“Not only is it the coolest looking snow camo on the market, it’s also the most effective! Whether I’m calling coyotes in the sage country of Wyoming or the sandhills of Nebraska, add a dusting of snow and my King’s Snow Shadow to the mix and deceiving some of the keenest eyes in mother nature has never been so easy!!”

Geoff Nemnich – Coyote Craze

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Top Ten Tips for Hunting Turkeys
by Steve Chappell

1. Although turkeys can’t smell humans, their eyesight is very keen. You must be in head to toe camo and use a face mask. Setup in the shade if possible. A camouflaged shotgun is a good idea.

2. Setup with your back against a large tree for safety and concealment. If you are right handed, position yourself at about a 90 degree angle to an approaching turkey. Your left shoulder should point at the turkey rather than sitting face on to the turkey. This gives you the most versatility to shoot.

3. If possible, locate Toms in the evening. You will hear them “cackle” and fly up to roost right before dark.

4. Turkeys will “shock gobble” at everything from a coyote howl or crow call to a horn honking! Use a “locator call” to locate toms in the evenings prior to fly up or in the mid morning. Then, go to your turkey calls once you are setup and ready.

5. In the morning, sneak in under cover of darkness, and setup as close as you can to the “roost tree” without spooking the turkeys (75 to 150 yards if possible). As daylight starts to break, give some light hen yelps (“tree yelps”). Once the gobbler answers you, call according to his response. You don’t want to jump all over him, but you can also be too timid. If he is liking your calls, keep him fired up.

6. Decoys can work great to distract turkeys coming to the call. You can use just hens, a hen with a jake, or we’ve also found a gobbler decoy (B-Mobile) to be very effective. Position the decoys where you will have a good open shot when the tom gets to them.

7. Learn to use a slate call, box call, and mouth calls if possible. Some turkeys will prefer one sound while others will like something else. This will make you more versatile and more successful.

8. Once hens get bred and start going to sit on their nests in the morning use this to your advantage. Gobblers will be out looking – this is when hunting mid-morning all the way through afternoon can pay off big.

9. Never wear or carry anything red, white, or blue when turkey hunting since these are the colors of a gobbler’s head.

10. When carrying decoys or a turkey out of the woods, drape them with fluorescent orange for safety.

Have fun and enjoy your time in the woods!

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We are happy to announce a great success to raising a ton of money that will be given back to wildlife and conservation through this drawing. Thanks for everyone’s support and participation and congratulations to the winners. We gave over 70 different products accounting for $30,000 in value.

We had been driving for what seemed like an eternity down two-track after two-track, the sage flats seemed to go on forever. We knew there were coyotes out there and plenty of them. None of us wanted to be driving when we could be hunting, but a vantage point never seemed to present itself. Finally, I spotted something and we headed for it. It was a water tower with a security rail around the top. Now, I won’t admit to telling anyone to do this, nor am I encouraging anyone to do anything dangerous by any means, but we had permission to hunt anywhere on this ranch and by dang that meant anywhere.

Now when I presented my idea to my two friends (both wish to remain nameless, so I’ll call them “D” and “K”), I dare say that neither one of them was all too excited about the idea. One was ok with it, the other not so much. Well, we climbed up the ladder and situated ourselves around the top of the tower and we could see forever! Now if only our Foxpro FX3 would cut through the wind that was blowing quite hard from right to left (south to north). We turned on the good ole’ tune of “Help, I’m a little rabbit and I am in some serious pain…help, help” as loud as the volume would let us. We settled in for what two of us thought was a waste of time and one of us hoped would allow us to at least see something that resembled a coyote, fox or badger.

About five minutes into the stand, D squeaked his squeaker and the three of us turned our heads to see four coyotes come screaming over the nearest hill about a half-mile away. I have never seen coyotes cover ground so fast. They were in what looked to be a life and death race to that poor little rabbit. Our truck was tucked right up against the tower so it didn’t stand out, but the coyotes were coming straight downwind.

I can’t begin to explain how proud I was of myself. Here I had these two doubters and look what I had come up with, four coyotes in the flats in late November. The coyotes were nearing 400 yards and the one in the front kept coming, the last three ran smack dab into our scent trail but couldn’t figure out exactly where we were. The first one was now at 100 yards. I told D to hold on and let the others come a little closer. Just as I was getting my crosshairs on the second dog, he made a hard left and stopped with the third behind a big sagebrush as he hit our wind. Then the closest one winded us and turned to go. “On the count of three, …one….two….three – BAM… BAM……”.

Well, let’s say that I went from being very proud of myself to wanting to jump off of that stupid tower! I watched all four coyotes leave the area faster than they had come in and I chastised myself over and over and apologized to D just as much. We went from having one “sure bet” coyote down and me being “right,” to us having zero coyotes on that stand and me being very humble. To this day I still kick myself for being greedy.

Now, what did I learn from this hunt? Well, let me tell you and see if you agree. I won’t argue whether climbing the tower was dumb, it probably was, but I do dumb things all the time, just ask my wife. So, we’ll leave the actual climbing idea out of it. That said, a hunter does need to gain whatever vantage point that they can. If the terrain is dead flat with no hills, then what do you do? Where do you hide? I hide in plain sight. Coyotes are not tall animals, so they are going to be low in the brush too. You might not see them very well, but they won’t see you either. If the wind is right, and you call the flats from your knees or a stool, you’ll have coyotes in your lap or staring you in the face just above sage level. The shots will be fast, but I promise you will do more shooting and calling than driving around in the truck “looking” for that perfect spot.

What are some other things we can learn from this hunt? When hiding your vehicle, use whatever you can to break it up. We have used the military surplus netting to hide our trucks when there is no natural blind. If there is farm equipment (old or new) then park by it, a fence, hay bales whatever, use it and be happy, it beats wasting time looking.

I also learned a valuable old lesson; “A bird in the hand beats two in the bush.” If I hadn’t gotten greedy, we would have came away with a much more memorable stand. Instead of me saying, “I told you we could call in coyotes from that tower.” We would have been saying, “Remember when we climbed that tower and called in those four coyotes and D shot that one? That was awesome. Cory you are the greatest!” …Or something along those lines. The bottom line is that no matter how many coyotes are coming into a call, take the shots you can make. Sure, we all want the double and triples, but if a single is all we are going to get, get the single and be happy. I sure would have been.

Coyote Hunting - A successful double

Another thing I learned from this trip was something that I relearn every trip I take. Get the best equipment you can afford. Obviously spending this month’s mortgage on gear is out of the question but, if you hunt with friends you can share costs and things can be had for less than you might think. I have been hunting predators for over ten years now and, between D, K and I, there is about thirty years of experience and stuff. I don’t want to tell you or my wife exactly how much I have spent over that time, but it has been quite a bit. I use Foxpro because it is a unit that works and works very well. In the event that something does go wrong, the company stands behind its product tooth and nail. There are e-callers that run the whole spectrum when it comes to price. If an e-caller is what you want, get one that fits your needs. Use a gun you can rely on and trust. There is nothing I hate worse than hunting with a gun I don’t trust. I shoot a Tikka tactical in .223 and a Bushmaster Predator because these are guns I know will work. Get the best optics you can afford as well. If you can’t see the predators, you can’t shoot the predators – plain and simple. I won’t go into depth on all of our gear at this time. In a future article I’ll include a list of items that we like to take on our hunts to ensure that we have the best hunt possible.

The last thing we learned from the tower stand is that you never know what will happen. After loading up in the truck and heading out up the road, we came over the rise and there, in the middle of the road, was one of those four coyotes staring at us. (At least we think it was one of them, it never told us for sure.) Well, D got out and put the bipods down on his Ruger .204 and WHAM, Mr. Coyote dropped dead. We didn’t even have to climb any towers!

Cory Lundberg and Friends on a successful coyote hunt

Finally, hunt with guys or gals you have fun with. Predator hunting can include an awful lot of windshield time – it is not fun to ride with someone that does not make that time enjoyable. K and D are some of the best guys I have hunted with and make what we do a lot of fun. Thanks for putting up with me!

Hunting list

Hand calls—Predator Sniper calls, Circe, Lohman, Song Dog “Tweaked Squirrel,” KJ12
Rifles — Tikka Tactical .223, Bushmaster, Predator and Varminter .223, Ruger
.204, Thompson Encore .204 (single shot or not – K has killed a
lot of coyotes with it)
Optics — Bushnell 3200 elite, Bushnell legend binoculars, Bushnell 1500elite
Rangefinders
Camo — Kings Desert Shadow, Kings Snow Shadow
Ammo — Federal Premium
Boots — Danner, Irish setter, Vasque
Tent — Kodiak Tents
Electronic caller — Foxpro FX5 and FX3
Truck box — flares, fire starting stuff, emergency blankets, flat tire repair stuff,
Bottle jacks, tools, etc.
Shooting Sticks — Predator Sniper Styx, Harris Bipods
Cooler — food and water/drinks
Sleeping bags — sleeping pads

As a die-hard predator caller, I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what it takes to bring a predator in close. I believe one of the more important aspects of predator calling is concealment. I like to call predators within shotgun range which means that my concealment has to be good. Concealment goes hand-in-hand with camouflage. Calling predators allows me to put myself on their playing field, so I like to say that I need to be wearing a good set of Predatorflage, or camouflage, while calling predators.

Predators are simply animals that prey on other animals. Sometimes they might scavenge, but more times than not they prefer a fresh meal. How are they successful in doing this? I like to say that they use their Predatorflage, or their own fur with its distinct markings, as their camouflage. Lions, tigers, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, etc, all have fur characteristics that tend to be a form of camouflage. Some have lighter shades of coloring that blend darker on various parts of the animal, while others have spots and distinct lines to help form their Predatorflage. This Predatorflage helps break up the animal’s outline as they patiently stalk their next meal. Most predators can be seen more easily whenever they are moving. Whenever a lion, for instance, is crouched in a patch of yellow grass in Africa waiting for a wildebeest to stroll by, you can bet your behind that the only thing that will save the wildebeest is smelling the lion before it gets near the grass that the lion is in.

Just like a predator, I sit almost completely motionless whenever I am calling predators. I want my camouflage to blend me into my surroundings so that I become like the predator that I am calling. If I can fool the wary coyote’s eyes with my camouflage concealment, chances are that I have fooled him altogether. I do not know about everyone else, but I have my own personal closet that is full of every available style of camo to ever hit the market. Heck, I even have a few pair of camo undies. For what, I have no idea. Several of the brands and styles have worked better for me over the years than others. How do I know this? I have actually tested certain camos over the years while calling coyotes.

What is my goal as a predator caller you might ask? I want to try and call each and every predator to within shotgun range. How do I do that? Well, my friends, several other important factors come into play, but body concealment is my number one goal in getting predators close enough for a shotgun shot. Over the years, people have worn everything from a Santa Claus suit, courtesy of Mr. Gerry Blair, to Halloween-like costumes while calling predators with success. Will I be trying this anytime soon with my calling? Not only “No,” but, “Heck no!” I will take everyone else’s word for it that it works. In order to understand this, the first thing a hunter needs to do is to try and decipher what a predator is doing once it is coming to the call.

First, I try to set up in a likely spot to call a predator. Then I blow on the call. If a coyote hears the distress sound and wants to investigate the sound, it heads toward us. While coming at us, the coyote is going to be using three of its five senses the most. Ears (hearing) – listening for sound and danger. Nose (smell) – trying to smell for any unfamiliar scents. And eyes (sight) – spot the sound source or movement, etc. Notice, I said “movement.” Remember, predators are easier to see whenever they are moving. Just like predators, we are easier to spot when we move as well. To briefly summarize, you must first wear a camouflage that blends you into your surroundings making you become part of the landscape, and second, keep your movement to a minimum. If you do this, not only is your success going to increase, but you will be having a few close encounters on your predator calling trips.

Predator calling is a terrible* addiction of mine. (*Please note that I use the word “terrible” in a very good way!) Not only am I obsessed with calling coyotes, but I love to call them in close – real close. I like to look into their eyes to try and figure out what they are thinking. Will I ever know what they are truly thinking? I doubt it. But the idea of figuring out what a predator is thinking reminds me of one of my last hunts of the season this past winter…

It was the latter part of February 2007, somewhere in Wyoming. The temperature was hovering in the low thirties and a snow squall was visibly moving our way. I told my videographer/hunting partner/ brother Jeff that we had better hurry and try to get our last stand of the day in. It was only mid-afternoon, but it appeared as if our day of calling was quickly approaching an end. Six motionless, pale Wyoming songdogs were already lying in the bed of my Toyota Predator Quest Vehicle. The wind was blowing 10-20 mph and this was below average wind speed for this part of Wyoming. We hurried over the ridgeline to drop our silhouettes out of sight of any watchful coyotes that might be forewarned of our presence. About fifty yards over the horizon and towards the base of the hill, there was a prairie dog hole with a mound of dirt that extended all the way around the hole. I put my seat cushion down in the hole and sat right down in the hole. My brother sat down higher on the side of the hill so that his vantage point could be higher due to running a video camera. “We stick out like a sore thumb,” was what my mind was telling me, but I have done this many times before with great success.

After sitting down and securing my bipod legs on my rifle and laying the shotgun over my lap, I took a quick minute to scan the vast open plains for any suspicious form that might represent life. Hardly a blade of grass, this endless sea of wide open prairie is what really gets my heart pumping. Why, you might ask? Because I know that they are out there, that is why! I brought the hand call to my mouth and played the exact same cadence on my predator call that I have done thousands of times before. I didn’t blow as hard as I could my first series, but since I could see hardly a clump of sagebrush out past a mile, I blew again a few minutes later as loud as I could.

As I picked up the binocs to make a quick scan of the vast prairie from right to left, Jeff said, “Les, Les.” I was still scanning, so I knew that Jeff had spotted something that represented the ol’ prairie ghost. As my binocs quickly moved left, there was the white dot that Jeff had seen with his naked eyes. Indeed, it was a coyote working our way from well over a mile away. Jeff muttered, “It must be an antelope.” I turned and said that it was indeed a coyote and he was coming. The coyote took his own sweet time coming in, but his pace was steady. Several times he would stop, listening for the sound of that dreadful animal that was making those distress cries. Several soft moans would again fool his ears and keep him shortening the distance. As the coyote approached the 200-yard mark, there was a slight depression in the land in which I knew that I could set up whenever he crossed below his line of sight. I had made sure to keep inching my rifle and bipod to face his approach so it would be ready should I have the opportunity to rifle this coyote.

Normally, in all of my experiences, when a coyote approaches slowly, he is more attentive of his surroundings and can sometimes bolt at the slightest of movements or anything that can cause him to be uneasy. This coyote, however, went through the draw and showed no sign of slowing down as he trotted right towards me. His senses already told him exactly where I was, within a few feet. I laid back so that my body looked as if it was a fixture on the Wyoming prairie. I clenched my shotgun as the coyote hit fifty yards. The coyote paused for a second to look my way. I never made a peep. He definitely knew that my body was something unusual, but he still wanted to get a closer look. Now the coyote was glaring right at my position, but he still came directly towards me. I began to ever so slowly point my shotgun in the coyote’s direction. I already had my shotgun to my shoulder, but I was reclined backwards in such an awkward position that you would never know that I was ready to shoot at any time.

Once the coyote hit 35 yards, he stopped again and began to throw his nose into the air and bob his head, knowing that something in his realm of the desert was out of the ordinary. My bead at the end of the smoothbore was leveled on the coyote’s head. I could sense that he was ready to leave due to the body language that I was reading from him. At the report of the shotgun blast, his body slumped over and hit the ground. He was in coyote heaven before his body hit the ground. We barely had time to film any kind of narration of what had transpired before the snow squall had totally engulfed us. Jeff and I each took a leg of this magnificent specimen of a predator and took him to join his six other fallen comrades. Instead of having to make a 300-yard shot at a skittish coyote, my concealment with the proper camouflage helped me to take a much easier shot on this beautiful Wyoming coyote.

Les Johnson is a world and national coyote calling champion and host of Predator Quest TV. Les uses King’s Camo exclusively when getting close to the predators.

“King’s Snow Shadow camouflage plays a major role in my success while calling predators. I know that I am concealed and the versatility of the pattern allows me to feel confident and natural while hunting in different parts of the country.”

Les Johnson – World Champion Caller, host Predator Quest TV

“My bull was living in open country with only the occasional small tree and scrub brush. My King’s Desert Shadow camo worked to perfection, concealing me from numerous nearby cows which allowed me to draw and shoot my big Arizona bull. Besides being the most comfortable camo I have ever worn, the pattern is deadly!”

Don Roach – Pending No. 5 in the world typical archery elk scoring 400 4/8 net P&Y