calling all dogs

[steelydan]

Good evening all. This is my first post on this forum but I've been lurking for years lol. Maybe some of you could offer advice. I'm just getting into predator hunting and know next to nothing. My family owns a little over 400 acres of wooded land in Central Pa and my property borders several thousand acres of State Forest. There is a far too healthy population of coyotes on and around me. Almost all the videos and articles I've read deals with hunting in or next to fields which is not an option for me. 
As far as gear goes, I have a Shockwave E-call and I built a .223 AR with a night vision scope. I also have another .223 with a 4x12 scope topped with a green light by Wicked Hunting Lights. 
During this cold snap, I've accumulated several roadkill to set up bait stations. I do know that several of the local farmers have had people calling far too frequently so the dogs are quite educated. None have had any success. I know many of the hunters and they have the attention span of a 3 year old.
It's my understanding that this cold weather has things shut down but with the warm up coming mid week and lasting for a fairly extended stretch, the activity should pick back up. Do I start one bait pile? Do i do several? What do i look for in determining a bait location? Do i call while watching the bait? I have tons of questions and no answers lol! 
 

Next weekend is a huge coyote tournament here in pa. Mostly central. A lot of guys spoiling it, they will be running dogs, and calling all night for the 3 nights. Some know what they are doing but most just educate them. Put out the bait and give it a couple nights for it to be located, do as little calling as possible. I rarely call them, but I seem to have a property that is a major route for them


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[iceman05]

Hey Whaler there is a free deer laying in the median westbound on the parkway just before E manitou exit


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[jimmac]

U didn't miss much. Tough hunting. Was -19 after the last set of the night.

Did you make the check in? I did not, had some unexpected guests stop over to take in the game. How many teams checked in? I see the winner had a ton of greys and some reds and a yote.

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[GAMBLER]

1 hour ago, iceman05 said:

Hey Whaler there is a free deer laying in the median westbound on the parkway just before E manitou exit


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And one West bound right across from it. 

[NymphO]

Did you make the check in? I did not, had some unexpected guests stop over to take in the game. How many teams checked in? I see the winner had a ton of greys and some reds and a yote.

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I did. Winner had a giant pile. I believe it was 13 fox and a yote. Other than that it was a light take. Those guys were from Broome county. They had a dusting of snow and was alot closer to zero. Made me jealous. Waist deep drifts and -20 for me. Show was good though. Plenty of crap given away.

[Xxx]

Hey guys got a question and would appreciate all your advise no matter what you have as a caller, I know some of you have the Primos alpha caller, when Fox Pro came out with the Spit Fire and all those that have the same housing Fox Fire ect I bought the Spit fire. At the time there was not many good views for any of the Primose callers, as the were using a fm signal and all reviews were not good with the remote, working the unit. Now it sounds like they are top of the line caller, and my brother in law called last night saying they were on sale for $169.00 I assumed he ment Cabela’s but they don’t even handle primose anymore, besides that what caller are you guys using. The Fox Pro top of the line caller has really interesting things about the sounds that are so close to the same frequencies as a live dog. Then there this one on a tri-pod that rotates so the sound comes and goes as it rotates which is controlled by the remote, and their gig is all about mimicking the exact sound frequencies of a live dog and some sounds are recorded from a mouth call. I’m looking to upgrade my Fox Pro to a much louder unit, that’s the downfall of the single horn speakers, now that caller is $119.00. I turned it up all the way and couldn’t get a flock of crows to come in. I also do a lot of crow hunting and I still use my old Johnny Stewart’s caller thumbs down it will blow my Fox pro away. I always start off softly then gradually work up the volume, that’s not saying much if I have the Fox pro Spit fire. Thanks guys, I’d really like to hear all your callers and why you chose that caller, if I get one  to come in within eyeball sight I’ll use mouth calls or just a simple hand held squeaker. If it comes in on a distress call, or it comes in on vocals I just turn down the caller, to create the curiosity kills the cat “dog” situation.. again thanks again. Pap.

[NymphO]

Pap. I have the shockwave. Went through a bunch of calls prior, all FoxPro up the line. Hands down the shockwave is where it's at. The main seller is the remote. The tx1000 is only available on the fusion or the shockwave. Always a big arguement with guys on which unit is better though. Fusion is Def loud with less bulk but has a speaker facing each direction. Shockwave has the movable speakers which I change up for each stand. I also do crows, and the shockwave Def screams em in. No prob getting loud ! If you got the fusion you may have some minor regrets but if you can get over the bulk of the shockwave it's the way to go. As far as the alpha dog, my friend has one. I had him show me some common calls,yote vocals, pup distress, rabbit etc. I was not impressed at the sound quality as far as realism is concerned. I'm sure the primos will call in some fur, and some crows but I think FoxPro has the E-caller market cornered. You may save some money but you won't get anywhere near the unit compared to the FoxPro. I recommend you find somebody close to you with the unit your looking to buy and give it a test drive first. Just don't do what I did.... Had a spit fire, then went a step up, then another, then finally man'd up and got the shockwave.... Wallet was flat but I was finally satisfied with my caller.

[NymphO]

And to add, if you go FoxPro order it from them so that you can pick your 100 calls. No need for elk bugles or mountain lion and wolf crap

[Fishnut]

Pap I have several calls. I have an old Jonny steward record player that takes 12 D batteries. Lol. (That old caller killed hundreds of Fox) and I’m sure someone will disagree with me but. In my opinion a lanyard full of mouth calls is the best way to go. Let me explain.
Fox are easy to kill with about any call. Coyotes are not even in the same family as Fox. They are extremely hard to fool and there so many people out there educating them it’s hard to find a call they haven’t heard.
You like me hunt Pa. we have a ****load of coyotes but we also have a ****load of Fox hunters that hunt coyotes the same as they hunt Fox this makes for educated coyotes. You need to get some calls that no one else has used.
Some tips: don’t use a call sequence shake it up. Don’t be afraid to be very aggressive.
Good luck and shoot straight.


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[NymphO]

I agree with fishnut to an extent. Yes, mouth calls are one off and unique for sure. They can be a pain to blow on for 45 min though ( typical coyote stand time for me ).

The FoxPro has prob 40-50ish sounds I typically use and some situations call for it like the educated dogs scenarios. I also use "fox pitch" ALOT. This changes the tone of any call, a feature I doubt alot of guys use. Plus, your getting fox calls, yote calls and crow calls all in one push of a button and you don't feel winded after a long stand. Just my .02

[Fishnut]

I agree with fishnut to an extent. Yes, mouth calls are one off and unique for sure. They can be a pain to blow on for 45 min though ( typical coyote stand time for me ).

The FoxPro has prob 40-50ish sounds I typically use and some situations call for it like the educated dogs scenarios. I also use "fox pitch" ALOT. This changes the tone of any call, a feature I doubt alot of guys use. Plus, your getting fox calls, yote calls and crow calls all in one push of a button and you don't feel winded after a long stand. Just my .02

I’ll have to look into “Fox pitch” never heard of it.


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[Xxx]

Thanks again for your honest opinions, I was leaning towards the Fox Pro shock wave, I was really impressed how it can change the tones. If you look at a table of vocals the frequencies are so close it hurts, plu I’d like a crow call also. I had to laugh at Fishnut I had the 45 record player and yes it took 10 D size batteries, then in 1993 Paula bought me my Johnny Stewart caller which I have all sorts of tapes, johnny Stewart, Dennis Kirk, and some others I picked over the years, that caller took 2 sealed 6 volt hooked in series which they made a carrying case for a reason. I just wanted to hear your stories. Thane to all that responded!! Should have been out last night!! Thanks for sharing!!! PAP!!

[dawsonscreek]

Well, I educated another fox (potentially the one I already squeaked at) in my back yard last night. While waiting for my girlfriend to get home I decided I would go stand out by the barn, wait for the motion light to turn off, and then let the FoxPro run just for shyts and giggles. A few minutes in and I caught some eyes coming through the tiny woodlot along the road. Never got a positive ID, but it gave me the impression it was a gray fox. Will be actually going out some night next week, will report!

[bondouley]

21 hours ago, pap said:

Hey guys got a question and would appreciate all your advise no matter what you have as a caller, I know some of you have the Primos alpha caller, when Fox Pro came out with the Spit Fire and all those that have the same housing Fox Fire ect I bought the Spit fire. At the time there was not many good views for any of the Primose callers, as the were using a fm signal and all reviews were not good with the remote, working the unit. Now it sounds like they are top of the line caller, and my brother in law called last night saying they were on sale for $169.00 I assumed he ment Cabela’s but they don’t even handle primose anymore, besides that what caller are you guys using. The Fox Pro top of the line caller has really interesting things about the sounds that are so close to the same frequencies as a live dog. Then there this one on a tri-pod that rotates so the sound comes and goes as it rotates which is controlled by the remote, and their gig is all about mimicking the exact sound frequencies of a live dog and some sounds are recorded from a mouth call. I’m looking to upgrade my Fox Pro to a much louder unit, that’s the downfall of the single horn speakers, now that caller is $119.00. I turned it up all the way and couldn’t get a flock of crows to come in. I also do a lot of crow hunting and I still use my old Johnny Stewart’s caller thumbs down it will blow my Fox pro away. I always start off softly then gradually work up the volume, that’s not saying much if I have the Fox pro Spit fire. Thanks guys, I’d really like to hear all your callers and why you chose that caller, if I get one  to come in within eyeball sight I’ll use mouth calls or just a simple hand held squeaker. If it comes in on a distress call, or it comes in on vocals I just turn down the caller, to create the curiosity kills the cat “dog” situation.. again thanks again. Pap.

I chose the alpha dog caller a couple years ago because of the volume and the clarity of the sounds at a high volume.  I will tell you that I have never turned it all the way up cause there is no need for sounds that loud here in the eastern part of the country in my opinion at least.   The other feature that caught my eye and I thought I would use more is the Randy Anderson preloaded hunts but i have yet to use them in the couple years that I've had the caller.   The remote is great I've used it out to 100 yrds with no problem.  The only thing I don't like about the caller is that the stand timer is in the settings so you have to scroll through the remote to find how long you have been on stand.  

[fisherman21]

Freshly hit deer on north Greece between latta and peck if anyone is interested


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[Xxx]

Thanks for the honest opinions, I’m looking at the lucky duck e caller quite impressive with the sound library no other caller has these sounds, so they say, also the ability to rotate the entire caller to point in a different direction or simply make the sound fade away. The attractor is remote control also, then there is the Fox Pro shockwave with this sound switch thing that I have to look into yet before I pull the trigger it will be one of the last two, if I can get crow sounds on the lucky duck e caller it will really make this decision tough!!

[whaler1]

Had a big fox on the bait this morning and had a shot but passed on taking it. He will be back and I’m hoping to get a yote soon and didn’t feel like schooling one that could be around.


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[iiwhistlerii]

Took "Da Butcher" (for those who know him from the tourney scene), out for a couple sets last night behind the thermal. Had lots of yotes sounding off but none that would finish. Great conditions and I should have hunted longer. Got video footage of a nice fox but forgot to teach Justin how to use the focus knob on the scope so it's a little blurry. Great coat on this one until you looked at its tail. Fml

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[NymphO]

Thanks for the honest opinions, I’m looking at the lucky duck e caller quite impressive with the sound library no other caller has these sounds, so they say, also the ability to rotate the entire caller to point in a different direction or simply make the sound fade away. The attractor is remote control also, then there is the Fox Pro shockwave with this sound switch thing that I have to look into yet before I pull the trigger it will be one of the last two, if I can get crow sounds on the lucky duck e caller it will really make this decision tough!!

Kinda neat. I'd be curious to know the expected battery life if u have the unit spinning and the decoy. I've gone days on the rechargable lithium's in the shockwave.... I also spread my speakers out to cover about 200° of sound. Don't rule out foxpitch, and foxmotion which switches sound from left to right.

[jimmac]

Another vote for Foxpro here. I like the Fusion with the T1000 remote. Lots of nice features. Buy from allpredatorcalls.com and you get it loaded with 100 calls of your choice. Foxpro support is 2nd to none also. Nice thing with the foxpro stuff is so many guys use them and when they share their calling sequence you can set up the same as you'll likely have the same sounds. I also own an Icotec 500 thats a decent call for the price...very dependable remote. But after getting the fusion thats all I use.

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[whaler1]

Calls are important. Guns are important. Decoys are important
But where when and how you go make the difference.
Know your wind. Don’t stink it up walking in. Think about how you can place the decoy and whatever machine you buy without spooking out what you are trying to shoot.



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[NymphO]

Calls are important. Guns are important. Decoys are important
But where when and how you go make the difference.
Know your wind. Don’t stink it up walking in. Think about how you can place the decoy and whatever machine you buy without spooking out what you are trying to shoot.



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Yes ! Step one is stand placement. If anybody is in the fur game, they better know about wind and good stand placement !!! Folks that don't hunt Yotes laugh when I say they are twice as smart as any deer out there.

[whaler1]

X2


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[jimmac]

Agreed. Setup is critical. Populations, and plenty of permissions are important as well. You can have the best gear but if you don't the animals, the spots to hunt, and the correct set-up you may as well stay home.

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[Xxx]

I couldn’t agree more with whaler, you can have the best of everything, not knowing how a coyote thinks and how they use the wind to their advantage you’ll never even see one let alone shoot one, cover scent is a must, and a cover scent for your clothes, I also use a product called blue coyote it’s a smell that takes the edge off, I spray it on a tree or what ever and I give a few squirts into the air. I think it works, but if not sure of yourself just a simple U Tube video will pretty much cover it, most important is cover scent on your shoes walking into your sit!!