A handful of predator hunting tips

Posted on: December 13, 2017 | Bob Frye | Comments

It's a good time of year right now for predator hunting.

Predator hunting is about to kick into high gear. Photo: Pixabay

The close of deer season means one thing to some hunters: it’s time to pick up predator hunting.

Pelts are prime. There are fewer people in the woods. And opportunities are plentiful.

Coyotes are fair game all year round, of course. But foxes are legal through Feb. 17, as are raccoons. Bobcats – in the wildlife management units where they can be hunted – are in season Jan. 13 to Feb. 7.

If you’re headed out, here are some tips to keep in mind.

Gray foxes

Gray foxes tend to be more curious than some other predators and that often leads to their downfall.

Call in a coyote and then spook it somehow and it’s all but assuredly gone, at least for that night. That’s not the case with grays.

If you call one in and it gets scared off for some reason, stop calling for a moment. Keep your light on, though, and keep scanning.

Then, start calling again, this time with more volume and intensity. Sometimes, those grays seemingly forget what scared them off and come right back.

Rifle choices

When choosing a predator rifle, think first about what you’ll be hunting.

Abner Druckenmiller of Mifflin County, a pro staffer with FoxPro and host of the television show Fur Takers, often hunts with a .204. That’s especially true if there’s a chance he might take anything from raccoons and foxes to bobcats and coyotes, all at once.

Loaded with 45-grain soft points, he said the rifle will do minimal damage to a fox, yet anchor a coyote out to 300 yards.

“It may not kill him dead right away, but he isn’t going anywhere,” Druckenmiller said. “I can get on him and finish him off.”

If he’s hunting coyotes specifically, he’ll switch to a a .22-250 or a .243 with 58-grain Hornady V-Max bullets because he wants something “that’s got some knockdown power.”

Sighting

Mike Huff of Lehigh County, a predator guide and author of “Understanding Coyotes,” hunts with a .243 with the same Hornady ammunition as Druckenmiller.

To make that combination — or any other — most effective, though, he sights his rifle in at 200 yards. That allows him to be off a bit in estimating the distance to his target and still score hits.

That’s critical after dark, when he does most of his hunting.

“You can’t tell at night how far something is,” Huff said. “At night, all you can see is eyes. You see something at night, you’re going to think it’s closer than it really is because you have no perspective.”

Location

Predator hunting is like real estate. It’s all about location, location, location.

To be effective, predator hunters have to hit multiple spots in an evening. That requires access to lots of land.

Knock on doors and talk to farmers and others about using their lands. Perhaps offer to shoot a few groundhogs later in the year. You’ll do the landowner a favor and, if you act responsibly and prove yourself, often get invited back for the species you’re really after.

At the same time, be sure to check out public lands, too. The living there may not always be as easy for predators, but it will hold coyotes, foxes and the like, too. Gray foxes in particular are attracted to more wooded habitat, so public land is often better for finding them.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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