Predator Xtreme - Skull Cleaning Article

If you are a subscriber to Predator Xtreme magazine, then check out this month's issue for a short article about skull cleaning with beetles, written by me. And if you're not a subscriber, then you need to be! Subscribe here.

And if you want to get started in skull and bone cleaning with dermestid beetles, then there is no better way to get started than to contact Tim Hovey at Dermestid Inc. His colonies are well-priced and well-maintained, and Tim is an encyclopedia of beetle knowledge.

Happy Hunting!

Happy New Year - make it adventurous!

It was -2 degrees at my house in Arizona on New Year's Eve. It was record breaking cold, I heard on the radio. We had 6 inches of snow on the ground but I was warm and toasty inside the house. There was food and drinks on the table, in the oven, on the counter, and in the cupboards - none of it more than just a few steps away. There was my family and lots of friends, and we had a great time.

You know who wasn't invited, though? Mr. Coyote. Turns out he slept under a bush somewhere with a grumbling stomach. The next morning he woke up and went to work trying to secure food in anyway possible. What he really wanted was a fresh rabbit or a little wounded bird, something easy to catch and nice and warm. Maybe he got it, and maybe he didn't, but my point here is that if you were there to entice him with the sounds of wounded prey, then perhaps you'd be adding another pelt to the pile. This time of year is a perfect time to get out and hunt those predators. Make sure to dress to fit the weather conditions and bring preparations for a worst-case scenario, but don't use cold weather as an excuse to sit at home. Remember - you can't kill coyotes from the couch!

Have a Happy New Year, get out and find as much adventure as possible, and may God bless you and your family with health, joy, and success.

Now get out there and put some fur on the ground!

A Lesson Re-Learned

It's been awhile since I had some free time to get out and hunt - this season has been hard on me because I haven't hunted as much as I usually do! Finally I had the chance to go yesterday and I took a rookie named Weev along with me.

On the first stand a coyote came in pretty quick and pretty fast, and I shot it with the shotgun. Coyote goes down, moves around a little, and then lays there for about 5minutes, moving around a little every now and then but not really that active. I'm scanning the area when I catch some movement - it's a coyote running away from the stand and into the thick brush. It took a second for my brain to realize that the coyote was the same one that was supposed to be dead! I jumped up and tried to head him off as I ran into the brush, and I could hear him thrashing around in the leaves, but after quite a while of searching in near impassable brush, we couldn't find him. Lesson Re-Learned: hit 'em until they stop moving.

A few stands later another coyote comes in, full steam ahead, and then comes to a halt about 30 feet in front of Weev. He shoots and misses, but then makes up for it when he dumps her running away at about 70 yards. Nice big furred out female coyote, too.



A few stands later we had crawl into a deep canyon and I just knew that a fox was going to come in. I tell Weev to get ready and then I start calling. Less than 2 minutes later BOOM! I hear the roar of a shotgun followed by the scream of a fox. A few seconds after that I hear a lot of scrambling and realize that Weev is running down the wash and BOOM! he shoots again. I get up and follow him - seems that the fox (who literally had the stuffing knocked out of him) laid there for a second and then got up and ran - he died in a rock hole but we couldn't get him out. Lesson Re-Learned (again): hit 'em until they stop moving.

Next stand we called in two foxes who wouldn't commit to shotgun range, and seemed to be more interested in chasing each other around in the rocks. Then on the last stand of the day we called in a coyote who slipped away into some brush downwind before Weev could take a shot. But all in all it was a good day - 3 coyotes and 3 foxes called in, and the new guy got to see everything and even got to pull the trigger with success.

But above all, I came away with this: no matter how many times you hunt, no matter how many animals you kill, you always have something to re-learn. In this case: hit 'em until they stop moving.

And as a side-note, I got the chance to use my new Pelt Pakker from Kettle Creek Calls yesterday to drag this big heavy coyote back to the truck. Weev says it was pretty comfortable, and I know it sure beats having my old drag, which was a piece of 550 cord, dig into my hand from the weight.

Coyote Clinic 2011 - Date Change

The date for the Coyote Clinic in January has been changed. It is now January 21st for the Class portion, and January 22nd for the Field Day. The same discount applies if you attend both days.

The reason for the re-schedule is to allow for my participation in a Veterans for Veterans (V4V) event in Tucson, AZ on Januray 15th. V4V was started by my friend and associate Matt Shozda, who owns Firearms Mastery in Tucson. My own training organization, Independence Firearms Training, is proud to be a sponsor and network partner of V4V.

The January 15th course is a Basic Handgun / Arizona CCW course, and will be followed by more courses in the months to come. What makes the V4V program so great is that 50% of all course proceeds and 100% of all raffle and gift proceeds to go a Veteran's organization. The next three V4V events will benefit Honor Flight, which is an organization which sends WWII Veterans to the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is out hope that through V4V we will be able to send 10 Veterans to D.C. through the Honor Flight program.

Please visit Firearm Mastery's website to learn more about V4V.

Coyote Clinic and Field Day

The predator season is in full swing, and if you've been struggling to put fur on the ground, or if you'd like to learn some new tricks to put in your hunting toolbox, then here's your chance to get it figured out!

I will be holding the Coyote Clinic Class and Field Day on January 14th and 15th in 2011, up in beautiful Dewey, AZ. Both dates are available separately, but if you get them together then you will get a 10% discount.

Students from February's and April's Coyote Clinic continue to call me and send me emails to tell me about their successful hunts. Here are a few blog entries immediately following the last Coyote Clinic which shows how some of the students got right to work!

Coyote Clinic = Success! AND Coyote Clinic students continue to drop fur!

Space is limited, so register today via PayPal or with check / money order. For information on payment, as well as full course details, click on the links below to open up the info sheets for both the Class and the Field Day.

Coyote Clinic Info Sheet (PDF)

Coyote Clinic Field Day (PDF)

See you there!

Teamwork

Four minutes of fox distress from the Griz-N-Gray and BAM! right in front of me stood a gray fox, hackles up and ready to fight. The shot was 25 yards and in a rush I centered my crosshairs on his shoulder, but as the shot broke I knew that I had made a mistake. 25 yards is too close for me to hold the shot right on, and just like I knew it would the shot was low and hit the fox either low in the chest or in the leg. Either way it didn't keep him from finding solace in the brush and rocks before I could get another shot, and as my calling partner Kelly watched the fox disappear, I figured he was gone for good. A few more minutes of calling produced no more animals, so I called off the stand and we started the hunt for blood. It wasn't hard to find, but after about 15 minutes of trailing, the blood became infrequent drips and then disappeared altogether as the fox made his way into the decomposed granite. I hate to leave a wounded animal behind, but we couldn't find anymore sign, and so we decided to press on to another stand.

I really enjoy hunting alone - it's my time for thinking and self-reflection. And plus if something gets screwed up, there's no one to blame but me! That being said, I also really like to spend time hunting with friends and family. Sharing the experience and the thrill of the hunt with others has its own fulfillment value, and my good friend Kelly is especially fun to hunt with. We always seem to find cool things when we hunt together, and today was no different.

With the bad shot behind me, we headed off for our next stand. On the way we found some very interesting mine sites and trash dumps. We decided to get a better look on the way back, and here's some pics I took of the trash dumps. Lots of old metal cans and mining equipment!



We got to our next stand and I setup overlooking a large canyon while Kelly setup across from me at the top of a small draw where he could watch behind me. We had been really hoping to pull a bobcat out of this area, but with my luck at calling everything in with the Griz-N-Gray I started out with more fox distress. 10 minutes passed with no response and no shots from Kelly, so I switched to a cottontail distress. Just a few seconds later I heared Kelly's rifle bark and the familiar sound of a meat report. I knew we had one animal down but wasn't sure what it was. Another 5 minutes of calling and nothing else showed up, so I called the stand off. I whistled to Kelly but got no response. I whistled again to make sure he heard me. When I still heard nothing back I snuck around the bush I was sitting in and whistled one more time. This time I heard Kelly respond with a short blast from a hand call, and I looked around to find him with his rifle raised and his head to the stock, obviously keeping a bead on something. He gave me a hand signal that we use which means "keep calling" and I got back on the cottontail distress. That's when a seemingly simple stand suddenly became a sort of "tactical" operation.

I had no idea what was happening at the time, but Kelly had watched as three foxes came into my calling. They were on approach when I switched from the fox distress to cottontail, and they did not like that one bit! They turned to leave and presented Kelly with a good shot on one of them. Kelly made a 180 yard shot with his .243 to the neck of the largest fox, which turned out to be one big hog-of-a-fox, and the other two split. Or so he thought. As I continued to call, one of the foxes came back and began to run around the dead one, but Kelly could never get a shot on it. Once I stopped calling and started whistling the fox really lost its mind and started doing strafing runs on the dead fox. Then I started calling and moving towards the area where Kelly was pointing his rifle, trying to see if I could get a better angle on whatever it was he was aiming at. He continued to watch the fox as I slowly crept towards the area. I gave him a hand signal that means "you call" and as he started calling the fox stopped, looked in the direction of the new sound, and finally presented Kelly with a good target. Another 180 yard shot and that fox was down, as well. I still had no idea what exactly had happened, but when Kelly guided me to the spot where the foxes were down, I was happy to see such a big fox laying there!





With foxes in hand we headed back to the truck. We both had to get back to work (dang it!) and it was getting a bit warmer than we preferred. But on our trip back we wanted to check out the mines, and wow! We found some very interesting sites. Lots of long dark tunnels and big cuts out of the land, but the most interesting was one where there were still good timbers and even a door. This tunnel went way back, farther back than I could see. Underneath it about 20 feet down the hill was another tunnel which was filled with deep water and also went farther back than I could see.



And up on the hillside we found the throne room of the former miners - clearly a couple, though it's hard to guess the date of when they were last in the area.



That was it for our calling adventure today, but we plan on heading back for the cats - and maybe more foxes - and we'll bring a bright flashlight to see just how deep some of those holes go into the earth. Days like today remind me that even though I enjoy my solo hunting trips, it's also exciting and beneficial to share the hunt with a good friend! If I had made that last stand alone, and played it the same way, then I would have never know about the foxes that almost got away.

Rattle, Woof, Meow - Kettle Creek Calls Strikes Again!

Every month I spend a weekend backpacking with the Boy Scouts. On Friday night we stayed on top of Wilson Mountain, which is over in Sedona. As we were headed down the next morning, we found this guy right next to the trail:



He was a pretty good sized Black-Tailed rattlesnake - and I have a certain policy when it comes to rattlesnakes, especially near trails and public-use areas. One shot of .38spl CCI shotshell and it was lights out for this rattler. It was still about 4 miles to the vehicle, but I wanted to pack him out so I took off his head and loaded him in a garbage bag and down the hill we all went.

Once I got home and had the chance to lay him out, I discovered that he was 46" with his skin on, and once skinned he was 55" long - the biggest rattler I've ever killed. I got right to work getting him prepped and ready for display, and of course I kept the meat for a tasty meal at a later date. A little over a day later and the skin is already on the wall, soft and pliable as can be. Here it is compared to the big Diamondback rattler that I killed a couple of weeks ago:



I'm leaving early tomorrow morning with my family for a week of vacation in California, and I've been a little upset that I won't be able to call until next Monday, especially since I just got another bellows call from Kettle Creek Calls - the Big Pekker - and I wanted to try it out. In fact Curtis was kind enough to send me a few different calls, but I've been most anxious to try out the Big Pekker since it does a fantastic job of making a rapid bird distress noise. I figured I'd just have to wait until I came back from vacation, but then came my chance: I had to take my sister-in-law to meet a friend just north of Phoenix, and on my home I had just enough time for two stands before the sun went down. And they were good stands.

On the first one I walked close to a ledge overlooking a big dry riverbed, hoping that my new Big Pekker call would bring in some foxes. Just a few minutes into the stand and this coyote popped up directly in front of me about 40 yards away. Things got a little bloody - only one shot but I think he put his nose in it trying to bite it like coyotes will do sometimes. Not my best shot but he busted me and was trying to leave, had to shoot him on the move. Thank you Curtis and Kettle Creek Calls for yet another cool new bellows call!



And I wish I had a picture to show for this one . . . . on my second stand a good-sized bobcat came running in at around the 5 minute mark, headed straight in for a better look at what was making all that racket! It was my Kettle Creek Griz-N-Gray, and this isn't the first bobcat that I've had respond to a gray fox distress noise. The bobat stopped behind some behind some brush a mere 30 yards away, but my .223 is no brush gun and I was helpless except to sit there and have a staredown with the cat. I'm confident that if I would've had a decoy with me I could have sealed the deal, but I left both of my dekes back in the truck - dang it! He stared at me from behind the brush for about 5 minutes, and I could tell he was nervous and had seen me. Finally he decided to leave and did so through the brush - and there was nothing I could do but watch him slink off through the brush. That's okay, though - I know where he lives now. I'll go back for him, and even if I don't get him the heart-pounding thrill of our staredown is payment enough for my hardwork.

A Good Day

The simulated screams of a fox in distress echoed across the brushy terrain and into a nearby draw, bouncing off of rocks and traveling beyond where my eyes could see. It was early in the day and the sun was hidden behind a large patchwork of clouds; the cooler temperatures reminded me that fall was here. Not everyone's mind was on the cooler temps, however - some could think of nothing other than the screams of a fox. I was reminded of this as I watched a gray fox come bounding into stand, heading straight for me. He past my hunting partner's location first, but he was quickly beyond Daniel's line of sight as he crossed into my shooting lane. Hidden in an outcropping of rock, I raised my rifle, found the little fox in my crosshairs and squeezed off a shot. Drat! I missed! The fox was on the move towards the wash, and if he reached the safety of that brush I wouldn't get another chance. I found him in my crosshairs once again, and steady, steady now I placed the reticle at the front of his chest and swung the rifle at his speed as I squeezed off another shot. The fox cartwheeled a few times and came to rest in the sandy bottom of the wash. Another day of predator hunting was underway, and off to a great start.

I met Daniel online through AR15.com, a shooting forum that we both frequent. He was serving our country overseas at the time and was very interested in giving predator hunting a try once he returned home for leave. I told him I'd take him out since he lived here in beautiful Arizona, and we setup a date and were both excited to get out there and whack some predators! It can be a little nerve-racking sometimes when you are taking someone out predator hunting, especially for their first time, because the predators don't always get the memo that they need to come running in to the call through an open shooting lane, and sometimes they just decide to not show up at all. Luckily that was not going to be the case today.

After that first fox we had the chance to get on two more stands that produced gray fox. The first was in a dry riverbed surrounded by rocky outcroppings, and that fox popped up right in front of Daniel. He quickly discovered that a 4x ACOG is tough in close quarters on small foxes, and the fox bolted back into the brush. Daniel was excited to see gray fox up close in the wild, and was determined to get one down with his rifle. He would get another chance about an hour later.

We settled onto the knob of a hill which overlooked two small valleys and one rocky hillside. I placed Daniel in a spot where he would be able to see anything that approached the stand. Just a few minutes into the stand Daniel fired a few shots, and I was hopeful that he had made contact. After a few more minutes of calling with no response, I called off the stand and headed over to Daniel. A fox had come racing down the hillside and Daniel had tried to get on him with his rifle, but that fox must have been wearing a kevlar vest and he made his escape to live another day.

We had a few more dry stands, and then the things became not so dry: rain rolled in across the mountains and poured down pretty steadily. This gave Daniel and I some time to sit and talk and enjoy the beautiful Arizona landscape. Once the rain stopped we hopped out and headed for some granite boulders, hoping for more fox, but just a few minutes into the stand we were again hit with rain. A few hundred yards from the truck, we decided to wait it out under a big oak tree, and had time again to sit and talk and enjoy the beautiful Arizona landscape.



Once the rain stopped again we headed back to the truck and decided to try a new area, as the wind had also kicked up considerably. The wind would decide to taunt us for the rest of the hunt, which we decided to call off a bit early, but not before we found ourselves at the edge of a big riverbed. I decided that the ol' FoxPro would work well in this situation, and set up with the e-caller in front of Daniel, and myself on the hill to his left. It wasn't long before a midday coyote decided to check things out. He was headed right for Daniel and out into a large opening when he suddenly decided to change course and get downwind of the e-caller. My scent was all over that caller and the surrounding area, and I knew that once the coyote smelled that he would be gone - but Daniel had no clear shot. As the coyote stopped and put his nose to the wind I drew down on him with my shotgun and put him to rest. Not exactly how I would've liked it to play out but we were able to bring this one last predator in and put him on the ground.

After one more dry stand and then Daniel's first called stand, we called it for the day. But not before we had one more visitor: a 44" western diamondback rattlesnake.



I always enjoy taking new hunters out, but it was a real pleasure hunting with Daniel. He is heading back overseas in defense of freedom soon, and I want to thank him for all that he does - God bless those that keep us free. I am looking forward to hunting with Daniel again when he returns to Arizona.



And if you're wondering about that rattler . . . . he got to come home with me and spend the rest of his days quietly hanging on my wall.

Fun Friday with the Griz-N-Gray

The morning's crisp air had a slight chill to it. Fall is almost here I thought to myself as I settled into a rocky outcropping which overlooked a small canyon. The freeway wasn't far off, but the few hills that separated that stretch of asphalt from my current position was enough to dull the sound of traffic as it raced by, seemingly unaware of the beautiful morning that I had just sat down to enjoy. The sun was up but not yet shining on me as I pressed the call against my leg and a slow but rythmic fox pup distress began to pour out from the wooden exhaust. I rose the call in volume and intensity, and the sound echoed throughout the rock walls and steep draws that made up the canyon that I was hoping to pull some gray foxes from.

It hadn't quite been 5 minutes when I caught movement from the right - two gray foxes were coming in, and coming in fast. They were leaping from rock to rock as they made their way towards me and towards what they thought was a gray fox pup in distress, and potentially a rabbit meal when they caught sight of my decoy. I dropped the call on my leg and moved my left hand to the forearm of my rifle, quickly getting a solid cheek weld on the stock and finding the farthest fox in my scope. They were 50 yards out, then 40, then 30, then BOOM! My AR barked and the first fox hit the dirt. The second fox looked confused, started to run to his companion then suddenly jumped the other way and headed back to the safety of the canyon. I grabbed the call and pumped it once against my leg. That was enough to stop the fox dead in his tracks, and as he started back towards me I found him in the scope and just like the first fox, this one hit the dirt hard. A few more minutes of calling produced no further animals, but as I walked to collect my foxes, I looked at the call in my hand and realized that the way I had been calling gray foxes into the stand was about to be changed forever.



There's a new hand call on the market, and I guarantee that it will put foxes in front of you! Kettle Creek Calls has released their Griz-N-Gray call, which is a hand call with bellows on it that you pump against your leg. I was skeptical at first, until my friend Scott Francom tried one out and called in 9 foxes on 4 stands during his first time out. After that I knew I had to get my hands on one.

I had stopped in to see Scott at his house and he had shown me a box of calls that Curtis Houser from Kettle Creek Calls had sent to him to support the Arizona Predator Callers club. That in itself is a testament to good character and the kind of company that I want to do business with. So I picked up one of the Griz-N-Gray calls from Scott and headed home. On the way I decided to do a few stands, and as you read in the story above, the very first stand was a real experience. Anytime I take a new call out into the field and it produces animals on the first stand, I am excited. But when I take a new call that has a unique design and a one-of-a-kind sound out into the field and it produces animals on the first stand, I am impressed. I have been looking for a way to create a gray fox pup distress sound with my mouth calls for a long time, and while it's possible it is not easy and certainly not perfect. But the Griz-N-Gray makes it easy and perfect, and I had to keep testing it.



I setup for another stand in a position similar to the first stand, but when I sat down I realized that my visibility was limited. I didn't call for the full 15 minutes that I usually spend on stand, mostly due to the difficult setup, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something had responded. Oh well, on to the next (and final) stand. I setup under some oak scrub brush and had a great view of lots of rocky terrain and some open brushy flats. I worked the Griz-N-Gray for about 10 minutes, and when nothing showed I switched to my mouth calls. I had just started to blow a cottontail distress when a young coyote came barging into the stand from my left, headed right for my Quiver Critter decoy. She was getting closer, and closer, and she was just about on top of me when she stopped behind a bush, but it was just a little bush, so I centered my crosshairs on her chest and pulled the trigger. Well it turns out that it was a kevlar bush, and my bullet was deflected off course. But instead of turning to run the young dog jumped forward, towards the decoy. This put her in the open, and about 15 feet from me. Should've brought the shotgun were the words that went through my head, but I couldn't miss at that distance and that young female coyote went down less than 2 feet from my decoy.

I can't say that it was only the Griz-N-Gray that brought that coyote in, but I hadn't been blowing long enough on my open-reed cottontail call to think that it did all the work. I attribute the kill to the Griz-N-Gray, and even though I was done hunting for the day I know I'll be out there again soon with my new "leg-thumping" call, putting more fur on the ground and enjoying every minute of it.

If you're interested in the Griz-N-Gray or in any of Kettle Creek Calls other amazing hand calls, visit their website at KettleCreekCalls.com. To hear what sound I was making with the Griz-N-Gray to draw in these foxes and coyote, go to the right sidebar of my blog under the "Hand Call MP3s" section. You'll also find an alternate sound you can make with the Griz-N-Gray, which is a Raccoon distress. I love versatile calls!

Can't get them all . . . . but it's always worth it.

I headed out with my son late this afternoon in hopes of catching a few coyotes before the sun went down. We pulled into some thick brush to hide the truck and then hiked up onto a ridgeline that overlooked several washes and some very thick scrub oak. As we nestled into the bush that would help to hide us, I leaned over to my son and said "We're going to call in a coyote - I can feel it." He smiled at me and then the calling began. About 10 minutes into the stand nothing had shown face, and the wind was really starting to pick up, so I switched to putting out some long and drawn out pup distress sounds. After 2-3 minutes of that yielded nothing, I was just about to call the stand off when close behind us a coyote started in with some loud and abrupt barks. I've heard this tune before - it means "you're busted." How he busted us, I don't know, but I started in with the pup distress again just to see if I could pull him in. His barking turned into short howls, which gained in frequency until suddenly they stopped. Figuring he might be on his way in, I got a solid grip on my rifle and got ready to make a quick shot . . . . but no dice. He never showed.

We walked back to the truck and headed on to the next stand. Our setup was a great view from a hillside overlooking a stand of juniper trees, but it produced nothing for us despite my best attempts at sounding like a pathetic dying rabbit, so we headed off for one more stand. The sun was now sinking below the horizon and I knew that shooting light would be fading fast. We climbed two ridgelines and setup in an open area underneath a juniper tree. I got right to work with a high-pitched cottontail, adding in some real raspy distress.

Just as I was figuring that the stand was done for, I see a pair of ears come bounding through the cactus and there he is - a nice dark-colored coyote is running right for us. He holds up at about 80 yards and I figure I better take the shot, so I line up on him quickly and shoot. He goes down in some tall grass, and I start in on some puppy distress for about a minute. Nothing else shows up, and the sunlight is now fading quickly, so we head over to collect our coyote and . . . . he's gone. No blood, no fur, nothing. I am almost positive that I connected with the shot, but there before me lies the evidence of either a poorly executed shot or a clean miss. I didn't see him get up after he went down, but clearly he did - or maybe he didn't actually go down. We looked for any sign of a hit nearby, but there was none to be found. Then my son cheerfully tells me "Well Dad, we got to hear one bark at us and we got to see one come in. That's not a bad day." I just smile, agree with him, and we head back to the truck.

As we're pulling into the driveway at our house I say to him "Thanks for going hunting with me, buddy" to which he replies "I like hunting with you, Dad." And just like that, the pain of an apparently missed shot is gone.

And since I didn't get to post a picture of a dead coyote here, I figured I'd share this picture. It's from the first stand we did today. Just before we left the stand I trotted out a few yards and took a shot of my son hidden in the brush. Can you find him?