The Copper Cat

I decided to try something a little new with my skull cleaning. I took a bobcat skull, sprayed it with some primer and then did three coats of hammered copper paint. I then took a wood plaque and stained it with a walnut color. Next I got a small 1/4 threaded steel rod and painted it dark brown, then clear coated it for some shine. Put them all together and I ended up with this:



I think it looks very different! Not really my favorite, but I'm glad I did the project. I donated the whole setup to the Xtreme Predator Callers (XPC) here in Arizona for their Chirstmas party silent auction. I don't know how much it ended up going for, but the guy who won was very happy, so that's what matters!

Trust Your Gut!

I traveled with my family up to Colorado for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a really fun trip and we got to see family and friends and have some great adventures. And of course, I couldn't make a trip like that without doing a little hunting! I went out with my brother-in-law Matt and a local friend named Brandon.

Most of the land in Colorado is privately owned, which is such a different experience for me since Arizona is about 85% public. Except for a few stands that we did in the snow covered mountains, most of our hunting was done in the grasslands, and you can see for miles. Of course that means the coyotes can see you from a ways off, as well! Most of the yotes we saw were while we headed to a stand or after we were done, as there is little to no cover. The good news about this type of country is that there are prairie dogs everywhere and in between stands we really enjoyed testing our marksmanship skills on them!

On one small patch of farmland we hunkered down in a little wash with a few very small trees to use as cover. I had thought before we left the truck that I should have brought my shotgun, but this land was so open so I stuck to my rifle. GUT WARNING #1. Matt setup to my right and Brandon to my left, and as I set up my position, I thought to myself that I needed to be able to cover the big field behind me. But that would put me out of cover and in some long grass, so I stuck to the trees. GUT WARNING #2. As I began my calling I really started to look at the terrain features and realized that one of the most likely places a coyote would come from would be into the field behind me, but I hoped that it would have to come by one of my partners first. GUT WARNING #3. A few minutes into the stand I got this strong urge to unhook my sling so that if needed I could shoot my rifle weak-handed and be able to get a shot at something coming in from behind me. GUT WARNING #4. A few more minutes passed as I sang out a rodent distress sound and I realized that all I would have to do is adjust my position a little to be able to get a shot at the field behind me, which now was consuming all of my attention. GUT WARNING #5. Well it turns out there are only so many warnings that your gut instinct will give you, and as the coyote came blazing into the stand to Matt's right and straight to me, I realized that I was out of options. That furred up Colorado coyote stopped at about 30 yards and looked right in my direction as I was trying to figure out how to draw on him since I would have to completely turn my body. I could see from his behavior that the gig was up so I made my move. But I had a lot of movement to pull off and that yote had other ideas. By the time I got my scope on him he was headed for Kansas at Mach 2. I tried to slow him with a bark, then tried to stop him cold with the rifle, but he lived on for another day.

Moral of the story? Whether you are just getting started or whether you've been on countless stands as I have, always trust your gut!

The vistas were beautiful but the terrain is much more open than I am used to.



When we ventured into the high snowy country we came upon some moose, and I was able to sneak pretty close (but not too close!) to this cow and her calf. They are big animals!

The Finishing Shot

I consider myself a good shot. And I practice shooting a lot - I practice on moving targets, close targets and far away targets. It keeps me fine-tuned for shooting in the field when every round counts, and where you may only get one chance. Tuesday morning found me looking through the scope at a nice adult coyote, and just as I pulled the trigger the coyote turned to run, and the bullet made him stumble. I quickly shot again, and I heard the bullet hit but I was worried the dog would get away so I hurried over to where he was. From what I could tell the first bullet hit him in the spine above his shoulders, and the second bullet hit him too far back, shattering one rear leg and breaking the other. He was crippled from the spine shot at any rate, and as I approached he was dragging himself away on his front legs. I really do not like wounding an animal, and I pulled out my pistol to shoot the dog in the head. At first I missed the moving coyote, but I hit him with a subsequent round and he went down.

As I stood near the coyote and thought about the stand, it suddenly raised its head and looked around! I quickly shot it again with the pistol, and this time it was down for good. My point to this story is that when you wound an animal, then you are responsible for giving it a clean and quick death. I took more shots at this coyote than I usually have to, and things got a little bloodier than normal, and maybe it was just one tough dog, but either way I wish I would've killed it quicker. A coyote down is a coyote down, but just remember that amidst all the adrenaline and excitement of hunting, we all need to be as ethical as possible.

Eating predators - tasty or not so tasty?

A couple of years ago, I ate a coyote steak - it was nasty. Then I ate a bobcat steak, and it was really tasty. Well today I ate some fox filets, and it was . . . . well you'll need to check out my write-up over at the NPHA called "Predators are tasty!" to find out!

There are some people who are against predator hunting because predators hunters don't eat what we kill. Well I do, so that argument is no longer valid!

Happy Halloween!

Went over to some friend's house last night for some scary movies. One of the guys there wanted people to bring some short films to show as well, so here was my contribution: Click Here to watch "Kitty's Coat"

The Thick Stuff

Last week I found myself down in southern Arizona hunting with my friend Brian. We were hunting in some very thick brush near a riverbed, and we had good success. By the end of the day we had called in two coyotes, killed one, and also called and killed a bobcat and two foxes. As is usually the case, the perceived safety of the thick brush made all the animals feel more comfortable about responding to the call, and also allowed us to hunt area that has probably not been called before.

We had busted through thick brush, crawled on our knees and taken a couple of branch hits to the face when we finally came upon an area with very limites shooting lanes. A small wash ran through the area, and we setup in the bend of it. I stood against a thick river bush facing down one approach and Brian sat behind me, facing the other approach. Our hope was that as an animal came into the stand it would cross an open area, which might only present us with a few seconds to shoot. 8 minutes into the stand our crawling and brush busting was rewarded as a large bobcat crossed about 20 yards in front of me, looking towards Brian and the source of the bird distress noises. I raised my shotgun and the large tom never saw me as 41 pellets of #4 buck slammed home. Here's my shooting lane and what I could see - the bobcat is lying just above my shotgun barrel under the brushline. (click the image to see a larger version)



Hunting the thick stuff will so often give you the opportunity to call to animals that may have never heard a predator call before, and allow those predators to approach from many "safety" areas. Shotguns are a necessity for this type of hunting.



On a warm day, it's really important to get the fur cooled down in an ice chest or to skin the animal before bacteria starts to form, which will make the fur "slip"; meaning that large amounts of hair will fall out and therefore ruin the pelt. Luckily there was a large tree next to the truck that made for a great improvised skinning post.

My book is now on All Predator Calls.com!

If you haven't bought a copy yet, then you should buy one from All Predator Calls.com! You can find my book on their website by searching for the book title, Ready For Anything, or searching for my name. On their website you will also find a great selection of calls and hunting videos.

Never give up!

A chilly morning this last week found a my friend Jim and I out predator hunting. We were prepared to be out all day, starting in the juniper covered grasslands and planning to eventually move into the thick pines. Our first stand produced two coyotes, who almost simultaneously came into the area, but from different directions. One coyote approached from Jim's side, and one from mine. Both stayed in the thick brush, offering only brief glances of fur as they moved from bush to bush. Both coyotes also moved quickly into the thick brush that was our downwind, and were never seen again. Clearly we had just been given the slip by two "educated" dogs, but our outlook for animal activity in the area was good after such a productive stand.

Later in the day our outlook was not so positive. We hunted hard, made excellent stand setups, produced great call sequences, and yet we saw nothing more. Oh we saw deer and elk, but never managed to get a peek at another predator, though I'm sure we must have called some in. The wind had really picked up and swirled constantly throughout the day, making it hard to pinpoint and accurately monitor the downwind side. We continued to enjoy the hunting experience, but we were getting itchy to get our sights on some predators!

As the sun sank low in the sky, we talked of maybe just calling it quits and getting an early start home. But we've both been in this game long enough to know that when you do that, you'll always be left wondering what could have happened . . . . so we pressed on. As I screamed my final set of rabbit distress and then signaled to Jim that the stand was over, we looked at the horizon which now completely hid the sun. We had, at best, 20-30 minutes of shooting light left, and decided that we would do one more stand. We moved into an area close to the city limits and setup so that I could cover the downwind as Jim began a series of distress calls and lone howls. About 5 minutes into the stand, I spotted a coyote moving hard and fast towards Jim. I raised my rifle and watched through the scope as he charged towards Jim, who gave out a sudden bark, freezing the coyote in his tracks 60 yards away. I continued to watched through my scope as Jim center-punched the yote with a V-Max bullet, sending him to the ground. A few more minutes of calling produced no more animals, but as we ended the stand, we each wore a smile and were very relieved to have a coyote on the ground. Of course we had a great day hunting together and enjoyed our time in the outdoors, but it is always satisfying to get what you've been hunting. Even though we knew to keep going, it's a lesson that can never be learned often enough - never give up!

Error!

I was reading through my book the other day to check on some info I wrote, and while reading through the section on cleaning skulls I noticed an error. It's kind of an embarassing one, actually - on Page 89 and then twice on Page 90 I use a word that has a very different meaning than the one I meant to use. When you clean a skull by immersing it in water and allowing the natural bacteria to separate meat from the bone, it's called "maceration". The process of chewing your food is called "mastication". Any guesses which one I chose? Yep, not just once but thrice I used the term "mastication" instead of "maceration". The upside? If you really wanted to, though, I suppose you could use mastication to clean your skulls!

Poachers are no one's friend

This is what waste looks like. This is what crime looks like. This is the work of someone who does nothing for hunting, nothing for sportsmen, and knows only selfishness. This is poaching.



For the last 4 years I have been watching a certain group of 5 bachelor mule deer bucks grow bigger and bigger. The largest was 4x5 and easily over 200 inches. Last year was the year I decided to get the big boy, but after my hunt was ruined (that story is part of an ongoing saga HERE) I looked forward to going after him again, until last night, when a friend and fellow hunter who hunts the same area showed me this picture and told me what happened.

You guessed it - that's the bruiser. Head cut off in such a manner that the cape will not be fit for mounting. Gut shot twice with a rifle during early archery elk season. Left to rot - not an ending fit for a king. This type of waste is never acceptable, but if he had been killed by a legal hunter at least I wouldn't be so mad. My buddy found him laying less than a hundred yards from the powerline road, a favorite for those idiot road hunters. He has informed the local Game Warden, but I'm not sure what will come of that. I'd love to get my hands on this moron - chances are this isn't his first time, or his last. It's like the saying goes "poachers aren't hunters, they're thieves".