Electronic Caller on a Budget

One device that is helpful in hunting coyotes and other predators is the electronic caller.  If you have over $200.00 to spend, then you can by any number of various models from FOXPRO.  However, if you are like me, then you do not have a lot of extra cash to spend on hunting equipment.  As I was surfing the internet for information about hunting coyotes and other predators, I came across Varmint Al's Coyote Hunting website. Searching through the site, I came across a section that talked about making a homemade electronic caller.  I read over the information and determined that it would be pretty simple to make.  The best part is that it can be built for a budget of around $35.00.

I purchased all of the parts from a local Radio Shack store.  You will need to buy the following items:

• Radio Shack #4202420 cable, 6' long with 1/8" male mono plugs at each end
• Radio Shack #9100774 Mono plug to Stereo Jack Inline Adaptor
• Radio Shack #4202434 cable, 6' long with 1/8" male plug on one end and stripped at the other end
• Radio Shack #4001440 4"x6" Power Horn
• Radio Shack #2771006 Mini Amplifier / Speaker

Instructions for Power Horn and Mini Amplifier

 

Various Parts Laid Out Prior to Assembly

 

I purchased a relativity inexpensive MP3 player at Target.  This is the device that actually plays the sound files for the calling sequences that will be used to attract a coyote into shooting range.  An older tape player or CD player could be used as well.

 

 

I fastened the base of the Power Horn to a piece of wood.  The wood platform serves as the base for when the electronic caller is set up out in the field.  The following are the rest of the steps taken to construct the electronic calling device:

1. Using a soldering iron, solder the stripped Power Horn speaker wire (#4001440) to the stripped end of the 6' cable (#4202434).
2. Plug the soldered speaker wire into the "EXT SPKR" jack on the side of the Mini Amplifier.
3. With the remaining 6' cord (#4202420) attach the Mono plug to Stereo Jack Inline Adaptor (#9100774) to one end of the cable and plug this end into the other available jack on the Mini Amplifier.
4. Plug the other end of the 6' cable into the sound source.
5. Find a spot to set up the electronic caller in the field.
6. Play the calling sequence and get ready to take out a coyote!

 
You will notice that I tried to disguise the look of my electronic caller by wrapping it with layers of camouflaged tape.  I bought a roll of camouflaged tape at Dick's Sporting Goods which was located in the hunting section.  I was going to put tape on the inside of the Power Horn, but I think it looks good the way it is.

Carrying Bag for Electronic Call

I also found the perfect bag for carrying my electronic caller while I was shopping at the store.  The bag is printed with a good camouflaged scheme and has a carry handle and shoulder strap as swell.  The bag cost about $20.00 and has several pockets to carry additional items in as well.

The photograph of the bag below shows the zippered storage areas.  The wooden base that is attached to the Power Horn can be seen in the divided section on the right of the bag.  The Power Horn fist into this divided section upside down with the bottom of the wooden piece exposed.  There are two external storage pockets located just underneath the attachment points for the shoulder straps.  I store the Mini Amplifier inside the right side pocket and a pair of binoculars inside the left side pocket.  I keep the wires and the MP3 player inside a small plastic bag and store it inside the main compartment.  I also have an extra supply of batteries for both the Mini Amplifier and the MP3 player.

My MAG VEX AR-15 Hunting Rifle

M.A.G. Tactical Solutions Lower & Windham Weaponry Upper

Here is my AR-15 hunting rifle I use for coyote hunting and other predators.  I put most of it together myself over the past year or so as my financial situation allowed.  I used a M.A.G. Tactical Solutions stripped lower receiver as the base for the gun.  I used a Spike's Tactical LPK (lower parts kit) for the internals.  The fixed stock is an ACE ARFX Skeleton Stock.  Building the lower receiver was fairly easy to do and a lot of fun.  I watched several YouTube videos on building lower receivers prior to putting mine together.

M.A.G. Tactical Solutions Lower Receiver

I did not build the upper receiver.  Instead, I purchased a Windham Weaponry complete upper receiver.  I went with the VEX-SS Varmint Exterminator because I like the style and look of it with the skeleton stock.  The upper has a 20" stainless steel, fluted matte finished barrel and a knurled, vented aluminum free float forend.  The rifle is chambered for .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO.

Other features of my rifle are the Caldwell bi-pod, the 45 degree offset angled back-up iron sights, a Magpul tactical sling and a Barska 4-16x50 mm illuminated Mil-Dot sniper rifle scope.

Close-Up of Barrel and Bi-Pod

Close-Up of Skeleton Stock

I added an over-sized safety selector and a DPMS extended bolt-catch to the lower receiver.  I wear a pair of camouflage gloves when I am out hunting coyotes,  The use of the extended bolt-catch and the over-sized safety selector make manipulating the rifle easy while wearing gloves.  The M.A.G. Tactical Solutions lower receiver has an over-sized trigger guard molded in, so this accommodates my trigger finger while wearing the gloves.

Close-Up of Lower Receiver

Close-Up of Barska Sniper Scope

If for some reason the illuminated sniper scope fails, or a coyote comes into range at a much closer range than the rifle is sighted in for, I installed a set of back-up iron sights on my AR-15 rifle.  These are a pair of 45 degree offset angled front and rear sight.  These iron sights are the same as the typical sights found on a standard AR-15 type rifle.  With a quick flip of the rifle to the left, your eye easily finds the iron sights and can engage targets quickly.  The stock of the rifle stays pushed up against your shoulder and your cheek remains on the foam pad of the skeleton stock.

Rear Sight Aperture (45 Degrees to the Right of Scope) 

Looking Down the Back of the Rifle (Scope and Iron Sights)

Angled View From Behind of the Scope and the Iron Sights

Overall, I am pleased with the look and feel of my "MAG VEX Hunting Rifle."  By using the M.A.G. Tactical Solutions lower receiver, the skeleton stock and an upper with an aluminum forend, the rifle is still surprisingly lightweight.  The Magpul sling obviously helps distribute the weight while walking in the field with this rifle.

There are only two other modifications that I plan to make to my rifle.  I want to add an extended charging handle latch and change the grip out for a more ergonomic and comfortable one.

Excerpt of Article Written by Gary Cutrer

The following is a portion of an article written by Gary Cutrer which was published in January 2011 in Ranch & Rural Magazine.  The link to the full article can be found here: "Coyote Threat Expanding".  I believe this is a good article describing why coyotes are a problem here in the United States and therefore need to be controlled for a balanced ecosystem.

Ranchers everywhere continually have to deal with predation of their livestock and wildlife by coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, raccoons, feral hogs and other predatory species. The one that does by far the most damage to sheep and goats is the coyote.

At one time nearly cleared of coyotes, much of the prime sheep and goat production land of Texas’ Edwards Plateau is once again home to Canis latrans, who likes nothing better for dinner than lamb or kid goat.

Why would a rancher begrudge a poor little canine his dinner?  Surely there are plenty of lambs in the flock and he can spare one or two to feed a hungry coyote?

The fact is that coyotes take such a toll on kid and lamb crops they have put more than one sheep and goat producer out of business or at least hurt their bottom line severely. And the lesser publicized but just as economically important damage coyotes do is predation of wildlife populations—deer, quail and turkey. With hunting leases a big part of ranching revenue, coyotes are enemy No. 1.

Coyotes are not endangered. Nor are they in any danger of becoming endangered. Coyote populations nationwide have grown to the point that it is possible there are more coyotes now than ever before on this continent. Once thought to inhabit the western Great Plains, temperate areas of the Rocky Mountains and the Southwestern deserts, the coyote now ranges the entire length and breadth of North America.

Fresh Coyote Track

Here is one of the coyote tracks we saw on the property down in the newly planted orchard area of the property.  The dollar was placed next to it to give a size comparison perspective.  Hopefully we will be able to get this coyote to come into shooting range soon!

Second Attempt to Hunt Coyotes in Oakdale

My friend and I went out a few days after our first trip to the farm in Oakdale.  This time, we went out early on a Sunday morning.  Upon our arrival, we drove to the other side of the property and attempted to walk into the tree line where we think the coyotes are bedding down.  Going in from this side was much more productive then going at it from the other direction.

We were able to get into the area where the coyotes are at least resting in the shade.  I would not exactly say that this is a den site though.  We saw some fresh coyote tracks, and the tall grass/weeds underneath the trees in this area were laid down as if an animal had recently been lying there.  We kept exploring this area and we came across a fresh kill.  It was the carcass of a ground squirrel.  Numerous flies were all over it and it appeared to have been brought to the location within the last twenty-four hours.

We kept searching the area further and came across a few more places where it appeared that animals were bedding down.  We came across a hollowed out tree that had been turned over onto its side.  The roots were uprooted and it provided a small place for animals to hide and/or rest in the shade.

After searching this area, we decided to set up out in the center of the property and try to call in a coyote with an electronic caller.  A month ago or so, I came across a website which had a link on how to build an e-caller using some parts from Radio Shack and an inexpensive MP3 player.  I set up my make-shift e-caller and activated a twenty minute calling sequence that I had previously downloaded onto the MP3 player.  This was the first time that I used the e-caller.  I was surprised by the results.  It appeared to play the sequence and there was little distortion to the sound coming from the speaker.

My friend and I set up under a set of trees near the fence line of the chain-link fence and waited to see if any coyotes would be called in.  Unfortunately, none came into view.  The e-caller did have an effect on local dogs residing at near-by residences.  The dogs would bark and respond to the different sounds of the calling sequence.

Though we did not see any coyotes coming into view, that does not necessarily mean that one did not hear the e-caller and come to investigate.  Our position was not the best place to be.  We were not able to see a large portion of the property from where we were set up.

As we were leaving the property to go home, we saw some other places where we could set up next time that should give us better lines of sight for viewing and ultimately shooting any coyotes coming in to the call.

My First Coyote Hunting Trip of 2015

A few weeks ago, my friend sent me a text message stating that he had a place to go hunt coyotes.  Knowing of my interest in wanting to hunt coyotes, he offered to take me out for a hunting trip.  My friend knows a family who has some farmland in Oakdale.  In addition to orchard crops, they raise a few sheep on the farm too.  Recently, their prized "show lamb" was killed by a coyote, so they contacted my friend to take care of the problem.

Our first trip to the farm took place on a Thursday evening after we got off work.  On the way to the site, my friend told me that he went to the property the previous Tuesday and scouted it out.  He said he located some fresh coyote tracks and heard coyote sounds in an area of the property.  However, he never did see any coyotes while he was there.  When we got to the farm and spoke with the owners, they advised us that they think the coyotes are sleeping in a den located under some trees at the base of a small cliff.

We got in the truck and drove around the property trying to get a feel for the area.  My friend showed me the area where he heard the coyote sounds earlier that week.  This apparently is the same area where the owners were suggesting that the coyotes had a den as well.  We got out and walked the property.  Soon we came across coyote tracks.  They were located in a freshly planted orchard.  My friend found a set of tracks that were leading from the river (which boarders the property) to the area of the trees that the coyotes might be bedding down in.  Later on, I found a set of coyote tracks that were heading to the river from the area where they might be bedding down.  These tracks were in a different row of the orchard than the first set of tracks found by my friend.  Based upon our discovery, it appears the coyotes are accessing the river area by walking down one trail through the orchard and returning to the trees down a different trail through the orchard.

The pathway to and from the river is blocked by a short chain-link fence that serves as a grazing pen for some cows.  We found an area of the fence where we think the coyotes have dug underneath it.  We found some coyote scat nearby the hole under the fence too.

After scouting out the property, we decided to try to walk along the cliff and try to locate the den site.  We got halfway to where we thought the coyotes were bedding down.  Unfortunately, our progress was stopped by thick brush like blackberry bushes and the cliff suddenly dropped off as well, so we could not advance any further.

For the last forty-five minutes or so of the trip, we set up at the base of two large oak trees that were growing in the fenced grazing pen.  We sat with our backs against the trunks and had a clear line of site of the path we believed the coyotes were taking to get from the tree area where they might be bedding down and the river they were accessing for water.  Unfortunately, we ran out of daylight and the hunt ended.

Though we did not see any coyotes on our first time out, we believed we had gained some valuable information on what to do on our next hunt.

My New Hobby

Well, I am starting this blog to discuss my new interest in predator hunting.  Specifically, I am focused on hunting coyotes in the north-central counties of California.  The best part about hunting coyotes in California is that they are allowed to be hunted all year long.  There is no official "coyote season" and all that is required is a hunting license.   You do not need to purchase special tags or get additional stamps for your license to hunt coyotes.

I have placed a set of links at the top of this blog linking to a general description of coyotes and the hunting regulations from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Since I am interested in hunting bobcats too,  there are links to a general description of bobcats as well as hunting regulations specific to hunting them as well.  To hunt bobcats, special tags are required in addition to a hunting license.

The other link will take you to a site that gives instruction on the proper way to sight-in a hunting rifle.  This obviously is an important step to hunting coyotes.  As many shots will be taken out past 100 yards once a coyote is successfully called in.