Predator Call
Aug 30, 2015 21:46:00 #
BushDog
Loc: San Antonio, TX
Do any of you have any experience with predator calls to lure animals like coyotes and foxes in order to photograph them?
Aug 30, 2015 21:58:14 #
BushDog wrote:
Do any of you have any experience with predator calls to lure animals like coyotes and foxes in order to photograph them?
Like "Here Kitty, Kitty"?
Aug 30, 2015 22:03:48 #
Injured rabbit call works great for coyotes, foxes and bobcats. Bobcats will pounce on the blind if using a mouth call. Manufactures do make mechanical/recorded calls, well hidden the animal will approach the hide and try to figureout where the rabbit is. Great photo ops.
Aug 30, 2015 22:15:06 #
RWR
Loc: La Mesa, CA
BushDog wrote:
Do any of you have any experience with predator calls to lure animals like coyotes and foxes in order to photograph them?
It's pretty hard to tell you how to call varmints in a few paragraphs. A good video is your best guide. PCS Outdoors is an excellent source for predator calls and videos:
http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/predatorcalling.aspx
Aug 30, 2015 22:15:51 #
BushDog wrote:
Do any of you have any experience with predator calls to lure animals like coyotes and foxes in order to photograph them?
Foxes are very shy of people normally. I've never heard of a call for them. They have excellent senses of smell, hearing and sight. I've gotten some good shots of a pair that used to raid my bird feeders back in the spring. I thought that was pretty cool until a rabid fox showed up and charged me. I beat it with the lawn chair I was sitting on and it finally went back into the woods, only to show up an hour later at a house across the stream from mine. It attacked a dog, which killed it.
We have plenty of coyotes around here also. If you intend to try to attract them keep in mind that they hunt in packs. In addition to your camera, have a gun with you.
Bait, if it is legal where you live, is probably the best way to attract either species. Unless you know how to sound like an injured rabbit!
In either case, if you plan to interact with predators, be prepared for anything. It's not a Walt Disney movie.
Aug 30, 2015 22:16:59 #
Aug 30, 2015 22:28:36 #
BushDog
Loc: San Antonio, TX
Kmgw9v wrote:
Like "Here Kitty, Kitty"?
I haven't had much luck with that one even with cats :)
Aug 30, 2015 22:39:40 #
BushDog
Loc: San Antonio, TX
lightcatcher wrote:
Injured rabbit call works great for coyotes, foxes and bobcats. Bobcats will pounce on the blind if using a mouth call. Manufactures do make mechanical/recorded calls, well hidden the animal will approach the hide and try to figureout where the rabbit is. Great photo ops.
Sounds like I better have a secure hiding place if I use a mouth call! A remote electronic call may be worth the money. Thanks lightcatcher.
Aug 30, 2015 22:39:47 #
Aug 30, 2015 22:53:47 #
BushDog
Loc: San Antonio, TX
LFingar wrote:
Foxes are very shy of people normally. I've never ... (show quote)
Thanks LF. Good advice. I've had a couple of (non-rabid) fox encounters. The best was when I was trying to photograph a particular bird. I was sitting in a folding canvas chair in a wooded area between a river (to my right) and a cliff (to my left). I heard some critter crawling along the side of the cliff from behind me toward me. I repositioned myself with my camera so I could photograph it when it came alongside me. I got two good photos of it. One, when he heard my camera clicking and he looked right at me. I was fortunate to have my camera set to spot focusing so I got him focused instead of strands of weeds between us. The other was right after that when he turned away from me and slowly crawled up the cliff. "His ears turned backward" so he could hear if I was coming after him! It was really cool. It took me a while to figure out what it really was.
We do have a lot of coyotes and bobcats in this area. I'm hoping to (safely) get some good images.
Aug 30, 2015 23:57:42 #
Aug 31, 2015 06:48:58 #
BushDog wrote:
Do any of you have any experience with predator calls to lure animals like coyotes and foxes in order to photograph them?
Are you sure you want to attract a predator? :D
Aug 31, 2015 07:27:26 #
BushDog wrote:
Do any of you have any experience with predator calls to lure animals like coyotes and foxes in order to photograph them?
There's an app for that.
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.desiderata.ihuntNA&hl=en
Aug 31, 2015 07:35:26 #
WOW! I don't think calls or baiting animals is ethical if you want to call yourself a wildlife photographer. I've been photographing wildlife for over a decade and it never dawned on me to draw an animal out of it's natural setting or alter it's natural behavior. IMHO that is not wildlife photography. I would not even know what to call it.
Aug 31, 2015 08:15:26 #
BushDog
Loc: San Antonio, TX
ElGee wrote:
WOW! I don't think calls or baiting animals is ethical if you want to call yourself a wildlife photographer. I've been photographing wildlife for over a decade and it never dawned on me to draw an animal out of it's natural setting or alter it's natural behavior. IMHO that is not wildlife photography. I would not even know what to call it.
Thank you ElGee. That's a very interesting and compelling perspective. Gives me something to contemplate and evaluate spiritually.
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