Predator Call

I purchased my first and last deer rifle when I was thirteen years old, a Savage Model 110 left-hand in .270 Winchester.  I cannot tell you how many deer I have killed with “Old Nasty” but the total would no doubt be in the hundreds. 

This last spring, I had the honor to work with Savage Arms at the National Rifle Convention in Phoenix.  While I was there to help more with the Predator/Varmint rifles, I found myself straying over to the big game models.  I have a new Model 10 Predator Hunter that in my opinion is the perfect rifle for calling coyotes but I could feel an itch for a new deer rifle.  A Model 14 had caught my eye and the more I handled it, the more I liked it. 

The Model 14 has the features that I feel are important to a deer rifle.  The rifle is the proper weight, 7.25 pounds, overall length of 44 inches and a 24″ barrel in the .270 WSM and .300 WSM calibers and it is well balanced.  A straight stock helps the rifle to shoulder quickly while reducing felt recoil.  The Model 14 features a detachable box magazine, walnut stock with checkering on the forearm and pistol grip and jeweled bolt.  The bolt release has been tucked away in front of the trigger guard for added convenience and a more streamlined appearance.  In the interest of dressing up all of their new products, Savage has also cleaned up the lug nut that secures the barrel to the receiver.  To help achieve the accuracy that Savage is known for, the rifle is pillar bedded and features the ACCUTRIGGER. 

The itch finally grew too great.  I got in touch with Savage and ordered a Model 14 left-hand in .270 WSM.  The reason that I chose the .270 WSM is because I had the opportunity to visit with some of the outdoor writers who carried this caliber to the King Ranch to test on Nilgai cows.  Shooting 140 grain Fail Safe ammo, 21 cows were shot in the shoulder and 17 fell in their tracks. 

I pulled up Winchester’s new site that gives all of their ammo’s ballistics and the ability to compare various calibers and bullet weights.  I pulled up the .270 WSM Ballistic Silvertip 150 grain bullet and found that if the rifle is zeroed at 200 yards, I would be shooting 1.1″ high at 100 and 5.5″ low at 300 yards.  The down range energy and excellent ballistics should make the .270 WSM an excellent long range mule deer and elk rifle…a new long ranger.

See you outdoors,

Gary Roberson        

Just returned from a hunt with an old buddy, J. Martin Bassinger from Polar, Texas.  While J. Martin is a cat hunter with great hounds, he is nice enough to carry me around coyote calling.  We hunted near Gail last Friday and the success we had helped me forget about the tough time we had in New Mexico. 

Shortly after setting down to make the first call, I heard coyotes barking (socially)about a half mile downwind.  I knew that these dogs had me but was hoping something would approach from the west or north.  I know that these coyotes got around behind me and later made a visual on one walking back to the truck.  That is the bad news, the good news is that this was about the last call I made that day that did not have a coyote or more on it.

I was calling with the COMPUCALLER III and they were loving the Grown Cottontail.  I had two different pairs show up on the last call of the day and I killed two of them.  The last shot is one that I will replay many times as I killed the dog running at approximately 150 yards.  I think that I counted three somersaults before he quit rolling. 

We were shooting a pilot for our new TV show, CARNIVORE.  It will air on the PURSUIT CHANNEL beginning July, 2011.  PURSUIT will be part of all standard packages on Dish and Direct TV which will make it the largest channel carrying hunting and fishing programming.

See you outdoors,

Gary

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet Jon LaCorte with Nikon Sport Optics, Joe Betar with Texas Trophy Hunters and my best buddy Brian Hawkins for an Audad/predator hunt.  I drove to Marfa and visited with my friend Mike Livingston and then turned south in the direction of Presidio.  About 33 miles south of town, I turned west onto the Cibolo Creek Ranch.  After driving a couple of miles of dirt roads that fell into a creek bottom, I could see what appeared to be a huge fort.  After walking through a gateway, I found a beautiful 5 star resort in the middle of a desert.

Jon and Joe were there to hunt Audads and I was there to call coyotes when we weren’t chasing sheep.  I met Robert Cavness, Ranch Manager, who was kind enough to turn me loose to look for predator sign while they pursued audads.  Jon killed a really nice ram at 330 yards while using the Nikon BDC reticle that first afternoon.  We decided to hunt coyotes the next morning before switching back to the sheep in the afternoon.

The first call produced a coyote from the north that I watched for over half a mile.  Sitting on a low gravelly hill, I shifted my shooting sticks to my left.  The motion caused a tiny rock to roll that was not detected by anyone other than the coyote standing at 100 yards.  He trotted back in the direction from where he came and stopped to have one last look.  That is when Jon got in the race.  Four shots later, the coyote was growing smaller as he headed to points north.  Rumor has it that he was seen running through Marfa around noon that day.

A couple of minutes later, Joe whispered that there were two more dogs farther east but it appeared that they did not want to test our shooting ability.  We made three more calls and called three more coyotes, killing two.  The next day, we awoke to a light rain that limited us to three calls.  The last set produced a gray fox that Jon shot within a minute of the time we sat down.

That afternoon I witnessed Joe Betar killing a Audad at 460 yards.  The sheep was shot through both shoulders and fell in his tracks.  This shot was made possible by Nikon’s Spot On Accuracy program and the Nikon BDC riflescope that was mounted on his 300 Winchester Magnum. 

See You Outdoors!

Gary 

I hunted my favorite country in eastern New Mexico last week and while the weather was good, the calling was not.  With a full moon and coyotes more interested in breeding than coming to call, that lead to a tough hunt.  I feel the primary factor is a low population.  I hunted for five days and drove hundreds of miles of ranch roads and found very little sign…you simply can’t call what is not there. We called eight coyotes in five days; we normally call at least 10 per day in this area.  I realized that we were going to have a problem the first morning when I heard coyotes howling in mid morning and later in early afternoon.  Howling at odd hours is typically exhibited when they are mating.  The last morning I witnessed the howling and mating from over half a mile away.  

The coyote is a resilient creature and when populations are low, food sources are generally high, resulting in large litters.  If conditions are good, which they appear to be this year a coyote will typically raise 6-8 pups.  So wait until next year when I will have a chance to get even…heck, I might get ahead.

See you outdoors,

Gary