FOXPROs Jon Collins and Corey Groff discuss bobcat and coyote hunting and using a decoy.
welcome to the fox Pro podcast brought to you by Fox Pro game calls hello everyone this is John Collins welcome back to the fox Pro podcast we have Corey gra joining us today we're going to be discussing using a decoy while calling for kyotes and bobcats Bobcat season is in across the country and Cory has already knocked down I think it's like five bobcats in the state of Missouri in less than a couple weeks I think it is and I just knocked down a 28 plus pound Tom Bobcat right here in the state of Kentucky and this episode is going to be very bobc Bobcat heavy um but we are going to be covering coyote calling as well Corey how you doing today buddy I'm doing pretty good how's John Collins today I'm do doing good didn't you say uh it's pretty pretty windy in the show me state it is yeah we had a had a little front move through with just a little bit of uh snowflakes and now it's cleared off and just a windy windy son of gun out there right now hopefully when that stuff gets that front blows on through hopefully you'll have some good calling there on the back side of it yeah yeah that tends to be tends to be a a spot we like to get in do it you know after them fronts move through it it doesn't seem like they uh tends to get you know stuff on their feet it seemed like when the fronts are moving through you know there's still stuff active and you can still have success but it seems like they really turn on right on the back side of it you beta you bet you well you want to get uh you ready to get started with our topic at hand um using a Decoy for predator hunting yeah yeah it's uh one of my one of my favorite things to use for Bobcat for sure yeah and you pretty much have a decoy on your uh your x24 all the time you're running X decoy right yes sir uh yeah I do U our Cat seasons so long now I just it's kind of a staple on there you know 247 this time of year for sure right right well I think first off we'll have to cover the pros and cons of running a Decoy for coyotes and bobcats uh and we'll um we'll start with we'll start with the pros and probably the number one that comes to my mind is um a decoy keeps the atten off of you and on that Decoy itself what do you think about that oh it absolutely does and that's that's the probably the the key feature that I like on a at you know as a decoy is just putting that attention exactly where you want it and not on you right especially when you're talking about bobcats because they're they're mainly hunting with their eyes and their ears of course you know their ears is what's brought them to the all but once they uh see where the sound is coming from and they lock eyes on a decoy um that's where their eyes will mainly stay you know they'll still look around they'll still Periscope their head and look left and right and that type of stuff but their main attention is going to be right fixated on that Decoy and that can really really be extremely helpful because their eyes are sharp I mean they're looking for movement so that takes all you know that that allows you to be able to move just a little bit uh to get away with a little bit more than you might not be able to if you weren't running a decoy you think that's accurate oh I think that's extremely accurate and uh you know when you put these calls on a little bit of an angle like that you know it gets you out of that line of sight and they get so fixated on that Decoy you know it's almost like they don't see anything else matter of fact uh one of the Bobcats I called in a couple weeks ago I think I sent you the clip of it well actually it's on YouTube now uh I actually didn't load my rifle right I it snapped and that that that Bobcat never took his attention you know off the x24 and I think a decoy played a huge role in that I guar I guarantee it you know we were talking about that story and I I shared with you you know I've actually had that happen once before uh with a bobcat myself and I and at the time if I remember right I wasn't running uh a decoy and I got extremely lucky to get uh get the cat that I did on that that particular hunt but uh I I guarantee you the decoy definitely helped you get away with uh being able to snap uh you know dry fire your rifle and then be able cuz you're working a boat gun so you had to actually lift your boat pull it back and chamber around and then put one in him and still ended up with a with a bobcat on the ground yeah and I really I I knew I got away with the snap of the of the dry fire but I really didn't think I was going to get away with you know ejecting another you know ejecting a new round in there so did did did he even did I watched it but I can't remember did he actually even look over at you when you was trying to chamber around no he didn't even Flinch I mean you can't even tell that the cat ever even hurt it if he did at all right right well let's uh that goes right along with Pro number two way I see it uh number two is uh a decoy can be extremely extremely enticing to a bobcat so evidently it was for this cat that you're talking about he heard a snap you know he heard it uh then he had to be hearing you chambering around but he was so fixated in on that Decoy he didn't care yeah exactly and that's that's the best way to put it they get so mesmerized by it that it's like they can't take their eyes off of it and it and you're right it is it's extremely enticing right and then number three you know we're talking we kind of talked about bobcats for the most part number one and number two uh but number three is you know a pro is with a decoy you can have extreme hard charging Couts you can if you want your blood pump and put a put a x24 and a x decoy up here close to you and pack a shotgun and mow down a coyote at 10 steps you know get coming full board there's no and that goes you can go kind of go right back to to number one again about a decoy uh keeps attention off of you and on the decoy and the call that can go right along with a coyote as well you know a coyote as soon as he catches that movement he's going to be key in on it just like the Bobcat would be absolutely and sometimes it it it'll present a shot for you too maybe even out you know at an extended range uh sometimes you know they just scotch on it but most the time it's going to produce a hard charger that that's right and we might as well roll right into uh to the cons and I I think our number three Pro is actually a number one con uh you can a con for running a decoy is you can have extreme hard charging cods you know what I mean because you know not yeah that's not something that you always always want I get people ask me all the time you know I don't run a decoy a ton usually if you see me with a decoy on my x24 or whatever unit I'm running usually I have a cameraman present uh a lot of times I'm self- filming and I've been in those situations where you have coyotes that charge so so hard that It's just tough for me to be able to handle that coyote uh get him on film make good film with him and plus get a good shot into him you know so I it's not really the best thing in the world for me when I'm trying to sell film but it creates such crazy Dynamic Dynamite action that I like that you know so if I've got a camera person or if I'm filming somebody else I like running a decoy because it can really really really get you into some really hard charging goout like we said before if you're somebody likes shotgun and coyotes you set that call out there the angle play the right sounds and have a little bit of eye peel when they show up you're going to be uh you're gonna be you know letting that seeds over boom a little bit I guarantee it yeah it's it's probably cost me a few coyotes just because of the hard charging but it's fine it's it's a good good good heartbeat going then uh number two for a con um you kind of mentioned there a little bit ago it's possible you said you know a cow could you know kind of scotch up on a little bit uh it is possible that some coyotes will Flare from a decoy um I they don't never see it just turn around take off running but sometimes they'll come running towards the call and as soon as it catches their attention they're a little unsure about it so they'll kind of flare off to left or right or whatever it usually won't cost you nothing it's just it kind of It kind of stops them which a lot of times ends up turn into a pro because you end up getting a good shot on them you know because they're flaring left or right gives you a good broadside shot instead of that frontal chest shot you know we might have had that situation uh last week when you were here in the show me state with that first coyote that we had come in on that triple yes uh something something kind of boogered that coyote and that it was a little windy yes and I'm just wondering if that you know that because I actually didn't have the decoy spinning when that Coy come in but that movement might have just I don't think that KY really actually knew where the call was and he got right up to it and seen some movement that spooked him a little bit yeah it's possible we yeah I was with Cory last week and we had a awesome KY standing actually end up killing a triple and the first KY com to a prey distress hand I can't remember what we were running Mrs motton tail maybe but KY come out and it actually come direct from directly in front of us when it come out it was looking directly at the call and then of course we were right right in line as well so he come in pretty close I mean he got within 15 or 20 steps of the call which wasn't what 30 or 40 steps from us so it was already a close called in Coy and he he either looked over and seen us moving around or we maybe the sun was starting to light us up it was sun or I stand I who knows or he did yeah or the decoy flicker like you said the W that Coy do instead of turning and running back tucking tail and running back in the thicket what he decided to do was go to our left which was a downwind side we had a right to left crosswind up there he got over on that other Hillside and we got him stopped for a good broadside shot what was it 80 steps or something like that we put one right in the P his shoulder and had him knocked down so but but the good thing was we switched up sounds start playing some fights and stuff and we called a second coyote out and it come it come barreling right up through the bottom and I think we shot it what within eight or 10 steps of the call so the so the decoy was working for that Coy you know and uh got it knocked down you busted that c i mean just absolutely had the fur flying off the sucker with that 243 switch to another sound had a third coyote come running out he went over and sniffed the first coyote and then here he come towards the decoy and of course we already had that second coyote piled up right there and uh we was able to knock him down and stack two of those coyotes right up on top of each other just eight or 10 steps from the call awesome awesome stand and we were running a decoy on that one yeah and it and it it's kind of gives you a perspective of you know what those two coyotes you know have they see the decoy one maybe it might have spooked off the decoy and the second one didn't bother him a bit so you never know what you're going to get sometimes from coyote to Coyote and from Bobcat to Bobcat that that's right that's that's exactly right and you know when it comes comes to that type of stuff you know for coyes I like using a small movement with my decoy I put it on a low setting and uh you know I'm reading it body language I keep my finger you can control those decoys with the ox but butt so if if I see that they might not like it I'm I'm going to stop that Decoy and another thing a lot of times I might not even run it at all if you got some wind you know a little bit of wind the wind's going to move that Decoy by itself so you don't have to have it whipping and twitching and all that stuff and just that little subtle movement uh from the fuzzy wuzzy or one of the birds bird Toppers whatever you like to run just that subtle movement can mean a mean a ton just to keep their eyes on it absolutely y That's exactly right um Cory I want to ask you something here I want I think we need to briefly talk about call placement when running running a decoy uh you know we did a really good call placement uh uh podcast back several weeks ago that was very popular and I think a lot of people learned and got a good perspective on you know it really showed them what they needed to be doing with uh with call placement and I just want to ask you uh in your opinion uh does anything change for you personally uh just because you're running a decoy do you set a call up different when you're not running a decoy versus running a decoy um no I it I really don't um and the reason is is because we have that auxiliary button so you know if I'm if I plan to use it you know fine if not that's fine too but I really my stands don't really change from decoy to to non decoy I still want to put my my call placement uh and the best shot opportunity you know that I think that I can give myself from from where I think uh you know a ky or a bobcat is GNA you know pursue the pursue the sound right so it doesn't personally for me it doesn't change much I and maybe it should I just haven't had the you know put me thought process into that you know my thought process is more into you know where I think that the KY or Bobcat's you know may be coming from and then I go from there and then and of course there's a lot of variables with it you know try to be aware of of uh you know I think we talked about it before in the other podcast you know like a bush or a tree some kind of structure that you know might get in your way you know and putting that call placement out you know you're you're trying to steer that that that Predator where you want it so it's just being aware so for me no it doesn't doesn't really that may be a long answer to that but no personally no I don't don't do anything different right and usually I don't either I there is something I'll do a little bit uh you know when it comes to ecall and decoy placement for when I'm like actually targeting Bobcats you know if I go in on a stand or like hey this is a dedicated Bobcat stand and only thing I do my placement where I'm going to place it is is usually the same the only thing that I do different is I'll usually keep um the the ecall unit to x24 or whatever you're running I like to keep it low and almost out of sight whether I'll use a rise in the field like say if I think of Bobcat's coming from the right and that Bobcat has to come uphill I'll place that x24 and set it low where like when the Bobcat comes out the thicket he necessarily cannot see the x24 but he will be able to see the decoy sticking up if that makes sense to you can't actually see the call unit but he can see that that fuzzy wuzzy or the bluebird or Blackbird whatever I'm running he does see the see the decoy and that's the only difference that I do I got you yeah that's a good point uh and like I said I just don't I haven't really put that much thought into it but that's that's a very good point and that's just a personal preference thing too because I don't know if it makes a difference or not you know I've noticed it seems like if you're not running a decoy uh on on a unit and you are calling for Bobcats if you want that Bobcat to come up here and stick his head in it if you're not running a decoy you almost have to hide the call like I'll I'll put it behind a tough of grass or or some kind of small obstacle there or put it down low where they can't see it and have to come look for it now cuz I've seen them if you're not running a decoy and they can see that call but no movement sometimes they you know sometimes they'll come right on up a to it but sometimes they won't but it seems like if you hide it and they got to look for it seem like they'll come right on there to it so that's that's where that stems from so I still kind of hide the call but I want that Decoy to be seen gotcha but but for Couts you know if if I'm just calling for Couts you know I set it up exactly the same whether I was going to be running a decoy or not now one interesting thing I'll ask you is what if you're on for you Cory if you're on a stand where you think you have a good chance at a kyot and a a coyote or a bobcat uh does your call eall placement and decoy placement change at all are you still just going to set it up in accordance with how the wind's blowing and the lay of the land and all that type stuff yeah I'll still set it up the same um unfortunately I've only had that happen to me once I think you've had it happen to you several times but uh I've only had had that happen to me once and I I really I never even knew the Bobcat was there till I was getting enough to go retrieve my coyote but uh no it it's for me I don't I I think of it the same because a lot of the you know they say they they uh share some a lot of the same core area is so and when I'm targeting Bobcats that's usually you know I'm I'm pretty close to a brush line or Thicket right and it kind of stays about the same right right well it usually stays the same for me the only time it's really any different is if I'm running a shotgun you know of course if I'm running a shotgun I'm automatically sitting a call and decoy closer um you know that's a given just because you know you got to get to animals closer and the only thing other thing is I might uh set it up at more of an extreme angle almost like I'm and working that wind those cross winds and putting it at an extreme angle but still keeping it close to me and just trying to get almost kind of get them to cut in between me and the call or right at the call gotcha you're trying to put them right in that angle where where you got a good shot opportunity yeah I mean you know we've talked about this before when it comes comes to uh you can do so much with the eall uh instead of just you know I try to tell people instead of focusing on just calling a coyote out just trying to call a coyote out in the open where you can shoot it won't you try to call that K coyote out and place it where you want to shoot it not just to call it out and shoot it but call it out and actually place that thing there's it's one thing to call a Coy out and shoot it you know that's cool that's I mean that's the name of the game but when it comes right down to it when you can like you know almost like you can turn around look in the mirror and say hey you know what I'm a coyote collar I'm not just a killer I'm a Coy collar is is that being able and actually placing them where you want to place them I think that's so cool you know when you can go into a stand and you're thinking like you know hey I think I've got coyotes over here in this drainage the wind is blowing from left to right at however many miles per hour I should be able to set my call right here and decoy if that's what you're running and have this coyote Circle down right here and I'm going to shoot him right there by that stump at 55 yards and then when that actually happens it actually plays right into your hand how you seen it happen while as you was walking in that's a cool feeling dude I mean you it is you've done something yeah it's like you uh you're at the Pinnacle of it you're like man I'm I'm on top of this I can call and kill any coyote now right well is just one of those things too you know especially if you if you're somebody that's been hunting for many many many years and you've killed just tons and tons and tons of cows just truckload after truckload after truckload you know some of those cows start to blur together you know some of those memories aren't aren't as sharp as they once were you know when is enough Co just to call one out and shoot it you know when you know I don't know that's just that's one of the things I live for is being able to place a coyot exactly where I wanted you know those stands those are the ones and a bobcat as well those are the stands that really really stand out my mind when I'm sitting around petting on a dag on crazy blue healer in the evening and watching TV and zone out start thinking about coyot calling those are the stands I remember and think about but it's also all them in between that led you to that point because you know it's repetition you know how that coyote acts when he comes out how he's going to act towards the call how he's going to act towards the decoy what kind of structure he's going to use to get there so all that's played a role up until that point and it's made you you know it's it's sharpened your skill and made you a better better Kyo Hunter right and that's the thing I think when once you figured out how you can place coyotes and start placing them exactly where you want them you you just you just kind of went up to the next level of of coyote collar of coyote Hunter you it does make you a better coyote Hunter you know all around in my opinion yep well let's uh let's move right along here you know we filmed a few Bobcats coming to the x24 and XD Cory here over the last couple weeks like we talked about how many of you killed now five over the last two weeks in Missouri uh actually just four oh my bad my bad just four my bad all right you know I fil I filmed one here this past week um let's talk about those stands uh you know what and what we did and what happened to make those stands successful if you don't care just tell us about your one of the ones that sticks out in your mind from this past couple weeks uh well I'll start out with probably one of the prettiest Bobcats I ever seen in my life oh yeah that's your son your son got to pull the trigger on he he got to pull the trigger on it and I tell a little story about that I actually was going to call that property the day before and you know my son he's he's married got a kid got his own life and so I know he's busy and it just kind of hit me I'm like hey you know I'm gonna wait to call this I'm gonna give him a holler tonight see if he wants to come over here with me in the morning so we went over there and uh on this stand it's it's just a it's pretty open it's a pretty open property uh it's just been recently dozed off they actually planted a bunch of turnips in there uh for actually for the cattle right now but uh it's got a bunch of Dozer decks in it and it's just perfect just that is what I want to see when when I and I when I'm targeting a bobcat I actually love to hunt Dozer decks right and like I said this place is right now it's just loaded with them it's got a bunch of deep draws in it tell tell everybody what a dozer deck is I'm sure there's somebody sitting there thinking like what in the world you talking about do I have those well if if a landowner if you got a landowner that's cleared off any land with a bulldozzer you're going to have a dozer deck on it and what it is is just a clump of trees mostly uh you know butt logs and and root wads brush yeah a brush pile but you know us us Missouri folks call it Dozer deck he what if they used a tracko still well still a dozer deck maybe maybe I didn't know they used a tracko right all right on with the story on with the story but anyway it it was a it's kind of a short call in uh like I said we was was in a good elevated position had the win just a nice good cross win and like I said just all them Dozer decks out there I just had a feeling you know you know we was we was going to getting some money somewhere on this property it's our second stand of the morning I think I started off with uh mfk Cottontail sauce man that is that's starting to be one of my very good sounds I'm pushing that thing up the list seems like every time I go out but uh anyway it just started calling wasn't just a few minutes and I could see this Bobcat slip right out of one of those Dozer decks come right up on on the top of the Ridge and saw that Decoy and the stock was on I mean it just played out perfect just like you wanted to just just like what we were talking about call placement I had to call pushed more to the to the uh downwind side just so that cat would come up and present a better shot opportunity and I think he was about 40 50 yards perfect broadside shot and rest is history is it was just good call in beautiful Bobcat too you I mean just absolutely had a had a pretty gray like a gray color to it just a gorgeous gray color with dark dark pronounced spots just all over good back spots side spots belly spots had the whole nine yards yeah it had it all I mean the one thing that it probably lacked uh with a cat you know that pretty was size but he was still I'm going to we didn't wame but I've I've seen a lot of cats and I'd say he's right there in that 25 to 27 PB range that is a big that is a big cat you know people talk to me all the time about you know they'll you'll see people how much you think this cat weighs and I just going to tell you most our the average cat that PE most people kill is going to weigh in the mid to Upper teens I mean that's just just how it is and usually if you kill one of the 10 to 20s you kill a pretty good cat and I've always said if you kill a cat that's over 25 lbs you've killed a big one you hear about these 30 some pounders and a mythical 40 Pounders and stuff like that but but a mid upper 20 20s cat that's a that's a lot of feline right there just think about that's a lot of cat a lot of cat yeah it's that's a pretty good Siz cat for sure so one of the biggest things just to kind of recap that that probably made that stand so successful was the habitat you know you think about the brush piles the Dozer decks you know whatever you want to talk about what that does that actually that creates that's habitat for you know rabbits and chipmunks and birds are getting in and out of that stuff so that's what they're that's reason those cats are there and plus it creates bedding for the cats as well absolutely absolutely that's good St it wasn't gorgeous tell us tell us another Bobcat story you got four of them so let's here one more well uh probably the best Callin I've had this year on a Bobcat was this last one that I that I called in and it was another short call you know I wasn't on stand uh when this cat come in but about probably a minute and a half two minutes so I I was sitting right on top of this cat and the terrain I actually called this cat out in in the middle of a of an open field that they that they had cut fall hay on so the grass wasn't probably three four inches tall and but on the perimeter of it I had a good stand of Timber uh it would have been right straight to the to the northeast of me and then right straight north of me I had another good stand of Timber so there's like two fingers of Timber that run uh down into this deep finger holler and grass is real growed up around it good stand of Cedar in in inside of of one of them hardwood timber spots and I really wasn't expecting a cat to to come out so quick I was actually expecting more of a kot right there than I was a cat okay and so once again started off with the it's been it's been pretty hot for me so I started off with the Cotton Tail sauce from mfk and like I said actually it looked over at the camera once I got started calling and I had 18 minutes on the battery you know when it's when it's cold out and you got 18 minutes on the battery you might as well just swap it out that's six minutes three minutes yeah yeah so I immediately grabbed the battery out of my pocket swapped the swapped the battery as soon as the camera come back on and I push record I was doing my pan and as as I'm panning around I see the this Bobcat's head about oh it's probably about 70 yards from me just over a ride Y and I was like bobcat bobcat bobcat and I actually thought this Bobcat was going to run over the call because soon as he locked eyes on that Decoy he started sprinting towards the call yep and I'm fumbling around reaching down trying to get get the sound turned off because I want him to stop you know I don't want him to bump the call and then take off running and I had a real poor shot opportunity at him so actually get the call shut off when he's probably about eight or 10 yards maybe from the call and he just he don't stop he just comes right on in he gets right to the x24 I'm talking like three or four feet and just stops then comes creeping in and the only thing that's running right now is the decoy it's the only thing that's going it's out there spinning and he gets all the way up to it and and it it was right about that time where that Decoy stopped spinning and then started spinning again smack him in the face it didn't smack him in the face but it spooked him a little bit and he kind of he kind of you know moves to his right a little bit he just looking at it like what in the world is this and then I I went ahead and expired him after that but very good call in uh it you know perfect podcast to talk about you know how decoys work you know I I pulled this cat all the way into a you know cut Hayfield that you know like I said was about 3 or four inches tall where a bob have no business being you know right they like to they like they don't like exposing themselves they don't and right out in the middle of that open field that's a that's just a testament to you know how these decoys work you know yeah I I think a good tip well I think it's a good tip because it's something I do just cuz I do don't mean it's actually a good tip but I'm going to share you with you guys what I do and I kind of mentioned it earlier you just it just made me think about it when you said you know when that that Decoy stopped cat got up there then started up again and it kind of startled him a little bit usually if they get them locked in and they coming up there like that I'll kind of usually stop it you like I said you can kind of re read their body language and another thing I kind of mentioned it earlier you know if you've got some wind that wind will subtly move that Decoy around and usually that's all it takes you know just because you're got your decoy there on that wire those wires are are got the perfect you know the I don't know what the I you know what the vocabulary word is is pliability a word I don't know but it's got you know they're those wires are pliable and they they'll have a little Arch into them a little Bend in them from the weight of the topper in The Wire itself so when you place it there it's just sitting there kind of bobbing and if you got a little bit of wind it's going to have some fluttery movement and it's just subtle and that's a lot of times that's all you actually need when I'm really running it making it runs when on those more calm days you know what I mean you know to get to move oh yeah well it's funny you mentioned how you do that uh because I always I like to lean my uh decoy forward yes over over the speaker of the of the x24 it actually gives it a little bit different move Movement Like if you just stand your your decoy uh what do we call that thing that the the actual thing that holds the the de the the fuzzy wuzzy the the wire The Wire yeah The Wire yeah I don't I didn't know what we actually called it but anyway I call a wi I think it's called a [Music] wire anyhow we know what it is now decoy Wire yeah there there you go but uh you can actually get them things standing up almost a little too straight and your your topper will just sit there and spin like in a you know like the same direction a small yeah a small little circle instead of an oval right so I always like to lean it over and actually flops around and flips around a little bit more that way that's just kind of how I do it right and you you showed me that a couple years ago and that's because I used to just would have it straight up I was you know the guy that run it straight up not that I think there's that it's wrong you can do that you can do it whatever angle you want to but I since you showed me that and we talked about I've started doing the same thing so what what he's talking about is yeah yeah I learned something so what Cory is talking about when you set your x24 up there and then you flip up your X decoy instead of sticking it straight up or it's pointing straight up and down we angle it a little bit forward where your decoy topper is actually hanging over the top end of your of the Horn of the 24 so like when it's setting there it's kind of covering up a little bit of the the opening of your speaker and when you have and that what happens is is it keeps it that way when it's just resting and when when it has kicks in and has its motion its Rhythm that it has it seems like it has a lot more life to it and you know I just never thought about playing with different angles I just always stuck it straight up and down but I I can't really tell if the animals like it better but John likes it better I like I like the way it's done and I feel better about it so I think that's a great tip and I think you guys is listening if you want to try a decoy think about using that angle instead of going straight up and down kind of kind of tip it Forward just a I'm not talking about straight forward it's it's what 45 degree angle or something what the body of that Decoy is would you think that makes it angle over yeah that's something right in there you don't want to get too much angle on it because it'll just flop around and hit your speaker right right right well um the the cat that I caught I've only had a chance of one Bobcat so far this season um actually didn't even really start calling for cats till we went out there and hunted with uh with Cory but actually got it actually the day after I got back from Cory we had some pretty decent weather and I had a really good friend of mine Jordan hollered at me and said he had the morning off and said hey man let's go call let's go kill something he said I can run the camera for you and uh had a had a stand right down down the road from him that was really close it's always good for Bobcats I definitely wanted to try that it's like a 300 some acre property I usually grd it out uh to make anywhere from two to four stands and out of these two to four stands on three of those that I make I have actually called cats and killed before several different times in the past so this is just a bobcat property it's one of those I can count on and usually go drag at least one Bobcat off that property every single year and sure enough the the land owner this is just a recreational property he he's he's bought his place just for deer hunting manages it really well for deer hunting gracious enough to let me Predator call it and course while he was deer hunting scouting he was getting pictures of pretty nice cat I said man that's a that's a pretty big cat I think he'll go 25 to 30 pounds and he did this is a cat I got on and sure enough we got in there we blanked the firstand uh calling one block a Thicket we actually mov just like I think all it is is about 400 yard 350 to 400 yards to get on the other side of that Thicket and actually call over into another Thicket over into the next drainage and just that one movement like that we was able to get on that cat we set up in a stand location I've I've killed handful of cats out of before got set up set that call just like 20 steps away at an angle to the left and did the same thing like I talking was kind of on a little bit of a hill side I set that call on the top of that hill where if a cat come out of the thicket he couldn't see the call but he could see the decoy right just like what we was talking about earlier and I think I had actually played through three sounds I actually started off with mfk Cottontail sauce run it for just you like four minutes short pause went right into Ki Cottontail which is one of my alltime favorite sounds run it for about three and a half 4 minutes nothing and then decided to go to an old but a goody uh sound that I've played a little bit more here as of late uh that I used to run all the time back years ago and that is Fox proos adult Cotton Tail it's got a great Rhythm it's got highs and lows it's got a lot of movement to that sound I really like it and I don't know why over the last few years I hav't played it as much um you know there's a there was a span when you know like when Mrs motton tail came out and all that stuff it just kind of got thrown to the back burner but anyway I decided to hit that one it wasn't a minute and a half into that this 28lb cat comes right up out of the thicket he ain't 35 yards from us or something like that looking straight up there at that Decoy and uh you mentioned something about call placement earlier having a cat that circled down wind well this cat instead of going straight up to the call we had the wind blowing from the call right to us the cat comes out from the right so the cat that of going straight up to the call starts to come right down the dag on Thicket line right down towards us of course he locks eyes with me and uh that's what the cat was doing he was actually going to try to Circle down wind a lot of people don't think about that with Bobcats but they absolutely will use their nose and that's usually when I use it is in that last 50 yards or last 25 yards but anyway I was packing the shotgun had a big load of TSS number fours and my goodness he caught the entire load right in his chest face man it was an awesome stand I mean just flat out rolled him up we just posted a video on Facebook Instagram um and we put it on YouTube shorts as well it's a freaking awesome that Instagram and and Facebook's liable to delete it so go check it out it is a very awesome calling it's a filthy kill shot too I mean he catches the entire load so go check it awesome stand and it's just one of those Bobcat stands you know I remember every single Bobcat I've ever CAU up and it's been a bunch of them over the years it's just one of those things we've talked about it before you know I'll have a a coyot stand or three that'll get a little fuzzy in my memory bank but the Bobcat hands do not they just all stick out and especially when you have one like that and a big old cat and you shoot it with a shotgun at 30 steps or less he just don't get no better than that absolutely not I tell I tell you what really sticks out in my mind about the story that you just told is how you pursued this place and how you how you work this brush to your advantage and you only move 300 yards yeah yeah that's that's something I think that a lot of guys need to really key in on when you know you tell stories like that and it's just like uh the Bobcat I killed a couple days ago uh work these brush edges I mean there's there's more to to these places than just one call location you can go all the way around the perimeter and still have the wind in your favor you know on 90% of it but go ahead and if you're there go ahead and call it out you know I I called that Bobcat in the other day uh and then took my pictures did my stuff grabbed my my equipment went down the hill about another three 400 yards and I called and killed in called in killed the coyo yeah yeah that's right yeah and you can definitely do it with coyotes but especially the Bobcats you know Bobcats are not going to come as far as a Coy in most cases and there's been many of times I've made a stand and then move just a short distance and make another stand and call a cat up in under 10 minutes and you know sometimes it's all it takes and you know like when I go hunt properties like this like this 300 acre track I know there's a cat there he's been sending me pictures forever I know there's a cat there and it's historically been good for cats so I'm not running in there just to make one stand and then leaving you know I'm gring it out I'm there to kill a bobcat I'm not taking that day to see how many coyotes I can pile up in the truck or or anything like that or how many stands I can cram in I'm I'm there to kill that cat you know I'm spending a morning for that cat if I kill him on the first hand of course I'm going to jump up and go to another property or maybe go call the other end like you just did and kill a coyot too now luckily we killed that cat on the second stand the second stand worked out but I had two more stands plotted out that I would have made if that second stand was dry but we did kill him on the second stand we woohoo we high-fived we took pictures we celebrated you know we was feeling good and then we went on to just another property right on down the road and shotgun a coyot right after that so I got two got shoot a shotgun twice that day there you go hey you was talking about you know the tips there and stuff um there's a there's a few other little things I'd like to cover before we jump off here we've been on here going on you know over 40 minutes here but there's a few things that I think are sometimes well not just sometimes often overlooked when it comes to calling Bobcats and and I'd like for you to kind of touch on them there just a little bit Corey um you know CU you know guys listen Corey's one of the best Bobcat callers in the country so when he tells you about some of this stuff take it to heart because he knows exactly what he's talking about and some of those things that I think are often overlooked you know everybody's thinking about sounds they just want to know what sound it is to call in it cat but there's a lot to go go into it leading up to what sound you play like stand selection your stand setup both of those can be so crucial to you know consistently calling up bobcats like I said everybody wants to know about that sound in sequence but they're not thinking about stand selection stand set up and another big one is wind direction so if you don't care Corey tell us tell us about that stuff leading up to making a bobcat stand like what goes into your stand selection the actual setup of the stand once you get there and how you're taking wind into consideration okay um well of course onx you know is the tool I use I'm all the time looking at these locations you know that you've hunted you know a hundred times but there's always these little plots that I'm looking at just a little finger a brush that's when I'm targeting Bobcats or thinking about just calling and calling in and killing a Bobcat I'm looking at these little bitty plots Little Fingers of brush these things they hold Bobcats you know uh and it doesn't take much it's just you know maybe a little Cedar Thicket or a Brier patch out even out in an open field I've called I've called Bobcats out of a you know just a grown up open field that just had some scattered uh Brier thickets in it you know just but what else is in there birds are in there rabbits are in there mice rats all their food all their Foods there all their Foods there so I really key in on those little bitty plots you know don't don't look at it as wow this is a big brush sck we're going to go call it the problem with those big brush thets sometimes is you might be on the wrong end of them and if you don't have the wind right you know you don't want to go in there and sit and call on that you know and if it's if it's too big you're only going to be able ble to get your sound into into you know just a little piece of it by all means call it if that's the only thing you got but don't overlook these little little slivers of little pockets of thickets uh Cedar you know Cedar stands you know just I always look for those kind of things right uh terrain wise uh man I I just I gravitate to it and I've called like this last bobc he wasn't in one of these spots but he was adjacent to one of those spots because like when I when I told that story I said you know I was really expecting maybe if I was going to call something in there it' be a coyote it really wasn't expecting a bobcat now once I got down in there where I killed the coyot at is where I was expecting to maybe make a bobcat stand and right it producing a bobcat stand I like to get uh close to those thickets but I want to be I want to be down in it you know it just seems like that's a cat wants to be he wants to work edges of stuff you know like to Ambush his prey uh so if it's got structure to it that's where I want to be I want to get down like in a creek bottom yep or a bowl of some kind you know it's quiet down in there when the wind's blowing cats seem to just really gravitate to that yes so that's what I'm looking for uh and then when you get on the Wind aspect of it you know we've talked about this for several years you and I and I used to not really I used to not really give much caution to a cat I'd give him a little bit of win you know and uh over the the last few years you and I talking about it you've documented it I've documented it and it's a it's a real thing you know you really gotta pay attention because you may you may call in 10 cats and have two of them that want to work the win when they get into that range of that Paul you was talking about you know that 25 yard range and a lot of people don't give the cat that opportunity they'll shoot it before end right right you know but you know we we really like our cats on top of the call we you know like enjoying the show when you get them out there he can't going nowhere oh no they're not and guys you might as well enjoy the show if you got a bobcat coming and he's liking what you're playing man get him up there close yeah uh it you know your heart's going to jump out of your chest yeah yeah but that's what I'm looking for and always watch that wi you know it's a it is a thing it is it is a real thing that is the thing with the win and a couple things to point out about it is I there there are some Bobcats that'll smell you and they don't care they'll just keep on it don't matter to them but the problem Lies when the Bobcat does care and I've seen them care I've seen Bobcats win the call and booger and try to take off I've also had the wind switch while Bobcat's out there stalking the call and my wind goes directly to it and they get a big snort big nose full of John Collins and they don't like it they TR to run off and you don't kill the cat I've seen it happen I've seen it happen so those times that you think you've got a bobcat down in a Thicket and your wind's blowing from you right down in that Thicket and a cat never shows up it is very very very very possible that he didn't come out because he'd smelt you it really is they will use their nose they can smell you and and if they do smell you a lot of them won't come the other thing that comes down to it if you think you've got a bobcat down in that Thicket and your wind's blowing from you down there into that Thicket what happens if a c's down there you know he's not coming if he smells you and guess what John Collins is going to do and I know Cory grath's going to do too if you're on a Bobcat standing a ky rolls out there GNA bust his high in at you you put a bullet in him well the thing is if you're not hunting the wind and the wind's blowing from you down into the thicket that should be holding your Critters that you're calling for your Hunt's over before it ever started you're not going to call up that Coy we all know that and it's a dang good chance you're not going to call up the Bobcat either so always no matter what hunt to win I mean it's going to pay off in the long run trust me like I said it's always possible that Bobcat's going to smell you and he won't care and he'll come anyway but why take the chance cuz I have seen it Corey has seen it I videoed it Cory has video it they will use their nose and they will booger if they catch human scent and we all know what happens when a Coy smash you so hunt the win no matter what absolutely so I know most people when get talking about Bobcat we before we jump off here let's leave them with some sounds and sound sequences tell us what your favorite sounds and put them in a sequence and tell everybody uh watch those sounds your breakes uh how long you're running the sound and what sequence you like to run them in and how long of a stand are you making well I'll start off with how long of a stand I'm going to make I usually try to make you know about a 20 minute stand sometimes I'll I'll go over that uh but that's about where I'm wanting to be you know if I'm not seeing what I want to see in 20 minutes I'm I'm gonna pack up and move out of there find another spot but uh as far as sequence goes uh everybody knows me I'm a I'm a Mrs MC Cottontail fan and 90% of the time that's where I start at and I'll start Mrs motonil off at about 50% volume on the x24 so it' be the you know tx1000 um run that sound about probably five or six minutes and I'm a big time volume guy I love ramping the volume up and cranking it down uh it seems like I get a lot of triggers sometimes when I get that sound way down there um so I do a lot of volume movement up and down all throughout the whole stand with every sound that I'll use in my sequence so once I finish with that sound I'll usually move to kg Cotton Tail they're pretty similar as far as pitch goes uh they're very different you know as far as Rhythm and uh different you know deeper tones with the Mrs MC Cottontail a little bit more broke up but they still have that same kind of high pitch yeah so that's kind of why I use those back to back and I'll run them about the same about four or five minutes and what I've done the last few years John it's an oldie uh that I've implemented into my sequence and it's mad rabbit it's one of my favorite ones I've had a lot of good Callins on mad rabbit uh and I don't usually play it a whole lot um if I move to Mad rabbit it's usually just for a minute or two and then I start I know this may sound backwards to a lot of people but I start getting softer with my sound I'll start looking for sounds like uh baby baby Cotton Tail uh I'll move to little bit softer sound like that cow's Cotton Tail is another one I really like it's a really busy sound yep U the all these sounds they may not have a certain place in that sequence every time but that's usually those sounds will be in my my pretty much my Pro sequence that's the one I'm G to go with yeah but most most of the time it's starting off with Mrs MC Cotton Tail now as far as uh pauses uh when I get later in my stand I'll pause a little bit more but I really like once I ramp that sound down if I'm at the tail end of using Mrs M Cotton Tail I'll get that sound down pretty low get it down in the lower teens on the volume and then I just flipped like like right to another sound like kg Cotton Tail Y and I'll try to keep that same volume level and then start ramping it up and coming back down uh just not a big pause guy it seems like I get more Triggers on the lower volume yeah hey every everybody's got their own way and I'm not saying one way is right and the other way is wrong it's just difference in in how I call versus somebody else that's just kind of what I like well we've talked about it many times before there's there's many many many right ways to call in a bobcat and call in a cow and you're just talking about one of the right ways to do it and it's been extremely successful for corra and I think anybody can take that advice and they'll be calm Bobcats up with your the way you you go about doing it well I appreciate that and it seems to it seems to work you know in my success with Bobcat so I'm just going to keep at it and and I will throw some some different sounds in there sometimes you know uh sounds that like if I've if I've called and killed a bobcat in that area before I might start off you know with kg cotton till rather than Mrs MC cotton till may not even go to it at all just kind of I tell guys this whole time you know it's just kind of how I feel when I sit down but these are the base you know it's the Baseline you know of what I'm trying to do in my sequence yeah yeah well you know and I think when it comes to it I don't think there's you know we're very similar with our calling Styles when it comes for cats and generally for coats as well but for the cats you know I'm doing the same thing usually making around a 20 minute stand sometimes it's just 15 minutes it depends on what I'm calling if I'm calling a small Thicket where the Bobcat should be there and he should be there pretty soon a lot of times it's just 15 minutes cuz a lot of times most of the Bobcats I'm killing are coming in under 8 minutes A lot of times under five minutes so uh but yeah usually a 20 minute stand and playing anywhere to from four to five different sounds I'm a cotton tailer stress type guy I love my cotton tailer stresses I'm going to play like I said four to five different sounds I'm going to play them all from 3 and 1/2 to 5 minutes somewhere in there you know just depends on how long I'm actually want to sit there cuz sometimes I will s a bit longer than 20 minutes um the the sounds that I choose to use uh out of those Cotton Tail sounds sometimes I have opinion on which ones are stronger I guess it's just whichever ones I call the most Bobcats out to that particular year but I'll always have kg Cotton Tail and Mrs MC Cotton Tail will always be in my sequences somewhere those two sounds are just so Stout for Bobcats I personally think they're the two best rabbit sounds ever recorded call in a Bobcat it just really is um I do like baby Cotton Tail use baby Cotton Tail a lot and you were talking about cocktail sauce from mfk uh in one way they're very similar because they've got a lot of natural pauses in that sound file they'll they'll eat eat eat then they pause then they start right back up and I do like the little short pauses I think those little short pauses of cocktail sauce and baby Cottontail help drag those cats in cuz it's like it's constant sound and all and it just falls off and they kind of get frantic you know this is just my mind thinking it's almost like they get frantic and think man did I just lose that sound what happened and all a sudden it starts right back up again and it kind of helps them Rush on in there I feel like uh so I do use a very short pause when I'm changing sounds like say if I play kg cottonil my very first sound play and I play it for four or five minutes when I switch sounds I actually do pause but it's a short pause like 10 20 seconds something like that and I go right into the next sound now sometimes I do not pause I just roll right into the next hand whether it actually makes a difference or not man I don't know I couldn't tell you but I do know that I've called Bobcats up a ton of times right after a sound change I don't know if it's just something that different speed of sound different frequency different you know whatever it is rhythm whatever it is sometimes that sound change is what it takes to trigger that cat to come on in so I do like changing several different sounds like I said Mrs MC Cottontail kg Cottontail is always going to be in there but I've called so many bobcast to other sounds like Eastern Cotton Tail adult Cotton Tail baby Cotton Tail Lightning Jack jack rabbit distress all the Snowshoe hair sounds I've called a ton of cats of Snowshoe hair HP you know and the list goes on and on DSG Cotton Tail I mean I've called so many cats in on all that stuff Mr MC Cotton Tail is another good one we don't talk about a whole lot that's another good rabbit sound I think you can take any four or five rabbit sounds from Fox Pro and mfk and I think you're going to be calling Bobcats with them they're not tremendously it's not a hard animal to call in you know if you're on them and you play the sounds and set ight you're probably going to call them up and another thing is too I've called them in on many bird sounds as well you don't have to be a a rabbit guy when it comes to Bobcat calling you can you can grab your for five bird distress sounds and going in there run just like we're talking about calling them up I've never really done this but I'm sure you can play a rabbit sound then play a bird sound play a rabbit sound then play a bird sound and you'll call Bobcats up you know you can interchange them they're not that smart of an animal or they're like why was that Rabbit crying and now is that bird crying well now there's a rabbit crying they're not thinking like that they're just here they're just hearing those triggers in their mind and their belly growling thinking that her something out there crying and Dy and they they want to be the one to eat it that's right yep now let me ask you this right before we jump off here when you call when you go out and call again this weekend and you call up at 34 PB Bobcat uh Garfield looking Bobcat uh where you shooting him at where's your shot placement right through the shoulders if he's broadside or gives me any kind of broadside shot whether it's quartering to me or quartering away right through the shoulders yep straight on right in the chest yep yep straight on right in the chest he cing to you right in the point of a shoulder if he's broadside right through both shoulders it's a world's worst feeling to see a bobcat run off ain't it it is yeah they sure got a lot of life to them when you I mean there's a lot of guys that'll tell you that you know man I hit that Bobcat square and that sucker run off well you got to Anchor them if you shoot him through through the shoulders it don't matter what you're shooting you shoot them through the shoulders you're going to Anchor them down and you'll be surprised you're not going to tear that Bobcat hi up no yeah it uh uh Bobcats can be extremely tough if you're not hitting them in the chest or the shoulder they'll run and when they run they're hard to find if you think they're hard to find when they're just standing out there you'll see them when they're try to pile it up in a brush pile or in a big pile of leaves uh they're hard to find U like you just said too if you hit them in the chest or in the shoulders you rarely will tear up the Pelt now if you hit them back here in a rib cage it'll look like you threw a football through them with a seven you know you shoot them with a little bitty caliber and it'll tear them all to pieces so yeah keep it in the shoulders keep it in the chest that's the spots to Anchor them they won't run and it won't tear them up that's right Cory I appreciate you coming on here buddy you got anything you want to leave us with man I appreciate you having me on here and I hope everybody has a you know a great safe uh hunting season like like I said Shoot Straight shoot shoot straight through them shoulders and calling them Bobcats that's right that's what we was talking about Bobcat seasons are in all across the country hopefully you can take some of this advice guys and go out there and uh hopefully it'll help you uh down an extra Bobcat or two this season so good luck to everybody out there and we hope everyone enjoyed this episode and we hope you join us again right here on the fox Pro podcast