In this episode, Jon Collins and Torry Cook are back answering your frequently asked questions
Welcome to the FoxPro podcast brought to you by FoxPro Game Calls. Welcome back to the FoxPro podcast. We've had a few guys waiting on this episode to drop. We finally got to it. This is part three of our question and answer series. On this installment, we'll cover some random hunting questions and some hunting industry and filming questions. Of course, Tori Cook of MFK is joining us. How's it going, Tori? Pretty good. Sitting here in the rain, but this time I'm not in my truck, so maybe it's not quite as loud. Yeah, there a couple episodes again ago, you uh you about got flooded out on us. I think you was it started pting you in the back and you had to dive in a truck, didn't you? I had rain, you had dogs barking, but we made it through it. Yeah. Yeah. It's always an adventure with us. That's for sure. Yeah. Well, this is uh uh part three, like I said, of our question and answer series and and this kind of is cleaning up a bunch of random stuff. We had some questions about uh some hunting industry uh type stuff and some filming, self- filming. So, this this will still be a really good one. There's still going to be plenty of coyote talk in this one. I got some a couple funny questions. U it should be should be pretty enjoyable. Now, there are a few questions that were sent in that we're not covering uh just because some of them were kind of repeat or were very similar to questions that were asked before and just some of the stuff we just can't get to all of it. But, uh I think we've uh had a pretty good little series going into going into part three here. And without further ado, we'll go ahead and get into it. And the first one I want to ask you, this comes from Dayton, one of your good buddies. He wants to know, "Why does Tori whisper when you're still in the truck before you make a stand?"
Habit. Habit. When I was a kid, it got pounded in my just woodsmanship from being a kid and daddy and just pounding it in. Boy, be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. You know, shutting the doors, getting in the truck. So, I guess I'm sneaking when maybe I don't need to sneak. you know, we're we're in the truck and just out of habit from one stand to the next. I'm I'm still in that sneaky mode and whispering. And I do think that that that all just stems from, you know, learning as a kid to to be quiet and it becoming a habit, right? You afraid your daddy gonna thump you on the back of the head or something, probably. Yeah. And the thing about it is Dayton is death. He shoots all the time. You know, that sucker shoots nonstop. Yeah. So if he's not looking at me, he can't hear me even when I'm speaking in my in my normal voice. Y So uh he's all time on me about talking louder because he if if he's not sitting right beside me and there say there's three of us in the truck and he's in the back. He might as well be by himself. He might as well be riding in the back like in the in the bed of the truck because he don't know what's going on or at least not when I talk anyway. You might be he might you might be yelling and he thinks you whispering. Yeah. Yeah. He can't hear me. He has to look right at me and I guess read lips maybe. Well, our our next question here is you know speaking of Dayton, he's an excellent excellent coyote hunter. Uh this next question is referring to great coyote hunters. It's from Carl Wales. He asked, "Who are three of the best coyote killer/callers that you know, and what sets them apart?" You got three guys you can name off. Oh man, there's a kind of a tough one to put you on the spot. You might make people mad with this one. And we did and we didn't go over any of these questions, so this every bit of them really I didn't see that question asked online either. So, this one might have been sent to me personally. I don't know. I can't remember. That is Oh, if you ask 50 people this question, you'd get a bunch of different answers. You'd get some crossovers, too. You would. Yeah. There's a lot of variables in that, too, because some of the people that I would consider some of the top coat hunters may not kill as many coyotes as as somebody else. So, yeah. Yeah. I don't even know that I have three names that that I would throw out there. But I'll just I I'll use you in as an example. I would consider you one of the one of the top guys when it comes to killing coats and knowing how to kill cos, but there are some night hunters that probably kill way more. I know they kill way more than I do. Yeah. Yeah. kill a lot more coats than I do, but I probably wouldn't put them right I wouldn't put them above you as far as coat killing knowledge. So, that's a tricky question as far as uh I mean, as far as some of the people that pile up the most goats, I don't even know that I personally know a lot of them. A lot of them are probably some of your tournament guys. Yeah. That kill, you know, piles and piles of goats, night hunting and stuff like that. but uh or any any kind of way, day or night hunt, just kill a lot of coats and I don't even know that I could call them by name. So, that's a uh that's a tricky question. I don't I don't know what three names I would throw out there. Well, one thing I'll say is um thank you for the kind words. Well, just just to answer the question, I throw your name out there. Some of the people that I personally know that I think are really good and knowledgeable at killing coats and are going to consistently kill coats, but probably don't kill the most coats. Uh, when you look at it across the board, Greg Gallagher kills Yes. consistently kills coats. Dayton, Jamie, Terry, Jason when he was hunting coach, you uh and of course most of these people are people that I know and hunt with uh that I'm throwing out there and you're leaving off some of the some of the people that are in other states that I may not talk to on a regular basis that are just slipping my mind right now. Jimmy White is another one that kills a lot of coats. Yep. Yep. Uh there's a pile of people that kill a lot of coats that are knowledgeable co hunters and some of them could kill as Joey Worth's another one about to slip my mind. U but you could take just about any Joey's another good example of somebody that personally doesn't kill very many coyotes himself, right? But knows how to kill them. He watches a bunch of them get killed. Yeah. Um, but I don't know that you may you may have some people that pop to mind as far as making piles, big piles of coats. That's something that I don't pay attention to either, right? You know, I'm uh who's killing the most coats. I don't I don't never even keep track of how many coats I've killed or how many coats somebody else kills or anything like that. It's just it's you stay in it long enough, it kind of becomes I don't even know how to explain it. It's just not a big deal, right? And you're that's a perfect uh statement to end that with. Um, and you know, it's kind of a two-part thing. Way I see it. When I first saw this question from Carl, I was like, that's a man, I've never thought about that. And then he's kind of got it split. You know, three best coyote killer killers/callers. Well, some of your best coyote killers might not actually be the better collar. and some, you know, then vice versa. Uh, some of the best that I've been impressed with when I've hunted with them, coyote collars. Um, and I'm going I'm going to pat you on the back just like you patted me. Tory Cook is an excellent coyote collar. He methodical, knows, you know, you know what you're going to play. You know why you're playing it. You know what uh what to play what time of year. And and I think the biggest part of it, you know, why you need to do it and then when things might be happening fast on a stand and things need to change from what's coming either uh from the e-coll or or whatever, you know, how to make those changes to keep that coyote stand going in the right direction. And I think that's huge. And a lot of people can kind of fall apart when things get heated in the in the, you know, in the moment of coyote calling, especially when you call in multiples. You know, I think that's what kind of sets other people apart or one of the things that'll set people apart, what they're doing during the stand when coyotes are actually showing up and and on down the line till the end of the stand. And the boys been impressed with you on a coyote calling in. another person I've hunted with a ton uh that that's very similar and this guy's been around for a long time and he's not on social media anymore. Hadn't been on social media a long time. That's that's Jeff Ryder that we both know. Jeff is excellent. Excellent Kyle and goes under the radar. Yeah. Goes under the radar because he doesn't care. He doesn't care. Just like that last statement. But he can kill as many a lot of those guys we talk about can kill as many coats as they choose to to put the effort into killing. And you know a couple of I don't even know talking about people that maybe have killed a bunch of coats. I just saw a post where it was talking about I think it was Rusty Gamble that had won Rusty Gamble contest. I don't know him personally but he obviously kills a pile of coats. So if you talk to other people, you're going to get some different When when Benton and Kyle were doing all their tournament stuff, they were killing piles of coyotes and kind of had had that reputation of being some of the top killers during that time frame. I don't think they hunt as much anymore, but if they chose to pick it up again, there's a bunch there's piles of people like that. piles and piles that and I exactly almost wish I'd never mentioned a single name because now you start thinking on it and there's a lot of people that come to come to mind. I mean there's a lot of lot of hunters uh coyote killers and coyote collars I like keeping up with. I like seeing her stuff online, you know. I like seeing them have success and and a lot of times I'm impressed with them. You know, might see some of these big piles like, man, they did it again. You know, man, just just consistent. You know what I mean? And I think anybody that's consistent with putting whatever kind of numbers you want to say, uh, I think consistency, I like consistency more than I do like overall numbers when I see people out there because not everybody has as many coyotes as the next person. But you can still be consistent. Your buddy Richie, he kills a bunch of coyotes. Consistently kill. Uh, I tell you somebody here lately, Dakota Parker is consistently killing lots of coats on a on a regular basis. There's a bunch of people. Bunch of people. And I'm definitely skipping over a pile. There. There's so many people. Like I said, there's so many people you can name off. And you mentioned Rusty Gamble. And I will say something about about Rusty. He's pretty he's well known out west. And he is probably he is an elite western uh tournament hunter. And I should I guess I shouldn't bust it up west versus east type stuff, but you know, that's where he hunts at. And I tell you what, if you see Rusty Gamble's name on a team for any kind of tournament you're in, he's going to be a favorite. And he's pro and a lot of this stuff he does is on public ground, too. So, and I I probably wouldn't have thought to I just saw that post where I think they won another whatever it was. It was a a Nevada shotgun shootout. So, it's all shotgun hunting and they turned in and and Richie was his partner, Richie Gonzalez, and they killed 19 coyotes. Shotgun 19 coyotes and a lot of it was on public ground out west, you know. So, that's no small feat. I think that was Rich's post that I saw where it had mentioned that he had won that, you know, with I guess a few different partners uh multiple times, but both those guys and you see that a lot too when you get somebody that's good at something. A lot of times they'll throw credit to somebody else. Like in that post, Richie is not really taking much credit for being he's Yep. he's giving the credit somewhere else. I think you see that a lot with people that get consistently good at something. A lot of times they a lot of times when they get consistently good, they may not kill as many as they once did when they were learning how and they were driven to kill piles and piles. Yep. And you'll see them humble up a lot too to where they they they know they don't need any recognition and they'll Yeah, they'll throw credit a different direction. But you know, I think you said Carl asked that question. I think he killed a lot of coyotes. Yeah, he got no trouble killing no coyotes. And that's the thing had kind seen it too. Kind of you kind of alluded to it. I was like, man, I hate to single people out cuz there's going to be people that you leave off and we're like, you know, that could be tremendous coyote callers or coyote hunters, might even be better than the people we name off. But, uh, I guess like after sitting here listening to you talk and then me covering a couple names there, there are some names that kind of do stick out that just always kind of embedded in my mind. One of them you mentioned uh Kyle Cricenberger and and Benton as well, but Kyle, one thing about Kyle Cricenberger, and we've had him here on a podcast before, he does does he doesn't just do it in one area. He has won some of the biggest tournaments there there are when they had the United States Predator Challenge. You remember that, don't you? Where you had the Eastern leg, a Midwestern leg, and a western leg. This is the biggest tournament ever. So, you had to win. It was like on a point system. Um, so you had to place, you know, you about have to win about every one of them, but you have to place really good. They did the Eastern, which was a huge tournament that me and you both been to uh several times. They had a Midwestern leg that was held in Nebraska, I think, and then they had a western leg. Well, you have to hunt all three to have a chance to win this. And him and Benton won it. They only held this one year, and they won it. So they So they placed in the Eastern. I think they won the Eastern that year. Placed in the top so many in the Midwestern league and the Western leg. So, he's not a scared he's not scared to go anywhere and hunt. And that's just I think when you can go east coast to west coast to the northern border to the southern border and anywhere in between and pile up coyotes, you know what the heck you're doing. So, Kyle Kricenberger, I would have to throw him in there. Um, another one this this guy that some people may know and may not know, uh, is Cal Taylor. Calvin Taylor. He is a government trapper, uh, in Wyoming. It's what he does for a living. His job, if you want to call coyote killers, he's a coyote killer. His job is to eradicate coyotes. He does it by calling coyotes. He does spot and stalk. He does dog work. He flies helicopters, airplanes, and shoots them out. All that stuff. He traps, poisons, blows up, stabs, fights, bites, strangles. He kill. He's a kill. Whatever he takes. He kills them. So, you have to throw his name in there. And then it made me I got to give Al Morris and this is a combo. Al Morris, the team of Al Morris and Garvin Young. Everybody's heard Al say fourtime world champ a million times. And I know everybody's kind of rolling their eyes when I say it, but listen, give credit where credit's due. They're the only two that's ever done it. I think they're the only two that's ever won more than two. So, you know, there there's there's a few names. And several of those guys you talked about like Benton and Kyle, but Dayton and JT when they were winning all those Eastern Elites and all that kind of stuff. A lot of those guys don't shoot many cows outside of the tournament, do they? That's just all they do. tournament hunt. You'll see these big piles when they go to kill, they kill big piles and then they may not do much cow hunting or killing outside of that. And talking about I got to give some credit. One of the things that always impresses me the most, and I think it's one of the things that has benefited MFK and FoxPro the most, is your guys that don't do the not not that it matters whether they tournament hunt or not, but a lot of the guys that do not tournament hunt, they strictly pleasure hunt, but they consistently kill cows all throughout the year. And you see, you know, you see the evidence that when they they may only go out and make one or two stands and kill a cow or two or four or five or whatever they kill each time they go when they get a chance to go. But those are the those are actually the people that I pay the most attention to, just those consistent people that kill wherever their area is. Some of them may be in a heavier population area. they kill more coyotes. But when you compare across the board, this guy in this area versus this guy in another area, when they're consistently killing coats when they go, those people are are impressive. And it shows other people when they're using, you know, our calls or our sounds or whatever. That's what I think that's what the most what the most the the largest part of the population pays attention to when they're looking at, you know, Yeah. Yeah. Will will this work for me? I think that's what gets the most attention and uh I pay a lot of attention to it. I love seeing those success posts from the same people. Yeah. One that jumps out, I just saw it again. I'm gonna give her some credit. You know who I'm talking about. Miss Linda Schaer. Oh yeah. Yeah. I love Shaper. She's a She Every time she goes, she kills. Love it, too. Love it. That's pretty impressive. And people people that are doing what she's doing. Husband hunts. They hunt together some. That's both of them. Yep. Yeah. But uh that stuff is that stuff is pretty impressive, too. So, you ain't got to be a uh you don't have to be a a tournament winning champion to to get some recognition either. No. And that's the thing. Like I said, I love seeing everybody have success. It's, you know, my co my Facebook feed and Instagram feed and all that stuff is full of dead coyotes. That's what I like to say. And smiles and and you know, guys looking mean and tough and everything in between. I love it. They're they're going out and enjoying it. And I see a lot of lot of great uh coyote collers and coyote killers from from all over the country. Yeah. What's better than seeing a a success post right after we do one of these podcast and they say, "Hey, just listen to the podcast." Yep. Here, look, look what I got. You know, that's that's good stuff. And I, you know, we pay attention to that. Heck yeah. I love saying that. You know, because, you know, it's one of the reasons we do it. We we do this to try to help people out. We want to see you be successful. And when you do call that out, it means a lot. I mean, it it it it shows us that, you know, this is worth it. So, it's awesome. Next. I hung this up for a while. Appreciate that, Carl. Yeah. Thanks, Carl. All right. Next one here. This is from from Jesse Shrader. Where do you all see the sport of coyote hunting going in the future? And how do we get more kids involved in it? Man, these are pretty good questions. And like I said, you didn't you didn't tip me off any of these, so they're making me think on the spot. Save the best for last. Yeah. Right now, I think uh I think coyote hunting is still growing. I think the future of co hunting looks good. I think the the decline and some of the stuff with whitetail and and other animals and the direction that they've gone the last few years has put a lot more people turned a lot more people on to co hunting. So, I think the future's bright and I think as far as uh as far as the kids go, just the exposure from everything that's going on right now, the exposure to predator hunting in general, the [ __ ] calling and stuff like that, especially for little kids, just getting them getting them the opportunity because if you if you take them, I don't see how they wouldn't love it. So, I think that's the the best get them involved is to, you know, maybe let them watch a couple videos, get their interest in it, and then take them out there and and let them watch if they're not big enough to shoot, and then u once you get them get them started, I don't see them turning away from it. It's too much fun. No, I I think you hit hit the nail right on the head right there. Uh sports growing. I I expect to see it keep growing. And far as the kids go, um it's pretty much just got to get them out there. Uh just uh don't not be selfish. Don't don't be cared, you know, don't care to to take youth out there and get them started in it. Put some animals in front of them and the rest the rest will, you know, it'll take care of itself there because once you start putting animals in front of them, they start having a good time, they'll be hooked. They'll be hooked. I think it's the way to do it. Our next question here, this is a fun one. I think this was from Mike uh Michael Betting. He asked, "What's your least favorite sounds and why? The sound library is huge, but it seems like we always hear about the same 20 plus or minus sounds." So, what's your least favorite sounds and why? My least favorite sounds to use, and it's not necessarily because they don't work, but my least favorite sounds are always from the prey categories. Yeah. I just I don't know. There's something about a coat coming in the vocals and fights and pup distresses just any of your coach sounds that I get a little more out of. And on the prey sounds, I mean, any sound that that I hadn't had success with, and I stuff that I shy away from that works, uh, are some of your domestic and livestock based sound, stuff like that. I mean, I I've called up coyotes for the few times that I've used stuff like that. I've had pretty good results with them. I just don't like playing them, you I don't necessarily want to listen to a cat meowing when I'm calling. Not because it doesn't work. I just I don't know. It doesn't I don't enjoy it as much. So, I I'd relate it to kind of like turkey hunting. I prefer to, you know, friction calls work excellent on turkeys. I mean, you can pile them up. I've killed them on slates and box calls, but I enjoy calling turkeys with a diaphragm. So, you'll rarely see me use friction calls. And it I'm kind of the same way with the Predator stuff. If I can I use pre sounds and I use some of that stuff, but I'm you're gonna see me running co vocals and co type sounds way more just because I enjoy them a lot more. Right. Right. Right. Well, um, we got some similarities here. I hate I hate domestic sounds. I never use them. I just don't want to listen to them. The other set of sounds that I don't use because I cannot stand listening to them and these work great and some of these fox guys are going to get a kick out of this. I hate listening to fox sounds. I hate listening to a great fox distress or great fox fight. I think it sounds horrible. It works. I've killed a lot of coyotes like platinum gray and some other sounds, but man, I can't stand to hear them come out of a call. I just It's just like nails on a chalkboard to me. I just don't care to listen to it. Yeah. And then another sound, and this is a sound that I think the recording sounds horrible, but I have killed so many coyotes to this, especially back in the older days, is Fox Pros coyote pup distress number two. It sound I don't know who recorded it, and if this was Steve, it recorded. If this was Cal Taylor, it recorded. Whoever recorded this, don't get mad at me if you listen, but it sounds like it was recorded in a coffee can buried 20 foot in the ground. I don't know. It sounds horrible. But I used to play it and there'd be coyotes coming from two or three different directions, but I hate listening to it and I rarely play it anymore. Every once in a while still throw it out there, but yeah, domestic sounds. I hate gray fox sounds just because I don't like listening to them. And coyote pup distress number two. But all those sounds mentioned, they'll sure call coyotes if you want if you want to use them. To fall back on what you're talking about so everybody knows how popular three is. Yeah. Distress three fox. That sound I mean always heard how good it was. This is going back years ago. Yeah. I rarely called and I've seen it work countless times and I've called coaches on it where I'm at right here. Yeah. But I had way more. I called in a lot more coyotes, especially for the amount of times played back then. I called in way more coyotes on pup two. The sound is horrible. And I agree it. Yeah. And we thought we've talked about it before. I never liked the way submissive beggar sounds sounded when I recorded it. Yeah. But I love that sound for calling co. It's one of my favorite sounds of all time because it works so good. It just doesn't have that appeal, you know, when you're listening to it. So, it could get that could go either way. Some of them that you hate listening to, talk out. It's really good. Yeah. I don't know. But I definitely as far as I just can't hardly bring myself to play domestic or livestock sounds even I was on a stand the other day. Uh this is actually a spot where I had located some coyotes a few days before. I went in and and this was on up in the morning. Wanted to make this stand. I knew there was coyotes or should be coyotes close. Got in there and howled. Nothing answered back and I was like, man, maybe they moved on or whatever, but I'm still confident. You know, I called and I called and I called. I mean, I'd stress just stand out well over 20 minutes, which is long for me. And finally, I don't know how many sounds I played through. And finally, I get like, you know, pup stress number three. And I was scrolling through the remote and I said, "Huh, pup two." I hit it and I said, "Man, it's I said if I call a coyote out to this almost like I was going to be mad if one come out to it." But it was a dry stand. Nothing came. But it made me think about pup 2. It reminded me, you know, I thought just like you was talking about a you know, I've killed so many coyotes to pup distress number two. Made me think about old stands and stuff like that. And it also reminded me how horrible sounding it is coming out of the call. Yeah. And and if people think I won't knock any of my own sounds, I'll I'll give them to you right here. I hate long house. It's just titled long house. Long co house. I hate blackout house. And I can't tell you how many people have messaged me and told me how much they love blackout house. I don't even I pulled them off my call because I I know that I'm not going to use those couple sounds that I just those couple howls that I just mentioned even though they're MFK sounds. Yeah. Other people have really good luck with them. I just don't like how they sound. So, I always pick a different how. So, I I, you know, pulled them off my call. Yep. Yep. Well, I've got a couple. Um her This is a a fun one. It's It's controversial. We've talked about it several times. Um this is from Rod. Rod asked, "Have you ever noticed less callins on an east wind?"
I sometimes on some of these type questions I have mixed thoughts on how I want to answer them because I always heard growing up whether it was talk especially talking about fishing but hunting too. I would hear all the, you know, my dad and all the old times say everything's least when it's east. You know, it didn't matter. The deer don't move, the fish don't bite. Everything's supposed to be bad on an east wind. Well, I've loved to hunt so much that I hunted regardless. And I had good days when it was an east wind and and where I'm at, we get a lot of east winds. I mean, it's south and east all the time, you know? That's what we get a lot of. So, I've hunted a lot of east winds or something that's got east either straight east or stuff with east mixed in, right? And I've had some great days fishing and hunting on east winds. And then fast forward to all of the scientific based stuff, me raising cos, having cos and deer. I raised deer too for several years when it was legal. You can't do it anymore. there for several years. I did that and I kept all that stuff. We've talked about it before. Moon phases, east winds, barometric pressure, all that kind of stuff. I tried to pay attention to that stuff on documented it, wrote stuff down, checked it when I'd see active days, they're howling a bunch, they're doing whatever, you know, really active or not very active. no consistent, no reliable consistency to it whatsoever that I ever saw. And then the scientific research backs that up. You know, the GPS, there's tons of GPS studies now, especially on whitetail. But when you're talking mammals in general, you know, you can kind of lump a lot of that stuff together, deer, coats, but none of the none of the scientific research supports any of it either. There's no reliable correlation to any of that. And then from a common sense, if I just sit back and think about it from a common sense standpoint, regardless of which direction the wind is going to come from, those animals have to function that there's there are certain needs that they have to meet every day with water movement. They have to do it. Doesn't matter what the wind's doing. Yeah. So, I'm not that has been said and passed down so much that I still I still consider it. I'm still open to the possibility that one day maybe somebody does come out and say, "Hey, there is something to this moon and pressure and wind and different things. But as of right now, there's been nothing definitive at all to to say that any of that is anything more than just some BS that people pass down. Well, you know, and there's a lot of there's a lot of really good coyote callers and coyote hunters, coyote killers that that swear by it. You know, you do see it brought up a ton. That's why I pay a little bit of it. That's why I give it a little bit of Yeah, I'm open to it. I pay attention to it, you know. Definitely open to it. Definitely cannot say for sure one way or the other 100%. Like I said, see a lot of great hunters that'll bring it up. Um, and they'll bring it up. It's not even not just coyotes, with other stuff as well. But, uh, at the same time, listen, I've had good days and I've had bad bad days with all wind directions. You know, it goes with the east, too. I've had good days and I've had bad days. Um, when it does come to east wind, I don't pay it no mind. If I just look and see see which direction my wind is for that day that I'm going to go hunting and I just go hunt it accordingly. I don't, you know, I don't shy away from a east wind. If it's east wind, I don't go just stay in the house and I'm going to go out there and coyote call if I'm ready to go coyote call. And if I, you know, I I firmly believe I get on coyotes, I'm going to call them up. But like I said, can't 100% say that there there could very well be something to it. There's just a lot of good good coyote hunters that do believe that they just have less action on the east wind and there could be something to it. I don't know. I don't know. Well, I'll I'll say this. I think sometimes when you have something in your mind like east wind and you have a bad day, you're you're apt to pay more attention. You're looking for a reason. First thing you think of. Yeah. You're looking for a reason. But it does not deter me at all. The east wind I like I said we have a bunch of them. I don't that does not affect me at all as far as when I'm going to hunt and you know I hunt a lot of ed of uh located cos. Yeah. And I can tell you this and this is just the fact it doesn't matter what direction the wind is blowing from. If I've got a wind that's in if the wind is in my favor and I've got located cos the percentage of killing them is high and it's just as high on the east wind as it is on any other wind. I mean if I know where they're at and I get close to them and that wind is in my favor coming out east those coyotes are going to howl and I'm gonna kill them more than likely. I mean just most the percentage doesn't go down is what I'm saying on the next week. That's right. Still the same amount of coats or have the same amount of callins, you know, per stands made that those stats don't change. Right. Right. No, I I I don't know. That's a tough one. That's where we'll leave it. That's where we'll leave it. Well, I try to, you know, some of the GPS stuff, you know, when you talk about deer, we've all been in the woods, regardless of what the animal is, and it seems like every animal is active and on their feet moving and and same thing if you've got a bunch of cameras and they're all taking pictures at the same time and they're miles apart, you know, what is causing that? Why do animals do that? And there's there's never really been anything to explain it because on one day maybe the barometric pressure or the wind or the moon phase or something lines up and you say, "Aha, this is this is what's causing that. This is contributing to their movement." But then you have the same thing happen with those high movement days and you look at those same factors and they don't align. So it contradicts it. And if you do that for long enough, you find out that man, I don't know what's causing it. I can't put my finger on it, but there's definitely nothing reliable or consistent that you can tie to any of those factors. Right. Right. Yeah. We'll move right on to our next one here. This is from from Kevin. He asks, "Do you believe coyote behavior is different during daylight versus nighttime?" Absolutely. Coat behavior differs day versus night and it also differs in different terrain types that coyotes live in. Environmental factors change behaviors of animals and people and you know at at night coyotes will do they're they're just for one they're more active at night and they can get by with more under the cover of darkness. It hides them. Yeah. So, they have a tendency to get in more open areas. They're a little more uh brave, if you want to if you want to use that word. They just they're more active in a larger area and they're covering more ground at night. You know, in the daytime, coyotes are going to be closer to wherever they're laying up and wherever they have cover that they feel comfortable. And then at night, they're going to expand from that. So they're covering more ground and getting in areas that they normally wouldn't be in in the daytime. Yeah. I mean that pretty much says it all. I mean generally humans generally are daytime creatures. You know we're way more active during the daytime than we are at night. Night night time we're or laid up. Uh coyotes is totally opposite. Um you know they of course can be active at all times but they're predominantly more active at night. That's when I always say you know a coyote's actually out being a coyote. you know, he's up on his feet, you doing his thing. Usually during the day, they're hiding away from the world. So, uh, yeah, they act, you know, there's definitely a huge difference in in behavior, but I think it's mostly got to do with is just when they're they're active or the most active, right? So, uh, the next question here is pretty similar. Pros and cons of day versus night hunting, and which is better? I guess which is better is depends on that that could vary depending on what your goals are for you know night is better for killing more coats typically. Yeah. Um but the pros and cons on it for me would be the the pros for night hunting is just going back to what we just talked about. Coyotes are more active. So stands to reason that you would kill more coyotes at night because they're covering more ground. They're more active. You can get by with a lot more at night with your setups. You don't have to. The darkness hides you most of the time. You can call coats and, you know, typically closer to or at your vehicle that you can't get by with in the daytime in most situations. So, those are those are some of the top things that that stand out. Um, as far as pros for the the night hunting, for the day hunting, for me, probably the biggest pro is you can see you can see in detail. There's just something about being able to watch that animal come in in, you know, in real color. It's not Yeah. It's just different. It's It's better for me to see something coming in in the daytime. You can also call some areas in the daytime, especially thickets, you know, real thick stuff that aren't that suited for night calling. Oh, it would be almost impossible. Yeah. I mean, those are just a couple of the top ones that that stand out. I think uh depending on you could challenge yourself either way. If you're into stuff that that challenges you, if you're a night hunter, one of the pros for day hunting is that you could use that to challenge yourself and kill co in a different way. And if you're a day hunter, you could do the same thing. See what's up. Yeah. Flip it around. But I might leave out anything. I think you I think you pretty much just covered it all right there. I mean, and this question is from Will Bradley uh to I don't think I added that, but uh I mean, one way to look at it, guys, this in general, nighttime is going to be more productive. That's the pro. You know, it's that's just we I just said it earlier, coyotes on their feet most, you know, predominantly at night. And, you know, you do see guys stacking up big numbers during the daytime, but them great big old piles, it's just always consistent all the time. Those are nighttime hunters. So, nighttime is more productive. Whether you want to admit it or not, it just is. That's one of the reasons people get drawn to hunt at night. Um, it's like me, we was talking about uh some stuff don't care about. I don't care how many coyotes kill at night. This little darkheaded lady I got over in another room. I'm laying with her tonight instead of coyote hunting. I will go coyote hunting every once in a while, but I would rather be with her at night. Yeah. Yeah. I'm the I'm the same way. I'm not much on uh on getting out. Most of the time I get text messages and phone calls every night after 8:30. Yeah. I'm already rolling to bed doing the doing the same thing you talking about. Oh man. Hey, I will say a pro for the for the daytime. Another pro and you mentioned it. you mentioned here, you see color during the day a lot of, you know, unless you're hunting with lights and stuff. I do watch through some people's thermal videos and stuff like that, but it's always the same thing. It's either a glowing white object or a black object, whether it's, you know, black hot or white hot. That stuff's cool. But you want to know what's cool is watching one come running in. You can see what color that coyote is. You see his hair waving in the wind. You see his eyeballs. That stuff's cool. You see these got kill these beautiful black coyotes. You want to see an amazing sight. You watch a hard charging black coyote come into the call. You know when you look at him through a thermal, they all the same color then. Yeah. I remember the first time I went thermal hunting, I kept saying, "Man, y'all got some mangy coyotes out here." They want see no hair, would you? Yeah. And then I I realized, you know, the thermal kind of gave a different image of him. But you don't know what you got. You don't know if he's mangy or black or normal colored or what you got until you walk up to him. But yeah, it's a lot of the dayight stuff just comes down to personal preference and what your goal is. And sometimes that changes. I know for me over the years, the reasons that I do stuff, I guess there's different stages that you go through as as you hunt different animals, you know, you'll start out, you're just trying to kill one. You just want to get that first one. And then once you kind of get that down and you start figuring out how to kill them, then you want to kill a bunch of many as you can kill. And you're just piling them up. You're going every chance you get. And I've been through all those stages to where now I get more out of learning about them, watching them, researching them. I still like to hunt them. I still like to kill them. But it's more from a okay, what have I learned? And then going out and trying that. And I may not kill as many coats, but I'm it's it's at a different stage. I don't care that I'm not killing as many coats. And I know that I could I know that I could go more often and I could go back to what I was doing before. And same thing with the day and night hunt. You'll you'll have guys that have night hunted for years and then all of a sudden they'll give up what that maybe their their success at night to try something new. Maybe not kill as many cos, but they get a lot of satisfaction out of Exactly. killing that first coat in the daytime or or becoming good at both day and night hunting and vice versa. You know, flip-flop with the guys that have never never night hunted. Yeah. And then they'll go from day to night and figure out the the, you know, the night deal, too. But just different, I guess, different stages for different people as to what they're into. Different different strokes for different folks, too. And I mean it's, you know, it's one of those things I'll tell you a huge pro for night hunting is uh availability to go. You know, I know a ton of people got to work five days a week throughout the day. Some of them have to work six or seven days a week. That's all they do is work throughout the day. So only time opportunity they could go coyote hunting is at night. So that's a huge pro right there. I mean is that added opportunity and you know love seeing it. you know, guy that's got to work hard for his family and stuff like that. You know, he he works almost all the dag on time. He comes home and loves on the babies, kisses his woman, and everybody goes to bed, then it's his time to go out and enjoy some coyote hunting. I think that's a huge pro right there. Yeah. Yeah. So, let's see. I got another night hunting question for you. This is from Dan Miller. What is your night hunting setup? What night hunting setup do you currently use? Well, I guess my night hunting setup would be a shotgun and a flashlight. I don't have a night hunting setup. Uh, you know, that's a I don't have any of the thermal stuff. When I've been when the thermal stuff first got pretty popular, I went and of course Dayton and JT and Jason and all my all my night hunting buddies. Yeah. Have all that stuff set up. So Sterling, all of them, you know. So I just I'd go with them and shoot a few times and then go back to my daytime stuff. I just never uh I don't do enough night hunting to have my own setup, I guess. Right. Right. Well, I actually do have a night set up just to answer your question, Dan. Um I'm not extremely knowledgeable. Uh but um I've got some Knockpick stuff. I've got a 243 sitting over here. It's got a a Knockpick H50 on it, I think is what it is. It's a 640 unit. Um it looks freaking awesome to me when I'm looking through it. It's pretty cool to see. um you know, especially somebody that's predominantly daytime hunter. I do think it's cool when I do get to look through it and use it. Um and I use the Noctix Vista. I think it's a H35R scanner. Uh it's a rangefinding moninocular. Uh so that's what I've been using some Knockpick stuff. Seemed like it's extremely high quality. I love it. I mean, um like I said, I I personally personal preference. I'd rather day hunt, but when I do get to go night hunting when our season comes in just to and do some stuff for video work for Fox Pro, it's pretty cool to look through and seem like his stuff is topnotch. So, knockpick stuff. Um, well, go ahead. No, you go you go ahead. I was fix to move on to the next. So, what what Oh, I I was I was going to say I I may need to get I do need to get a night set up. Not for co hunting, but for these stupid, filthy, nasty hogs that I've got down here that I hate with a passion, man, I've got to the point where I just absolutely hate a stupid hog. And if somebody I'm gonna have to get a night set up just to start killing some of them things just right there around the house. But, uh, if somebody has a solution for hogs, it could be poison or whatever. I don't care if it kills every bald eagle, never bear that eats the residual off of them. Y'all, uh, y'all slip me a private message or call me directly. And I probably shouldn't say that over a over a podcast. But that's how much I hate these stupid hogs at this point. Well, night time, nighttime is the right time, as they always say. So, oh, I'm telling you, I could I I could thin them down at night right now. I hate them stupid things. But anyway, had to throw that in there. Yeah. Yeah. I'm actually here in a few weeks. I'm going to go do some hog hunting in Oklahoma and it's going to be at night. So, I'll tell you how good it works. Yeah. I hope you kill them all. Seriously, hope you kill them all. All right. Let's hit a couple. Um, industry and filming questions. This is from Sean Sean Moer. He asks, "What is your self- filming setup? I'd like to get into that." Um, mine's pretty straightforward. I like a camcorder style camera. The current camera I'm using is a Canon XF400. Um, tripods are a ma must. I like a tripod with a nice leveling head. I'm running um I think it's a Miller tripod and head. So Canon XF400 for a camera. Nice Miller tripod. Uh just perfect for filming and how I catch the second and third angles. I'll run GoPros. GoPros and Insta 360s. Usually when you all if you watch the self- filming stuff, you see the coyote coming. That's usually on that main Canon XF400. Then the action you see back on me is captured by a GoPro. I think I'm currently running a GoPro Hero 10. I think mine is almost exactly the same. I'm running a Canon. I think it's a X840. I'd have to look, which is probably a little more I think that camera you're running may be a little little higher quality, but the one I've got works works pretty good. Uh and then I'm running two GoPros. Both of mine are Hero 9. Yep. uh for those second angles. And same thing I'm actually running I don't even know what that tripod is that I'm running. It's got the fluid head tripod a smooth tripod is defin mine is but uh yeah that's pretty we're running a real similar real similar setup. Yeah. And and some of these tripod stuff like um that guys guys use for night hunting and stuff like fat boy tripods. Oh, they excellent stuff to use if you, you know, you could use those for your tripod. They would make a excellent cuz the main thing when it comes to tripods and head, you want something sturdy and smooth and a fat boy tripod would be fantastic cuz you you know your sturdiness is going to be there. Just put your head on it and we'll take You mentioned you mentioning that I I'm that's what I'm about to do. I've about wore that old tripod I've got out. is starting to have some glitches and we use have the fat boys here at the warehouse. So, I'm going to that's what I'll be setting up next for a tripods on the fat boy tripods cuz they are super smooth. They're they're slick. Yep. So, that pretty much covers that. And the next one's a filming question, too. This comes from Josh Bidd. Know Josh? He's a good one. Uh, he asked, he's got a statement first, but he says, "I would like to learn how to not suck at self-filming." Seriously though, just a few tips on camera placement, equipment, and whatnot to help a brother out, he says. So, you heard the equipment there. U, just run a camera that you can afford. You know, a lot of these cameras, about anything out there, shoots a really good picture nowadays. Uh, so whatever camera that you're comfortable with and you know the settings, you know how to run it, that's top top, you know, that's number one, you got to have that. Number two is a quality tripod that's sturdy and smooth and and the rest of it is is going to be on your camera placement. And a lot of this, in my opinion, has to do with each individual stand can be different. It's kind of got to do you're going to have a weak side and you're going to have a strong side. Your weak side is your camera side because you can only swing so far to shoot before you hit your camera and tripod because if that makes sense to anybody. So the more you have it out in front of you, the less you're going to be able to swing to that weak side. So a lot of times I'm actually setting my main camera and tripod up when I'm self- filming is actually to my right. I'm right-handed shooter, so I've actually got it setting almost directly to my right. That way, it gives me more opportunity to swing on a coyote. It might be moving left or right or come out to the right. Now, if I sit up on a particular stand where there's no way a coyote can get to my hard right, I'll usually have that uh camera set more out in front of me. And one of the things that that's kind of important when it comes to a camcorder or a DSLR, mirrorless, whatever you're wanting to run, when you do set offset your camera like that off to the side, you need to be running a camera that's got a LCD screen that can flip around that can flip around and you can push it push it back up against the camcorder. That way you can look at the side of the camera and still see your LCD screen if that makes sense to you. And a lot of times that's going to give you a lot better range of movement for left to right, you know, going to that weak side. So that's my biggest tip is making sure you can set up where you have the largest opportunity where you can cover the most ground swinging left to right, right to left. That makes sense. Yes. Yeah. I do sim I'm always hunting in these tickets, so I kind of I relate to I feel like a lot of my self- filming sucks, but A lot of it due to the due to the how quick everything happens by the time you see the coyotes right on top of you need to be shooting instead of filming a lot of times. So I lose some coyotes or get mediocre. I killed two not too long ago and the footage was trash on both of them just because you don't know when a treere is in the way. You know it gets quick. But the only thing I do a little bit different hunting in the woods is more like what you explained at the last. I've got the camera sitting almost in front of me. And I've got it just low enough. I'm usually sitting on the ground, you know, if I can in the woods. Y and I've got the camera just low enough. I'm trying to get it as high as possible, but still be able to swing right over the top of it with my shotgun. Yeah. So, it that's a pretty slick setup. I you know I've never done that. I've Let me take that back. I have done that a couple times in certain unique situations. Uh and I that's when I've done it just like what you said is with a shotgun where I could actually shoot over top the camera or swing on past it. But every time I've done it, it's never worked out have coyote called in. And one one other thing that that I'll mention that I've learned the hard way from getting some of that bad footage or letting coyotes get away is sometimes if you're just setting up to kill coyotes and we've talked about call placement before sometimes when you're setting up to kill coyotes where you set that call oh yeah is is going to be different especially in the woods that may be different than where you would set it if you were just trying to kill. So if you've got your camera, sometimes I would want to offset my call more than than I could get by with when I'm filming because those coyotes a lot of times I what I've learned is that I better put that that call in easy line of my camera. Yes. So sometimes when I've got a crosswind, I might want to set that if I was just trying to kill, I might want to set that call harder right or harder left. still out in front of you, but harder left or harder right. And sometimes that has bit me trying to self film because I've got my call offset more than more than what was ideal for trying to film. So, a lot of times now when I'm filming, even if I've got a uh and that 360, we'll talk about that maybe on another podcast, it's helping with that some, but uh I've got to where now I will, if I'm trying to sell film, I will set that call, especially in the woods, I'll set it almost directly in front of me, which may not be ideal for your killing setup, you know, if you weren't trying to film, but it has helped me get cos and frame. team when they run in there quick and has probably helped me film some cos that I otherwise would have missed had I had that or that I did miss on other hunts because I had my call offset and I couldn't get the camera and the gun swung to them, you know, quick enough. Yeah. Yeah. That No, that's good stuff. And one thing that it's hard for a lot of people to do when it comes to self filming if you're if you're want and this is filming in general. If you're wanting to capture footage and you're want it to be good stuff, like you've got that goal, there's two things that hap has to happen. One, that camera has to have the best seat in the house because if that camera cannot see the coyotes, bobcats, whatever you're trying to film, it's worthless. You know, you don't have no footage if it can't see. You know, you might be sitting where you can see more than the camera can. And the camera actually needs to be set where it can see more if you're wanting to catch good footage, if that makes sense. And the other thing is is the camera has to come first. If you're wanting to put coyotes on film, you've got to film them first and then shooting is second. I see a lot of people get more worried about Yeah, it does. A lot of people get more worried about killing a coyote than they do filming it. Well, if you're want to film coyotes, the filming part's got to come first. I've let so many coyotes get away from me over the years. If I if you guys knew how many coyotes I've watched run off because either because of lack of footage or not being able to film them or mess up trying to film them. Y'all would y'all get to cussing, y'all would call me crazy. But I mean, it just happens. It's part of it. The the camera has got to come first. And this is one thing that I think if you do get into filming and self-filming, especially the self- filming part, I think it will make you a better coyote hunter and coyote caller. You'll learn stuff on setups that you might not ever pick up on if you just calling and killing because just like Tori was talking about e-coll placement, how you set up, how you set the camera up, stuff like that, you start really planning out your coyote stands. And when you get on news stand, you're really kind of looking at the lay of the land. You're really paying attention to how the wind's blowing. You're really paying attention to your cover. You're paying attention where you're going to set that call in accordance where you think the coyote's going to come from. I mean, you really think things out because you've got to make it work. And and it really will make you a better coyote hunter in my opinion. It's made me a better coyote hunter uh doing that. It I think you know. So, oh, it ain't what you just said is probably one of the it makes you it makes you think you nailed it when you start adding that camera in. There are places that you could sit down and kill the coat, no problem. Yeah. That you would just walk in there and sit down, call a thing up and kill it. Not even think versus having that camera and you're you're looking at that spot and you're thinking, man, this just ain't I'm not going to be able to sit right here and film. So it it makes you do a lot more thinking and strategy comes into play and along with that you start learning stuff that will help you later on whether you've got a camera or not. And it sometimes sometimes what you're doing with a camera is almost like setting up if you were taking somebody hunting that had never been before and you're trying to set them to where they can get it makes you better with that stuff when you're when you're buddy hunting or you're taking somebody or you may be hunting with two or three people that do know how to coyote hunt. It still makes you that camera it's almost like hunting with somebody else and trying to set them. You're you're having to set up for multiple reasons instead of just a gun. Yep. Yep. One one last thing I'll leave you with on the on the filming is you better be strongarted because there gonna be some coyotes get away from you. Just part of it. You also got to be ready for that criticism afterwards. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times the ca that's something else. Sometime a lot of times the camera angle and the angle of the gun is not the same. So you'll get a lot of uh your backseat drivers so to speak which I always get a kick out of that but uh it's some fun stuff when they start telling you how you should have filmed it or how you should have done it. I get a kick out of that. I usually ask them I'll say well direct me to your channel so I can learn. You know I'm interested in learning. I've got a I've got a guy on Instagram. He uh I will give give him this. I think he likes me because he he follows and he watches all the clips and all this stuff, but man, he is critical. Good. Kind of kind of hurts my feelings a little bit, Tori. He's all the time telling me how I need to be more efficient. Yeah, I I get a kick out. used to some of that stuff used to bother me a little bit when I first started doing it and now I enjoy reading the the how-to comments from I'm just like you know how difficult it was to kill both of those coyotes on film or those three coyotes on film me doing everything by myself like come on man tell me congratulations tell me how good job I did don't tell me I should have shot that second coyote 10 seconds earlier that's what I was just going to say you get a lot of them where where they're like, "You should have already killed that." I know it. I know it. Well, you waiting on And if you shot him if you shot him quick, you'd get a you'd get the other side of that be like, "Well, you didn't even get enough footage for us to watch." Exactly. Exactly. Stuff either way. Our next question here, I've been asked this a few times. I know you've been getting this and I promised Jacob that I would cover this. This is from Jacob Buckley. He asked, "How do you get into the hunting industry?"
That's uh Yeah, I do get that a lot. And I think there's I think there's a couple of main ways to break into it. One is to have a product, which is where I kind of got in. Yeah. Is having a product that got my foot in the door. Um, the other is having a skill set that allows you to go to work for a company uh that's already established. Yes. You know, those two things those are the two things that I think are are the best option for getting in unless you're just, you know, unless you happen to be born into it and you you have an automatic spot, right? Um, I think those two that I just mentioned are probably the the most likely ways for me. The the way it turned out. I always wanted to work some kind of way and I was kind of under the impression that, you know, I grew up doing this. I'm I think I'm pretty good at, you know, killing different animals at the time and I still my favorite things but hunting deer. But, you know, I I wanted to do something either filming hunts or doing something related to the outdoors and hunting. And uh anyway, turned out people are not going to beat your door down to to film you hunting. So, that's that's low odds. And it just I did love it enough that I eventually started building those diaphragms and had a product and had a lot of support from you know my parents and a pile of buddies and friends. Yeah. Because I didn't have the money for marketing and advertising and stuff like that. So it was all word of mouth and then the customer base that started buying a few of them and then uh my wife in particular uh growing that and making it you know what it is today. Yeah. That uh that is what kind of got me in the door and from there making partnerships you know with FoxPro that has and others that have furthered it. But uh and then the other option is like I said having a skill and I think I'll let you take over right there because I think that's probably I may be wrong but I think that's more how you got into it. Yeah, that's that is definitely where I fell into it, you know, and I think a lot of people when they think about, you know, getting into the hunting industry, they the first thing they think about they want to whether it's coyotes, whitetail deer, elk, whatever they're want to be involved in in the hunting industry. And of course, we're with coyotes, predators. So, that's what we'll talk about. A lot of people what they're thinking about is, hey, I want to kill coyotes for a living. Well, yeah, there not too many of those jobs. There's not too many of those jobs. I've only known one person in my life that his sole job was to kill coyotes and that's Al Morris. And uh he's done it for multiple companies, too. He used to do it for for HS. He did it for Hunter Specialties before he did it for FoxPro. Um and there's just and there's going to be less of those jobs moving forward. When Al decides to retire that I just don't really see too many jobs out there for that's all you're going to do is go film coyote hunts. A lot of people might see me and think, well, it's all you do. I do a lot of stuff. I actually work in the marketing department for FoxPro. Uh do tons of different type of work for my job. A lot of it involves videography, photography, u and a lot of other stuff is not all that exciting that we won't get into on this podcast, but but the having a skill is is huge. Uh I grew up with a passion for photography and videography that was that passion was gifted to me through my mother. Mom was a very talented photographer. She didn't do it professionally. She it was just her hobby and she was extremely good at it uh with a with a film camera. And then of course when I was a kid playing sports and all that stuff, my mom was a crazy squalling mother in the stands yelling at all the refs. You're yelling at all the ball players with a great big old shouldermounted camera. She went bought, you know, back in I mean I've actually found this thing not too long ago. My mom passed away uh this past spring and going through the house. I actually found this whole video camera that that started the whole video thing for me cuz her fool with that stuff, she always had video cameras in everybody's face. So, I kind of took to that and I found this camera the other day. Uh, that thing weighed a ton like picking up a TV or something. But long story short, I got started with that stuff at a young age. Just learned from her and it become a passion. I loved it, too. And that's how I got my start in in hunting was through videography and photography. I've done a lot of photography work for many companies over the years before I started working for FoxPro. And that's just like you said, you got to have some type of skill. Not everybody. There's a lot of jobs in the hunting industry that's set apart from just filming something or being on camera. It's like say take Foxro for instance. There's jobs in production where you're building calls. Uh there's jobs in customer service, there's jobs in marketing, there's jobs in sales, engineering, product development, videography, photography, just like we talked about. And if you got any of those jobs, you're in the hunting industry. It might not be the limelight of filming coyote hunts every month and that's all you do. But there's a lot of of uh hunting industry jobs. And probably the biggest tip I can give for somebody, for a lot of the older guys that might want to try to get into it, this is not going to help them out a whole lot. But for you younger guys that listen to this and have got time and and have the opportunity, go to school, go to college, uh study videography, uh photography, there's different business stuff, there's social media marketing, you can go to school for marketing. just so many avenues you can go into that's going to get you a foot in a door with an outdoor company that you can land you a job. And I love the hunting industry. I mean, I don't want to work in any other kind of industry besides for the hunting industry. But if you're got the ability and you have the opportunity where you can go to school, go to school, get you a degree that can get help you get your foot in the door and become something. Yeah. There's one other way that I know of that I've seen happen here fairly recently, and that's if you have the ability to start a brand and a business. And I'm referring to Joey Worth. Yep. Right. Now, Joey didn't even have a background in hunting. He come down there and done some hunting, you know, some co hunting and and got interested in it. And Joey took that and started his close encounters business and started filming hunts and kind of got into the the video side of it and producing high quality stuff and has grown a pretty big following on YouTube as well as his his guide service. And so he created a way without a product or without a skill set necessarily from the get-go to find a way to to have a job in the hunting industry. So, that's another way and and that's probably a a low odds way for most people, but it is something that anybody could do if they're willing to put the same amount of effort into it that he's put into it. Yeah. And I think that's where the hard part comes is because it does require a lot of effort to keep that content going. I mean, it's a it is a job. It's not probably looks fun, but that stuff is is a job. And you know, it's a One other thing I would say is if you are interested in something like that, don't let anybody I don't care who it is, family members, local people, anytime you start in that direction or at least I'm speaking from personal experience, you know, when I started developing those diaphragms and I had an interest in it, there's no money on the front end. There's no, you know, you don't really see a future in it to begin with. Then the diaphragms came from I wasn't looking to to start a business. I was just I just love to hunt and like you said with it come from just the seed being planted when I was a kid from my mom and dad and every opportunity was given to me to pursu to pursue what I loved so much which was hunting and learning about animals and you know I'd come in and we'd look up birds and if I heard something you know it'd be lizard snakes what any kind of animal and that just progressed you know to the hunting know of the small game and then bigger stuff. And so I just always loved being outdoors. I I skipped a lot of school. I was going to go to college. You mentioned going to college. I was going to go to college. I went the first day. I figured out they don't call roll. They're not going to call your parents and tell on you if you don't show up. So I'd leave the house. I'm supposed to be going to college. I'm I was going to the woods. Didn't work out Didn't work out for a degree, did it? That's right. But when I started building those diaphragms for calling coyotes and predators, I was doing that just out of the passion and love for my own personal reasons wanting to hunt myself. And then buddies kind of encouraged me to like Dave Stucks, Carrie Wayne, some of those first ones like, "Hey man, you ought to sell some of these." And so started selling a few. People have heard me tell this story. Jason Gross Close out of Virginia bought one, won a contest. Yeah. And from there it started taking off. And more recently, probably the biggest factor in where I've got with or where MFK has got, I say MFK because it's not just me, you know, my my wife huge behind the scenes. You know, she works in the outdoor industry, too. That's all she does. And it's for, you know, now my sister-in-law and my daughter-in-law and they all work in the hunting industry full time, too. All of them are hunt, you know, they're not on camera. Well, Tory Lynn's been on camera a few times, but that's not her job. Her job's in the hunting industry, but it's not to film coyotes, you know. So, I know that's what everybody kind of wants to do, but there's a lot of jobs in the outdoor industry that doesn't feel involved being in front of the camera. And I tell you another one, you mentioned Joy Worth and part of his job in business is being a hunting guide. You know, filming, not filming, but taking guys out, you know, if you got the land um and you can get the proper permits or licensing or whatever it takes uh to do that. That's an opportunity right there. You know, you got to can't be selfish with your coyotes. Somebody else might be shooting just like you was talking about Joy. He might not kill as many coyotes at the end of the year as somebody else, but man, he might have watched 500 of them plus get killed, right? And what I got sidetracked a while ago and you bringing Joey back up kind of made me think about that. What I was going to say is don't let anybody get you. If that's what you really want to do, go after and you love it, you've got to be willing to go after it from the get-go and learn how to do that stuff and expect little to no money on the front end. U and and Joey has had to grow his stuff from wanting to do that and I'm sure we me and him have discussed this multiple times. You're gonna start out to where this stuff is not you don't see how it's ever gonna pay the bills and then you stick with it and it keeps and the whole time you're gonna you're gonna listen to people that are telling you you better get your head on straight and and do something different. Man, just like me when I when I first started in the hunting industry and I won't stick on this too long. We'll go ahead we'll get some other questions covered here. But when I first started in the hunting industry, it was part-time. I was working a full-time job, working 50 hours a week and then taking every opportunity I could after hours and on weekends and taking every bit of my vacation time, all my personal time, every bit of it was poured into the part-time hunting industry work. And there was people that suffered from it. My wife suffered from it. uh had a couple kids, you know, so it took time away from family to make, you know, it was a dream. It was a passion. I wanted to make it work and I got lucky enough that it did. Now, it might all end tomorrow. Fox Pro could fire me and I'll have to go work for dad chasing cows or something, but just like that, I had, you know, my dad, he was like, you know, you going to have to quit trying to play and get, you know, and do this, you know. Yeah. My dad's one of those type. He loves working. He He won't never retire. What how he has fun is hard back breaking work. That's what he loves. And uh you know and he thought I should be doing the same thing. But hey, I wanted to do this. So anyway, just like Tori said, you just gota you got to grind and you will have to sacrifice some. I can relate to to every bit of that gravel truck driver, taxiderermy, all of that stuff while trying to get the MFK stuff going, living in a trailer. And eventually that stuff started. It was rough several years there. It was rough. And uh I know we I know we got to move on, but I will tell you one quick story. It was Christmas. I was a teenager, and I was dead set on filming hunts for a living. That's what I thought I wanted to do because I was watching all those hunts on TV. I was at Christmas, I had an aunt come up to me. She said, she called me Tory Nathan. That's my middle name. And you're in trouble. Yeah. Tory Nathan, what what are you going to do? What are you going to do when you get out of school? Talking about high school. And I said, I said, I'm going to film Hunts. And boy, she she went off, you know. and she said, "Well, you better get your head on straight and start thinking right and get think about going to college. You ain't going to mouth nothing." And there for a while, I thought she was going to be right. But, uh, it ended up ended up working out. But, that was one thing those words stuck with me from that point until today. I'll never forget it. It lit a fire under me to a certain degree. And I thought doing taxiderermy was as close as I'd ever get to having a, you know, something related to the hunting industry. Yep. But, uh, here we are today. And I do want to say one more thing. I greatly appreciate all the people that from the very beginning all the way up until now that that have bought MFK products and supported. Yeah. I mean, they they've given me and my family the life that we have today. And it is, it doesn't go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Yeah, 100%. And I'll say the same thing. I mean, I think what Tori has done with MFK is the American dream. I mean, really think about it. It's the American dream. And same thing for my employer, the Dillons. Uh they started FoxPro. uh kind of got it first going in the late 80s and then it was officially established in the early 90s and it was just a just an idea and a dream and look at it today. There's three generations of those dealings that still work there at Fox Pro today. They completed American Dream and keep going forward with it and u they could nobody could do it with without you guys that's listening in. I mean, it's, you know, uh, Foxro products, Americanmade, MFK products, Americanmade. It's, uh, American dream come true. That's all you can say, and you can't do it without you guys. So, thank you. And while we're on the sub, I know we've been hung up on this, but guys like you and everybody else that's working for Fox Grow, and not only Fox Grow, but I mean, you do a tremendous job with supporting MFK, and none of that stuff goes unnoticed either. I mean, I wouldn't be where I'm at. The Dillings wouldn't be where they're at without all of those people, not only that work for them, but just support their their brand, their products, and that stuff. Uh me and my wife were talking about you the other night. This is stuff I normally wouldn't tell you. Uh but since we got on the subject, you know, that that stuff does not go unnoticed. And I've had a pile of buddies, too many to mention. Pile of in particular, my mom and dad. Well, that those people deserve to be mentioned because they're all a part. Fox wouldn't be what it is without John Collins. It just wouldn't. And and I think I think the Dillons know that. anybody that watches the stuff and not just you, but all of the other people that have the same passion you do for, you know, supporting and and getting that stuff where it is. It goes back to that skill set. Not only the skill set, but the love of the the animals that we hunt and just that whole deal. So, we stayed on it a long time, but that's that stuff needs to be said sometimes. Um, just big uh big thank you to you and all those other people I mentioned. Well, appreciate the kind words. I'm going to move on for you. Gets me to crying. But let's go on. Let's get something else. That's enough of that. Thank you, though. I really appreciate that. Hey, thinking back thinking back on that stuff will make a lump in your throat. So many people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. All right, we'll cover Man, we've been on it for a long time. We'll cover just a couple more real quick. One, this is from Chris Young. He says, "Is there a a difference between western coyotes and eastern coyotes? I've noticed a difference between these desert coyotes out here in my region versus the coyotes you guys get into east of the Mississippi.
They throw them controversial question. I like them though. You You want to take this one first?" Sure. And I'll just And I'll just put it out there as like just how it is. The biggest difference is I've hunted all over. So I I know kind of what he's probably getting at. One thing when it comes just to talking about the differences in them. One's going to be the size. Uh generally on average the coyotes that we kill back this way like say Kentucky coyotes, Tennessee coyotes and Ohio and on up into Pennsylvania, all that type of stuff. They're generally heavier. They're a bigger coyote. They might look smaller on the on the on the foot as they come in on video camera, but it's because of the hair difference. You could take these big old woolly long-haired coyotes out west that look like they're going to weigh 50 lbs. You pick them up, the thing weighs 25 lbs. You know, they just don't. Then you might kill one that's just slick. And here back east it not real thickhaired. It don't really look all that impressive. You pick it up, it'll weigh 40 plus. So, the biggest one big thing is the size difference. The other thing is color. Um, you can get into a little bit different variations of color out west. Uh, but generally a coyote just look like a coyote out there. You get back east, you get a lot of different color, a lot of different color phases. You know, you got your brown tawny coyote. You got reddish looking coyotes that are look like a red fox. You get some blonde coyotes. I've even seen a handful of white coyotes. And then of course you get into these black coyotes, the solid black ones, the solid black ones with a white star on their chest. Um, these black coyotes that still got the white cheek patches that make them look like a husky, but if you look at a coyote in black and white, they all have that same same markings on their face unless they're solid black. So that is a huge difference is getting into the different colors, but other than that, a coyote is really a coyote. They'll still all call the same. I have been in certain regions where it does seem like they might like prey distress a little bit better versus some vocals that you wouldn't see in different areas or some coyotes might be a little bit more aggressive to coyote fights than in other areas where they're not as aggressive to them and stuff like that. But in general, a coyote's a coyote. They're going to call pretty much the same no matter where you're at. Yeah, I we I think I know where he's going with that question. So, I'll I'll jump on it there for just a second. I agree. A cow. A coyote is a coyote. There are certain things about a coyote that no matter where they live, those things are going to hold true because it's a coyote. But there are other things that do cause differences and maybe the way you set up or things like that that are they're they're all environmental factors where it be a lot of times it's the terrain and how thick it is or how flat it is or how mountainous it is. You know, there are different things. You combine those environmental factors with population densities and it does change how many coats you call or how you set up and certain things. So, it's still it's still a coat and there are still things that hold true. But when you change population densities and you change terrain, for example, cows that live in extremely thick terrain, they have a tendency to avoid open ground that coats that live in open ground don't have those same behaviors. So there are some subtle differences when you go from and I don't care you could take the east west out of it and just talk about terrain features and population densities and those environmental factors can change the way that a co works the call some of their tendencies especially in the daytime that differ a little bit and then when you've got an area a population of coats that's higher typically those areas are going to produce more coats per call in than a lower density place. And I think sometimes that's where you get into the argument of east versus west. It's not so much east versus west as it is population, environmental factors, and population densities that cause those that cause those differences. Pretty good answer. I think you hit it right on the head. And and just to drive it home with a common sense deal, look at humans. if you change their environment. And I get a kick out of that sometimes because I'll see somebody make a post about coyotes east versus west and you know everything exactly the same. Saw one two three two days ago. Yeah. They're they're happen all the time. I read them regular and then you'll you'll see the same person that made that post where they may be saying something along the lines, well I'm such and such. I ain't nothing like them weirdos in California or whatever. Well, it's environment. If you take humans and you change the area that they live in, a lot of times their beliefs, their values, the way they behave in different settings changes a little bit. They're still they still have that basic stuff that makes them a human, but you change where they're from, you got a whole different kind of person. Uh, I know you can make me fight mad if you compare me to some of them another human from a different area that acts nothing like me and believes nothing like me and doesn't behave like I do. So, right, you know, that's a coyotes are kind of similar in that way. You change where they live, they may behave a little differently. Yep. Got one quick one to answer here from this is from Brandon Moore and Cody Smith. Both both asked this. How often do you draw blank stands? If I'm hunting located coyotes, uh, especially during, you know, den and puffering time frame, I'm I'm going to say I'm somewhere around 80% success on loc. Now, if I go to uh to making blind stands, uh that drops way off to where I have, you know, if I and it varies, you know, but I would say that it averages out to probably 50% or less are actually successful stands. So, I'd probably say if I'm making blind stands, I'm probably calling a coyote on 30 40% of the stands. We're on located coats. I'm calling, you know, if I got 10 sets of locating coats, I'm gonna at least put eyes on coats, if not kill coyotes, on eight out of the 10. Yeah. Yep. Yep. I, you know, for me, it depends a lot where I'm hunting, what time of year it is, whether I located coyotes or not, but been hunting here around home lately. It was either last Wednesday or Thursday. Went hunting. U made three stands, didn't see a coyote. All three blank stands. went Friday, made two stands, blanked the first one, killed on the second one, and then went two days ago, only made two stands, killed four coyotes. So, I kind of averaged out pretty good, but it started off rough. Started off with three dry stands. Yeah, I think we probably have, especially if you're talking about blind stands, I think we have a lot more blank stands than people realize because you don't put blank you don't put them blank stands on video, you know. Uhuh. Don't talk about it on social media either. You don't see the high points. Right. But I have that's why I do so much locating. I have such I mean I don't make many blank stands if I'm hunting located cows. If I'm hunting blind stands I have a I have you know over half my stands probably are are blanks. My confidence goes way way up if I know I'm actually calling to a coyote if they're located. That's for sure. And my odds go up in return. Uh the next one here this is from Dennis Frank. Is there ever a time when you use hand calls with electronic calls all the time? And I think that is the most effective way. Now, sometimes because I'm trying new sounds and stuff like that, I don't use the diaphragms as much as I used to. But I think the the most I've always said if you if you can't use it all, you're crippling yourself because there are times where uh they're going to come to one and not the other. And it just gives you more tools to work with. So using both is is a good idea or at least having the option to use both. Yeah, I think I actually read this wrong too. I think he was actually asking is there ever times that you use just hand calls alone as well? And you used to do a ton of that, you know, just just diaphragms. So yep, I used to used to do that. But and there's nothing wrong with going one way or the other, hand calls or all e calls, but I do think the most effective way is to combine the two. Uh we'll cover two more. This one's from Tracy Estus. What's your top three? Two, five. We'll just cover five. We'll just cover three. What's your top three calls for coyotes? What's your top three calls for cats?
Uh, so if you're going to have three sounds on your e- call, I guess year round for coyotes and then three sounds for bobcats. I'll just throw out some of those real popular ones right quick. Uh, Boon Winehouse, Submissive Beggar, and Pound Town. Yeah, that's same with me for coyotes. I'll let you pick long pick the how. Long as it's a long drawn out quality how I'll take it. I want one of those. Give me kg ki cottontail and give me pound town. Just give me those three sounds. I'll kill coyote year round. If I was going to pick for bobcats, I would probably go uh rose bush cotton, ky cottontail, uh goody woody. Those are good ones. Um, I'll say these just because I've killed more cats, called more cats these than anything else. Probably KG cottontail number one, Mrs. McCotinttail number two, and then I'll probably have to say Eastern Cottontail. But there's so many runnerups that's right there, Adam, that I could mention. Some of these new MFK rabbits are superb. Just hadn't got to use them a ton yet, and I've already caught a lot of stuff with them. They're great. And there's so many more fox pro rabbit sounds that are just I mean adult cottonail baby cocktail. I mean just give me give me any of those three and I'm going to be calling bobcats be fine with them. See one more to round round it off. Now there is a lot of questions we ain't got covered. We just ain't got time to do it. All three of these uh question and answer uh episodes we've done has went way over. But this is going to be our last one. Maybe we'll do another series in the future. But this is from John Silva. What is your goto a go-to vocal that works year round? And if they're not responding to vocals, but you know they're in the area, what would be your next move? So, two-part question. What is a go-to vocal that works year round that you would like to have, Tori?
Uh any of the I mean I'm assuming he's I'm Is he talking about any kind of co vocal or is he referring to house? He just says vocal. Well any I mean if you're referring to house I'll try to answer it both ways. If you're referring to house uh any of those long lone house year round sounds boon wine hills come here lonely any of the little bee bougie any of those are year round sounds that work great for house. Uh some of the other year round stuff obviously pound town table scraps bite challenge those are all standouts submissive beggar and greeting wines just to throw out a handful that are all equally top picks. Yep. Um and then if they're not if they're not response I'm assuming he means vocally respond back. So, I'm guessing maybe he was my next move if I think there a coach there is going to be to get closer if possible if I think they had bumped. If that's what he was asking with the question. I think so. I think so. Yeah. So, if they if they hadn't responded and I know they're there, then I'm going to move closer if that's an option. That's always my option. And if that's not an option, then, you know, if I've run through my sequence of sounds, then, you know, I'm going to leave and go to a different spot. Yeah, I I think you covered it perfectly. And when it comes to just like, you know, what is a go-to vocal that works year round, it it has to be a I mean, has to be some sort of, like Tori said, some sort of long howl. I mean, it just all coyotes do it. All coyotes howl. So it's it's perfect. It works year round. And another another sound. It happens year round or social sounds. But so it had to be either some type of social sound or or a coyote how. I could not ever imagine not being able to use coyote house. I mean it's just go-to. All coyotes do it. All coyotes come to it and and that's that. So well Tori, we've been on here forever. Hey, they took it. I enjoyed this podcast because some questions were, you know, took me down memory lane and I know we got hung up on a lot of those, but Well, and there's and there's several more good ones, too. It's just it's just one of those things. You know, we've done part one, part two, part three. We had so many questions. We thank you guys so much for for asking them. You know, we asked for you guys to do this and I'm sorry if we didn't cover them. you know, a lot of them are pretty similar or some of them are just uh you know, you just can't cover them all. That's just how it is. But but definitely really appreciate everybody that's been tuning in. We appreciate everybody uses Fox Pro and MFK products. Uh just like we was saying earlier, we could couldn't none of us have be doing what we're doing or have jobs without you. So, we really appreciate you. Tory, you'd like to leave us with anything? No, you covered it. just uh appreciate y'all using MFK and FoxPro and appreciate y'all taking us down memory lane with some of these questions. That was fun. Yep. Thank you, Tori. And we hope everyone enjoyed this episode and we hope you join us again here on the FoxPro podcast.