cass creek calls

[hawkeye]

has anyone used the cass creek predator calls? if so how did you like them. i got one for x=mas and really like it.

[coyotewhacker]

I was wondering what kind of volume you get out of the unit?
For the price they usually sell for, they look like a pretty good deal. Sometimes you need a lot of calling volume to overcome the wind, and I haven't seen any reports on that.

[hawkeye]

Hi coyotewhacker,
Ive got the predator 2 model and its pretty loud. it says they reach up to 2 miles. yotes have alot better hearing than i do and i thought it sounded great. liked it enough i bought 2 more cass creek calls yesterday. i got the predator 1, and a crow call i think they were $27.00 and some change after shipping from cabelas. have a happy new year and bust alot of yotes this new year.

[coyotewhacker]

Thanks for the comeback. I have used a JS 512 Long Rnge since moving here six years ago. It works well, and I have shot a lot of yotes using it. However, it is big and bulky to carry around from set to set. I put together a small, lightweight CD rig with a minature Radio Shack amp and a plastic horn outdoor speaker. Except for the speaker, the whole rig will fit in a shirt pocket, and it will put out almost as much noise as the JS.....but the sound quality doesn't measure up to the Stewart speaker. If the Cass Creek rig will reach out for a couple of miles, that should do the trick for hunting in these rolling hills. Sportsmans Guide has a nearly identical caller, probably made for them by Cass Creek, with a remote control for less than forty bucks, so that sounds like a good investment in coyote calling gear....the calling unit straps to a tree or post, just like those stealth cams hunters use to see what is coming around their stands, and the case is camo'ed. I believe the range of the remote is about 150 yards, which is more than enough to put their attention away from you.
Again, thanks a lot and here's wishing you a lot of songdog in your sights, too.

[hawkeye]

coyotewhacker,
iam just getting into the calling myself. ive done it a little and really like it. i used to hunt with a bunch of guys with hounds. we killed alot of yotes. but calling them in is more challenging and fun. me and my cousin called in one last winter on a dead cow. the yote slipped up on us and was high tailing it out of the county when we saw him. we shot 10 times and never got a hair. we sure threw some snow on him though. what cal of rifle do you shoot? i shoot a new england ultra varmint with a laminated stock and a bull barrel. with a 4x16x40 scope in 243 win.

[hawkeye]

are furs bringing anything this year?

[coyotewhacker]

I have the same rifle in .308 Win, and it is a sweetheart. I got it primarily for deer hunting, but it has taken a couple of coyotes already, and that short bull barrel sure makes it handle nice. My "regular" coyote rifle is an old Ruger 1B .243 that I've had for many years. I long ago found the loads that it likes and it is a lucky coyote that gets a second chance when I carry that rifle. I was fortunate to have a fellow show me a great deal about calling coyotes when I first moved to Missouri several years ago. He had come from Arizona and was fully equipped to call, both with electronic callers and mouth blown calls. He taught me about location, wind, how the coyotes come in to a call, camouflage, and all the little things that can make or break a hunt. He had almost all of the tapes available at the time with various distressed animal sounds, and I have put those in my hard drive. If you ever go to using a CD player and amplifier for calling, I would be glad to burn you some discs with ten minute tracks of sounds that are sometimes hard to find. This is a great time of year to hunt.....the food sources such as mice and rabbits are hard to come by, and a hungry coyote is a coyote that is more susceptible to calling. The fur is prime this time of year, also, if you sell the hides.
Just remember to call into the wind, be well camo'ed, and don't move even a little bit....coyotes have sharp eyes and pick up movement way out. Another thing that might be of some use to you is to make yourself a decoy to focus the coyote's attention away from where you are. An old stuffed toy such as a rabbit or kitten or even a small brown teddy bear will work. I have even seen very successful coyote hunters tie three or four large feathers together and hang them on a fence wire to move in the breeze....that movement is what draws the coyote's attention. If you don't have one, think about getting a "howler" type call. The electronic call is very effective, but preceeding a calling sequence on the caller with three or four coyote howls will increase its effectiveness by a bunch. I don't know why it works that way, but it does. Also, in the next few weeks, the breeding season will start, and coyotes get real territorial, and will respond to any coyote sounds they don't recognize as part of their pack.....Bang!
If I can be of any help, don't hesitate to ask....there are several very good coyote hunting oriented websites that you can visit and pick up a lot of information. One of the best is www.coyotegods.com . They are the best in the business, but be forewarned that the guy who owns the website does not tolerate disagreement with "his way". John Henry is probably the best coyote hunter in the west, he knows it, and it's his site. The guy who taught me so much hunted with these fellows before coming here. Of course, western coyote hunting is somewhat different from what we do here, but the principles are the same whether in the Arizona desert or here in Missouri or back east in Pennsylvania or New York. Even Massachusetts has a coyote problem out around Hyannisport where Ted Kennedy lives.......
Good luck with your new found sport. I'm real glad you gave up the hound thing. Coyote hounds are a sore subject around this house. The last group was not so bad. They course coyotes with greyhounds and don't shoot from the roads and threaten people who live out here. The group before them were pure coyote chasing terrorists who eventually were taken to court and told to stay out of Polk County or face jail time.

[hawkeye]

coyotewhacker,
thanks for the info. sounds like you know your stuff when it comes to coyotes. ive got a scery coyote howler. ive been listening to the yotes around here at dark to try and get the right howels. iam still learning. my cousin has a rabbit decoy that spins and vibrates it is pretty cool. i told him one of these days a yote was gonna sneak up on him and eat his decoy. i appreciate ya talking with me. ill be glad when we get a little snow on the ground thats when i really like to call. i work for asplundh tree expert co. we work 4 ten hour days and have 3 day weekends so that will give me more time to hunt. take care and shoot straight. hillbilly...........

[coyotewhacker]

Those three day weekends every week will spoil ya. Way back when Methusela was just a kid, I worked for an outfit in Topeka, Kan called Service Industrial (uniform rental, shop towels, dust control rugs, etc.) and we worked three long days, and just over half a day on Thursday. I was out on the road Monday and Wednesday nights, so I carried my golf clubs and got in a few holes when the weather permitted.
Shoulda been carrying a varmint rifle and getting after those central Kansas coyotes.
That Rigor Rabbit your cousin has is a real hoot to watch. Sooner or later a hawk or owl is going to attack it while you guys are out calling coyotes. It adds a touch of realism with the hollow foam bunny body, but anything fuzzy and helpless looking will turn on a hungry coyote. If you ever get a chance to watch The Coyote Gods video, you will see that John Henry has an Airdale dog that he has trained to sit out and be a decoy....damndest thing you ever saw...a 40 or 50 lb dog acting like it is hurt, and a 30 pound coyote comes in for a free meal. Then the dog makes a dramatic recovery as the shooter drops the coyote.
Randy Anderson, who lives up in north central Nebraska also makes some real good instructional videos. Randy does a little bit of everything...farming, pickin' & singing, and does a good job of teaching a beginner how the game works.
His "Calling All Coyotes" video not only shows the end result of a shot on a coyote, but he goes into a lot of detail about different calls, how and when to use them, and perhaps, just as important....when to stop calling and let the coyote come on in. The Nebraska hunts are very similar to what we have here. Rolling hills, lots of woods, open fields....now I got the itch to go calling in the morning. Guess I'd better go pull the old reliable Ruger off the rack and get the 512 ready to go. If it's not raining, it should be a good morning to call.

[hawkeye]

coyotewhacker,
yeah ive got randys calling all coyotes 2 video its awesome. good luck in the morning if you go nail one for me, think ill go out and hit my howler and see if i hear any. talk to ya later

[coyotewhacker]

I went out for an hour or so, but it was way too windy to call with the two mouth calls I took. Still, it was good to sit under a tree and make noise......I left the rifle in the gear box on the 4 wheeler...probably get up and give it a go on another pasture tomorrow morning.

[hawkeye]

coyotewhacker,
yes it was windy all i saw were 2 bald eagles eating on a dead calf. went back this evening hopeing a coytoe would be there and the calf was gone. dont know what happend to it.

[coyotewhacker]

You can bet that the coyotes drug it off. They will drag a road killed deer off into the woods, so a calf is not much of a challenge.

[hawkeye]

probablly so i didnt get back there today. looks like we are in for some dreary weather the next few days. in my line of work the rain sure makes it hard on a pay check. maby the weather man will be wrong.