# Cabelas predator calling seminar



## bkelz (Dec 3, 2010)

did anyone go to the seminar from 1-3 today jan. 22?

i wasnt able to make it because i had to go into work. (*THANKS* though for the invite Bax*)

if someone could just let us who didnt attend know what happen, some insights, or tips that would be AWESOME!


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

There were several of us from the forum there today (Huge29, NHS, Sawsman, Mikevanwilder, and Chaser)

If you have time, Tom will be doing another seminar in Riverdale on Feb 19th at 1:00 in Sportsmans, and next weekend in St George as well.
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/fo ... ost1808836

Lots of great insight, I hope I can give you the high points:

1) Scouting 
- look for footprints that are shaped like an arrowhead, not round like a domesticated dog
- look for scat (poop) this generally has a little fine tip to it from the hair of the animals it consumed
- look at the way the footprints go in the snow, they should be straight lined without a drag line (domestic dogs drag their feet).
2) Be aware of your scent
- everything has a scent that a coyote can detect, even your vehicle
- try to keep the coyote from winding you by tying a piece of floss to your truck antenna to see which way the wind is blowing and use the wind to your advantage
3) Hide your ride
- if a coyote sees your truck, you are busted!
4) Cattle
- coyotes seem to like to follow cattle because they have a higher vantage point and can see further than they can. For this reason, you dont want the cattle to see you because they will let a coyote know you are there
5) Calling
- if at all possible, call in multiple directions (pan from left to right to cover roughly 180 degrees of area) this way your sound covers a larger distance
6) Elevation
- try and elevate yourself to allow for a better vantage point
7) Camo
- the type of camo you use isnt as important as sitting still. Tom mentioned a guy hunted in a Santa Claus costume to prove that sitting still is key, however he cautioned that hunting in blue jeans is likely not a good idea as coyotes can see blue (I always thought they were color blind).
8 ) Calling in the snow
- when calling in the snow, realize that the call you are using needs to appeal to what the coyote is experiencing. You may not want to use a rabbit in distress call in the deep snow because the coyote realizes that a rabbit is more nimble in the deep snow than he is, and will likely get away. Use a calf bawl, or fawn distress because the coyote knows that a larger animal will likely be struggling in the deep snow and that he can make an easy meal out of this.

Those are the main points I can remember at this point, but if anyone else has anything they would like to add... I'd love to hear it too! (Then we can make a Cliffs Notes version of it all)


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Well done Bax! Good to meet you, sawsman and Chaser today!
I was just typing up my notes, so I will share what I took away from it also. Some of it was not necessarily given in that exact order, I caught Tom afterwards in the store while shopping to get a little additional info specifically about his shotgun setup. Enjoy! 
Predator Calling Seminar with Tom Austin from Predator Strike Force

Scouting: 
•	Poop-yote poop is often pointed from hair and very segmented unlike that of a domestic dog
•	Tracks: overall track is arrowhead shape whereas a domestic dog track is round in comparison. Yote walks in a very straight line, even the right foot is close to being inline with the left foot track and the tracks are clean with no scuff marks in between tracks from yote stepping very high in snow. Domestic dog's track shows where foot is not lifted high enough and tracks create a much wider berth as right track is way to the right and left track is way to the left. Both have claws visible from each toe whereas a bobcat and cougar have retractable claws, so claws are not visible in tracks.
•	Diet: Mainly rabbits, but they eat everything humans eat plus a lot more including carrion, berries, fruit, pronghorn, cattle, deer, etc. Tom likes hunting in the vicinity of cattle for two reasons 1-yotes eyes are about 13" off of the ground and have a hard time seeing far in the sage that is often 20+" high, so they like letting the cattle act as their eyes to danger. 2-Cattle often leave a lot of undigested grain in their feces, which makes for an easy meal. However, do not get too close to the cattle to where they spot you and notify the yotes to your presence.
•	Howl: Once they reply come back in 1-2 hours or even two weeks later. It is difficult to know if there are 2 or 20 as many howl back simultaneously. When you do howl wait at least 10 minutes. They will often not howl back until they are back in the center of their core area, so if they are near the edge of their core area, which may be a mile area or so, they will often move back to the center before howling back-so you need to wait sometimes to hear the ones that did hear your howl. Tom mentioned that Randy Anderson howls at the beginning of every stand, but Tom does not, rather uses it for scouting to locate only. 
Stand Selection:
•	Choose an area that is busy with cover such as rocks, brush, etc. to provide a good spot to conceal yourself rather than in a wide open field where you stand out like a sore thumb. This way the yote has a lot of info and view to process. 
•	Hide the ride: most hunters are too lazy to walk; you have to get away from the car as being close to the car busts you before you even call.
•	Wind direction: Walk into wind preferably to not have your scent carry everywhere in front of you to where you plan to hunt. Tom places some place on the end of his truck antenna to know wind direction right as he is about to park to know on which side of an area to park. Yotes noses are 260x stronger than humans, so smell is by far the most important factor along with movement as far as not being detected.
•	Sun position: Preferably keep sun to your back to improve your own vision, to reduce glare from your barrel, binocs and to not have your whole image show up more. 
•	Elevation: Being slightly higher than hunting area keeps your scent above the yotes and thermals will carry your scent up and away more quickly than when down low. Elevation also gives you better vision and helps carry the sound farther.
•	Terrain: Use terrain to your advantage to get to stand undetected. Ie. walk in from small ravine rather than from the ridge.
Time spent on a stand: For yotes Tom gets 70% of his dogs within 12 minutes, 20% from 13-18 minutes and 10% after 19 minutes. Point being, play the odds in moving often and rarely stay more than 12 minutes.
Tools of the Trade:
•	Weapon: Anything you want from a .17 to a 338. Tom uses a Benelli M4 with Hevi Shot Dead Coyote in 3" T-shot with a Kick's Howler choke as his primary weapon in his hand. He thinks 00 is way too large of a load, so 4 shot or T shot is what he recommends. Secondary weapon sitting on sticks is AR15. Shotgun is used at the ready as they often get in close undetected and must shoot quickly whereas for a rifle shot you can put shotgun down and get rifle ready from sticks. 
•	Camo: Best kind is sitting still. He uses King's brand; different patterns for different seasons. He knows many people that do get yotes wearing blue jeans as they hold very still, but blue is one of worst colors as yotes can easily detect shades of blue.
•	Caller/Calls: Tom's favorite caller is the FoxPro Fury. He prefers hand calls and demonstrated several FoxPro hand calls-FoxPro appears to be his sponsor. He displayed several electronic and hand calls. He thinks the hand calls are best at varying the sound, but callers are nice in being able to keep the sound away from you making it harder to be detected. Tom goes from turning his waist to far right when hand calling going all the way to his left covering 180 degrees to get sound to the whole area whereas caller can only go straight in one direction. He makes 5-10 notes then goes silent for 1 min, another sequence then quiet for 30 seconds, etc. Skyote is his favorite hand call. 
•	Shooting Sticks/Bipod: Tom says that they will eventually save you from a miss eventually no matter how good you are at shooting freely. Tom likes the Quik-Shot Predator Shooting Stick as it auto adjust to height as you lift it up or move over to uneven ground and holds rifle at the ready when holding the shotgun. 
•	Calling Chair/Stool/Pad: Tom uses the Cabela's Gobbler Lounger which he likes as it sits low to the ground, has a sling to easily carry in and keeps you comfortable to better be able to sit still for a long time. 
•	Decoys: Likes the jack in the box and the newer Jack Attack. Be sure that you have a clear view of the decoy in case a dog sneaks right in to the decoy. He likes them to keep the focus off of you and further entice the dog to come in. A yote can pick out a noise from a mile and locate the noise within 10', so the decoy nicely takes the great sense and keep the focus elsewhere from your any of your potential movement further emphasizing the importance of holding still.
Use the magpies as an indication that a yote is near as the birds will often follow the dogs to see where food may be. Tom showed a video of stand from about 300 yards where they did not spot a yote until he saw magpies and Tom moved to get a different angle and finally spotted the dog that was there by the magpies.

Tom recommends hunting with a partner for many reasons. It gives another shooter, another spotter, builds comradery, It is important that both hunters do NOT sit in same direction, but possibly back to back and that way you can both shoot in a 360 degree arc. Only one hunter should glass at a time in case one is close where binocs don't view. Tom always takes binocs and has helped him many times in spotting them way out there first.

Responding predators: Let them come in as close as you want if they will, always wait for them to stop; may have to whistle or yell to make them stop.

Keys to success:
1.	Mitigate any movement: Tom takes 5 seconds just to lift binocs to his eyes and scans very slowly.
2.	Re-check wind direction: Wind often swirls in Utah, so check it often. Tom mentioned a new product called the Firefly, which he likes that constantly checks the wind. 
3.	Study Body Language: Ears are down=stealth mode still moving in towards you. Stops and turns broadside=just about to run away, good time to shoot. Looks to its side=looking towards another dog in its group, be alert looking for others in that direction of his glance. 
Pairs-A dog shot at and missed will run forever, but don't shoot at the other dog who will also run until the 2nd dog stops as it will eventually stop at somewhere around 200 yards to see what happened as it did not experience what the first dog did in hearing the shot over its ears or feeling the dirt impact from a low shot, etc. 
Second video shared: One dog at 300 yards, all of a sudden one appears at 58 yards. Don't use 100% of attention on one; still keep eyes moving to spot others. 
Question/Answer Session:
•	Binocs-he always uses. He scans in a W pattern and scans in the opposite direction from which he would expect to see a yote approach, which makes them more visible, whereas if dog is walking right and you are scanning moving right it will not stand out as much. Scan very slowly.
•	Best/worst months to hunt: August is best as pups have just left parent's care-usually sees yotes in 50% of all stands. December is worst for many reasons; 1-more hunters out due to vacation 2-dogs are less active as it is not as cold, 3-less active as breeding has not yet begun, etc.
•	Scent Control: Tom does not think anything of it and does not use any form of the commercial scent block products as smell always transfers, scent covers just add a scent to the normal smell, etc. He simply keeps wind in his favor.
•	Calling canyons: Tom thinks yotes like climbing better than dropping elevation, so call from the top not the bottom. Tom believes most hunters are very lazy, by putting in more effort you may have upper hand in walking farther and higher, etc.
•	Tom likes idea of using a horse as it would not attract attention as they are likely used to seeing horses or use a mtn bike as it is quiet and can easily be concealed.
•	Distance between stands: Drives 1 mile then hikes to new stand. If it is windy, he will often make a loop hiking ¼ mile for each stand making 3-4 stands in a loop.
•	Stay on a stand after a miss? Always! He has had many experiences where a second dog previously undetected comes in after a missed shot. He uses the FP feature where the caller automatically switches to the cay ay call (injured dog) upon sensing the sound of the shot. 
•	Do you use hand calls or caller? Hand calls are much more realistic. Be sure to use voice when using hand calls, forming a growl or variation with emotion to be more realistic distress. 
•	What is your calling sequence? In first sequence start very quietly as there may be prey very close. Each sequence should start quiet getting louder at max volume for no more than 10 seconds then quiet it down before pausing. Always start with lightning jack call. Change to other sounds also to appeal to other senses such as sex drive, territorial, social, etc. Use higher pitch challenge howl, which implies a younger dog howling, which may bring in all types of dogs whereas a low pitched howl implies a dominant dog which may scare off most other dogs. Tom likes the fawn or pronghorn distress call in heavy snow as a rabbit distress call may not attract a coyote knowing that a rabbit is hard to catch in snow, but they could catch a larger fawn in the deep snow. Some yotes stay at high elevation sometimes, but usually follow deer to lower elevations.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Great job Huge! I felt bad that I didnt get much opportunity to talk to you or NHS. So many people were there today!



Huge29 said:


> •	Do you use hand calls or (e)caller? Hand calls are much more realistic. Be sure to use voice when using hand calls, forming a growl or variation with emotion to be more realistic distress.


I'm glad you remembered that part Huge. Tom mentioned that by using a mouth call as opposed to using an electronic call (like a Fox Pro) will generate much more realistic tones and pitches and also allow for some emotion / feeling to be felt through the call. I like how he mentioned that using a hand call was for someone that is a "purist" like a guy who goes fly fishing, it just gives a feeling of a job well-done.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Good point, I am sure you will think of several things that i did note write down and vice versa like that part where he commanded you to give me that dirty old R15 that you hate; I meant to talk to you about that, but forgot I can come get it tomorrow :mrgreen:


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## bkelz (Dec 3, 2010)

thanks guys for the reply's! y'all did an awesome job! i will make sure i get to the event on the 19th of Feb.

i really want to get into coyote hunting. its year around, a challenging hunt, and tracking really takes skill! all the more reason to hunt dogs. 

growing up in Alabama we just didn't do it, mostly foxes if anything. im down to go anytime too. if any of you wanna go let me know, im willing to split cost for gas and exc. Ive only been in Utah 2 years, so i hope this give me a new opportunity to learn the land and its wildlife.

look forward to meeting some of y'all in the future!


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

It was good to see you guys as well. Nice to put a face to a name.


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## PredatorSlayer (Jun 5, 2010)

Thanks a ton for posting the cliff notes!!!!! I wish I could have made it. Tom seems like a super nice guy that really knows his stuff.. I found a couple keys points in your notes that will help me a ton.....


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## oakleyman (Oct 4, 2010)

Great post. Thanks for the details and sharing.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

oakleyman said:


> Great post. Thanks for the details and sharing.


I am glad to see that this thread has come in useful. Tom w/ Predator Strikeforce is a really nice guy and I would love to attend another of his seminars some day


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## Cooky (Apr 25, 2011)

Has anyone heard of any plans to do a seminar this year?


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Cooky said:


> Has anyone heard of any plans to do a seminar this year?


I don't see it on their list of upcoming events, but this only appears to go a few weeks out. http://www.cabelas.com/stores/store_inf ... 013#events


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I believe this one was Tom Austin. I dont know of any that he has scheduled. If you would like, I can ask him.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

reb8600 said:


> I believe this one was Tom Austin. I dont know of any that he has scheduled. If you would like, I can ask him.


It was Tom Austin from Predator Strikeforce. He did a bang-up job IMO. If I remember right, you were at the one in Sportsmans Warehouse right?


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I just checked my e-mail this morning and had this article sent to me that may be of some help to you fellers:

http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/killing-coyotes-101-daytime-and-night-hunting-problem-coyotes/


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I did stop in at the one at Sportsmans. I dont think Tom has done a seminar for a while. I know he has been busy the last couple months trying to get a wolf and just went to the world contest in Elko.


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## Stunnerphil (Oct 3, 2012)

Electronic Predator Calls 
Hunting coyotes is a great way to spend a winter day. Let our hunting outfitters show you the latest in predator call technology that will bring the dogs in on the run.
Saturday & Sunday, 1:00 p.m. 
Location: Hunting Department
Dec 22&23


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Stunnerphil said:


> Electronic Predator Calls
> Hunting coyotes is a great way to spend a winter day. Let our hunting outfitters show you the latest in predator call technology that will bring the dogs in on the run.
> Saturday & Sunday, 1:00 p.m.
> Location: Hunting Department
> Dec 22&23


Stunnerphil, where is this located? Sportsmans Warehouse, Cabelas, a creepy garage....?


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## Stunnerphil (Oct 3, 2012)

Stunnerphil, where is this located? Sportsmans Warehouse, Cabelas, a creepy garage....?[/quote]

Cabelas


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## MadHunter (Nov 17, 2009)

Bax* said:


> Stunnerphil said:
> 
> 
> > Electronic Predator Calls
> ...


Cabelas. I found it on their events page.

I guess I will plan on going. Not much to do since there is snow on the golf course


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## troutwhisperer (Jan 1, 2009)

I too would like to Thank you! for your willingness & time to post this, lots of pointers to think about.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

The one at Cabelas will not be Tom. He is doing one at Sportsmans Warehouse in Idaho Falls that weekend.


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