How to Have All the Hunting Land You Want to Hunt
Understand That Predators Aren’t Easy
 Editor’s
Note: Do you want to have all the land you need to hunt
and even more? Instead of you looking for land to hunt,
how about if farmers and ranchers call you to come hunt
their properties? Predator hunters often enjoy these
kinds of perks. When coyotes, raccoons, bobcats, foxes
and/or feral hogs create problems for landowners, deer
hunters and turkey hunters, anyone who can remove these
predators generally has an open-ended invitation and
a warm welcome awaiting him to hunt new property. Predators
kill and eat newborn livestock, including calves, lambs,
goats, deer fawns, occasionally adult deer, poultry,
domestic pets at times and turkey poults. They also
destroy turkey nests and the nests of songbirds. In
years past, trappers have kept predator numbers down.
However, with the decrease in fur prices for many years,
the predator hunter has replaced the trapper in many
areas as the way to keep predator  populations
in check. Therefore, to have all the hunting land you
want to hunt, become a predator hunter.
In most southeastern states, the understory in the
state’s forests sometimes keeps hunters from seeing
more than 50- to 100-yards away. Probably that’s
why much of the predator-hunting information comes from
the West where hunters can sit on a small hill fully
camouflaged, get downwind of the area they want to call,
begin to call and spot coyotes, foxes and bobcats coming
from as far as 1/2- to 1/4-mile away. If a predator
starts to circle downwind to try to smell what it’s
hearing before it comes in, the hunter can get the shot.
However, when a coyote, a fox or a bobcat hears a predator
call in the Southeast, the animal often can circle downwind
out of sight, due to the thick foliage, smell the hunter
and leave the area before the hunter’s ever known
the animal has visited that place.
 You
need to know the terrain where you’re hunting,
if you want to take predators. Too, always block your
back. If you can stop the predator from circling downwind
of you, you drastically can increase your odds for taking
these animals. Here’s some setups that work.
* Call with your back up against a sheer rock bluff.
Then when the predator starts moving in and arrives
at the bluff, the animal will turn and come toward you.
* Set up next to a creek or a river. If a predator responds
to a call, generally the animal won’t cross a
river or a creek but instead will turn at the creek
and come toward you.
* Hunt with your back to a field or a road, since clean,
open spaces will act as a barrier to cause the coyote,
which typically has a home range of 2- to 20-square
miles, to come to you, if it attempts to circle downwind.
 Double
Down on Predators:
Al Morris, a member of Hunter’s Specialties’
Pro Staff and one of the nation's top predator callers,
explains, "One of the most-effective ways to take
predators in thick cover is to hunt with a buddy. Since
I know that predators will circle downwind and come
to me, I have my hunting buddy sitting and looking directly
behind me. He looks for clearings off to the left or
right of where we’re calling. About 60 to 70 percent
of the time, he’ll see and take the animal coming
in before I will. If you don’t have eyes in the
back of your head or a hunting buddy behind you who
can look downwind for the predators that will circle
before they come in, more than likely you won’t
see or get a shot at the animals you’re calling.
“My partner and I hunt in many predator-calling
contests and have been highly successful. We hunt thick
cover where most other predator hunters don’t
want to hunt. We both carry a shotgun as well as a rifle,
and we assume that most of the predators will be taken
behind the caller instead of in front of the caller.
That’s why you need to buddy hunt for predators
and have your buddy looking downwind from the caller."
Tomorrow: Use New Decoys
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