Lion Caller

Wow... You've got some great looking coyotes up there. Nice work getting that many called in - congrats! Mark Healy

+1, I agree That's some nasty hair loss.

I've seen another bobcat mount that was walking, half-sneak hunting pose that looked excellent. It really captured the cat hunting behavior/look well. I liked it because it reminded me of when you call a bobcat and they stop on the edge of the brush with their head low, eyes fixed forward, and one front foot stretched out. The only problem of course is the cost - I could get a rug for 1/3 the cost, but I'll likely not harvest such a great tom again (or it will be a long time). He'll be worth the $$. Mark Healy

The TSX would have been my pick too (I use it in my large/mag rifles), but for some reason it wouldn't pattern at all in this short barrel AR-10. They were all over the paper. It was so bad they never got a chance in the field on actual predators. I wish the TSX has worked on paper, becasue they have been a very reliable big game bullet. Mark Healy

That would have been a excellent trophy with a bow. Nice picture - good looking coyote. Good hunting, Mark Healy

Oneshot, I know the .308 seems like overkill, but there's a reason behind it. I spend most of my time calling for mountain lions. I called and shot a very nice cougar last December with my .223 Rem--a very normal gun to take predator calling. I hit the cougar in the front left shoulder with a 50gr Nosler CT bullet. The lion took off with a very damaged left front shoulder and lame leg, but despite the injury we could not find the cat. Here's the problem - mountain lions are a tough deer sized animal and they should be shot with a deer sized gun. I know that many are taken with smaller calibers, but how many end up like my hunt? I'll bet it's a big number. I was calling for a lion that day - I called one - and I wasn't armed properly. But, bigger guns blow up the smaller predators--what to do... I went on a quest to find a larger caliber that I could load with a cougar stopping bullet and at the same time minimize damage on the smaller critters. This is a long story - I'll keep it short. My testing and research led me to the gun I use today. I chose the DPMS AP4 because of the short 16" barrel. Acceleration is limited in the short barrel and 155gr bullet speed stays fairly slow at around 2350-2400fps. I then tried several different bullets on the bench, and in the field. I now use a Lapua Scenar 155gr Match bullet. It sounds strange for hunting, but it shoots a nice tight 100yard 5-shot group and its field performance on predators is excellent. It is big and powerful enough to kill a cougar with authority. However, on smaller game, such as coyote, fox, and bobcat, it flys straight through the ribcage causing very little pelt damage, but kills very cleanly. Soft point hunting bullets were great on larger animals, but on smaller predators, the damage was far too high. My odd gun/caliber/bullet combo has raised more than a few eyebrows, but the performance speaks for itself. I am confident in all of my predator hunting situations now. One last upside: The Lapua bullet flight performance is very consistent from shot to shot. It gives me very measureable & manageable drop out to 500yards with the AP4 rifle, thus my reach in the field is excellent. It's good for tight cover and long shots. Best of the season to you, Mark Healy

Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers and Bob Bogaard of the Phoenix Varmint Callers head into Arizona’s Unit 23 and call this fine Arizona bobcat. Side note: I gave the video camera a rest for the weekend, and I’m glad I did. As a couple of Globe – Miami natives, it was fitting that Bob and I headed toward Roosevelt Lake, AZ. We only had Sunday to call and although neither one of us had been calling in this area for a few years, we both grew up hunting and fishing in it. With our previous knowledge of the roads, we’d waste little time looking for predator sign and setting up to call. We were on a “cats only hunt” and agreed to let everything but mountain lions and bobcats walk away unscathed. Our first two stands of the day were disrupted with truck traffic, cold howling wind, and people camping (I think we scared a few people out of their sleeping bags with female cougar growls – whoops). Needing to put distance between us and recreating people, we drove several miles into the mountains. We found a long hardpan drainage coming off the top of a high peak and rolling downhill for at least a mile or more. It was choked with brush and was littered with game trails and animal tracks. There was plenty of fox scat present, I grabbed my caller and we set up. About six minutes into the stand the dry wash exploded with activity. I called in three gray fox and was able to keep them running around the speaker for several minutes. After they disappeared back the way they came, I turned up the volume and three more grays arrived. I had them running circles around the speaker, when one or two of the original foxes showed back up. There was a frenzy of activity and fox barking going on when in walks a curious coyote. The coyote walks up to three of the unsuspecting foxes and tries to latch onto one of them. There is a short, but wild chase that the fox wins. The dejected coyote, still hungry, runs back to give chase to the other two. Those foxes successfully disappear into the brush and the coyote stands above the speaker for over a minute, seemingly mesmerized by the sound changes I’m making. Finally, all of the canines decide to leave and the wash bottom is empty once again. I continue working with various mountain lion and bobcat sounds, when this thirty to thirty-five pound bobcat steps over a dirt bank and walks directly at the bush the speaker is hidden in. The bobcat’s arrival time was 32 minutes. A single shot from my DPMS AP4 .308 cleanly killed the bobcat and the Lapua Scenar 155 grain bullet made a very small entry and exit wound. This is the largest Arizona tom that I’ve taken, and he should make a fantastic full-sized mount. I was using my Wildlife Technologies electronic game call. Some of the sounds used on the stand were: Adult Cottontail Gray Fox Distress (Adult & Juvenile) Bobcats Fighting Gray Fox and Bobcat Fighting Several Bird Distress sounds Adult Javelina Distress Whitetail Fawn Distress Ravens Fighting Snowshoe Hare Lamb Baby Distress Jackrabbit Distress Redtail Hawk Screams

Grey Fox Calling w/Video - Attention to Detail and Predator Behavior = Success I wish we had red fox in AZ. I've never had the opportunity to call one, but will eventually go calling far enough to the north to get a chance. I've been told the reds are harder to call than a gray and that they act a bit more like a coyote when coming to the call. Someday...

Grey Fox Calling w/Video - Attention to Detail and Predator Behavior = Success Agreed - especially once they've fully furred out for the winter. The color variation in a gray fox coat is stunning.

A morning trip to scout for mountain lions turned into grey fox filming. This is a great video of how a fox can be manipulated with a variety of prey sounds and fox vocalizations. While in the field recently, I was working my way along a decomposed granite road looking for lion tracks and other lion sign, when I came across the tracks in the photo below: When I found these fox tracks I noticed right away that they were right on top of a tire track, indicating that they were at least more recent than that tire track. I took some time to evaluate the tire track the fox had walked on and found the tire track was on top of all the other tracks on the road, thus it was from the last vehicle to drive through. The area is fairly well travelled and my best guess was that the vehicle had passed through the prior evening. Realizing that the fox tracks were just a few hours old, I set up my Wildlife Technologies electronic caller in a rocky canyon running adjacent to the roadway. I sat about 20-25 yards from the caller and used a Cannon GL video camera to get the following footage of the fox coming in and hanging out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvE1-N7WvPM I used different sounds to manipulate the fox and get it to stay near the speaker for more than a minute. It's worth mentioning that this fox saw me turning the camera to my right, and was very aware of my presence. Keeping the sound playing without pauses and making the changes that I did to the sound is key in keeping the fox focused. This fox could have easily been photographed or taken by a hunter. Far too many callers miss these field clues and end up calling what looks good to them, rather than calling an area that is obviously target rich. Scout carefully and call where the critters are! This fox started his approach in just a few seconds of the caller being turned on - I was in his living room. I am editing another video that shows several more minutes of grey fox behavior and how a predator caller can manipulate the animal being called for better shots with a camera, bow, or gun. Stay tuned for that. Best regards, Mark Healy

Mouth Calls - Muleyman, I use a Wildlife Technologies electronic game call, but... I know exactly who can answer your questions on this hand call matter. If you post this quetstion on the forum at predator professionals, you'll get your answers. The gentleman who started that board, Rich Higgins, is a world recognized coyote vocalization specialist and his son, Tyler, is the current Arizona State coyote calling champion. They are both masters with hand calls and use many different types from many different call makers. Just type in predator professisionals forum in google and you'll find it. Best of luck to you, Mark Healy

Sureshot- sorry about the delay getting back to you - been hunting. As far as mountain lions coming to the call, i have seen them seak in and I have seen them blast the doors down running toward the speaker. However, most of the time they sneak in - using all available cover to get close to the sound source. My experience tells me that they are not aggressive when they come in, but rather they are shy and back out quickly when they detect danger. A mature cougar is big and imposing, but I have never felt that I was in danger when we called one. As far as a sound that might keep a cougar from coming in... I can't think of one. We have had them come in after several different sounds have been playing. Lions will eat a coyote if given the chance, so a coyote howl shouldn't have any effect. If you get a chance to call and see a lion up there in Canada - enjoy the moment. I believe you'll find exactly what we did. One they know you're there, they quietly dissappear just as quietly as they came in. It's amazing how quietly 160 lbs can glide through heavy cover. Have a great season, Mark Healy

Sureshot, I see your point and I talked with a few guys in AZ that feel the same way. One of the gentlmen from Tucson told me that he uses an electronic but sets it next to him to keep from getting busted while setting out in the field. ---that seems to negate the need for a remote controlled caller--- I still like the animal sounds & vocalizations that I can produce with my ecaller that I personally can't make with my hand calls. Some guys can do a WIDE number of calls. I just don't have the ability. One last thing - I'm usually on a stand (when calling mountain lions) for an hour or more. That's a whole lotta huffin and puffin with a mouth call. Best of luck to you this season, Mark Healy

Here’s my take on an ongoing debate in the predator hunting & calling community that has no shortage of opinions. As many people are aware, I spend most of my time calling and hunting mountain lions. My calling partner, Dave Martens, and I have had some excellent success calling cougars, and as a result we are often asked what kind of electronic callers are we using, if we use hand calls (and if so what type), what digital sounds are the best, and is there a “sequence” of sounds that bring lions to the call. Arizona Mountain Lion Called by Mark Healy First, I’ll tell you that I have not blown on a call in at least two years—probably more. I have been hugely successful with my digital caller. It gives me setup flexibility that I can’t get from a hand call, and moreover it gives me a library of digitally recorded animal sounds at my fingertips that I just can’t reproduce with hand calls. Am I saying that I wasn’t successful with my hand calls? No, certainly not. Over a period of 20 years (I started calling in 1986) I had become quite the master of my dying rabbit flutes and called a bunch of critters. However, once I got started with a high quality electric caller with a reliable remote control I dropped my hand calls like so many hot rocks. I now use a Wildlife Technologies KAS-2030-ML exclusively when wildlife and predator calling. I tried a few other callers along the way and had some good success with a wired-speaker Johnny Stewart game caller that used cassette tapes. However, after I paid for some training with Steve Craig (The Lion King from Cottonwood Arizona) I found that a remote controlled unit was the way to go. After a lot of research and listening to various callers, I settled on the Wildlife Technologies caller that I have today. The endless number of ways that I can set up a stand with a remote controlled e-caller combined with the extensive library of perfectly clean and loud animal vocalizations has completely changed the way I hunt. I call far more animals now than I ever did before, and my consistency calling mountain lions is directly attributable to using an electronic call with cougar vocalizations on it. No matter what electronic caller you choose, if you buy one that’s high quality and commit to learning how to use it, it will add a whole new dimension to your sport. If you’re a wildlife photographer or a hunter, the advantages are the same. You can call more animals, put their attention and keen eyes somewhere else, and capture more images or pelts. My last word of caution!! Buy the best electronic game caller your budget allows. I wasted a lot of money on cheap versions that collectively would have bought me my good one the first time. Does an electronic game call give me an “unfair advantage”? I certainly don’t think so. I still have days where I don’t call a darn thing. I also know plenty of hunters who have purchased electronic callers who haven’t improved their success rates at all. You still have to understand the animals you’re calling, pre-scout and know your calling areas, and know how to use the e-caller effectively (sounds, volume control, unit placement, etc.). Success is always determined by how many hours are spent in the field, learning and understanding. Good hunting and I’ll see you in the field, Mark Healy

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers Blog was calling for mountain lions in central Arizona and takes this bobcat-fox double. Dave set out for a day of calling mountain lions in his scouted areas. It turned out to be an amazing day in the field, despite not seeing any lions. Dave called six grey fox on one stand and several more throughout the day. On one of his stands, he called this bobcat and grey fox combo and decided to take them. Because the target animal was mountain lion, Dave let several foxes walk away throughout the day. The Tactics: The electronic game caller pictured is a Wildlife Technologies KAS-2030-ML. The sounds Dave used to call this pair were Pileated Woodpecker Distress, Partridge Distress, Baby Cottontail Distress, and other mixed bird and mouse noises. Both arrived in under fifteen minutes, in just a few seconds of each other. Dave was running the call continuously and was letting each sound run for just 1.5 to 2 total minutes, then making a seamless change to the next sound. Some callers have asked us if we think the animals get confused by the constant sound changes. The easy answer is no. Our per-stand success rate went UP when we began using this tactic. Hand Callers: Your best bet in this situation would be high pitched bird and rodent replications. Call continuously and use more than one call. I have heard Arizona predator calling champion Tyler Higgins replicate bird distress with a hand call unbelievably well, so I know it can be done. As always, we have pre-scouted the area and know that the critters were in the area. Use sign as your guide. Good predator calling, hunting, and photography to everyone!! Mark Healy - Please visit the blog listed below - subscribe for free!