1. What kind of calling system do you use? 2. What kind of "bait" system do you use? I guess I'm talking about one of those moving "things". 3. If you want to discuss your system (if you do something off the wall)....please do! 4. How successful are you? 5. Would the calls that work for yotes typically work for bobcats? I'm looking to extend my hunting season by at least trying to get a yote. I will be shooting a ML....so I'm wondering distances to "bait".....caller....(______) you guys suggest. Thanks.
I just got my books on fox calling. I am going to get serious about it. My wife wants to give it a go also. I'm gonna start with mouth calls and a shotgun. If I learn anything worth passing on I'll let you know.
MN was pretty much spot on with his responses. 1. What kind of calling system do you use? I'm using a Foxpro Spitfire, I love it. I've used hand calls, and lots of other electronic units. The only thing I'd trade my spitfire for is a better Foxpro. Getting away from the caller is key for me, I get busted a lot less than I used to when I used hand calls. 2. What kind of "bait" system do you use? I guess I'm talking about one of those moving "things". I don't use decoys. I know a lot of people that do. I'm typically trying to cover a lot of ground, and that's not easy when your carrying tons of stuff and there is lots of snow. I've called in dogs with and without decoys, and not seen any advantage to having them. 3. If you want to discuss your system (if you do something off the wall)....please do! Cover ground and play the odds. I make 20ish minute sets, and do my best to cover as much ground as possible. I'll find the primary wind direction, and start on the downwind side of the patch I intend to hunt. Depending on woods density, I'll cover sets anywhere from 200 yards, to a 1/4 mile apart, walking to each new set with the wind in my face. If the woods are open enough, I try and set the caller 50 yards or so upwind of me for each set. I usually end up with 30-50 yard shots when I do this. 90% of my predator hunting is at night. If I was hunting during daylight, I'd be in the thickest stuff I could find, predators don't like to expose themselves during daylight anymore than a mature buck, I've had very limited success during daylight. I educate a lot more dogs during daytime than I do at night. Usually at night I end up killing them if they respond. I absolutely love to setup my caller and climb into a treestand if I'm on property that I also deer hunt and have stand prehung. Gives a great vantage point, and keeps you out of their line of sight. 4. How successful are you? Depends. I don't put in the time that I used to. I probably average an encounter out of every 5-10 sets with a predator of some sort, including yotes (most common), red/gray foxes (fairly common) and cats (not common at all). When I go up north it's substantially less, theres simply fewer animals up there. 5. Would the calls that work for yotes typically work for bobcats? Yes, but I likely wouldn't be using fawn distress calls though if I intended to kill a bobcat. All your rabbit/rodent/bird distress sounds will work though. I killed a 24lb male last year over Foxpro's "Lightning Jack" sound. I will be shooting a ML....so I'm wondering distances to "bait".....caller....(______) you guys suggest. If your hunting at night, I'd be 50ish yards to the caller, setup in more open areas. If your hunting daylight your gonna need to be in tight to thick cover. Yotes in my neck of the woods simply don't break out of cover, and they are on full alert when coming into the call. Don't expect it to happen during daylight like you see it on the TV. When yotes do respond to calls, 9 out of 10 will circle downwind of the caller. Wind direction is absolutely critical...........probably the most important part of it. Be prepared to shoot quickly moving targets. 75% of the dogs I've killed were moving quickly. It's going to be a real challenge with a smokepole.......I prefer an AR-15 or a shotgun thats setup specifically for yotes if I know it's thick cover. When hunting at night, I'm using a Streamlight TLR-1. I have a red lens cover that I scan for eyes with, and when it's time to shoot I pop the cover and can get a solid 150 yards of light for shooting.
I never really tried to hunt coyotes before, but man are foxes fun at night. My buddys got a massive farm we just jump from cornfield to cornfield at night using mouth calls, we got a red spot light...theyll come running in and thats all she wrote
1. What kind of calling system do you use? We use various hand calls (I like the ruffy dog by les johnson) and for the E-caller a Primos Power dog 2. What kind of "bait" system do you use? I guess I'm talking about one of those moving "things". Don't use one, the yotes around here are pressured pretty heavy....do use hunt over a carcass (deer) pile now and again when it's fresh. 3. If you want to discuss your system (if you do something off the wall)....please do! Not really of the wall, per say, but if you have pressured yotes, like my area...do what others don't. They've heard a dying rabbit variation 1000 times. So we like to use fawn in distress or coyote vocalizations (pup in distress etc) 4. How successful are you? Not as successful as in the past. Maybe 1 in 8 sets we SEE a predator. 5. Would the calls that work for yotes typically work for bobcats? Yes.
