How to Take Coyotes and Other Predators
The Expert’s Squeak with David Hale
 Editor’s
Note: David Hale, one of the co-founders of Knight &
Hale Game Call Company in Cadiz, Kentucky tells us about
predator hunting and his company’s predator calls.
Our electronic caller features a smaller speaker, so
it won’t be awkward to carry. Yet, it will produce
the same volume and range of sounds that a big speaker
does. The trend is that electronic callers are shrinking
in size and weight, and the popularity of electronic
callers seems to be growing. A few years ago we introduced
the Predator I, a unique call that doesn’t sound
like any other critter-distress call that you’ve
ever heard. Because foxes, coyotes and bobcats are getting
smarter and have heard just about every distress call
on the market today, we’ve introduced the Predator
I to offer a new distress call that predators haven’t
grown accustomed to or wised-up to. Our little Mouse
Squeaker also has proven to be a very-deadly call, especially
for close-in work. We recognize that there are basically
two types of predator calling: calling to the wide-open
spaces around
the big grain fields of the Midwest, the Northwest and
the big cattle ranches west of the Mississippi River;
and then there’s eastern calling. Hunters east
of the Mississippi River usually have to call smaller
areas where they can see less and have to make more
setups in one day than western hunters do. Due to the
diversity of calling situations, our company has tried
to provide calls for long-distance calling and for close
work.
I’ve also learned a new calling technique that
is especially effective and adds more realism to my
calling and will to yours. For instance, if I’m
working in close and using my Mouse Squeaker or the
Predator I, I’ll change over and start using a
Coyote Pup Fight right behind it on our new electronic
caller. I want to send the message out that a coyote
pup has caught and killed a mouse, and there are two
pups fighting over the mouse. If there’s an adult
coyote that hears this two-call scenario,
the adult is much more likely to come in to the sounds.
This realistic calling strategy also works extremely
well when you’re using long-distance calls, especially
if you can see how the coyote reacts to the call. If
you’ve given any of the animal-in-distress calls,
and a coyote starts coming in and hangs up or starts
to walk off and doesn’t want to come on in to
within shooting range, try the Coyote Pup Fight call.
Many times you can pull a coyote, a bobcat or a fox
those extra few yards you need to get the shot if you’ll
combine sounds. If I’m really honest, I have to
say that I like calling where I can see 300 or 400 yards
or more better than I do close calling, for two reasons:
* the viewers of our TV shows and videos enjoy the anticipation
of seeing the animal before a predator takes the animal,
rather than if the critter just pops out of thick cover,
and we take the predator.
* you can see and learn so much about how the call affects
the animal. For instance, I can tell you that when you
use a  Coyote
Pup Fight call behind a distress call, critters will
come in much quicker.
When our viewers see the success of this predator-calling
technique, and I can prove that this method is a better
one of calling in predators on our videos and our TV
show, then more hunters will adopt this new method and
use it to take more predators. That’s one of the
advantages of owning the Knight & Hale video series.
We can show you the calls in action and teach you how
to use them just as if you’re on a hunt with us.
I believe that one of the reasons predator hunting has
grown so much and will continue to grow is because hunters
can see and learn to call predators much easier and
quicker now than they once could. Another tactic I like
to use is to switch calls so I sound like a pack of
coyotes feeding. For instance, if I start with a rabbit-in-distress
or a bird-in-distress call, and I spot a coyote or think
one may be close by, then I’ll change calls. Maybe
I’ll use a Mouse Squeaker so that the coyote coming
in thinks that after something has caught and killed
a rabbit or a bird, he’s found a mouse to eat.
I think this tactics sends a message to the predator
that this area is good for feeding, and plenty of game
lives there. As more and more people get into predator
hunting, we, as call makers are going to have to develop
new calls, better calls and calls that have more realism
in them. That’s what I see as the future of predator
hunting, and that’s why our company, Knight &
Hale, strives hard to keep up with the demand for better
calls from today’s predator hunters
For more information about Knight & Hale Game Calls,
visit http://www.knightandhale.com/
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