Mouth Calls, Don’t leave home w/out them!
OK it’s happened twice now, no picture for a reason. Those of you who read this know that we had a benefit coyote contest about a week ago. If you follow us on Facebook, you have seen some of the videos that were taken in this contest. I have a FoxPro Prairie Blaster, this is the first year that I’ve used it, as I got it late last spring. We used it exstensively for this contest, and if you watched our video we had pretty good luck. On one stand, we had it running and had 2 coyotes interested, all of the sudden it wouldn’t play sounds, of course we had it about 40 yards away from us and we couldn’t get up to work on it because the coyotes were looking for us. Frustrated, I pulled my OLD FAITHFUL “Dan Thompson Wheems” to my lips and blew a short series, the coyotes perked up and headed for us about 800 yds out. There were 2 of them and one was holding back while one was really wanting to come. The dumb one kept stopping to coax in the smart one. Finally at about 330yds the dumb one (who wasn’t so dumb) realized the decoy on the Prairie Blaster was in a different spot than where the sound was coming from. He held up for what seemed like forever and I finally took the shot at that distance missing just barely over his back, the shot was caught on film so people can hack on me for months to come. The electric call worked the rest of the day and we ended up getting 2 kills on video and seeing about 7 dogs in all.
This brings me to yesterday, I’ve got a deer tag and I’m entered in a big buck contest, I have to go to Amarillo next weekend so this is really my last weekend to hunt. There is a snowstorm that is starting to rage as I write this, so I wanted to take advantage of Friday. After being on a few knobs and glassing, I wasn’t seeing much deer movement, so I decided to call a coyote, go figure. I set up the Prairie Blaster and found a spot a few feet away. I had left the shotgun in the pickup as the Prairie Blaster is quite heavy, it and a rifle are about all one can handle, in South Dakota, you need a rifle for the wide open spaces. After I get set up, the dang call wouldn’t work, I could run the Decoy but it wouldn’t make sounds. I layed in the grass and fiddled with it for at least 20min. Finally giving up I sat down and decided to blow on my “Les Johnson Ruffy Dog” 2nd short series I had a dog at 80 yds, he appeared right behind a hawk that came to check me out. This dog came a running and I had no decoy to grab his attention. I got him in my scope at about 60yds, he was coming down a hill straight at me, I woofed, he wouldn’t stop. I woofed again and he stopped but just as I squeezed one off he started loaping towards me again, needless to say my bullet hit the ground right behind his rump. He swiched directions and was gone, I only got one other shot at him as he was going over a close hill.
In both these recent cases I was saved by my mouth call, the only problem seems to be with my shooting. As hunters we always want the newest and best equipment. The Decoy on top of the Prairie Blaster in my short trials, is a great way to set up coyotes, they focus on the decoy and the decoy is where the sound is, giving time for you to relax and take aim without being spotted. With mouth calls you are the sound system the prey is looking for you have to keep your movements down, and I find that I don’t relax and I try to shoot without moving, therefore not being as steady. I feel you should be prepared to hunt with both especially in cold temps when electronics and batteries seem to want to quit working. Practice with your mouth calls as often as you can, and always carry a few when you are out in the field. I’ve proved over the last week that they still work, no matter how much technology you have.
As for my Prairie Blaster, after last weekend I’m sold on it’s effectiveness, we called large wide open spaces, and called in coyotes from a long ways off. I called FoxPro yesterday morning and they think the memory card came loose, it has a 5 year warranty and they asked me to send it back. They said they would work on it and make it as good as new, I’m going to have to wait for it for about 2 weeks, and with the first snow on the ground I’m not staying out of the field. Good Thing I got my friends Les Johnson and Dan Thompson to back me up. Time to practice with the mouth calls.