Electronic Callers

Pros

 

 

There is a whole debate going on amongst predator callers. Its not worth getting into because there is no right or wrong way to call in critters. The same goes for which caliber to use, there is no such thing as the best caliber. The only best is the one that works best.  Electronic calls are the new biggest hit to the sport.

 

The greatest aspect to an electronic caller is the ability to place the call away from you and where you are set up. One of the common mistakes hunters make is moving to much on stand. Well the caller helps make up for your movement because it puts the attention on the caller. When that predator hears that sound it can pin point right where the sound is coming from and instead of looking for the dying rabbit where you are sitting, its looking at the dying rabbit near the electronic caller. 

 

My favorite part about the electronic caller is how I can use the wind in my favor. One thing every caller should know is that you have to play the wind right. Just about every predator with the exception of cats is going to use the wind when coming to the call and especially coyotes. If a coyote does not like what it sees or does not see a rabbit dying its going to use its second sense, its nose.

 

Cons of Electronic Calls Being So Popular

 

The increase of the technology of electronic callers has given many the confidence to try out the sport. Electronic callers are a great advantage and tool for hunting predators but don't be fooled with the mind set that an electronic caller alone is what is needed to be the most successful for calling in more predators.



I bought an electronic caller thinking it would call more coyotes in than what my hand calls were doing. This is not true. It took me a while to figure it out and learn to call predators in. I have confidence in the electronic caller now but it did take me a while to make things work. I've learned now that its how you use the call whether it be hand call or electric call and that takes experience.

Yes I do love electronic callers, I have the Fox Pro Fury.  I have a love both for hand calling and calling with electronic callers. Yes their is a but! Electronic callers are being over used and over played. Everyone that is new to the sport is buying an electronic caller. The electronic caller builds their confidence that they can skip learning how to hand call and be more effective with a caller. Because electronic callers are so popular and be over played, I think that predators are being educated to the sounds of electronic callers. The same sounds are being played. Too many inexperienced hunters are going out and giving an electronic caller a try and they don't have a clue what they're doing.

Despite how many hunters may be using electronic calls, they still do work. Just remember that its the hunter that calls in the predators and its the hunter that opperates the calls. Learn by going with someone that knows how to use a caller. Read more articles about how to use your caller.

 

Hard Chargers

 

 I've learned from experience how coyotes will tend to charge in to the caller.  Most people that use electronic callers will keep it running.  There is no right or wrong way to run the caller. I typically see more hard chargers when using an electronic caller. What's important that you do is try and slow down or stop the charging coyote. I like to turn the caller off when I spot a coyote coming in. When they get closer to the caller I would prefer they come in searching, rather than lock on and charge to the caller.

 



On this hunt I was calling with a buddy. I had the fox pro set up about 75 yards away from us. This coyote came in to my right and stopped out there at 125 yards, while at the same time 2 other coyotes are running full speed to the fox pro. I kept my attention on this do so I could be ready to shoot right after my buddy would take a shot.  I was so concentrated on my coyote with cross hairs aiming on it that I neglected to turn the caller off and try and stop the 2 charging coyotes. I had the fox pro hanging from a dead tree and they got right under it. As soon as the lead coyote picked up on our scent, it  made a quick dash out of there and the coyote behind it took off as well.  I still had my shot so I took it and got this coyote. You can't tell from the picture but this dog is one of the biggest and heaviest dogs I've ever shot.

 

Siren Coyotes

 

My favorite aspect of electronic callers, is the ability to play a siren. You would not believe how effective the siren is on locating coyotes. Every time we hear an emergancy vehicle siren my dogs will go crazy. They bark and howl for about a minute straight. It's the same for coyotes. They will respond by howling and once you get one coyote to howl back it sets off the whole neighborhood of coyotes.

 

Dustin from the Predator Down group teaches some great info about sirening coyotes. He says,

"I have made many “blind” stands over the years in hopes a coyote would respond to my call. Somewhere in the midst of this country there are usually coyotes, but finding out where they are is normally the biggest problem when calling. Using a coyote siren is a great tool to help locate coyotes to find out how many coyotes are in an area. Coyotes normally can’t resist howling at the siren because the high frequencies hurt their ears".

 



"I normally let the siren go through four cycles, one cycle in each direction. Then look and listen.
If you don’t see or hear anything in 3-4 minutes, try it again.
You can use the siren anytime of the day. The best times are early morning and late evening.
Sometimes if I don’t get a response on the second try, I will do a howl".

 

He also gives 7 techniques of how to use the siren call.

7 Siren Techniques

1. Pick a good place to siren from like the head of a canyon or big open basin.
2. Hide your truck so a Coyote that comes to a ridge won’t spot the truck.
3. Get on a high point or on the truck to allow you to hear better.
4. If you are with someone else, have one guy run the coyote siren while the other gets away so he can hear while the siren is running. A coyote might answer and you won’t hear it.
5. After you hear Coyotes don’t siren again. Coyotes will only answer once. They might howl for awhile, but they won’t answer again. If there are more coyotes in an area they will start howling and talking back and forth to each other.
6. Coyotes are normally twice as far away as you think. It takes hearing a lot of coyotes to help judge their distance.
7. Don’t go out and use a coyote siren in the wind. You can’t hear and the coyotes can’t hear you. You will have very little success.

Predator Down really knows what they're talking about. I've used sirening coyotes to help me kill more dogs. The more coyotes you locate the less blind stands you will call. I would also add that sirening coyotes is the most effective way to scout for coyotes.  My favorite time to siren coyotes is at night an hour or 2 before I hunt. This way I don't waste the precious daylight hours of hunting. The great thing about locating right before you locate is you know they're are in the area and have not moved. Once you locate the general direction of where the coyotes are howling from, then use your GPS, map or road marker so you can go back to the locations to call from during daylight hours.