PREDATE

There's a good chance that 2 packs from different territories happened to meet up and a score had to be settled. The breeding season will be ramping up soon and they will be more territorial than ever.

My foxbang is set to Ki-yi

TF, I've had good luck with distress sounds like rabbit, bird, kitten,etc. This time of year I'll start adding more coyote vocalizations to my sets. I always start a set with a small animal distress sound in case there's any fox nearby. If you start a set with coyote vocalizations, chances are any nearby fox will go the other way. I'll usually play a distress sound for 1-2 minutes then go silent for 2-3 minutes. Then I'll switch sounds. I like to try 2-3 different distress sounds per set before I try coyote vocalizations. Then I'll try a lone howl for 15 seconds. Pause for 1 minute. Lone howl again. Pause for another minute. If no response I'll hit challenge howl for 20 seconds. If no reply I'll go silent for 4-5 minutes because they'll sometimes come in silently. Still no sightings, I'll crank up the group howl for 30-40 seconds then wait a couple minutes. If still nothing I'll do a K9 distress of some kind as a last ditch effort.

Full moons are terrible imo. Coyotes are wary by nature and don't like to expose themselves If they can help it. Dark nights are my favorite. The scan light is essentially your shield because if you keep your their eyes lit with the halo, they won't be able to see you. My handheld scan light is on the whole time. I can't tell you how many times I've walked up to a field to find the preds already there. I keep my scan light and FoxPro remote on lanyards around my neck so I can drop them and hit the pressure switch for the gun mounted kill light. My preferred time would be any time from sundown to sunrise. I have good luck with fox in the last 2 hours prior to daylight.

Cool vid. Makes me antsy to get out there. Too bad the winds are 40+ tonight.

That's what had me somewhat baffled because I was there yesterday during the day and there were literally tracks everywhere. I'll try again tonight and will park a long ways from the field to increase the element of surprise.

Nice fur. I hunted last night from midnight til 3Am with no eyes spotted. The moon was a bit brighter than I would have liked, but I was sure the cold would have them hungry enough to investigate the Fox Pro.

If you only have K9s working through every few days you could make a line of scent posts on known travel lanes. Use a gland lure or urine. You don't even have to set traps at every post, you just want to spark their territorial nature. They will frequent the area more knowing that they have intruders on their territory. The same can be done with flat sets. They will resemble turkey scratching and may confuse trap shy K9s. To do this you'll make clusters of 4-5 small mock sets but only set traps in 1 or 2 per cluster and don't put bait/lure in all the scratchings. Sometimes thinking outside the box will put fur in your shed. Good luck guys. I'm on the sidelines again this year due to not having much time to trap

Boil method can be done in 1 day. It's a no brainer(no pun intended). Fully wrap the antlers well with aluminum foil and keep them out of the water. Use peroxide not bleach. Bleach will make the bone brittle

Slept in and got a late start this morning since I decided to drive 2+ hours(1 way) to hunt with my dad for opening day. So I got to my spot at about 7:40 this AM. With about 1" of fresh snow and howling winds I decided to still hunt through some thickets. Took this buck at about 8:30. First deer with my .243. Surely not my best buck, but I got skunked during bow season and I've had a healthy hankering for venison lately.

I shot a buck this morning with the Hornady Superformance .95gr. SST out of my .243 and noticed the same thing. Zero blood trail. Luckily I made a good hit and he only went 60yds. Nice buck btw.

The stones can stay in Hillary's city. I wouldn't pay a red cent to support them washed up turds

Mossberg Patriot .243 Hornady 95gr. SST. The Remington mod. 11 will also be in my Jeep just in case.

Depends on pressure put on the local deer. If you're the only one hunting the area then you can expect to just sit back and enjoy the rut. Pressured deer will naturally be more wary and will tend to stick to the thick areas

In a new spot. Perfect ambush spot. Just inside corner of green field with a fresh scrape at a deer intersection. Feels good!

Either. I've been seeing multiple bucks on their feet at all hours of daylight. Unfortunately though, these sightings are from the truck between jobsites

Either re-sight with the 125gr. broadheads at all distances or buy some new 100grainers and practice.

Not trying to be harsh, but do you own a target? If you sight in your bow with the equipment you hunt with then there will be no excuses. Never take a random persons word for it when they say it won't effect your shot "much".

Grats to your boy. He should smile because any deer is a trophy

My condolences Stone

Make your move soon because peak rut may take that buck miles away from your hunting area. If he's running does then you need to stay downwind of the does. He will scent check their bedding zones from downwind. That's when you leave an estrous scent drag right past your stand and sit tight. Don't be afraid to hunt from the ground as long as you don't disrupt the does. Good luck

Did he get the squirrel? Hehehe

Bumped one on my way in this morning. Nothing since. Been out all day except for a small snack break. Hoping the temp drops soon. I have about 10 fresh scrapes within 100 yds of me

American Made on main st. Canandaigua has some neat stuff, but do one better and just shoot that deer that's over your left shoulder.

I'm a diehard predator hunter. I hunt them 95% of the time at night. They have a nose that rivals a deer(or even better) so wind direction is the most important factor. Coyotes will try to circle downwind of the call probably 85% of the time so you must scan the whole time on stand.