Al Morris and Garvin Young Win the 2008 World Coyote Calling Contest – Their Third World Win
Bet on the Grown Cottontail Call for Coyotes
 Editor’s Note: Al Morris of Springfield, Utah, a Hunter’s Specialties’ pro staffer, and his hunting partner, Garvin Young, won their third World Coyote Calling Contest in late 2008 held in Cortez, Colorado. No team ever had won three World Coyote Calling Contests before, and it was also the first back-to-back win.
Question: Al, why did you and Garvin choose to use the Grown Cottontail distress sound on the Hunter’s Specialties’ Johnny Stewart PM-4 Wireless Preymaster Caller in the 2008 World Coyote Calling Contest?
Morris: Seventy percent of a coyote’s diet is mice, moles and grasshoppers. But the next most-popular food is rabbits. By our using the Grown Cottontail distress sound, the coyote not only thinks it’s the sound of an adult cottontail, he may also believe it’s the sound of a young jackrabbit in distress. The coyote can’t distinguish the difference between a grown cottontail and a young jackrabbit by the sounds he hears, but when the coyote hears that sound, it knows an animal in distress will be good to eat. So, coyotes will come to that sound.
Question: What does winning the World Coyote Calling Contest for the third time mean to you and Garvin?
Morris: The honor and the tradition associated with this contest have been known for many years in the predator-calling world, so winning the world three times is an almost-unbelievable feat for us. To know this contest has never been won three times by any team and has never been won back-to-back really makes this win special. Garvin and I were both stunned and excited, because we’d only dreamed about being able to accomplish this achievement. We never really knew if winning consecutively or three times was possible. To be able to achieve this unbelievable goal meant far more to us than the belt buckles, the prize money and the rifles we won. We’d competed against some of the best coyote hunters in the nation and won, but even though that win was a great honor, winning the World Championship three times also was a humbling experience.
Question: Al, how can people learn how you and Garvin successfully set-up and call-in coyotes?
Morris: The “Operation Predator 5” DVD shows many of our hunts and the techniques and the calls we use to bring in the song dogs. The new 2009 video “Operation Predator 6” should be on dealers’ shelves in September, 2009. If anyone wants to see how Garvin and I hunt coyotes, any of the Hunter’s Specialties “Operation Predator” videos will teach them how, where and when to set-up successfully to call-in coyotes.
Question: What do you and Garvin do that many other predator hunters don’t?
Morris: Garvin and I log thousands of miles scouting and looking for places to hunt coyotes. The second part of our scouting is spent trying to find a place where we can call-in coyotes that hasn’t been hunted by other predator hunters. There are more people hunting coyotes now than ever before, so identifying a place to call coyotes where they’ve heard very-little predator calling before is becoming more difficult.
Question: How many teams of hunters were in the 2008 World Coyote Calling Contest?
Morris: There were 128 teams.
Question: What were the prizes this year?
Morris: The total prize package for first place was valued at more than $10,000. We also won two Savage .222 rifles, which we donated to the Utah Youth Hunt sponsored by the Utah Trappers Association. Last year, more than 200 youngsters hunted coyotes on a Saturday in November. There generally are 40 or 50 rifles given away to the youth hunters who perform well in this contest. So, the youngsters have a one-in-four chance of winning a rifle if they participate. The hunt was started by Chopper Miller, Garvin’s cousin. Garvin and I, as well as Hunter’s Specialties, believe in helping young people and encouraging them to get into the sport of predator hunting and coyote calling. One of the best ways we could support and encourage these young people this year was to make the two Savage .222 rifles we won available for these young hunters to have a chance to win.
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