Calling: Old school Hunting
There is quite a bit more involved in hunting than grabbing your rifle and setting out for the woods. Much like warfare, a big part of successful hunting comes from strategising effectively and deception of your target. Much like how decoys are designed to trick an animal’s sense of sight, and scents are luring the prey close by throwing it off-guard through abusing it’s sense of scent there’s a whole other bag of tricks to employ in your arsenal: That of calling, or in other words, using the animal’s sense of hearing to your advantage by making deceptive sounds to attract it closer to you.
Calling has been implemented effectively for thousands of years by experienced hunters lure prey to the hunter. Native Americans were using turkey wing bone hunting calls for more than four thousand years ago to imitate turkey sounds. Luckily for you, you need not kill any turkeys for their wing bones nowadays. Technology has moved leaps and bounds since then, and there is a plethora of modern game call devices for you to utilize in your hunting trips. Unfortunately, you cannot simply buy one and venture forth to reap the rewards. It takes quite a bit of practice in order to become competent enough of a caller to make prey flood your calls.
There are many different animal types that can be attracted through calling, including but not limited to deer, elks, wild pigs, moose, crows, turkeys, ducks, geese, raccoons and coyotes. This article is going to present you with the best hunting call tips for beginners, to set you well on your way for hunting success. Naturally, it will of course focus on coyote calling tips.
Getting the right calling device
Now, since this article is tailored for beginners we will just assume you have no intention of learning how to whistle correctly with your own mouth and have to resort to a game call device. There is currently an abundance of hunting calls on the market. They come in all kinds of shapes and designs. Some require lengthy practice, much like musical instruments, others work by simply pushing a bottom. We thoroughly believe that a true calling beginner would be best served by a mass produced, remote, electronic game call device.
Our rationale is simple: It is much safer, much less demanding and has a standard level of consistency. Coyotes can be quite vicious when cornered as they prone to aggression by nature. Using a remote-controlled calling device ensures you will be able to defend yourself much more effectively if things somehow go south. Moreover, electronic game calls, unlike mouth-blown ones, allow you to intensify your focus on the prey itself rather than blowing the air correctly through the device. Your chances of successfully spotting and shooting rise up considerably in result. Finally, perhaps most importantly, a mass produced electronic game device will ensure that the produced sound is just right for your target, as they often allow the hunter to sequence different call sounds effortlessly, with no unpredictable, unwanted consequences.
Big mistakes to avoid
There is no better way to improve than reducing the errors and mistakes you make in any endeavor. So, our first piece of advice is this: Firstly, focus on what you do wrong and stop doing it!
The most common mistake beginner hunter makes is they do not know what sound to use with their calls. Coyotes are pretty smart animals, and due to the staggering amount of coyote hunters out there, most of them have grown accustomed to hear the most commonly employed sounds. You should aim to produce sounds that coyotes would not hear too often. Good examples would be bird calls in distress, or puppy screams. Again, the electronic call’s versatility in produced sounds shines. Like previously stated, aim for a product that has a wide range of sounds available.
Another common mistake beginner hunter’s make is erring too much either in the side of caution or overzealousy in their calling. It needs to be stressed again: Coyotes are smart animals. They are quite cautious. Making too much of a hassle with your calling could very well raise their red flags and send them away. Likewise, doing too little could fail to attract them to you. The golden point is somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, how much is too much and how much is too little, largely depends on the hunter’s experience. As you experiment, however, always keep in mind that you should aim for a middle route.
Calling Tips
Now, we’re going to approach coyote calling the reverse way: Things you should do to maximize your chances for success: Priority number one is to conceal your presence. It is crucial to remain completely undetected – therefore, parking your vehicle a reasonable distance away from where you plan to call them is obviously mandatory.
Coyotes have a better sense of smell than you, so you should take advantage of the wind’s direction. You should always try to keep the wind in your face, so that your smell does not give you away. It is also important that you spot the coyote before it spots you, so finding a good, vantage point where you can see the landscape around you is highly recommended. Other than concealing you, your vantage point gives you a nice advantage in aiming and shooting your prey: You cannot shoot, what you cannot see.
Our final tip is to remember the saying that patience is a virtue. That could not have been any more true than in coyote hunting. In order to become a really good hunter you have to invest time, and effort over a long stretch of time. It is only natural that you will not do ideally on your first attempts – and if you do, chances are a big component was luck. What is more important than anything is that you stay resilient: Your capacity to spring back and try again and again, until you get become proficient.
