Hunting Predators

[okieshooter777]

Well just now starting to get into predator hunting...

I have some questions.
I have a couple pretty good spots to hunt at. I have bought a Double cotton tail squealer, and a mouse squealer.
I have watched videos on you tube, and had a guy kinda show me a little about calling.

My questions are

1. how long to you sit at one spot after you call? Considering some of the areas are not wide open clear cut pastures. small clearings with thick woods around.

2. how many groups of calls do you do in one sit?

3. when you move locations, how far away from where you just called is far enough? for instance on a 160 acre's can you do more than one
stand?
4. should i try using the rabbit squeal and the mouse squeal, or just stick to one call per stand?

sorry for the noob questions, but gonna give it a go some more tomorrow.

i have been out and called one coyote in. i got up to move spots and he was still in woods and i think he spotted me. so i am going to try some other spots this weekend.

 

[MarcusR]

I hunt with a couple of buddies around Mcloud/dale area most of the time, so i know the area little bit.

1) We try and not spend more than about 30 minutes at each stand, most of the time about 20 minutes. If you are going to try and call in a bobcat then you might want to stay up to an hour at a spot.

2) we will try and stick wit one call during each set. To many different things going on from the same location some times does not work out to well.

3) You can get up to as many as 4 sets on 160 acres if its layed out right and depending on the land. (tree's open fields, rivers and creeks)

4) You should stick with one call, if you see one that will hangs up and will not come in you might try lips squeaking it in or use the mouse.

On not seeing the on in the woods, my best advise is take a couple of minutes when you first sit down and do a real good survey of what is around. You will eventually find that something looks out of place and that might be your critter.

This is all based on my opionion. Im not an expert, just how we hunt.

 

[okieshooter777]

thanks man.

How long of a routine should you do once you start calling? go for like 20-30 seconds? also should you start off loud, such as the rabbit just got caught then quiet it down as you go to sound like the rabbit is about dead?

 

[Lurker66]

Im no pro, but we call for 30-45 secs and wait about 5mins. We also stay on stand about 25 mins, then move. Different terrain and wind determines how far we move.

 

[MarcusR]

Im no pro, but we call for 30-45 secs and wait about 5mins. We also stay on stand about 25 mins, then move. Different terrain and wind determines how far we move.

+1 on this

 

[thaHooligan]

Yea, i use an electric call and usually turn it on for about 30 to 45 seconds as well. lately ive been using the cottontail distress. if there is a coyote in the area close enough to hear the call, they usually come in pretty quick. bobcats seem to take a little longer and ive seen them just sit and peek over a terrace or some type of cover and just sit for a bit, so u kinda have to keep a good watch out for them. usually see the coyotes running in plain as day. thats been my experience anyway.

 

[imhntn]

I don't think there is any right or wrong way to do it. The last coyote I killed, last weekend, I just decided to play around a little to see what happened. I was in an area with a lot of turkeys so I put the foxpro on the lost hen sound for a while and then switched to some hen yelps, more lost calls and then shut up for a couple minutes. I then turned on the female coyote howls and did some high pitched howls with a small open reed call I have at the same time. Then switched on cottontail distress and left it on till I saw the coyote running in about 5 minutes later. I shut it off as soon as I saw him so he could hear me bark, got the gun ready, barked and shot him. I often change sounds during a series and have never had it effect me badly that I know of. I have had buddies watch a coyote at long distance ignore rabbit and then come running to something different. You just never know what they will come to that day. If I am calling an area I plan to come back to, I will use less sounds so I can try something different the next time and they will not hear everything I have but I am not really sure they remember that much. If it is windy, you can call closer together because they can not hear you as far with all the noise but on a still day they can hear a long ways. I have had good success though calling at one corner of a 1/4 section and moving 1/2 mile and calling again. I have just never found any hard and fast rules. There are guys on here with more experience than me but I have worked out what works for me over the years and what I have confidence in. This year they are running me over but I have years that I could not buy one. Just get out there and have fun. Be quiet just like you would deer hunting and don't do a lot of talking walking in. Have a buddy to watch behind you. Call into the wind but watch downwind as they will circle that way to wind you many times. Call with open area down wind if at all possible so you can see them circling. Don't forget to yell at them to stop them BEFORE they get into your scent. The howling seems to help in my experience and does not seem to bother bobcats at all. I have had little bitty bobcats come in right after I quit distress and started a howling sequence. That's about all the wisdom I have. Others do it different and that is great. I learn something every time I go with another caller. The more you can go with someone experienced, the more you will learn.

 

[Rick Means]

Thanks for the advise. I have an area to hunt in Greer County, and I was hoping to try out an electric call there.

 

[okhunter]

Rick, the calling should be really good right now on cooler days. Hope you get a bunch of pictures.