Predator Hunting Safety

Although hunting has one of the lowest accident rates of any sport, this doesn’t give us a reason to be careless when we are out predator hunting. There are a couple of things you can do to help keep yourself safe while in the field.

The most important thing is to treat every gun as if it is loaded. People should be taught this at a young age, but sometimes they are not. It really bugs me when I am around friends who do not practice this rule and pay little attention to where the end of their gun is pointing. Treating every gun as if it were loaded will eventually become a habit and you will find yourself practicing good gun safety before you know it. Of course, drinking alcohol and handling guns is never a good idea either.

Always hunt with a buddy. The buddy system is your number one lifeline while you are deep in the woods where nobody can hear you call for help. In case of an emergency, there is someone there who hopefully will be able to get help if needed. If you must go hunting by yourself, let someone know you where you are going and when you plan to be home. This will let the person know when to expect you back so they know when something might be wrong. Always carry some kind of communication device, preferably a cell phone, and make sure you can easily access it.

You also might consider wearing hunter orange. The downside to this of course is making you more visible to the predators you are hunting. Is usually best practice to always take off the orange before you start calling for predators. For me, it would depend on where I am hunting as to whether or not I would wear orange. If I am going to public hunting land, you better believe I will have it on when I am walking around. When I am on my own property, I don’t usually wear it. This of course is all up to you. Just remember; never sacrifice your own safety for the sake of predator hunting.

Coyote Hunting – The Best Call

This post is devoted to what I believe is the best call on the market today for coyote hunting. This is not a product review because I am not going to talk about any specific brand, although I might recommend a few. I will save product reviews for another post. This is about what I think is hands down the kind of coyote call that will give you the best results, other than just using coyote bait.

The call I'm talking about is the electronic remote predator call. These calls are the best for a couple of reasons: they don't require you to do anything but press a button, and they can be placed away from you and controlled with a remote.

The fact that all it requires is for you to press a button is good because it doesn't require that you control the sound or the calling sequence. The device comes preset with the proper sound and proper calling sequences. This means that a we can't screw it up for ourselves by making unrealistic sounds. Plus, I like the fact that I don't have to sit there and blow into it. I guess I'm just lazy :).

The fact that it can be placed away from you and remote controlled is equally as beneficial. One of the worst things about mouth calls is that the sound is coming directly from you. This means, when the coyotes are headed your way, they will be looking directly at you. Anyone who has ever been spotted by a coyote while calling knows they don't hang around long when they figure out you are there. With a remote caller, you can place the sound source several yards away from you and control it with a remote. In my opinion, this is invaluable. I enjoy getting in deer stands and placing these at the base of the stand. This way can see them coming from a long ways away, and minimize you chance of getting busted.

There are many brands out there that make these calls at different price ranges. It is best to find the price range that fits you. One brand I am particularly fond of is Foxpro, they make excellent predator calls. However, they are kind of pricy for equipment that is just used for coyote hunting.

Predator Calling

Predator calling in general was how I got started in coyote hunting. Originally my goal was to call in a bobcat. I had read articles on bobcat callinga and found out that I need a rabbit in distress call. This was an all around basic tool used for predator calling. I read that this simple call will call in just about any type of predator if they are in hearing range of it. I put it to the test and sure enough, in came a predator. To my surprise, however, I called in an owl! I had heard that bobcats come out at night so I decided thats when I would try it out. I called for about half an our, then I became discouraged and left. When I stood up from the base of the tree where I was sitting, an owl flew off a branch right above my head. Scared me to death!

This was my first experience with this type of call. Today, I still use this same one and it goes with me whenever I go hunting. As a matter of fact, I take an assortment of calls with me whenver I hunt. You never know when you might get the chance to call in an animal. Once you get this thrill, you will love it.

I will talk more about the rabbit in distress hand call in future post. But my main point is that calling coyote isn't just limited to coyote. You can pretty much call in any predator with the right calls. However, there are some calls that are specific to coyotes, and I will discuss them at a later time.