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Recommendation on Predator Calls????

3K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  prkrgrp 
#1 ·
Looking for direction/recommendation on Predator electronic calls. I have seen a lot of different brands, styles, etc.... but want to know what has been the best for the money? Primarily looking to get one for Cougar/Bobcat however I know that you can get ones with different cards/chips to change it up.

What has worked the best for you? What would you recommend? Which ones should I stay clear of?

Thanks

Mike
 
#2 ·
I have been hunting predators two or three times a week for over ten years and can honestly say that if you purchase an electronic caller other than FoxPro you will eventually try to sell it and buy a FoxPro.

Rather than write an ad for FoxPro, I will let all of the die hard predator hunters on this forum chime in and tell you whqt they like about the #1 Selling E-Caller in the world....FoxPro

Rusty
 
#5 ·
This is my first year hunting predators and all I can say is dont get a "jones calls" squaller predator call because I used this call last weekend got snow in it and it stoped working.. Today it rained a lot and it stop working again so I'll be looking for a new call my self..
 
#8 ·
Holy Moly! I can assure you sometimes I don't feel like I know one thing about Predator Calling!

Take Saturday morning as an example. New land to call, no one has ever called there before, I've seen coyotes from the highway while driving by, working the land, and the temperature was 17*. Should be a "slam dunk", right. Never even saw a thing! :doh:

However, thanks for the compliments. I work hard at being successful and REALLY enjoy my sport! :applause:

Rusty
 
#10 ·
Mike,

Before you do that, please look at getting a WT- Mighty Atom 15 or 21.

I have used their products for 14 years now and can tell you that they are number 1 and Fox-Pro has been playing catch up.

The WT sounds are real sounds and if you ever had a chance to compare a Fox-Pro to a WT, there is no comparison.....WT wins.

Check them out, you will never regret it.

BA
 
#11 ·
Rusty is spot on on this one. The nice thing about Foxpro is they make a range of callers. I started out with an FX416B that held 16 sounds. It had a great remote and the same speaker as the more expensive model. I then went for an FX3 which holds 50 sounds. I killed a bunch of coyotes over both of these callers but even though I only use 3 or so sounds I just had to upgrade to the FX5 which holds 100 sounds. I have a good 65 sounds loaded in it and it has a great remote but I still only use about 3 or 4 sounds.

Now Foxpro makes a caller that has every bell and whistle you can imagine. It does everything but shoot the coyote and skin it for you but knowing the Dillons they're working on it.

Knowing what I now know I would get a less expensive Foxpro somewhere in the $450 dollar range. Get one with a remote or there's no advantage to using an electronic caller.

I really liked my FX416B as it was compact and I could carry it out on stand in my jacket pocket. Some guys think they need a lot of volume and Foxpro has accommodated them. Truth is coyotes don't listen to too much rock and roll and they never wear headsets with the volume turned up too high. Generally the only time they're subjected to loud noise is when they're being shot at. Point is their hearing is far better than yours and they can hear the caller from a long, long way out. If I were in need of another caller I would probably get a Scorpion. It's compact and it works. I've hunted over a friend's a few times so I know what I'm talking about.

In my first two days of calling with the 416 I called in 16 coyotes, a bobcat and a gray fox. Of those I shot 11 coyotes and the fox. The first day I didn't start calling until about 2:00 in the afternoon. That day was spent in SoCal. The second day I started at first light and quit at 2:30 in the afternoon because I promised to take my daughter to dinner so I had to head back to Phoenix. That was an 8 coyote and 1 gray fox day. I never got a shot at the bobcat. Not too bad a start with the gadget.

Foxpro also has outstanding service. If you manage to break it, which isn't easy to do, they strive to make the repair and have it back in your hands ASAP.

No...I'm not a Foxpro rep or anything. I've had days and days of enjoyment with mine from messing around with the local crows, placing the machine in our friends' tent and playing the cougar in heat sound, putting it in the tree by our front door at Halloween and playing spooky sounds to actually calling in critters with it.

It's a quality product and a whole lot of fun.
 
#14 ·
I have the Fox Pro XR6 and a Primos Power Dog. I like the power dog better than the Fox Pro because it has better sounds and the remote is easier to use.

I use them both but not at the same time.:whistle::whistle::whistle:

DAB
 
#15 ·
Moe,

Those (2) days of calling are very, very impressive to say the least!!!

I travel all over calling and have been doing so for over 35 years....35 Long Years. Started out with hand calls in the early 70's...then tried the record player calls, then the tape calls and now electronic calls.

I have had some great days hunting un-hunted areas and have never done that well......Must be the Fox Pro!!!

You did say one thing that I do want to question though, the need for volume at times can be the difference between the animal hearing you or not, especially on those windy days.

You might say "I just move", well sometimes you just can't based on terrain and or cover. In these cases I need and want the ability to be heard. This is where the MA- 21 shines, in both clarity and volume.

I have had the oppurtunity to test both and listen to both and the Fox Pro has came a long way in the past few years, there product is good, the ease of operation is good, but not as good as WT- MA 21.

Mike, as you learn to call, there are far more things to worry about, Set Up, Terrain & Animal Behavior. These things alone will get you more critters than not.

All calls call in animals, some calls call in more!!!
WT MA-21

BA
 
#16 · (Edited)
I started calling in 1964. I moved to Alaska in 1974 and did little in the way of calling while I was up there. I joined the California Varmint Callers Association in 1965 and hunted competitively until I moved to Alaska.

I picked up a 5" reel to reel tape recorder while I was in the Philippines in 1967. I got a 9" paging speaker, 50' of heavy speaker wire and a Johnny Stewart rabbit in distress record and took it to the field. It worked quite well. The gadget was heavy and a pain to lug around so I went back to using my Weems Wild Call. I won my share of hunts with it.

As far as my two good days of calling go I can say that they aren't typical. Well, the first day was. I called in 5 coyotes and killed 3 of them. I've had lots of 4, 5 or 6 coyote days. A friend and I recently had a 6 coyote day down in California a couple of weeks before Christmas. And while an 8 coyote day is good at my advanced age I have a friend who had a 13 coyote day down in California in an area that gets a good amount of pressure. He was calling on public property, too. But he had a partner. Also he was using a mouth blown call. A Crit R Call Pee Wee.

My 8 coyote day was done on New Years Day and on BLM land not all that far from Phoenix. This all daytime calling only. Back when we competed we had hunts where we called day and night over the course of a weekend. It wasn't uncommon for a team to turn in over 20 coyotes with a few bobcats in the mix.

The original post asked for recommendations. I gave mine. When I bought my first Foxpro a Wildlife Technology caller set you back $1200 and even though the sound quality might have been the best the outfit had a less than stellar reputation. You can maybe do some research on that subject as I won't go into detail on it here.

I see a lot of posts regarding what you need to know or have for coyote calling. I see posts about the wind, sun, camo, rifle, shotgun, you name it. But the first thing you need is to have a coyote within hearing distance or nothing else you do makes a difference. Knowing where to place a caller or blow a call is far more important than the call you use.

I'm looking forward to seeing you post some pics of your WT called coyotes here on ifish.
 
#17 ·
Very Nice Moe,

I had a serious love/hate relationship with that Johny Stewart call. Especially, as you mentioned, dragging the cords.

I agree, the cost of the first WT calls set me back $ 1,100.00, but they were great calls.

As far as not bringing up the service, Bill has gotten much better over the past couple of years and since the product rarely has any problems.

Not much for posting Moe.....Except to give opinions on certain items that I hold dear to my heart, and that's calling. I will leave that up to the experts.

I also was just giving my thoughts and based on my experience, much like Highlander.....

There can be only one........
WT MA-21

Good Luck Calling...
BA
 
#20 ·
save your money for gas and camo, don't spend more than 50.00 on ANY CALLER get one that will do howling and distress, save 250.00 for a 1 day guided hunt, you will learn more in that day than 1 year of internet jibber, and will save thousands of dollars imo
 
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