AFRICAN PREDATOR Part 6

AFRICAN PREDATOR ETHICAL CONTROL
Gary Laubscher
Part 6
This part covers amoungst
other things the well
known HAND CALL, it is in
my opinion far nicer to call
a predator with a hand
caller than with a
technologically advanced
electronic caller, and the
nice thing is it is far more
personal also, it was you
that created a sound and
outfoxed the vixen!
A huge Caracal that made the
mistake of coming into my
dying rabbit sound, this cat was very large and old, his teeth were halfway
ground away.
T
he art to blow a hand caller is not as hard as some may think,
many of us will put a caller in our mouths and within 2 minutes will
master the calling styles and sounds, some may take longer, but
it will come naturally and easy to master, just practise. The secret
is to know sounds and what they sound like and what yours should
sound like, the more we put emotion, feeling,pain or panic into a caller
and make it the more mouth watering the more critters will come to see
whats on the menu for supper, simple dynamics....
PREDATORS COME IN TO DISTRESS SOUNDS OUT OF
CURIOUSITY MOST TIMES NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE HUNGRY!
If you take a hand caller and make a dull and boring sound with a burst
of long drawn out air it will attract nothing but give your lungs good
excercise, remember now we have to become actors and put all we
have into making that critter think that a poor little morsel is in trouble
and needs investigation – make his taste buds water!!!
Typical small steenbuck sounds are simple to mimic on a hand caller
and making a whaaa whaaa sound is simple, its long drawn and a
boring sound, but one that predators know very well. The rabbits, pigs
and such critters are much more alive and creative.
BLOW a hand call from bakkie, with vocal barks downwind in the
bush, this is a proven combo that works!
For hand calls and learning how to master them it is easier for a learner
to learn on a CLOSED REED CALL, this is a call that has a concealed
closed inner reed, and all you do is cup your hand, hold the call and
blow into it, the OPEN REEDED call is much more complicated but it
allows you to make lots of better sounding sounds, a general open reed
call will lure in antelope, pigs predators and even humans, if you know
how to blow it, your will be amazed what you can call, I once called in
an otter using a open reed caller.
A very interesting point is, and you can ask any professional caller, you
will have far more success calling cats with a hand call than what you
will have when using any kind of electronic caller, dont ask me why, I
dont know, but it is true, cats seem to like hand calls the most, maybe it
is because every call you make is unique it cannot be copied and used
by others, it is you blowing that caller your way. I will conceed however
that I have had huge success with a Foxpro sound called Jackrabbit
Distress, I called and killed 4 cats in a row with that sound.
This is the DEADWOOD Series, predator calls made by hand
one at a time by me in South Africa, simulated ivory / bone.
Here is an example of a few styles and calls, some I manufacture in
South Africa, and they are just as good if not better than an American
caller, also be advised that now many American game calls are made in
China! Yes, no lies, a true statement!
American calls, made by my friend Lynn Jacobson of TNT calls, then a
Lohman MVP-4 it has 3 different calls in one barrel and you turn the dial for
the settings, and a crow caller by Lohman, all these are working calls, closed
reed style calls, the actual call part is inside the barrel and protected. The
Lohman “Circe”MVP-4 is a killer call, I used this for over 8 years. Blowing hand
calls and achieving success is far more rewarding than using an electronic
caller, its far more personal!
As mentioned before in this 12 part series, remember you may find that your
area brings better results when using hand calls than an electronic caller. I
have a sequence I like with hand calls;
I blow the call on the truck and swivel the chair at the same time, from a
distance the sound changes becase of the directions you turn and after about
5 minutes I play a fighting jackal sound on my caller in the bush, I place that
100m DOWNWIND from me at a 45 degree angle and 40m to the opposit side
of the downwind, so if the wind is going left I place the vocal fighting jackal
sound on the right. This creates a story of prey being eaten and jackals
fighting over it – it works well. I blow hand call 5 seconds and wait a minute,
after 5 minutes I mix the fight with the food at the same time.
If you need a demo with sounds call me during office hours, I will demo
over the phone or you can skype me anytime, I will be happy to help
you and give you the various sounds you need to mimic, all you really
need to master are 3 basically, a fawn, rabbit and puppy yip on the call.
TRUCK PREP when we talk calling predators, he is a survivor, and
is on high alert, so we need to vanish from sight, avoid hunting large
moons and educating predators. The first rule is, NEVER use a black
colour at night, it stands out and is easily spotted, use colours that
match the surroundings and use soft colours and quiet fabric. A good
idea is to use hessian sheets in the Free State, it is cheap and is
available at most CO OP’s.
See this photo of a cat hunt with my
Hilux, as you can see in the day its
already vanishing, now amagine at
night, no ways will an animal spot
you.
Use the same colouration on the
truck that is around the area you
will call – important!
Always make sure the netting is covering all the truck, and take care to
close up inside flashing alarm red lights, at night it lights up that truck
inside, and the biggest tip is that you MUST try work out the approach
direction of the predator, because if he comes from the side he has the
entire side of the truck to see, a huge part, BUT if you face the back of
the truck to the direction he may come from he only has a small part to
possibly see, and try not face the front of the truck to that direction, it
has to many shiny mirrors, bullbars, lights, reflectors, large windscreens
that can make a reflection or shine in the red light, but using the back it
is a square box and wont be seen easily, I am offering tips here that
have worked for me for many years.
A very important thing I learnt a long time ago, ALWAYS pay a lot of
attention to your truck, make your nets in such a way that when you
stop at a place, you throw over the nets and they hang correctly, so you
dont take to long and make noise, they must drop in place like a curtain
and it must happen fast, then you get on the chair and you are ready,
your partber can put out the callers in that time. The less noise and
movement you make the better. And make sure the rear end is closed
well and faced in the possible approach direction so when the predator
approaches he wont spot the truck easily because we only offer him a
small target at the rear, not a full broadside truck size target to spot!
GUT FEELINGS!!!!!!!!!!!
After you hunt for a few years, you will start to develop
feelings for the selecting of a calling spot and also the place the
dog will approach from, you will see it will come naturally.
Assumption is the mother of all F ups! And relying on the wind
everytime to determine the arrival spot of a jackal will create in
many instances a major F UP! Don’t ALWAYS trust the wind!!!!!
Don’t believe what many people will tell you, that jackal all
work the wind, if you do you are just fooling yourself. I have
a friend who only faces one direction when he calls as he
says the jackal will approach only from downwind so he
don’t need to turn in circles, if you are also like him, and
believe that then you are making a huge mistake, massive!
As example, on my last course in the Free State I keep
records of every evening, and the last night I tally all info
up, read this and see for yourself, how many worked the
wind properly…….
SEPTEMBER CORNELIA FACTORS;
MOON – NEW MOON
How many Jackal got wind correct – 1
Cats wind wrong
Average response time 4 minutes - 22 minutes
Most effective period - 1st spot after dark (shot something every night at 1st
spot)
Average distance - Bakkie to 130m maximum range
Average action period - The first 3 stands at night are most effective period
Best calling sounds; Javalina, Dying Jack, Jackrabbit distress with
combos.
SOUNDS;
Javalina / Combo with Jackal run in
Dying Jack 10 social barks / Territorial COMBO Two calls – Personal Sound
Dying Jack and territorial on its own COMBO Two calls – Personal Sound
Jackrabbit distress and Territorial COMBO Two calls – Personal Sound
General; All nights at first spot we shot something. All jackals got the wind
wrong, except one, the cat got the wind correct, but that was just luck.
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As above shown from our records, this shows that not all jackals
are university educated - it proves that the wind is NOT a proven
method to predict a jackal’s arrival area – if you go by using the
wind all the time you will make a mistake. Don’t go by the rule
book, in predator hunting sometimes the book is mistaken and
you are left in shock as to what happens next!
DON’T ALWAYS BELIEVE WHAT THE WIND TELLS YOU
After you hunt a few years, you will be able to predict from what
direction a jackal will approach and also you will be able to drive
along an area and you will be able to pick out spots that will bring
results once the sun goes down, it will come naturally, if you don’t
believe me, wait and see, you will quickly notice these two factors.
When Johan and I drove around the one morning to feed his sheep
etc, we came to this area above, it had trees to the left and at the
back, it was in a very nice clearing and had new calves in the area, I
said to him tonight our first stand must be here, you just get a
feeling, and BOOM after 25minutes we shot a jackal….
I also told him, when you shoot you will shoot just left of the trees,
he will come in at that spot, and again BOOM that’s exactly the
place he came in from, and the downwind side, well the wind was
blowing down to the entirely opposite direction to the area I told him
the jackal would approach.
I am not just saying this so I sound like I am a big shot or just blowing
off steam to make myself sound good, it is a fact, after a while you
will predict an area of arrival and a good spot, and many times the
wind is NOT in the jackals favour!. By looking at the lay of the land
will give you possible clues as to the place he will come in from and
what place is good.
The moral of the story is don’t go by the rule of the book, by
concentrating on the wind, if you do you will make a mistake, the
wind wont always tell you the truth! And if you are hunting cats,
ROOIKATTE!...... forget the wind totally - they never work the wind to
get to you, they are mostly stupid animals, but just remember to call
cats in the wind, your results will be much better if you call Rooikatte
when the wind is blowing, an Easterly wind and that’s fact! My
records show I call many cats when windy!
Records cannot be wrong when your results mostly always say the
same thing, wind wind wind……
After a while things will start to jump off the page and in your face as
you are in the bush, the sites you decide on will be good and get
better and better, you will start getting a feeling for a good or bad
spot, gut feelings will come naturally, and REMEMBER if you travel a
long sand road to mark one or two places behind your bakkie with a
broom a metre wide over the road, then on the way back check to
see what walked at that place, if fresh cat or jackal tracks stop and
call it!
IMPORTANT READING
Here as example is the layout of our hunt at the
first spot that night. Note the wind and how he
arrived!
Trees
Caller X
WIND
Property www.africanpredator.com – Copyright 2015
Trees
110m
The jackal ran in and stopped 110m from us, ran in straight and not at
an angle. Got wind wrong and I predicted he would arrive in the exact
place he died at! After a while you will start to get the feeling of places
and the layout and pin pointing good spots and animal arrival places
will be very easy.
DON’T ALWAYS judge a calling stand by the wind, many times jackal
get the wind wrong and come in from an entirely different angle –
courtesy of a combo most times!
GPS JACKAL
You will note in your calling career – it will happen, that you will find
that a jackal finds your spot without a lot of calling, you may have a
caller OFF a long time, and here he comes, and comes right through
your calling stand area, we killed one after watching her approach
from over 800m away, no music, she found the exact spot and Johan
killed her 20m or so from the caller! This is a true story; she came
right through our area.
www.africanpredator.com
Good links relating to part 6.
http://www.africanpredator.com/Bakkie-Prep-forJakkals-Kat-Jag.pdf
COPYRIGHT 2015 – No part of this series can be
copied, produced, marketed, sold for financial
gain.
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