Predator Podcast
Here on the Predator Podcast we will talk about all things predator hunting. We will talk with fellow predator hunters all over, learning gear and tactics to put more fur in the truck. If you are a predator hunter or wanting to become one, you are in the right place!
Predator Podcast
S4 E16: Important Calling Tactics For Improved Success with Paul Sears
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This is an episode full of great tips and information featuring Paul Sears from Oklahoma. Paul and I are talking about sounds, late March tactics, and several other things in this one. Paul has a YouTube channel called Varmint Hunting TV where he showcases many of the things we talked about in this episode with great footage!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VarmintHuntingTV
Instagram: @psears_25
Find me on Instagram: @Predatorpodcast_Drew
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Predatorpodcast
Join my Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AytBRXPW5/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Dark Night Outdoors - Quality Thermal Optics
https://darknightoutdoors.com/
Pull Back and Let Go
https://www.pullbackandletgo.com/
Instagram: @pullbackandletgo_official
Facebook: Pull Back and Let Go
Pederson Precision
https://www.pedersonprecision.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pedersonprecision
River Brothers - Quality Gear For Legendary Hunting Traditions
10% Off & Free Shipping Discount Code: DREWS10
Make Ready Munitions - https://makereadymunitions.com/
Facebook: Make Ready Reloading
Instagram: @mrmunitions
What's up, guys? Predator Podcast Season Four. I have a great guest on again this week, of course. And uh before I get into that, just want to remind everyone uh the Wisconsin Open Season Sportsman's Expo is this weekend, and uh a little announcement. Anybody who purchases a hat from the Predator Podcast booth will have a chance to win uh a pack of different Fox Pro calls, turkey calls, um, some different hats, some different swag, uh, probably uh at least a few hundred dollars worth of stuff. So stop by, buy a hat, and you'll have a chance to win. So uh we'll see you guys this weekend in the Dells. And without further ado, here is Paul Sears out of Oklahoma. He you guys may have seen his YouTube videos uh channel called Varmant Hunting TV, and he's a killer. So I'm excited to talk with him and let you guys hear a little bit about Paul and how he does things. So, Paul, thank you for joining me today.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Thanks for having me, Drew. I appreciate it, man.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so Paul, give us a little bit of background about yourself and how you kind of got into predator hunting.
SPEAKER_00Um, so I'm uh 34 years old. I live here in northern Oklahoma and uh got a pretty big family, so that keeps me busy too. But uh predator hunting-wise, man, I uh when I was a kid, I really only focused on deer hunting and you know, you'd see coyotes out running around through fields and stuff like that. My dad, he was a big time, you know, hey, if you see a coyote, you shoot a coyote. So that was about the only time I got to really shoot coyotes or anything like anything of that sort. So as I got older, you know, I kind of got tired of shooting little basket racks and stuff, and I was like, man, I really want to manage some good whitetails. And uh prayer hunting is a big key in managing a whitetail property also, so that really pushed me into it. And uh the bug bit me pretty hard. So after that, man, I I kind of focus on coyotes and you can get to do it here year round. So that you know, it it really occupies a lot of the deer offseason time too, so it's really enjoyable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. Uh that's what I think a lot of people get into it like that, you know, doing it doing it almost out of necessity or feeling like they need to, uh, and then they, you know, get bit with the bug like you did, and uh realize how much fun it is. And um, so in your time, has there always been bobcats, always been lots of coyotes? Kind of is that always has that just kind of been a norm for you down there?
SPEAKER_00That we live in a really good area here that holds all sorts of predators here. So we we have a pretty good bobcat population here. We have the ground that holds it, we got good cedar thickets, creek systems, ponds, toll CRP, all the stuff that those cats and and coyotes they both like it, you know. It usually you're in that kind of habitat, you have one, you have the other. Right.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, no, for sure. And do you do any night hunting or are you strictly a day hunter?
SPEAKER_00And we do a little bit here, and that's also kind of an out-of-necessity thing. So we have a couple big ranches that uh they run really big cattle operations, and during the calvin seasons, they say, hey, we're getting a little extra pressure from the coyotes, and we'll go out there with some thermals and go and shoot some. And we have a lot of success doing it. We just don't uh do it based off of our uh YouTube needs, you know, our video and and honestly, I'm I'm more of a daytime caller myself, anyways. I I enjoy watching them work and how they come in, and to me, it's more pleasurable to you know see them in the daytime.
SPEAKER_03Yep, I agree totally. Uh, I mean, obviously I do a ton of night hunting, uh, just you know, sort of the name of the game up here, but I after you kill a couple in the daylight or you travel somewhere and get some day hunting in, it certainly makes the night hunting not seem very exciting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. You see things in the daytime that you would never get an opportunity to see at night, you know, there's different things that you might pick up on on how they might work a certain ditch or how they might, you know, work different keys off the land that you might not ever know were even there at nighttime. Right. It'll teach you some things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think if uh if guys are getting into predator hunting and they've never day hunted or you know haven't at least had some calling experience of daytime, like it certainly is gonna make that learning curve for nighttime even harder. But like you can take a daytime hunter and slap a thermal on his gun and send him out at night and he's gonna be killing.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Yeah, I I completely agree. If you can learn how to day call before you go night hunting, it's like it's like riding a bike. I mean, you can just cruise riding in a night hunting like it's like it's not a big deal at all. Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and for me, day hunting is so much more exciting because you get to see everything uh in the day, you know, like just the stand, your setup, your the scenery, the country, you know, whatever. And like at least from my experience, you know, if I'm gonna make a stand, there's probably a pretty good reason why I'm making it, you know. So I'm always excited because like, wow, this stand looks really good, you know. Whether I call it in or not, it's still that anticipation and excitement of thinking you're gonna call one in.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that's that can that can bury a lot even off of coyotes or cats, you know. You just have a spot whenever you're focused in on cats, you're like, man, this just looks catty in here.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And people miss that in the nighttime, you know. They might not be like, man, this is incredible cat territory. I should be focusing on them, or vice versa. You know, hey, this is just a big open hay field, we just need to focus on coyotes instead.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I agree. You do miss a lot of that. And um, I just some, you know, at sometimes at night I find myself, you know, kind of like get into a spot and like sort of, you know, you kind of write the spot off before you even call it. And seems like in the daytime that doesn't really happen just because you you know, you can see and and also you can't see, you know, you can't see, you're not gonna just be able to take a scan in your thermal and see you know a thousand yards in every direction. So um there's always that excitement and added intensity, and like you're saying, you get into a spot that looks really catty, all of a sudden you're excited for the opportunity to potentially call in a cat. And that's exciting. You know, to me, if you've never if you've never cat hunted, it's just a added, you know, it's like it's like going deer hunting and you're going into a spot where you know there's a big buck. Like that's just an added excitement and anticipation of hey, you might see this big buck, or hey, you might see this cat or whatever. So I think it's just an added, you know, another level to the excitement. And uh what is what is your bobcat season like? Do you have is there a bobcat season, I assume, and what's it like? Can you, you know, is there a limit? Is there season total? How does that work?
SPEAKER_00So yeah, we have a specified cat season. They call it just our general fur bear season here in Oklahoma. And I think it runs from the middle of December through the end of February. So we really don't have a huge window to really get out there and get after them. So whenever that does roll in, you know, I'll have key stands that I'll really try to focus on and target just to pull some cats out of there. And uh our bag limit here, I think we have a 20-cat bag limit. Oh wow. So I mean you can still shoot quite a few bobcats, and uh, you know, if if you're getting 20, I think that's more focused towards uh guys that are trapping. Right. You know, if you can do that, obviously those guys will reel in some more than guys that are calling the majority of the time. But on an average season, you know, I'll shoot anywhere from six to ten cats a year. So that's awesome. Yeah, it's still pretty good, I feel like, for just having a couple months window.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. Can you hunt them at night there?
SPEAKER_00No, you can't here. Yep. Uh I know the guys over across the border down in Texas, they can night hunt them, but yep, you know, unfortunately we can't. But most places you can.
SPEAKER_03I mean Illinois you can, like, but like everywhere else, pretty much you can't.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Illinois has a pretty uh limited bag limit, though, don't they? It's a pretty small thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's they do a lottery. Um, it's a complete random draw. Uh, they say you they say you should draw like one every five years, I think is what they kind of say. But I drew in one year, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_00That's just for a single tag, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for one tag. In Wisconsin, we can get a tag every two or three years for one.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_03So that's and that's daytime only. You can't night hunt them, but there are a lot of cats here, but we just don't see them. Like, I don't know. It's it's uh I mean cats are just cats, you know, they're elusive and sneaky and whatever, but we just like even coyote hunting, you know, we might see maybe you know a few a year, but you know, granted we're you know pretty heavy into vocals, and it's not like we're playing, you know, 10 minutes of distress straight to start a stand typically. So I feel like we don't we don't call in a way that we're gonna see cats. I know I know guys that do, and I still see like people posting that they call cats in and stuff, and I always am thinking, man, they must have just they must have really uh started out their stand with some distress to get a cat to come in, but yeah, you never know. Cats if they're close, I feel like you know, if you you hit into a sound they want to come to, they're they're probably gonna come if uh there's a cat nearby.
SPEAKER_00I feel like that's the biggest thing is if you know like what we were just talking about, you know you're walking into a stand that looks really catty, if you're in their bubble, a cat's gonna come in fairly quickly. In most cases that I've seen. You used to hear old timers talking about how they needed to go, you know, make a 30 or 40 minute stand for cats, and I've never seen that be the case.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I killed one this year at night in a 30-minute stand. It was 33 minutes, I think, when I shot it. It was 30 minutes when I saw the cat, and I was ready to leave.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can imagine. And you know, you almost wonder if that's just from him not even being in the area to start with at the beginning of your stand and him kind of working in there finally. Yeah. Most cats I've killed are generally under the eight-minute mark, usually.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, my other one, the one I killed in Wisconsin was was quicker. It was like five minutes when we saw it, and I killed it at eight or whatever. But I think that one I killed this year was I I can't say for sure. It was pretty windy. I can't say for sure, but I think he was there, like nearby, and I switched sounds and turned the volume way down, and all of a sudden he popped out. So I don't know if it was just like that switch up and turning the volume down that made him, you know, come in and commit, and he was kind of you know sitting back in the you know, just back into the where I couldn't see him for a bit.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, but he he was just waiting for it. Man, I I really noticed that uh on those volume changes or a pitch change, switching from sound to sound, cats are really key in on that. And if you can allow sometimes a little break in between your sounds, they'll it seems like they really pick up on that. And one thing I do for cats, I also do it for coyotes too, but whenever I switch my sound, that's whenever I make my volume change also. In between that pause, so I'll pause my caller, yeah, I'll bump my sound up and then go into my next sound. So I'll make my volume change there. It seems like they really key on that.
SPEAKER_03Right. It's different. And you know, in the in the world of a lot more calling pressure, especially where I'm at, you know, and whatever. There's more calling pressure everywhere. I'm sure there's more by you now than there usually used to be. Oh, yeah. You know, just being different. I think a lot of guys never touch their volume, you know. I think a lot of guys have you know set their volume at 30 and just play the whole stand, you know, like that, every sound.
SPEAKER_00So and sometimes it doesn't always have to be going up. Like you said, you you made a volume change going down. Yep, and I'll do that too. I'll work my volume up, down, especially through like coyote fights and stuff like that. You know, I'll fluctuate that volume and I feel like that helps a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I've definitely noticed turning the sound down will get them sometimes the break or uh you know, maybe get them to finish that last stretch. Like if you're you know, for me, if I can see a coyote coming for a ways and they kind of slow up out there or check up a little bit, that's the first thing I'll do is turn the volume down. Because it's like, and sometimes I think when your volume's cranking loud and they you know are starting to close the distance, like there comes a point where you know they're gonna kind of figure something out because the call's so loud and they're getting so close to it.
SPEAKER_00But I don't I'm a fan of running it loud myself. I mean that so I run the Fox Pro X24, and you know that's a that's an extremely loud caller. And you know, I I find myself a lot of the times getting up there in the 34 to 36, 40 range, even you know, just and some of that's from whatever terrain I'm hunting into, if it's a bigger property and stuff like that, it's nice to have that extra volume available.
SPEAKER_03I agree. I'm the same way. I'm always in that probably, especially for like vocal stuff, I'm always in that like 28 to 34, 36 range. And if it's windy, I'm cranking it probably because with that with that being said, I do start my standout a little bit lower.
SPEAKER_00I'll start an average standout at 20 to 25 on my on my sound and take it up from there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yep, me too. I usually run the then I'll go to my fights and I'll start them at you know 20 and work the volume up to where I think it sounds good or you know, loud enough or whatever. Just like it's what what kind of made me start playing louder is when I would spend a lot of time out in Kansas, you'd get to see these Kyotes from a long ways away and turning the call on, you know, and then like you'd let's say you walked into a stand and there's coyotes out in the field, you know, 900 yards away, let's say. It was it was always crazy to me how loud you'd have to get the call for them to hear it. Yeah, like so that's what made me start playing louder over my you know time. I always used to be a little quieter. Um, and my buddy Heath Johnson, I went hunting with him one time, and he was right away, he was like, dude, turn your volume up, like they're not gonna come if they can't hear you. And uh so I started playing louder, and then you know, I noticed that you know it was crazy to even see one at 500 yards and even seeing like holy crap, I got all the way to 18 to 20 on my volume before that thing perked up and heard me and started coming. Like, yeah, you know, stuff like that makes me uh really not be too shy on the volume, I guess, if if I can help it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, we have stands that we might watch a coyote run in from 1400 sixteen hundred yards. So which you know, after you get that volume up there, you can almost watch them whenever they first initially hear it. You know, it's it's pretty cool. It's like, okay, hey, we got their attention now, now let's work them in. And right. Watching a coyote come from 1600 yards is is pretty awesome to see. And that falls back to that daytime, nighttime stuff. You're never gonna watch them work 1600 yards worth of land at night, you know?
SPEAKER_03So yeah, no, I I agree. It's uh I I've seen them come from that far at night, but you don't see them the whole time. Like they they gotta go, you know, down in the into something, and all of a sudden here here they pop out at you know 300 or whatever. But yeah, um, yeah, it's interesting. Uh how do you have like a certain approach to your stands as far as the wind goes? Do you prefer, you know, do you I guess what conditions are you looking for to weather wise to go, you know, and hit your best spots that you think are, you know, sure killing spots?
SPEAKER_00So it's gonna kind of depend on which area I'm hunting in out here. So we have a weird deal here. We have a big lake here next to us and the Arkansas River. Over on my side of the river, it's broken up into sections really well. There's good timber blocks, there's good agriculture, CRP fields. If you go on the other side of that lake where we have a couple of our bigger ranches, it's all open prairie. And you have to have a pretty low wind over there because a 10 mile an hour wind here at the house might feel like a 20 mile an hour wind over there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no windbreak over there.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Yeah, there's I mean, there's no trees or anything to stop it. It's just open fields and it it's completely different calling almost. And uh but it's cool. I I really like focusing on uh on some kind of a steady wind, you know, generally between five to ten miles an hour. But here in Oklahoma, yeah, I mean it's yeah, you might run into some wind all the time. So if you want to go power hunting, don't be scared of the wind either. You know, uh but I like a wind that's blowing straight at me most of the time. But cross winds are fine too, especially if you can pretty well know the cover that they're gonna come out of, and you can offset yourself from that and using your collar position in those type of situations is a huge deal where you can direct bobcats, coyotes, whatever you're calling, and you can use that collar in your advantage to direct them where you want them to go.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the biggest advantage of the e-caller, um, just being able to kind of steer them, direct them, kind of make things happen the way you want them. And especially for you, uh trying to film it. I mean, that's huge.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. If you can, you know, if you can use your collar to pull them into an area that you might, you know, maybe think is a little bit more open or definitely more available for you to be able to get a camera on them, especially in a self-filming situation. Because my my buddy that I hunt with, and we're we're partners with the varmint hunting TV, uh, Jonathan McDaniels. He does an awesome job on the camera, but we take turns. So if I shoot a coyote, then the next round I'm on the camera, and vice versa. We switch off every other one, and it makes for a really good relationship because you know you're not feeling like, hey man, that guy's just dog hogging all the time, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then you don't feel like you're getting stuck behind the camera all the time either. So we're we do a lot of switching, and he does a lot of our editing too, like almost the majority of it, and he does an excellent job at it.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, that's cool for sure. Uh, how long have you been putting hunts on YouTube? And when did that whole version of your predator hunting start?
SPEAKER_00So we actually uh just hit our year mark uh back in January. Oh, nice. It was uh actually pretty cool. We had uh Corey Groff come out here and he hunted with us for a weekend, and we actually hit our year anniversary on the weekend that he was here. So that was cool, and uh you know, we're seeing quite a bit of growth, and I feel like we're moving in good directions and stuff with that. And I've been wanting to film for a long time, and at my previous job, that's where I met Jonathan at. And you know, everybody there is talking, hey man, this guy really likes cow hunting and stuff. I'll cool, you know, I'll talk to him. And you know, very seldomly do you find somebody that count hunts that's actually really as ate up with it as you are. You know, it's like yeah, like, yeah, you might go out and shoot ten cows a year or you know, yeah, make a stand here and there, you know. Whatever, but guys that want to go and are obsessed with it all the time are kind of hard to find almost.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I agree. And Jonathan's the same way, you know, he he's ate up with it and he loves it. And so we really uh really kind of clicked right there and got talking about it. We're like, hey man, we both kind of talked about filming and stuff and we're like, all right, let's do it. And almost it was almost like a one-day decision almost because we just jumped on, we started making our emails, YouTube accounts, and stuff like that. We actually started out with a couple uh digital cameras and uh you can kind of tell if you've looked back through our uh our videos that we have posted, you can kind of tell as the video quality is getting better. And then finally we uh broke down bar a uh Canon G70 camera, and from there on it was like a game changer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so also makes self-filming so much easier with that.
SPEAKER_00It is way easier, and we have the toggle remote and stuff, and being able to record right there and zoom right there, man, it makes it a world of difference not having to reach up and grab a camera and yeah, you can run it with one hand, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's a huge, huge difference. Yeah, yeah. Uh speaking of kind of coming back to what you said there, it's kind of hard to find people that are eaten up, you know, with it like we are. And one thing that I run into is, you know, I get people that ask me questions like, Oh, how do you, you know, how do you kill coyotes or or like, hey, uh, how do you hunt that spot? And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, Do you ever kill anything there? And I'm like, yeah. And then they're like, Well, I I go there and I never kill anything. Which, you know, this this you gotta remember, this is the first time I've learned that they're hunting there. Otherwise, I you know wouldn't be. But uh I've had this happen before, and then they ask me how I kill them, and then I start explaining, you know, the wind, you know, I start going into you know a long list of things. And the problem I have is then people look at me like I'm nuts, and they're like, What you do all that? Like, yeah, it's you know, then they give you the oh, it's just a coyote. Why would you do all that? Like, I'm like, well, uh I don't ask me then and don't expect that you're gonna have a bunch of success. But right, I think you're right, you know, a lot of people just aren't you know, aren't crazy about it, which is fine. Um, doesn't bother me one bit, but uh it's funny because the same guys that that uh will say that are the same guys that are gonna be upset that they're not killing them, you know.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, I mean, a lot of guys think I can just walk down this fence rail and sit here against this post and I'll kill a coyote every time. That there's a lot more processing and you know, understanding that there has to be there before you're gonna be successful on a bigger percentage of your stands. Yeah, no, I agree. You know, there's always three key things I look at for walking in on a stand. It's my wind is my primary thing. I like to get elevation on a stand. If I can be above what I think that they're gonna come in on, or if I have a really good, if I'm sitting down from where I think they'll come in on, and I'll have plenty of visibility that way, that works too. But obviously, I'd rather be on top of my elevation every time. And then the sun, if you can keep the sun in your back, it's gonna help you out a ton. But you know, I'll I'm willing to give up a little bit the elevation in the sun here and there, but never the wind, really.
SPEAKER_03So yep, I agree. I think that that is number one, and that's what I always say too. Every person, every podcast I've ever went on to someone else's, they always, you know, what's what's the three things that uh you know people need to know? And I always number one for me is always the wind. Like if I'm talking to somebody and they tell me that they don't worry about the wind or they never hunt the wind or whatever, like I automatically know that they're not super serious about it and they don't care that much about you know really being successful. Like that tells me that's a lee, they're just out there, you know, just to go, something to do, kill time, whatever. Yeah, um, that's number that's the first thing that uh I've hunted with guys before that like when I was younger, that we'd go into a stand and the wind would be blowing right, you know, up into where we're hoping they're gonna come from. And I'd be like, Man, the wind was wrong for that spot. And then they'd say, Well, I'd never hunt the wind. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, all right, well, that makes sense. Then that that's definitely how educated dogs happen. Absolutely, yep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you don't want to make it harder for yourself the next time out, and especially if you're going to the if you have limited spots and you gotta hunt them smart, and you know, just do it whenever you're in all the conditions are right.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I agree. And uh being selective with your shots and uh, you know, the whole host of things, your your access, you know, that's one thing. Yeah, I'm sure you know, as a day hunter, I think you are a lot more conscious of access. You know, it's something that I had to when I when I started hunting in Kansas, that's one of the first things that I had to learn. Uh, because in Wisconsin, like they're just not out and about like they are, you know, out in Kansas.
SPEAKER_00We we catch them all the time, be walking into a stand, and we can make it halfway in there, and man, there's already coyotes standing out there. Right. And if you have something that you can work with on the way in there, whenever that does happen, you can hey, let's just get low and slip over to this cedar tree or something like that and get set up. You can still make it work. But uh, or just shoot you a freebie dog every now and then. But you know, uh yeah, it makes a big difference, you know, whether you have two tracks that you can walk in on, a fence line you can walk in on, and and keeping your trail down to a minimum is a huge deal too. You know, don't be zigzagging around, switching trees here and there, doing whatever, walking your call out three different times, trying to pick the right spot. You know, know where you're gonna set that stuff up at, know where you're gonna sit, know what you're doing the first time, and keep your SAMP cone down to a minimum.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. I've seen that happen before, where uh one time we were on a stand, I put the call out, and I think I came back, sat down or whatever, and then for some reason we changed, you know, I don't know if the wind was different or something, but I went out and moved the call. So, of course, what happens? A coyote comes in, or maybe we moved our setup altogether, but I don't know what what it was exactly. But of course, what happened is the coyote comes in, gets to a certain spot, and just like it saw a ghost and it's gone, you know. And then I realized after the fact that it had crossed that fence row right where I walked the call out that first time, and it hit my scent where I walked and it was gone. And you know, I totally screwed that up. But it's just we learned from it. Exactly. Right. I mean, just gonna say things like that are where you know what teaches you what you learn from. It's uh, you know, one thing I tell a lot of new guys is you're gonna screw up and you gotta screw up. So don't get frustrated, don't get upset, don't throw your hat and sell your call, just learn from it and understand what you did wrong.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, I've been counting hunting for a decent chunk of years now, and you're still gonna learn stuff all the time about them. Yeah, and and learning different things about stand setups and you know, approaches like you're talking and how man, you might you might have hunted a spot for four years, and you know, it might be a twenty percent success rate spot or something like that, and you switch your stand setup just a little bit, or you approach your property from a different side of it or on the other side of a creek or something like that, and that might change your whole success rate. You know, you might double how many cows you shoot in there because they didn't want to cross this big 15-foot deep creek or something like that, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I agree. I just had this conversation with my one of my hunting buddies. We were talking about us, you know, a spot that we like to hunt that's a historically been a great spot. We haven't killed one on it yet this year, and I just mentioned the wind being a little different for tonight. We're actually planning on going there tonight, and I was like, hey, maybe we should try that on that little different wind, like just something a little different. Um, because we always, always, always called it on northwest wind. I'm like, let's try it on a northeast. Like it's a little more marginal. I wouldn't say marginal, but it's a little more like kind of giving the coyotes a they can get to our wind faster, if that makes sense. Um, but we should have plenty of time to kill them before it's just you know one of those things where I think, hey, that might be something that helps. Uh so just changing it up. And the other thing I was gonna add too is you know, you've been predator hunting for a long time. I've been predator hunting a long time. I've been fortunate enough, we've been fortunate enough to kill lots of predators. But one thing is I still make mistakes, and I'm sure you still make mistakes. I still miss, you know, way less than I used to, but it still happens occasionally.
SPEAKER_00Misses are gonna happen, man. I mean, that's just that's part of it. So, I mean, that's if you've been coyoting it a long time and you talk about how you've never missed a coyote, you probably uh probably knows is growing a little bit from lying, you know. I mean, there's it just happens to everybody.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and uh they have a lot of error around them. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the best thing to do is just shake those bad stands off and go shoot another one. So yep, exactly. I agree.
SPEAKER_03Um, okay, you're going into a stand. What all are you taking with you? Let's say let's say you're going self-filming.
SPEAKER_00So self-filming, I have my camera that it's it stays on the tripod all the time. It just gets shouldered.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_00So I carry a backpack for all my other stuff. I got my X24, and usually I have extra batteries in there all the time just in case I slip up. And uh with filming, we actually carry an extra battery bag too, with extra batteries for basically every piece of equipment we have, whether it be the camera, uh, my collar remote. We actually carry an extra rechargeable battery for our Fox Pro. Yep. And uh basically anything, rangefinder batteries, everything else there that we need. So that usually stays in the truck, and I can re-battery change whenever I get back from a stand. Yeah. But so my backpack collar, I always carry a chest pouch for my vinos. And uh attached to that, I always carry my rangefinder and it stays attached to my chest pouch. And uh so we run a SIG, Jonathan and I both run SIG rangefinders. And there's a reason for that that we can get into here in a minute. My rifle, and then uh we actually just switched to uh to final rest as our new tripod sponsor, and we're super excited to start pushing that product. They got an awesome lineup of stuff, and we're really looking forward to that. And then I sat in a chair all the time too, so packing a little stool or a little chair or something there with me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. Uh yeah, that's exciting. Uh to you'll be rocking the final rest tripods. And uh what what rifles do you do you shoot the same rifle all the time? Do you have a couple? Uh how do you what kind of calibers are you shooting?
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I kind of bounce back and forth in between a handful of rifles. And uh my go-to, my first love is my 22250. And uh man, I couldn't even tell you how many coyots I've killed with that rifle. So I I really I'm pretty partial to Savage Rifles. And uh, you know, some guys kind of dog on me or whatever for it, but I I shoot a lot of factory rifles and I shoot factory ammunition. Yeah. And uh so we shoot Hornedy ammunition, or at least myself, Jonathan reloads uh for any gun that he has. But I'm just shooting factory ammunition. I really like that uh Hornedy superformance. And uh, you know, I think you made a poster the 50 grains, man, and then just gosh, they freaking pound them. Oh yeah. So I mean it it that's a pretty hard bullet to get away from. But uh I also shoot 243 quite a bit, and uh Jonathan always kind of haggles on me whenever I pick the 243 up because that's what he really likes. So he's like, oh, you're getting away from the 250, and yeah. But no, both of those rounds are really good, and I have them actually in several different rifles, but I actually have a uh AR-10 243 that I shoot some, and that gun's a blast to shoot, also. But and then we shotgun some too. Uh depending on which stand we're going into and how thick it might be. Uh, we have stands that we'll just get in there and just primarily just shotgun them.
SPEAKER_03So nice. Yeah, that's pretty sweet. Uh I actually shoot 250 the 22250 and 243 also. Those are my two favorites, also. Um, I shoot my 243 for my night gun, and um, so I use it a lot more than I use my 2250 now. Um, but like when I was out in Wyoming, I was day hunting pretty much only, and I forgot how much I missed shooting coyotes with my 22250. Yeah, just like like you said, like I know like it's a I shoot my 2250 is a is a Thomson Center venture. Uh they don't even make them anymore. But I when I was a kid, you know, when I was in, you know, 12, 13, 14, whatever, uh, this was like I shot my first coyote when I was 12. When I was young, I was always into predator hunting. And what was the what was the big predator hunting show back then was uh was predator gosh, what was it called now with Les Johnson.
SPEAKER_00Um so I mean there was quite a few of them back in the day was uh Predator Pursuit or Predator Quest and Predator Quest, there you go. Yeah, you know there there was a lot of a lot of the old ones, you know, and they had fur takers back in the day, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But Fox Pro and that was uh I was always infatuated watching Predator Quest and Les Johnson was shooting that TC Venture for years there, and uh so of course I went when I was like when I was like 15 I got my dad to buy me uh you know TC Venture and I still that's still my like old trusty daytime you know rig and just something about it. I don't even know. Like it just feels so good, it's so natural. Like I was just locking up coyotes with that thing in Wyoming, and I was just like, Man, I love shooting this thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean that's how I feel about mine. It's like it's almost like your confidence level rises whenever you grab the whenever you pick up the gun, you're like, man, it's just you know, it feels right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. And I can't explain it. Like people call it a Walmart gun or say whatever, you know, it's cheap rifle, blah, blah, blah. But the thing shoots so good, and it's just like you said, you know, it's just like that confidence when you get that thing in your hand that when you get a shot, it's it's something's going down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And I mean, sometimes, you know, that 22250, I'll I'll push it out there to 500 yards pretty easy. You know, a lot of guys aren't super confident pushing that caliber that far, but if you have good shot placement, that thing will still hammer them that far. So and then obviously your 243 is good for that too. You know, I mean you we just shot one the other day at one of our ranches at 515 with that uh I shot it with a Savage 110 trail hunter. And you know, it's kind of a more budget-friendly gun. That's a$640 gun. And right factory ammo, you can still shoot them out there pretty good junk.
SPEAKER_03So right, yeah, and factory ammo's come so far. Like it I think when I first started, like factory ammo almost had like this bad rap that you know you couldn't you couldn't shoot, you know, good groups and you couldn't shoot accurate accurate for you know, and maintain it with factory ammo. And like I feel like factory ammo has just come so far uh since I first started hunting that like you know I don't think it's any like I I used to when I started like oh you shoot factory, like oh, you know, and now it's like oh you shoot factory, cool, like no different to me.
SPEAKER_00I mean Jonathan, like you know, I said that he reloads and stuff, but he really doesn't give me any crap because I I really don't miss a whole heck of a lot of coyotes, just to be kind of honest, you know, about it. And I would never, if I did, I probably would never blame it on me shooting a factory around, anyways.
SPEAKER_03Right, you'd probably blame it on the the guy behind the rifle or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it 99% of the time if it's something I did, it's an operator error, you know.
SPEAKER_03So for sure. Uh one thing that I've done a few times um day hunting that I've missed is uh letting coyotes stop on their own. And like, and then you know they stop on their own and you start to squeeze through the shot and then they take off again, and right as that shot breaks, they you know have moved or are moving and I missed. And uh so I just usually, if it's in the daytime, I pretty much just stop them. Even if they stop on their own, I'll still bark at them sometimes just to make sure that they're not gonna move, because I've had that happen a few times, and you know, as you know, coyotes just typically don't stand still very long, especially in the daytime. It seems like they stand still less, I think, anyways.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. So, like I'm a big fan of using my remote for that. Yeah, whenever I'm calling. If you get a coyote and he's coming in wherever you feel comfortable shooting at, but we like getting them a little bit closer for camera purposes, obviously. But you get a coyote that comes in 100-120 yards, and you go ahead and mute your caller, they're generally gonna kind of pump the brakes a little bit and give you a pretty good opportunity to make a shot. But in chest pouch, I also keep a uh a diaphragm call too, and I'll put that in, and you know, if we're needing one to stop at a certain spot, I'll hit them with a little putt distress squill real quick and they they lock up the brakes pretty fast to check out what's going on.
SPEAKER_03Yep, agreed. Yeah, the the muting the remote's a good one too. Uh usually that's the first thing, mute the remote, and if they still don't stop, then all right, we'll bark at them or whatever. But yeah, usually the usually the muting of the call gets them to lock up. And I think that's a general a general thing too. I think people think like, oh, he's coming in hard, he's 400 yards away. I better turn the call off, and then they check up at 300. And yeah, you know, it's like I always my point my point is always make sure they're in shooting range before you turn the call off.
SPEAKER_00Right. Like I said, I like to get him in that hundred-125-yard range or something before I'll shut that caller off. You know, and that that's a really easy shot to make for most guys, you know, 100 yards, and that's you know, you're gonna see the majority of your guys, that's where there's zero in their rifles, that's where they feel comfortable. So use that kind of as a as a reference point, you know. Shut them down there, and you can feel comfortable with your shot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree. Um, as we are recording this, it's the end of March. Uh, we're knocking on the door of April, turkey season's coming. Spring is hopefully here. We just had 21 inches of snow up here last week, and it's 62 degrees here today. So uh as we go into this, you know, late March, early April time, I know you're still gonna be hunting. Uh, I'm gonna be hunting a little. Uh, what's your general strategy gonna be as far as calling, you know, for these next couple of weeks?
SPEAKER_00So we're definitely switching over to a pup mindset now, you know, and uh I'll be doing the same. We'll get out and maybe shoot a couple turkeys too. But we're really we're still pretty hardcore on the tiles right now. So like I said, we're switching to pup stuff. Even though they don't have pups on the ground yet, they're still gonna be keying on it. And uh, you know, Tori Cook kind of hits on it quite a bit, you know. They're already hyper focused about the pups, even though they're not even here. So, you know, you might start out with a couple howls still, a couple lone howls, and working to maybe a couple social sounds, but I'm not scared right now to start out with uh some little pup howls and some things like that. You know, they I'm a big fan of my MFK sounds right now and any of those little bitty birthday pups, broke pups, any of that kind of stuff. And I really like uh pup pear how is a really good one for anywhere from here on up through September, even right. I'll start I'll start mixing that in there and any of those little pup fights. I really like that bam bougie five week pup and uh bougie eight week is uh really good kind of pup distress sound too.
SPEAKER_03So I've seen uh I've seen the call run over before to the bougie eight week one. Uh that's a that's a killer's pound.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03We just didn't get the coyotes killed because it came in so fast and we're gone just as fast. Yeah. But uh yeah, no, I agree. Uh definitely um I think you know being I I definitely am lone howls right now too. Uh and then I'm going I'm pretty much doing lone howls, and then I'm pretty much going right into pup sounds. Uh you know, pups three, one, four. Uh that's a good one.
SPEAKER_00That's a that's a killer sound from Fox Pro.
SPEAKER_03Yep, that's a Fox Pro sound. That's a good one. Uh that I've been using lately.
SPEAKER_00Um A9 Pups 2. That for this time of year, too, man. That's a killer sound.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and like the one week old pup sounds from MFK, and like just just I think I really think any of the pup sounds can work right now. Um, but that's definitely where I'm at. Uh, I've noticed, you know, with the lone howls, it seems like you they are pretty vocal. Um, and like you said, they're kind of hyperfixated on on pups, and they're also very territorial over their whatever their proclaimed, you know, they're probably at this point have if they haven't had their pups or they're gonna be having pups soon, they probably have their den area picked out, and they're very territorial of that. So that's why, in my opinion, you can get some really hard chargers, and guys will say a lot of times, and like what I'll do this time of year is if I hear them howl, you know, 700 yards away, that's almost too far for them to come right now. In my opinion, I'll move closer to them until I can get them to break, but like seems like it's like that old you know, Tom Turkey. Once you get inside that bubble, all of a sudden, snap, here they're gonna come. And I I've found this time of year to get some really hard charging pairs, you know, twos and threes piling in because we finally got inside that bubble and ticked them off and they're ready to fight.
SPEAKER_00Yep. And I I was about to say that too. Start shrinking your stand size down, like the area that you feel like you're calling into. You can almost chop it in half, almost, you know, and start finding those pond dams that they're gonna be digging and ding in the side of, or creek bed, or you know, big brush piles. Start thinking about stuff like that. That man, these this is where these coyotes are gonna be centralized in. Or if you have a you know, uh 150-acre piece of property and you know there's a six-acre block of woods on there, there's a really good chance that's where you're gonna be finding your coyotes at.
SPEAKER_03Yep. I agree. Uh, it seems like calling in, at least for me, uh right now, most of the coyotes I'm calling in are pairs or twos or two or three. Uh it seems like, and seems like singles are less of a thing, even though I know they're still out there and you're still gonna, you know, always still gonna kill some lone ones or or transient or whatever you know you want to call them. But uh I'm right now I'm keen in on those pairs of you know aggressive coyotes and trying to trying to get in that bubble and and move in on them. I know guys will say, Oh, is howling they're howling, you know, back and forth with me for a half an hour and they'd never come in. And I think, you know, in most cases they're probably too far away. Uh just gotta get closer to them because they're not gonna travel overly far right now. I just don't think you know you're gonna get those, you know. I'm I don't know. I'm speaking for where I'm at, but we're not gonna get that 1200-yard, you know, charger. But uh you know, moving on.
SPEAKER_00That's a that's an early early winter and breeding season kind of deal when you're gonna get a pulling that far, you know. And yeah, you're gonna we're gonna have to start shrinking our stand sizes and get that in mind. So and whenever you do that, if you do decide, hey, I need to I need to pick up and move a little bit, like we said earlier, stay conscious about what trail you've already walked on and yeah. Where your wind's blowing. Yeah, keep all keep all that stuff in mind too.
SPEAKER_03So yeah. No, I agree. Uh, I think uh I think you know I've heard from a lot of people that are like basically they'll hunt till like March 15th and then they think that it's over and call it good. Yeah, but I think there's a lot of good hunting to be had uh yet, and I take a few weeks off for turkey season, and which usually coincides with uh pups in the ground and a pretty tough time for calling, but uh you know it there's you can always call coyotes in, you know, no matter what. I mean, they don't all have pups, they don't all, you know, guard a den. Uh, you know, there's lots of them out there.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, I'm still keen. We were kind of talking about a little bit of call sequence stuff, but fights are still a huge deal too, right now. You know, I mean they're gonna be fighting all through this whole denim season, you know, keeping other coyotes out of their areas and those transient coyotes that might be coming in to try to clear litter out, you know. Well, those are there's still gonna be fights and things like that that are gonna be going on.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, believe it or not, pound town still works.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. The magic of pound town. That's an awesome pound.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, not that it doesn't work all the time. That's that's what I meant by that, but uh, it definitely has been working for me lately. Uh yeah, so uh all those fight sounds. I know the other night I had a pair come in, I killed the one, and then I was really working to try to get that second one to come back out. I played, I think, three or four different pup sounds, fights, you know, all the play. I think I played five different sounds because I thought for sure that thing was gonna come out. And then of course I finally said, okay, it's not coming. I muted the call, turned uh started to get ready to pack up, and I looked up in there, it's the ends 130 yards, and I got caught with uh my pants down a little bit and didn't get that one killed.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, that happens sometimes. We whenever Corey was out here, we actually had a really cool stand at uh pound town ended up reeling back in for us. We were hunting on a crosswind, and it was uh the first stand of our second day, and it was super cold out. Like Cory was kind of giving me giving me a little bit of crap over it, you know, coming to Oklahoma, and it was probably three degrees out. Yeah. And uh we sat down, did a couple lone howls, had a couple good responses, and I went into some pre-distress. And we had snow on the ground at the time, too, so it was, you know, they're definitely out cruising around looking for something to eat. But we noticed a couple coyotes off on the neighboring property, and at first I thought it was a cat because it was just kind of sitting there on its butt and probably 400 yards away at the time. And we had five of them end up rolling in there on this stand, and we were hunting on a crosswind, and they kind of caught our wind a little bit, and they weren't running out, but they were definitely on their way out of the stand. And I flipped on towntown, and all five of them, it's like you just hit a trigger on them. Yeah, they all turned right back around, and all of them came into the field fully committed, and we ended up killing a double out of it, but yeah, you can't beat that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, it was it was awesome.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, no, I I agree. Uh that that's tough to beat. I mean, you get that that's an exciting situation that a lot of guys will screw up because you know, thankfully, you guys have all hunted plenty. Corey's an absolute killer, and uh I I know from experience and from hearing stories and stuff, those are some of the easiest situations to completely screw up because guys get so excited, and it's just such an uh adrenaline rush to see the five coyotes bombing in like that. And uh I think being able to kill two out of there is is even good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, a lot of guys you know they might see the coyotes turn and take off, they might try to keep jamming the rabbit at them or doing something like that, but you at that point you've almost got to completely change what your mindset is, and they've already known there was food in there, so bring another coyote into the element and their demeanor is likely to change pretty fast.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. Uh one thing that came to mind too as we're talking here. Uh, I was talking with a buddy yesterday, and one thing that we were talking about was one thing that I see a lot of newer hunters that struggle with is they don't know when it's over. And they have a hard time like knowing, okay, now I need to shoot because it's over. This coyote's leaving. He knows, you know, he clearly figured this out and he's got gonna be gone. I think a lot of newer guys struggle with that um with that decision, and a lot of times they by the time they've decided that they should probably shoot or try to get them stopped, they're gone. It's already or they leave and then they try to, you know, play different sounds and do this and do that, and nothing works to get them back out. Um, because they're already, in my opinion, they already figured it out, they already, you know, got the gigs up and they're gone. Uh so uh just a just an observation, but I think uh in my the way I hunt and the way I hunt with my crew is you know one one dead's better than four of them still out there, so we're always gonna just take one. Well, if we can, you know, then I'll worry about switching sounds, you know, trying to pull the other ones back out or something of that nature. Do you guys have any, you know, well, I guess if you're always hunting with a but I'm sure you hunt with people sometimes, but if you're by yourself all the time, obviously you're only killing one. But do you guys have any method for method for multiples, you know, as you have multiples come in and you have multiple shooters?
SPEAKER_00So like you kind of keyed on there, read being able to read that coyote's first demeanor is like that's a huge advantage for you if you know, hey, this coyote's kind of starting to slow down, starting to kind of check more stuff out on his way in here. There's a good chance here in the next 10 seconds he's gonna break and get out of here. Right. Like you said, being able to call whenever it's time to shoot, that's a huge deal. Right. But being able to run your caller, your remote can make or break having multiple coyotes killed. And we have several stands where we've shot quads or squints or you know, multiple coyotes in one stand. And being able to run that remote efficiently can help you out a ton. And like I said, I carry that diaphragm call too. You know, if you get a pair in and you can knock down the first one, being able to get it either on that diaphragm and start some butt distresses or a quick howl on that diaphragm can it can really stop a coyote really fast. So yeah, I agree. Do you use your hot buttons on your remote? I do, so I have my presets and uh those things can be a game changer too. I mean it's that's fast, you know. And just that's one thing for new guys is just really orientate yourself with your remote and get super comfortable with it because being able to run it fast and not looking down at it, just knowing right where you need to hit a button at, yeah, that can that can save you big time. Yeah, I mean, if you can be comfortable with your remote to where you don't even have to look down at that thing and you know which button you're hitting, you know where your mute buttons at, where your preset buttons are at, those can save you, you know, like a ton whenever you're needing to make those quick ten second decisions on what you're doing and being able to read that coyote's demeanor and know what you're needing to do. And whenever you have those multiple coyotes come through there, if you're especially during breeding season and this pup season, if you're able to distinguish which one of those coyotes is your female and shoot that coyote first, yeah, that male is almost gonna stop every time to make sure that she's coming with him. Or come back out, yeah. And give you another shot, and you know, that can be a huge game changer there too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree. Uh I am super good at guessing which one's the female and shooting the male. So I always try I've done this at least three times, like where I think, oh yep, that one's the female, boom, tip it over. It was the male.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh and never killed the pair in all of them.
SPEAKER_00You know, oftentimes this time of year, too, is you're gonna see that your female is gonna be your more aggressive coyote. Yep. So if you see one just really taking the lead and bombing in there on you, that there's a really good chance that might be your female because she's gonna be more keen to protect her area. And uh, you know, if she's the one hackling up out there, howling and barking and doing her thing, that's probably the coyote you need to drop first. And yep, your male, your male will typically either, like you said, either come back out out of a thicket to check back on her or go ahead and stop right there next to her and give you another shot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I've yeah, two out of the three that I've done, I shot the back one thinking it was the female and it was the male. So I learned that lesson too. Uh I think, yeah, I think you're right. In most cases, I think that aggressive one is the female. Uh same thing a couple nights, just a couple nights ago. Uh the back one that was leaving, I shot it, killed it, it was a male. And that front one that was standing there closer was a female. And uh yeah, so it's interesting. Um but sorry.
SPEAKER_00She's gonna try to get trying to take charge and then bring the muscle back there behind her email.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, well, a lot of times those females are more aggressive in my experience. Uh, you know, a lot of those really aggressive callings you get are you know at times can be are females, you you know, especially the mouthy ones, you're thinking, oh, that's a you know, male. You I used to think that when I was younger, you know, and then you kill them and they're a female, you know, a lot of times. And coming back to your point about the remote too, uh I've had it too, I have my hot buttons set up. Literally, my hot buttons are set up to offer me second chances. I have I think my first hot button, like my preset number one, I think is uh like a maybe a rabbit sound strictly for like that. You're walking in, you see one, you need to throw the call down quick and get something on, and then the rest of them, it's pound town. It's uh I have uh Coyote Pear Howl from Fox Pro to sound. I have that in my presets too for like if uh if you guys saw I posted a video like a couple weeks ago on my social media stuff of us me and my buddies killing a triple. And if you turn the volume up and listen to that, we killed the first two, you know, right out in front of us at the call, and then that third one's running out, you know, it ended up whatever, like 350 yards. But you'll hear I'll click that hot button and you'll hear that howl kick on, and boom, that dog checks up and boom, I kill it. Like that's I don't have to look at it just like Paul's saying, like just kind of knowing you're remote, like I don't have to look at it, I can just tap that hot button and it you know rips a howl off to with some volume to be able to you know stop them because I could sit here and bark at them all day, but just seems like you know, having that Fox Pro crank to 36 and you know ripping that howl gets them to lock it up, and I think that's uh that's a good tip for you know, and I think everybody might have different presets and whatever, but just having something of that nature. The only reason I have that howl in there is no like particular reason other than it is a kind of aggressive bark howl, like and it's quick, quick into a bark howl. It's not you know a long drawn out lone howl, it's bark bark howl. And it seems like to me that just gets them to you know stop quicker.
SPEAKER_00So I do the same thing. I have two uh pre-distress sounds as in my presets, and I also have two. So I have uh pound town as one of them, then I have uh the OG PUT 3 as my other one, and then like I've said before, you know, I keep that diaphragm call it right there close to, and I can throw that thing in and make it howl pretty fast.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's a good tip. Uh the diaphragm, I know a lot of guys that do that carry those, and that's uh that's a good tip. Um is there anything that you do in in your predator hunting that you feel is different than most people or that you think is different?
SPEAKER_00Uh man, I really it's really hard to say, you know. I feel like I have a really good opportunity to spend a lot of time out there and just getting more time on stand. You know, the more time you're out there, the more stuff you're gonna be able to learn and pick up on. And I've been fortunate enough. I got a really good wife, yeah, and she lets me go a lot, and I have a really good work schedule too. So I work 14 days a month and I'm off for 14 days. So I have you know basically a half a month every time to get out and chase them at some point. So time in the field is really, really hard to beat or make up for. So that and just these podcasts are amazing, you know. Yeah. For guys that don't get a go all the time, or somebody that's new trying to get into the sport and trying to figure out how other people do different things, this is a huge benefit for guys. But whenever I was new trying to get into it, you know, I I don't even think podcasts were even a thing yet. No. But I was on YouTube, I was reading magazines, I was trying to soak up every bit of predator hunting information I could. And it's all out there now. You know, you can find it anywhere. You can look up forums or YouTube videos, these podcasts, you know, I mean everything. So they still got some awesome predator hunting magazines out, and they got some good stuff out there for guys that are willing to learn and wanting to soak it up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree. I think uh, you know, we think back to when we started, uh, we were like you said, we were reading Predator Masters uh uh magazine, and we were I was buying the the hand calls to get the Randy Anderson DVD, um, you know, everything possible that we could possibly learn, and we still were not able to learn a whole lot, like it was mostly just entertainment type stuff, and uh for me it was everything that was out there was in the West. So like I had to kind of totally figure out this whole Midwest game uh on the fly and with making mistakes and screwing up, and and and when I was younger, I did spend a lot more time out there. I don't spend as much time out there now, but I'm a lot more successful just because I've you know kind of learned the things that I need to do. But uh I think one thing that we've talked about and kind of mentioned throughout this whole episode is like is this part that you've just mentioned again. You've had a lot of chances, a lot of time to learn, and I think uh making mistakes and learning from them is one of the most important factors to being a good predator hunter because you do make a lot of mistakes, there's a lot of things that can happen. It's a very fast-paced sport, in my opinion. I've seen people who have really had a hard time to with the trigger pulling aspect of predator hunting because it happens so fast and they just don't process things as fast. Um you know, and so it's not to be overlooked that of the challenge of it. And if you've really like Paul mentioned, there is so many resources out there now for guys that are new to cut down their learning curve, or if you've been doing it a while and maybe you're struggling, maybe you're in a rut, whatever, maybe uh you hit a stretch where you're not able to you're not having success. Uh, I think it always helps to hear, you know, opinions, ideas. You know, I like watching your videos. Not that I'm gonna I'm hunting anywhere near Oklahoma, but I just see thing little things, l sounds, you know, some little new nuances that each guy does. So I like asking people what they think they do differently 'cause it's funny to hear it's interesting to hear what people think they do differently, you know, when in reality We all are doing kind of the same things. It's just everybody does things a little bit different way. And, you know, different sounds, different setup, different wind, different, you know, all those different things that I think are factors in success. And I like to hear from everyone. That's part of the reason why I started this podcast, is because selfishly I like to learn from guys like Paul who are killers and know what they're doing. And I want to be able to, you know, go out tonight and think, ooh, Paul mentioned this sound, and then I play it and it works. I I enjoy doing stuff like that because it helps just broaden your horizons and help you be ready for more situations. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you go out tonight and kill one to bam bougie fight, wig fight, I'll be waiting for a tag on Facebook. I mean, I I wish I had some secret out there that I could tell you that, you know, this makes me more successful than somebody else down the road, but it's just hard to flat out beat time in the field, man. And you know, if you know, if you look back maybe ten years ago, you might have had ten dry stands in between one successful one, and now you have four dry stands and you're thinking about going home. And you're yeah, and you're like, man, I'm what am I doing wrong today? Exactly. But you know, you might go out there the next day and you might have five consecutive stands where you kill coyotes, and you know, you it makes you feel a lot better about yourself and you feel like you're progressing in the right direction.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and you feel like you know what you're doing, and then you go to five more blank stands, and then you are right back to where you think you for really don't know what you're doing. And that's just the the peaks and valleys of predator hunting, in my opinion, is managing that uh failure and being positive into the next stand.
SPEAKER_00That's what nobody likes to talk about is the blank stands. But they're there and they are definitely gonna happen. It doesn't matter how experienced you are, you're always gonna have some blank stands here and there. And like we're talking about right now, heading into this March and April time frame, it gets really slow for some guys. And don't get upset and just set your gun in the safe and not pick it back up until October, you know. Keep keep going out, making a few stands, tweaking some sequences or doing some different stuff, closing your distance, and those things will help out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I totally agree. Uh all really good tips. And uh hopefully guys that are still hunting. I know we're again, I know a lot of guys give it up by now. Uh, but guys like me and Paul that are not normal, uh, we are still gonna be hunting, and we are gonna be using these tactics that we have discussed here, uh, and hopefully having some success. So uh, Paul, I appreciate the heck out of your time and joining me. I learned some things today, and I hope everyone else did too. Uh, can you tell everybody where to find your YouTube and wherever you want people to find you on social media?
SPEAKER_00For sure. So our YouTube, uh, it's environment hunting TV. And, you know, I always say it in all of our posts, you know, we would appreciate the heck out of it. You know, if you guys like what you're seeing, hit that subscribe button. You know, it helps us every time. And uh my Facebook and Instagram are pretty simple, you know, there's Paul Sears. And uh, you know, anybody that has any, you know, uh wanting any information, any stuff like that, I'm always down to talk about some coyote hunting and predator hunting in general. And you know, don't be scared to reach out and ask questions or even on the YouTube, you know, uh Jonathan and I both try to stay on top of it and respond back to comments and anything that we can do. And you know, Drew, I I really appreciate the heck out of you uh bringing me on here, man. Uh it was a blast, dude. I I really enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was fun. I'm glad we got to uh sit down and talk a little bit. Uh talking to like-minded people just never gets old. And uh I appreciate your support and making the time to join me today. Uh I'll put all Paul's info in the description below, and you guys will have to check it out. He's got some sweet bobcat hunts, some coyote hunts, you name it. Uh, it's all it's all good stuff in that beautiful country in Oklahoma. So uh yeah, I'll see everybody at the Sportsman's Expo in the Dells this week. And Paul, we will talk to you later. Awesome. Thank you, buddy. Yep, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for listening to this episode. If you want to support the Predator Podcast, check out our great partners in the description below. Follow Drew on Instagram at predator podcast underscore Drew. Join the Predator Podcast Facebook community and keep up with real time tips and tricks to keep putting further in the group. Until next time.