This is NOT how one calls large Predators
As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
The following is a discourse on hunting large predators, as there are far too many humans out there providing PHD educations to these heinous murderers and making it impossible for people who are having their pets, wildlife and livestock murdered to deal with these educated murderers.
As I write this, this would be a 25 dollar e book on Amazon or a 1000 dollar in field study, but as I do not have time to wait around and bait people in, I count on non donors and the always experts to steal my work and post it into their own, without credit, in other publications.
In reading the stories of hunters of coyotes, wolves, mountain lions and bears, one finds common themes. The most prominent is "The Lock Up", meaning an animal that refuses to come in and is either obscured by flora cover or is sitting hidden out of range.
The Lock Up is due to poor planning in the setting up of the ambush zone.
The second most prominent expressions are as follows:
That damn bear poked its head out of the willows 20 yards from me.
I heard that cat moving around behind me.
All I saw were wolf tracks in that drainage afterwards.
That coyote ran up before I could get a shot.
In each of the above situations which is almost every calling situation is again poor planning by the hunter in the ambush zone. Meaning the hunter picked a spot in the zone in which they were the focal vantage point of the focus point, and that is of course where the animal was looking and attracted to, because the human eye is like the animal eye in picking the best spot.
For snipers, the hide is a tool of the trade. One naturally knows exactly the correct elevation, shooting lane, heat rise, wind drift, for the best shot. The problem is, that every enemy sniper knows the same thing, and from their vantage point, they are scanning the primary locations they would be in, and they turn the hide into a grave above ground.
The Lame Cherry will reveal something that is never spoken of, and that is one NEVER sets up shop in the primary or secondary locations, because sooner than later, you are going to have a camo sniper of the enemy staring at you in a scope and blowing your brains out. Always pick the not so perfect location, and then set up off of it, to still produce the kill zone, with your back covered and a proper depression for an escape route that is subtle and overlooked.
You though are not hunting men or being hunted by them. You are being hunted by creatures with 100 times the senses and sense of primates. Each of the species above also are unique and they do not respond in the same dimensional thought process.
Now for your million dollar lesson on predators.
Bears are lateral, meaning they move in horizontal lines. It is why they poke their heads out of willow brush at 20 yards in front of you.
Coyotes and wolves are bottom to top, meaning it is why a canine appears unseen and surprises the hunter, because it hunts from bottom cover to top.
Cats are top to bottom, meaning it is why the feline is always appearing behind the hunter, because a cat hunts by sight and looking down at their prey.
Now for the 2 million dollar knowledge in animal behavior.
In almost every calling situation, human primates set up for hunting coyotes, in thinking like a canine, and it is why the primate sets up the gladiator arena, and ends up being hunted by the lion from on top, the bear from the side and coyote and wolf from the depressions, and being upset the animals are misbehaving, when the human is the one attempting to mould these different species to hunt as a human hunts in the perfect set up mode of being cozy.
Now for the 3 million dollar knowledge which will not bring the donation either.
Humans are self centered egotistical primates. In kill zones or calling in predators to hunt them, they set up hides, blinds and stations in which the human is either the focal point, on top of the focal point, or is sitting in the best spot to look at the call, and then the human is exasperated when animals decide the best spot to hunt that sound they hear is on top of the human, and it messes up the calling location.
Do you remember when I told you to NOT set up in primary locations in sniping? It is the same situation with predators, in one has the electronic call, one has the caller sometimes, one has the decoy. In every one of these calling scenarios, one is required to create several diversions, so the predator is distracted enough to be looking at what it thinks is the quarry, instead of radar focusing on the human.
I listened to Ray Milligan the proficient coyote trapper, tell students that trapping predators was not just the lay of the land, sets, and lures. Trapping was about VERTICAL appeal, meaning any predator which includes humans, naturally is drawn by sight to the most prominent objects in any location. That is owls to coyotes, and there is absolutely no difference.
Yet what is the first lesson the nimrods all teach, "Well set with your back to a tree for protection and so nothing sneaks up on you". Well again, the nimrod picks the most prominent tree to sit in front of, with the best view, and then is surprised that every predator radar locks on the hunter's location. Humans naturally make themselves the focal point target.
Here is some crappy artwork to show a typical calling zone, in the red circle is the decoy, e caller, the X the hunter or caller. The green are trees and the brown sticks are the predators and where they naturally move to.
The above reveals why hunters always get high tailed by the predators, as they sit in the wrong location. The correct location is in the subtle area of cover, and with the correct shooting lanes to fire.
There is a situation in two hunters that they never crossfire in having shots present to them which are in line with the other hunter. Always set up to the side of the other hunter, with the shooting lane IN FRONT and never to the side.
This is all simple, but hunters constantly are constantly sticking themselves in brush patches where they can not see or shoot, always making themselves the best feature in a kill zone, and never thinking they are the ones being hunted, and thinking it is all the call.
I am a firm believer not in ground blinds, but instead of an 8 foot ladder which at an angle with a seat, gets the hunter above the ground, and providing the hunter is not Darwin in shooting themselves or falling out of the ladder from recoil or off a limb, this is one of the safest remedies in dealing with cats and bears.
If such a ladder location is not available for things that can kill me, I move on to a location as I have had enough thrills in life.
And this is a stand alone thought, never hunt the tiger alone. Always have someone with you, to have the sense to not panic shoot you if a bear gets on you.
Here is a call zone. You will set up on the top right, just below the ridge. I know you want to be by that tree, but that red circle is where you place your caller and decoy. The long rectangle is where the predator will naturally track from the trees behind.
There is a reason you have a rifle that you should be able to shoot 250 yards if necessary. In this set up, the predator should never notice you, because it is looking 30 degrees to the right of your position, and your position provides the perfect side shot.
The next is not so western, but eastern and mountain. Notice again the red zone e caller and decoy is in the open, and like fishing on the point, to attract attention. The small white objects are cattle, so this is the big view. Your position in blue provides two vantage points for the predator's approach. The left would be the bear, coyote and wolf, and the right approach would be the cat coming off the ridge, as this is where it would first sight locate your position after hearing it, and then work down and use the cover to come to the point.
There are enough gaps in the brush for travel lane open shots at the predators, with the left lane in shadow in which the predators would travel.
Now for some pointers which are common sense.
Call on sign
Call on water.
Follow those two maxims and your success will increase 100 fold.
Numbers of cat hunters are driving roads after snow and then calling on that sign. You can not kill animals that have 200 to 500 mile ranges if they are in the next county, no matter how great your habitat appears.
In calling, always keep the breeze in your face or at least a 30 degree angle. Forget about calling in strong winds.
Cats travel the upper and lower bases of Rock Cliffs
Place your caller elevated, because the earth and vegetation absorb sound.
Your best echo locators are farmers and ranchers. Forget being lazy in educating the coyotes and wolves with your howler. Simply ask people you meet if they hear coyotes howling, where and when, and then drive out around sunset, and sit and wait past dark, and you will find out exactly where the yotes are, and then study how to set up a kill zone.
The places where predators are this year, where you shot the last year, will be the places they will be in future years. It is a simple matter of echo locating them first.
Now for the extra credit. You know where you are going to call. So go to Google Earth and start accessing topo maps of your areas and study them. When you see tracks, when you get wildlife data in where animals are killed, when you see road kill, then take the knowledge you have in looking at the area, assessing the wind, and place it into your Google Earth maps. Those maps will show you every tree, and allow you to understand the approach routes and how to set up for the best results.
Invest time in your locations and it will pay off.
The point in all of this is to develop a dozen stands starting out. You will have six that are for northwest, west, and southwest winds, and six for northeast, east and southeast wind patterns. You will coordinate these winds in knowing the best calling tends to be 48 hours before a weather front, the period of calm in the fog before the storm and the periods between the snows, and the 24 hours after the front, when the animals begin moving again.
It will become simple to you, and second nature in being sure of your stand. You will be quiet in not slamming doors, whispering, smashing brush in the area. You will quickly put out your decoy and call, and move to your location and sit still for 30 minutes, not watching the decoy or the electronic call, but OBSERVING THE TRAVEL LANES to the kill zone, and checking the prominent location where idiot you, used to be sitting at with all the predators looking at you.
Predator calling takes practice in you are learning to walk. It takes preparation for large predators to appeal to their equally lazy human natures to walk in securely, so they present you with a kill shot, instead of appearing where you do not think they should, when that is exactly where they should appear and you do not understand your prey.
The final knowledge in this, is the decoy. Do not always think that you need a motorized decoy. Something with hair on it, and a wispy tail that will rock back and forth in the breeze is the same motion. Place it at a 30 degree angle and in the open and in all its whiteness let it become the focal point.
Follow the rules in your being 30 to 40 degrees to the side of your motion decoy and sound, about 50 yards away, with the decoy 50 yards away from cover, so when a predator locks up at 70 yards to smugly survey the situation, you calmly take the standing shot and make it all look easy.
It is easy when you stop being the focus, invest the time to study your kill zone, and be the one smart human in the landscape, not driving around howling and slamming doors, as you rev up Sean Hannity and pop diet coke.
agtG
