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.

Are you ready for that guided mule deer hunt?

Since I have heard all my hunting stories over and over again, it’s good to hear a few new ones. It is always good to get a few new hunting stories so they can be told over and over again through the years.

As I look back over the past ten years of being a mule deer guide, it has been good, no, ‘very good’. There have been those times when I have been frustrated over all the things that didn’t even come close to my way of thinking or the way I thought it would be, but then, that’s hunting! One of the hardest parts of being a big time professional guide is meeting up to ‘all’ the expectations in your hunters’ minds. The end result always being that if I’m paying you the big bucks, I’d better kill a big buck. (Boy, have I lost a lot of sleep worrying about that one!) Over the years of hunting, myself, and being guided by a few guides, it has done me good to just sit back and see how someone else thinks and handles everything. So, in the past ten years I have come to know what is and is not expected of me as a hunting guide. Not that I know everything, mind you, (that will never happen), but I have come a long way down that guiding road.

It seems to me that to most hunters know what they want and expect me to be and do, but they never think much of what I, as their guide, expect out of them and what they should be able to do. So, let’s go over a few things that you, the guided hunter, with dreams of a 30”, 7×8, heavy horned, hardest of all big game animals in North America to kill, (a big muley buck), should be able to do.

1. You should be in good physical condition. You need to be able to walk ten miles a day in rough terrain, even run up and down a steep incline to get that shot, if needs be.
2. You should have your mind set for a hard hunt with lots of room for adjustments and disappointments. Leave your job and work at home. Have the ‘eye of the tiger’ and don’t get discouraged and get ‘mind burn out’. Never give up and come down from your first day high because you are worried about what is going on at your work.
3. You should know your gun and be able to shoot off hand fast and accurate. Be able to hit a moving target out to three hundred yards. Ninety percent of all big muley bucks killed are on the move. So, have a gun you can pack all day (light), shoot off hand fast, and make sure you can shoot well. You will kill more deer hitting with a .22 than missing with a .300 Winchester mag.
4. You should have some deer savvy on land layout. When your guide tells you where to go and sit on a hill or mesa, you need to be there, in that spot, looking the right way with 110 percent alertness until your guide comes to get you or you kill old Mister Big. Don’t let your guard down and start picking your nose or drawing lines in the sand if you don’t see a big buck after twenty minutes or so. If a big buck doesn’t run exactly where you think he should or where your guide told you he would, you should be able to adjust to each situation as it unfolds.
5. You should know what kind of clothes, colors, shoes, and pants you need. Each state and place you hunt has different laws and rules. Be familiar with all of them. Don’t expect your guide to compromise just because you are not prepared. If you need to have something special for your health or need special treatment, let him know so he can adjust his way of hunting.
6. You should always do your best and be at your best around camp and other people. Don’t expect to have everything done for you all the time. ( I don’t like to baby sit when I’m hunting.)
7. Be a good listener and carry out the things he tells you to do, even if you don’t always agree with him or the way he’s thinking. After all, that’s why he’s there, (knowledge)! If he’s worth his pay, he won’t lead you too far wrong. ( However, I always have an open ear for any good hunting comments or ideas from anyone, anytime.)
8. You shouldn’t expect your guide, to always get you a big muley buck. As I’ve said, ‘that’s hunting’ !! Most good guides will try hard to get you what you want.

If you will do your part in this team effort and trust in the knowledge of your guide, chances are you will be successful. The big Muleys are out there—smarter than ever, fewer than ever, harder to see than ever, but they are out there. We just need to be better than ever to get ‘Old Mr. Big’.
Yours in the Sport,
Dennis Wintch

Are you seeing what you are looking for on your hunts?

Case in point…sometimes I travel from state to state and each state does things a little different. The traffic lights in Utah are all overhead so as the years have gone by, my eyes (like a reflex action) look for lights in the middle of each intersection I come to. However, if you put me in a state, or a place where all the traffic lights are on the side of each intersection, I’ve been known to run one or two. I just don’t see them until it’s too late. You can, and must, train your eyes to see all things around you. One of the big advantages I’ve had over most hunters is the ability to scan a side hill, shadow, sagebrush flat, oak brush, dark timber, PJ’s, or a rock basin and in the wink of an eye, I can usually spot whatever I am hunting.

I remember a few years ago, my dad and I were hunting together as we have done so many times over the years. I was driving down a back dirt road quite fast (I always drive faster than most people on a dirt road and most hunters who have ridden with me can tell you that “that’s a big 10-4”). Anyway, I bogged on my brakes, leaving two deep runts in the sandy road and I said to my Dad, “look right up there. Right behind that cedar tree there’s a little buck. Keep your eyes open because there might be a big buck with him.” For two or three minutes I tried to show him the buck’s eye, part of his nose and half of his horn through a hole in the tree, but he couldn’t see the buck. Finally he got out of the truck and walked around to my side to get a different angle. Nope, he still couldn’t see that deer. Finally, he said, “there isn’t a deer behind that tree…no way!” So, I got out of my truck and walked up the hill toward the tree and guess what? A nice 15-inch willer-horn three-point (a Utah trophy) came running out and up and over the hill. I still remember my dad saying, “heck, no wonder you always kill a big buck. You can see them standing behind a tree at 50 miles an hour.”

Many times when I’ve been out in the field with my good friends, I’ve stopped and said, “Wow! Look at that big buck standing right there!” “Where?” They’ll say. “Right there!” “Where? I don’t see a big buck.” Well, I’d really have to be your good friend to just sit there and not shoot him first and wait until you see him, and let you shoot him. Besides, by the time you see him it will be too late. He’ll be gone and all we’ll have to say to each other is, “Wow, did you see how big that buck was (and still is)?”

One time my good friend Mike Liddiard and I were out scouting the day before the hunt started. Mike had not hunted deer for ten years or so. After showing him 20 deer or so (me seeing everyone first), he said, “I’m a little rusty seeing deer in the trees.” But in only a few days, he was a lot better at seeing deer. Just last year I was guiding a good friend of mine when I spotted a huge buck standing straight on in the shadows. He was about 80 yards looking right at us. Boy that was a good buck. After 30 seconds of looking, my friend finally sees him. One shot. The big boy was hit but not down. He ran down the hill and stopped in a grove of trees, standing broadside. I said, “Put another hole in him.” “Where? I can’t see him.” “Right there. Shoot him.” “I can’t make out a deer at all.” Not until he ran again and he shot seven more shots did we finally bag ‘Old Mr. Big’. We were lucky. If only he could have see him standing there. I could have, and would have, taken him on the first go around and in the first second I saw him, all because I could see him.

Most of the time when it comes to trophy-sized game, you don’t get a second chance. They see you first and are gone before you even have time to react. There are so many times that I’ve been hunting and my eyes (my trained eyes), have given me that extra second or two to react to the given situation and come home with another big buck.

There is no way that I can count or even remember all the times that my eyes have given me the great success in hunting that I’ve had over the forty years I’ve been out and about. But I do know if you have good trained eyes, that can pick out parts and pieces and put the puzzle together in a hurry; you my friend, will have an edge in hunting that is unequaled.

Hunting Tips – Some of the things you can do to improve what you see and to see faster are:

1. Spend more time in the field looking at game. Different land layouts and types of cover. Seeing game in all different backdrops.

2. Try to train your eyes to move fast over the layouts that are before you. Try to see parts and pieces of any animal at different angles.

3. Know the limitations that your eyes have. If you need glasses, get them. If you have to go slow and take more time to see or pick something out, go slower.

4. Never compromise money for buying good optics. A good scope on your gun and a good pair of binoculars around your neck in the world of hunting is a big must.

5. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at, don’t shoot first and then go see what it was. When in doubt…Don’t!

6. When you come to a good place where you can see into a big basin, canyon or side hill, take more time to look it over and see if you can see old Mr. Big before he sees you. If you can, you have just upped your odds 50% of putting him in the deep freeze to feed your family.

7. Keep your eyes looking up 80% of the time and down on the ground 20%. Most hunters look where they are walking 80% of the time and only look up 20% of the time. Once again…you can’t shoot what you can’t and don’t see.

8. Don’t drink alcohol or smoke. Red, blurry eyes from drinking and smoking are big minuses for your eyes and what they can see when you need them most.

As a new year of hunting is here, try and up your odds by seeing what’s there to be seen. Our eyes are, in my opinion, the best gift of all. From a man who loves this world and all that Mother Nature has to share with us, as I have said before and I’ll ask you again, ”what do you see?”

In the Dec/Jan 2009 Issue of Hunting Illustrated, bowhunting editor Jim Burnworth talks about Tips for Better Shooting. Jim is an accomplished archer, and has done extensive testing on bows and has filmed many sessions with special high definition cameras. Here are just a few examples of Jim’s video footage of slow motion video clips.

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We have featured amazing trophy animals like the World Record Elk – the Spider Bull, the new SCI World Record typical mule deer and monster 250 class whitetail. Plus many more – twelve awesome bucks or bulls each month that really make this a beautiful wildlife calendar.

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Our very popular Raxx figurines have arrived. Our Mule Deer, Elk and Whitetail Racks are now here for immediate shipments. Makes the perfect Christmas Gift. These antler figures are made to stick just about anywhere and are perfect to put on the dash of your vehicle. Raxx are made of high quality casting resin with an internal wire frame. The base has a pivoting ball joint that allows rotation to any desired position. The base mounts with a high quality adhesive pad that will firmly adhere to just about any clean, dry surface. Click Here to Order

I can’t get enough of southeastern Montana. This would be the eighth year that I had hunted with Craig Hueter of Trophies West Outfitters. The amount of deer that I see each year is amazing. I have taken six mule deer over 170-inches, my best was a 5×7 that scored 190. However, I could count the amount of bull elk that I had seen over the years on one hand. This was the first year that I would be hunting in September. The muley bucks were still in bachelor groups and the elk were in rut and bugling. There are not many elk in this part of Montana, but you can run across occasional pockets of elk. These herds have great genetics and don’t get hunted like they do farther north.

Tim Hite with his 407 Archery elk from Montana

Unfortunately, there was just too much open space between us and the bull. We pacified ourselves by getting some video of the bull and watched as he pushed his cows up into the timber. We hunted the rest of the day and ran into a few more bulls, but nothing that I wanted to try to take on the first day….

Read the Rest of the Story

See this bull’s image featured in the 2009 King’s Bull Elk Calendar