caused me to look over my shoulder to the northwest.  There on the crest of a low ridge was one of the largest whitetails I had ever seen in West Texas.

The buck was standing broadside looking straight at me no doubt somewhat blinded by the intense early morning sun.  Approximately half of his side was shielded by extremely thick catclaw brush, making my favorite shot to the pocket behind his front shoulder impossible.  I estimated the distance to be approximately 200 yards and held at the top line of the dense brush.

After recovering from the recoil I saw the monster whirl, make a couple of jumps and disappear over the low ridge.  I was sure that I had made a killing shot and fully expected to find the buck just over the hill.  Topping the hill, I scanned the low brush for the shine of a heavy dark antler.  When the deer was not readily visible, I unsuccessfully began to look for any sign of blood.  I decided that I should step the distance back to where I had taken the shot to ensure that it was indeed 200 yards.  To my suprise, I had misjudged the distance as I stopped counting when I reached 250 steps.  The extra 50-60 yards would have caused my bullet to drop approximately 2 inches which would have caused my bullet to impact deeper into the brush.  Boy, I can really come up with excuses. 

What a way to break in a new rifle, miss the biggest whitetail that I have shot at in many years. 

See you outdoors.

Gary Roberson  

Last Saturday morning, I was deer hunting in the open desert country of Southwest Texas.  Daylight found me glassing the head of a canyon and surrounding hills looking for a mature whitetail buck.  Without success, I decided to walk westerly, taking advantage of the sun and glass a huge bowl where I have found bucks in years past.

I found a couple of does browsing over half a mile away and concentrated my glassing efforts around them as there was still a little rutting activity.  About a hundred yards past the does, I found the head and ears of a deer staring back at the does but it was too far to see antlers in my 8x glasses until the buck moved his head.   Finally the deer moved from left to right, revealing a tall, dark horns.  Based on what I had seen, the buck no doubt deserved a better look so I commenced to cut the distance. 

At a distance of approximately 400 yards from the buck, the terrain started to roll off into a small canyon.  If I moved any closer, I would loose elevation which would make it more difficult to see the buck and get a bullet to him.  Though it was a long shot, I began to look for a place to sit my butt without getting on a dog pear or other sticky vegetation. 

The old buck was moving around a little more in his attempt to check all of the does.  Everytime he moved, I had to relocate in order clear my shooting lane.  After three moves, I finally had the buck in a fairly large clearing and I was still undetected.  As I reset my shooting sticks, the buck began walking from right to left.  I could see that he would disappear behind more brush if a shot was not taken in a matter of a couple of seconds. 

I found the shoulder and raised the crosshairs 6-8 inches above his topline and squeezed the trigger.  The recoil caused me to loose target but there was no mistake in the sound of a bullet smacking bone and flesh.  Working the bolt, I looked over the scope for a fleeing buck but the only movement was one of the does trotting to the left.  I looked through the Nikon scope for any sign of life where the buck was and there was none. 

I eased the rifle down and glassed for several minutes.  The does were not spooked and were back to browsing on the brush and weeds.  I found a couple of landmarks, one a cedar with an exposed root and a sotol that was light yellow around the base.  Crossing the small canyon that was choked with catclaw, I found the cedar and proceeded to the sotol.  There was my buck, lying where he was when I took the shot.  There was no sign of a struggle, not even the kick of his legs.

The 150 grain Ballistic Silvertip impacted the buck’s shoulder just under his spine and exited the off shoulder.  Upon field dressing the buck, I found that the bullet had barely cut the underside of the backbone which explained the clean kill.  It was as if lightning had struck him that cool, clear West Texas morning.

See you outdoors!  Gary

While predator hunting is my first love, I still enjoy chasing whitetails in Texas and mule deer in New Mexico.  My weapon of choice for deer has been a Savage Model 10 in .270 caliber that I purchased as a 13 year old.  I cannot tell you how many rounds have been fired through “Old Nasty” as I call her or how many deer it has hung on a meat pole.  This rifle has served me well and at age 56, would no doubt last the remainder of my lifetime and then some.  Sometimes, you get the hankering for something new even when it is not really needed.  Kinda like wanting a new pickup when your old one is running just fine.

While working with my good friends at Savage at the NRA Convention last spring, I fell in love with the new Model 14 American Classic.  The rifle features a straight walnut stock, shot action, accu-trigger and a 24 inch barrel in the .270 WSM that I chose.  The Model 14 is available in a left-hand model for us southpaws. 

I received the rifle last Friday and mounted a Nikon Monarch 2.5-10×42 BDC riflescope on it with the aid of a one piece DNZ mounting system.  This is the first time I have used the DNZ mounts and I can tell you that mounting a scope on a rifle has never been so easy.

I sighted my rifle at 1 1/4″ high at 100 yards which should zero me at 200 yards and approximately 5.5″ low at 300 yards.  I have not had the time to check at these various ranges but plan to do so in the next few days.  As soon as I find a mature buck, I plan to see how the rifle performs in on a West Texas whitetail.

See you outdoors,

Gary

I woke this morning to be greeted by an inch of snow and 27 degrees.  It is still snowing and we have at least two inches on the ground as I type.  This weather should help to get the deer moving which have been pretty tough to find as there are so many acorns.  The rut is in full swing but the full moon seems to be negating any advantage that the rut might offer.

My oldest son, Clint and good buddy, Brandon Burch just returned from a few days of bow hunting deer down in Terrell County.  The cold weather really had the mature bucks chasing does and deer activity around the feeders was high.  Though they saw at least half a dozen or more mature bucks, they were unable to get a shot.

Stay after ‘em and good luck, see you outdoors,

Gary Roberson

A few nights ago, I got a call from my buddy Scott Black wanting to know if I wanted to chase a lion.  “I guess so” was my response, for I was not sure he wasn’t joking.  “Meet me at the front gate and we will go from there” responded Scott. 

I loaded Jimmy and Lizzie, my two five year old bluetick hounds and was on the ranch in twenty minutes.  It seems that a deer hunter had seen the lion about three hours earlier that evening.  Trailing conditions were excellent, no wind and a little dew had already fallen.  If there was indeed a lion, there was no doubt that my dogs would be able to get him jumped.

I followed Scott and the hunter who had seen the big kitty to the deer blind where the sighting had occurred.  We led the two excited dogs into the mesquite where the cat had been seen.  I unsnapped Jimmy, he trotted about 50 steps away and struck with two huge bawls that only a bluetick male can produce.  I turned Lizzie loose and the two dogs commenced to steadily trail north.  Just before reaching the north boundary of the ranch, the dogs turned and trailed west to a creek. 

Once they reached the creek, they jumped the cat and the race was on.  After covering a little over a mile, the dogs made a loose.  After a few minutes of silence, I heard Lizzie barking at something on the ground.  Jimmy went to her and I could hear both dogs fighting a coon.  I got to them and put a .22 bullet in the huge boar, ending the battle. 

Jimmy left the coon battle and went back to where he had lost the kitty’s trail.  He picked up the track and left running west, to an 8 foot fence where the cat had crossed.  The next day I retraced the trail that the dogs had traveled and feel that they had the lion in a tree and simply overran it, making the loose.  When I went to the coon, the lion jumped from the tree and continued fleeing the scene.

See you outdoors!

Adios, 

Gary

I drove to Trinidad, Colorado to shoot a TV show with Fred Eichler, host of PREDATOR NATION.  I was there to represent Savage Arms as I guess I am their “predator expert”.On the first day of hunting, Jake took me to where he had seen coyotes the day before.  They were ganged up where a hunter had taken a mule deer.  The dogs were no doubt enjoying a large gut pile.  We move in about daylight and were greeted by a coyote that was sitting across a draw and looking longingly down into the area where the buffet was served.  She had no doubt observed two rednecks approaching from the east as she appeared to be watching a tennis match, going from us to the gut pile. 

I turned on the COMPUCALLER III and she wanted to go to the distress sound.  She came up the draw and studied the situation from every possible angle but her feet would not carry her across it.  Later that morning after moving to another ranch with the wind picking up tumbleweeds, we had a coyote approach about 250 yards downwind.  Had it not been for Jake this gyp would have escaped but his warning gave me just enough time to turn almost 90 degrees.  I had my Nikon Coyote Special set at 6 power and wished I had time to increase the magnification but simply did not.  I got lucky and ran the 50 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertip through her chest.

We made a couple of calls in the 80 degree heat and wind that afternoon.   The Compucaller III produced a beautifully furred gray fox at about 20 steps.  Furbearer’s season does not open until Nov. 1, so Fred gave him a pass.  We made made a fruitless call that evening as the wind shifted from the north.

The next morning, it began to snow and did not stop until late that afternoon.  The high temperature was 31 and the low was 27 and there were 14 inches of snow before it stopped.  We were unable to make a call that day.  To make matter worse, the wet snow falling on warm ground was the recipe for sloppy roads.

The third morning, Fred, Jake and I made it to some beautiful rolling country where we found several coyote tracks in the snow.   We managed to kill three coyotes on five calls and Fred said that we had a TV show.  It was really beautiful, watching the coyotes come to the COMPUCALLER III in the snow.

See you outdoors!

Adios,

Gary

The archery hunters have invaded the Texas hillsides; the regular archery deer season opened on October 3rd across most of Texas.  In Menard County, we were blessed with a good spring with at least average rainfall.  When we have a good spring, we typically have a pretty good crop of acorns on the live oak trees that are prevalent across most to the county.  The abundance of natural food and the full moon on the 4th of October has slowed daytime deer movement  around corn feeders to almost nil. 

I can tell when deer hunting is slow because the hunters start hanging around town more.  They come by the store and act like they are interested in some camo, scent or calls but they are really just wanting someone to visit with.  They want to be assured that the deer are still out there and that conditions will improve and so will the hunting.

Hang tough and see you out of doors,

Gary Roberson   

There is a nip in the air, leaves are changing colors and time for me to get back to what I love to do…hunting.  While I have never stopped hunting my hounds for coons and bobcats, I have given the coyotes a break to raise their young and now the youngsters are hunting on their own. I will begin my fall hunting in Colorado with Fred Eichler, Host of PREDATOR NATION, a new TV show that will be aired on INTERMEDIA’s TV channel.  We will be attempting to call coyotes and any other predator known to roam in the Trinidad area.  On my return trip, I will stop in New Mexico and hunt mule deer with good friends and a couple of my boys.

I hope that all of you have your fall hunting plans in place and are ready to “Crank it up”.

See you out of doors,

Gary Roberson

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.