Resources to learn about predators

[xpauliber]

I originally posted this as a reply in another thread but thought it may be a good topic to bring up. Do you have any favorite books/DVDs/websites that you've used to learn about predators? I'm really hoping to call a bobcat in this year when season comes in and aside from being able to identify their tracks, I don't know much else about them so I have some learning to do.

I've really gotten into predator hunting since last January and what I realized is that I don't really know much about my prey (in relation to how much I know about whitetails). So I've really started looking into information about the life of a coyote.

Here are a couple resources for you to check out if you're interested in learning more about the life of a coyote:

http://www.tombechdel.com/ This guy is from PA (my home state) and claims to have shot over 500 coyotes in PA. There's a DVD about halfway down the page that I got that is GREAT! He covers the senses & life of a coyote and shows some setups for wooded & hilly areas (not just wide open plains like out west).

He also has an awesome story about a hunt where the property was infested with coyotes and the landowner got in touch with him to hunt. He set up in the middle of winter and started calling and he said it looked like a caribou migration coming at him but it was coyotes. I think he shot 6 dogs that hunt.

He goes a little over the top on his scent control routine in my opinion especially later in the DVD when he says that you MUST do your sets with the wind in your favor or the game is over. Kind of defeats the need for scent elimination. Anyways, I highly recommend it if you're interested in learning more about coyotes.

http://www.downwindoutdoors.com/ These guys are from New York state and they do an awesome job calling in dogs and filming them in the eastern US. You get to see their setups, a timer for how long they've been on stand, and all of their hunts are done during daylight (mostly at dawn). The one thing that struck me about their hunts is that they use hand/mouth calls and not electronic calls. I always thought the advantage of the electronic call is to get them responding to something away from your location but these guys are consistently successful with hand/mouth calls. They can change the tone, volume, pitch, etc. which helps to keep the coyotes from becoming educated to the sound of the same electronic caller. The one guy even called a dog in just doing a howl with his mouth.

[Uncle Lou]

I've ramped up my bobcat study as well lately.

Thanks for the info, I will check it out. I subscribed to Predator Extreme for a couple years, tons of great info.

Was looking at some Youtube videos on trapping cats, and getting some good information as well.

Good luck on your cat quest. I hope I get out at least 3 times this winter, still isnt enough time to put towards it, but one of these times I hope to catch some luck. I will need it. I have some MI bobcat info, one article you might be interested in I copied it in a word document and could email if interested.

[checkerfred]

I do a few things similar to those NY state guys. We can only hunt daylight here so there's that and then I only use mouth calls. I have an alpha dog by primos but never use it. Most people around that call use electronic ones. I have more luck with the mouth calls and typically like to buy on the internet so I don't get what everyone else is using in the big box stores.

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