Definitely try stuffing the caller into a bush a bit off the ground. Try to hide the caller visually.
If you can, have yourself situated so that if they are looking in your direction, the morning sun is behind you, which will constrict their pupils, and you are hugged up against a bush seated low to the ground in its shadow. Concealment gear. Liner gloves and facemask so the pink of your skin isn't all sticking out like a sore thumb. Biggest thing is not freaking moving! You move? They'll see that sh!t.
Get yourself completely ready and comfortable and get all the fidgety out of you before you hit play on the call. So you're not potentially moving when they come in. Figure out how you're gonna sit the rifle such that it's at the easiest position to raise it up quickly for you.
I'm fairly new to it as well. Just got my 4th y'day morning (out of 7 total I've managed to call in so far). In terms of which call sounds to use, look at the area you are in and see what kinda game animals are around and let that guide you to some degree. So far, for me, it's been either the higher-pitched Baby Jack or Baby Cottontails sounds, or this one which is a combo of pup distress coupled with the growlings of an adult that makes it sounds like the pup is crying out because of the actions of some aggressive adult. My assumption is this would be like the scenario of an adult from a different pack maybe not liking that he found this pup from another pack?
Another one that worked well was this fairly frantic sounding bird sound. I gave it a try because looking around this area I was in I noted a good amount of decent sized birds like scrub jays and stuff hopping from Juniper to Juniper. And MAN did that one come in quick! Caught me off guard. So that's why I see be 100% ready to rock and roll before you press play.
Don't let them see you as you're walking in to where you're gonna setup at. They see you? It's over. Be quiet too! Along that same thought, park your vehicle a decent ways away from where you're gonna setup at. Be quiet with closing the doors and tailgate! You don't want that smell of the vehicle drifting into where you're gonna setup.
Know what the wind is doing and let that guide you in how you pick your sit location. Make sure the sit location gives you the best FOV on the scene that you can get! If you can, make it so that they will HAVE to traverse some open space in order to get closer to where that sound is coming from!
Point the caller "into the wind", and remember that they will try to circle around behind where the sound is emanating from if they can. You then try to set yourself up at a position that would intercept them as they are trying to do that circling around.
If it's a handheld eCaller. While it's playing you want to occasionally be turning where it's pointing the sound at a lil bit, so they'll perceive that as actual movement of the "animal" that's crying out. More realism. Creates more of a sense of urgency since it seems to be moving.
Before you press play, start with less volume, just in case there's one close by you don't know about. For playing the sounds think 2-3 min on... 30sec to 1 min off. 1-2 min off if you're going to change-up which kinda sound you're playing. After each lil 2-3 session, if no takers, try bumping up volume a couple notches. PUT YOUR SCOPE BACK ON LOWEST POWER before you press play!
If you can find a place where you can setup to sucker them into a more close-quarters type of shot scenario (like 25-40yds max) in thicker stuff then just use shotgun, it's a lot easier to quickly raise up and just point and bang with a shotgun.
Oh... and no matter what? After you take a shot HURRY the heck up and jack another round in the weapon and be ready to take another shot to make sure they don't get the chance to run away, even if you know the first shot should be good. If they go down but there's still a lot of kicking and writhing going on, don't hesitate, hit'em with another shot! Trust me on that one. Otherwise they'll blow your mind by getting back up and running away!! It's unbelievable how much of a hit they can take, that might not be immediately fatal, but is fatal... and STILL manage to run a LONG damn ways away!
Definitely try stuffing the caller into a bush a bit off the ground. Try to hide the caller visually.
If you can, have yourself situated so that if they are looking in your direction, the morning sun is behind you, which will constrict their pupils, and you are hugged up against a bush seated low to the ground in its shadow. Concealment gear. Liner gloves and facemask so the pink of your skin isn't all sticking out like a sore thumb. Biggest thing is not freaking moving! You move? They'll see that sh!t.
Get yourself completely ready and comfortable and get all the fidgety out of you before you hit play on the call. So you're not potentially moving when they come in. Figure out how you're gonna sit the rifle such that it's at the easiest position to raise it up quickly for you.
I'm fairly new to it as well. Just got my 4th y'day morning (out of 7 total I've managed to call in so far). In terms of which call sounds to use, look at the area you are in and see what kinda game animals are around and let that guide you to some degree. So far, for me, it's been either the higher-pitched Baby Jack or Baby Cottontails sounds, or this one which is a combo of pup distress coupled with the growlings of an adult that makes it sounds like the pup is crying out because of the actions of some aggressive adult. My assumption is this would be like the scenario of an adult from a different pack maybe not liking that he found this pup from another pack?
Another one that worked well was this fairly frantic sounding bird sound. I gave it a try because looking around this area I was in I noted a good amount of decent sized birds like scrub jays and stuff hopping from Juniper to Juniper. And MAN did that one come in quick! Caught me off guard. So that's why I see be 100% ready to rock and roll before you press play.
Don't let them see you as you're walking in to where you're gonna setup at. They see you? It's over. Be quiet too! Along that same thought, park your vehicle a decent ways away from where you're gonna setup at. Be quiet with closing the doors and tailgate! You don't want that smell of the vehicle drifting into where you're gonna setup.
Know what the wind is doing and let that guide you in how you pick your sit location. Make sure the sit location gives you the best FOV on the scene that you can get! If you can, make it so that they will HAVE to traverse some open space in order to get closer to where that sound is coming from!
Point the caller "into the wind", and remember that they will try to circle around behind where the sound is emanating from if they can. You then try to set yourself up at a position that would intercept them as they are trying to do that circling around.
If it's a handheld eCaller. While it's playing you want to occasionally be turning where it's pointing the sound at a lil bit, so they'll perceive that as actual movement of the "animal" that's crying out. More realism. Creates more of a sense of urgency since it seems to be moving.
Before you press play, start with less volume, just in case there's one close by you don't know about. For playing the sounds think 2-3 min on... 30sec to 1 min off. 1-2 min off if you're going to change-up which kinda sound you're playing. After each lil 2-3 session, if no takers, try bumping up volume a couple notches. PUT YOUR SCOPE BACK ON LOWEST POWER before you press play!
If you can find a place where you can setup to sucker them into a more close-quarters type of shot scenario (like 25-40yds max) in thicker stuff then just use shotgun, it's a lot easier to quickly raise up and just point and bang with a shotgun.
Oh... and no matter what? After you take a shot HURRY the heck up and jack another round in the weapon and be ready to take another shot to make sure they don't get the chance to run away, even if you know the first shot should be good. If they go down but there's still a lot of kicking and writhing going on, don't hesitate, hit'em with another shot! Trust me on that one. Otherwise they'll blow your mind by getting back up and running away!! It's unbelievable how much of a hit they can take, that might not be immediately fatal, but is fatal... and STILL manage to run a LONG damn ways away!
