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Cuts Crooked
coyotehunter
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:46 pm
Location: Iowa

Howdy y'all

Post by Cuts Crooked »

Hello all! I'm new to this site, having just discovered it a couple of days ago, and wanted to say howdy and introduce myself. I like the tone of the posters here, not so much "hosility" as I have seen on some of the other sites I have visited.

Lessee, here, what can I tell y'all about myself.....I'm an aging police officer in Iowa (over 60) and I just got back into coyote hunting a couple of years ago. I used to call them back in the early 70s using a Herters closed reed rabbit distress call, which I still have, and have used recently. Back in those days it was really all I needed to call dogs in. I would call in Iowa fence rows and used a single shot shotun to put the fur down. I had a pretty good run at them back then. But things changed, I got married, had kids, got totally involved in being a husband and father, and the predator hunting thing somehow got shuffled off to the side.
When I got started again I was using one of my model 92 Rossi lever guns, in .357 and a "Norchester" 97 pump (Norinco copy of the old 97 Winchester) for my pred guns....mostly a short range proposition. But I found myself having to pass on a lot of dogs that wouldn't quite come in close enuff. So I have since acquired a Savage Axis in .223 topped with a CenterPoint 4 x 16 (yeah I know..cheap scope, but it actually does the job and I can't complain) which has stretched my range out to 200 +yds, which is about the best I can do shooting off cross sticks, with my aging eyesight. Also I built my own e-caller with parts from Radio Shack and an MP3 player to store sounds on. It worked good and I've gotten some fur with it. But it had it's drawbacks, no way to control volume at a distance without a lot of wire, and a bit clumsy to pack around. Wife bought me a Johnny Stewart "Predator 2" caller as a present and it works pretty good but not much volume there, Found I could use it in conjunction with my homemade caller and get a lot of volume , but again, clumsy to pack around. More recently I purchased an Ioctec 350 caller with 24 WT sounds on it and the ability to add custom sounds. The remote has an advertised range of 300 yds which I tested and found it does indeed work at that range, although I have not tried it yet in rough terrain. Can't imagine a situation in which I would need a caller that far away from me anyway. It also has the ability to utilize an external speaker so I tried my power horn from my homemade caller with it.......WOW! I don't think I would ever need that kind of volume here in the Midwest!!!!!

Generally I just wear Mossy oak camo, but when there's snow on the ground, like now, I have an old pair of white painter bibs and a white sweat shirt big enuff to go over my coveralls. I have also, on rare occassions used a pop up blind, which actually works good but is a pain the arse to pack around! I almost always carry a hunters folding "bag stool" to sit on, my aging bones don't like squatting in the snow anymore and the stool has storeage for my e-caller, extra ammo, knife, and a length of rope.

I'm located in south central Iowa, near lake Red Rock, and have over 10 thousand acres of public land to hunt on, a mixture of timber, abandoned farm steads, CRP, and row crops. And a few private farms that I have permission on. So I guess I can't complain about places to hunt. I could probably get permission on a lot more places, but with all the public ground I just don't need more. B'sides that I don't have a lot of competition for predators around here, my oldest son is the only one I know b'sides me that actively hunts yotes, and we team up once in a while.

So that's about it, any questions jist ask away. I'm thinkin about goin out tomorrow, but the temps are going to be in the minus teens, so I may just stay home, sip some warming fluid, and watch hunting videos.

Again, Howdy Folks! Nice place ya got here!
Cuts Crooked
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Dcoy
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Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:33 am
Location: SD

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Dcoy »

Howdy back and welcome.Sounds like you've got what you need and know what you're doing.This site has a ton of info available if you look for it.It used to be much more active and I believe is heading back that way again.
I can assure you it's run and managed by true coyote experts and hunters and visited by some of the best out there.Sure you'll enjoy it. :D
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Cuts Crooked
coyotehunter
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:46 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Cuts Crooked »

Thanx for the response, Dcoy. You are right it does seem awful slow here right now....maybe everyone is out chasing song dogs.
I went out last night and used my locator siren several places, but didn't get any comebacks. Tried calling early this AM, but only pulled in some crows, an owl, and someones black lab mix.
Snow is deep, about 12" and temps are hovering around zero, which is hard on my knee. So I'm gonna unlax fer the rest of the day, clean my rifle, and then maybe sip a little "warming fluid" while waiting for venison stew to get done.
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Coyotehunter
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Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Wyoming

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Coyotehunter »

Glad you found us.
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Coyotehunter
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Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Wyoming

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Coyotehunter »

Love to see a pic of the homemade ecaller.
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Cuts Crooked
coyotehunter
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:46 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Cuts Crooked »

I'll see if this works:
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Last edited by Cuts Crooked on Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Cuts Crooked
coyotehunter
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:46 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Cuts Crooked »

How about that! I figured it out! :D Not the best pics, due to my inept skills with a camera and a computer, but I got er dun. The home made caller is a couple of years old now and I was happy with it for the most part, but I had keep it close to me or use a LONG wire from the mini amp to the speaker for volume control. And it doesn't fit in the bag on my hunting stool so I had to carry a backpack to stow it in.

These are my JS Preymaster 2 and my Icotec caller. The Preymaster is ok, but not much volume, however sometimes it's just perfect, when "less is more" is called for. And it can be used as sound source for the homemade caller to give incredible range. The Icotec seems to be the best all around e-caller for the price, with great WT sounds, excellent volume, easy remote to use, and the ability to add new sounds.
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Last edited by Cuts Crooked on Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Dcoy
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Posts: 1156
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:33 am
Location: SD

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Dcoy »

Looks good.Calls look light n easy to carry.
Also interesting to see the snow you have.Very little here in NE SoDak and none west where we are headed in a few hours.In fact,sounds like will be 60 for a few days where we are headed. :(
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Cuts Crooked
coyotehunter
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:46 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Howdy y'all

Post by Cuts Crooked »

Going to try to create link to a video my son made of my distraction decoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1MMl- ... e=youtu.be I made this by spray painting a cheap dove decoy I found at Wally World. I plan on using it with a distressed bunny call and toss in a crow caw occasionally. Might work.......?
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