Jon Collins sits down with the reigning Nevada Shotgun Shootout champions Rusty Gamble and Rich Gonzales, where they talk about competition hunting.
Welcome to the FoxPro podcast brought to you by Fox Pro Game Calls. Welcome back to the FoxPro podcast. We've got the shotgun champs joining us today. Rusty Gamble and Richie Gonzalez are on the line and we're going to be discussing contest hunting and their recent win at the Nevada Shotgun Shootout. Rusty, Richie, how you guys doing today? Pretty good. How about you, John? I'm I'm doing good. Uh had uh pretty big storm roll through uh Kentucky this past weekend and it's kind of cool things off on the backside. So I've got the rest of the week planned out where I'm going to make coyote stands in the morning and I'm going to chase big whitetail bucks in the evening and the afternoon. So what do you think about that? That sounds like a pretty good plan, don't it? Oh yeah, sure. Actually just got back from uh actually just got back from a trip with Mike Dylan out to uh where were we at? We were in Oklahoma. Got to shoot some pigs. Got to shoot some coyotes. Shot my very first pig at at night. I don't do much uh night hunting, so that was something a little bit different. So, I've had a pretty active last couple weeks. Very cool. That's awesome, dude. What have you guys been into over the last little bit? Go for it, Rusty. Uh, I have not been into a whole lot besides work lately. We had a guy at work get hurt, so we've been covering about Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've went out hunting one time since that shotgun contest with my air gun and shot a couple coyotes with that. That was pretty fun. Yeah. I've never done that. Not with air gun. That you do. You like that? Do you enjoy air gun predator hunting? I like anything that makes skyote hunting harder. Right. Right. Right. I I get excitement from the harder it is, the funner it is for me. Yeah. And I and I really enjoy when Rusty takes the air gun because I get to play cleanup on the ones that take it and run. So, it's been pretty fun to go with him on those hunts. But, hey, uh Rusty, does uh Richie try to shoot one out from underneath of you while you got that air gun? He's every once in a while maybe, but he's usually pretty good at letting them get close so I can at least crack at him. Yeah. Yeah. Well, uh, since we got you on here, Rusty, you're a you're a newcomer to the Fox Pro podcast. We've had Richie on here before. Won't you uh tell everybody on here a little bit more about yourself, Rusty? Oh, I don't know. I'm not real good at talking about myself, but uh I started hunting I don't know when I was like 15 16 just around here in Mad and we used to go out. We actually got in a couple contests where we just drove around and would try and find coyotes to shoot at. And then my mom actually got me a one of those little Cash Creek electronic calls for Christmas one year. Yeah. Yeah. And we pulled off the side of the road and I just hung that out the window and turned it on and it was in the middle of winter, you know, like there was probably a foot of snow on the ground and we had five coyotes run right to the truck. Oh my goodness. And well, all of us tripping over each other trying to get out of the truck quick enough, you know. And after that, I was hooked. I tried for probably two years before I actually got one called in and killed. But Yep. Yep. Yeah. That uh that Cash Creek, you probably got lucky that you called him up to the truck like that. That was probably pretty awesome there. Oh yeah. Yeah. It was definitely luck, but it was enough to get me hooked. Yeah. Now I've been doing it ever since. And now the rest is history, right? You're from Idaho, correct? Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Well, I know you've uh made a pretty big splash in the in the contest world, and that's one thing I want to talk to you guys about. Now, everybody listening in, y'all got to know that Rusty and Richie probably going to give you too many secrets, but they might drop a golden nugget they wouldn't wasn't planning on dropping. We'll we'll see. If you guys don't want to answer some of the questions, you just you just say no comment. But Rusty, y'all you you and Richie just got finished winning the Nevada shotgun shootout. Um, and tell me if I'm wrong, but Rusty, this is your seventh consecutive win of that event. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Well, they're going to have to they're going to have to change the name of that to the Rusty Gamble Hunt or something. Yeah, it's my my my favorite contest of the year. Not not because I've won it every year, but just it's it's an uplose and personal just high high excitement the whole time throughout the contest. It's just a lot of fun. Tell me about the Nevada shotgun shootout. It's of course called the shotgun shootout for a reason. It's shotgun only, right? Yep. And is it is it daytime and night time or is it just daytime only? Just daytime. Yeah. So that's uh it kind of separates the the men from the boys when you start talking about shotgun only and daytime only. That's pretty You was talking about like you like things to be a little bit tougher. Anything give you a little bit of a challenge. That right there's a challenging hunt right off the bat. Oh yeah. Yeah. You definitely got to get them get them in close and there ain't no nothing besides calling that gets them that close to you, you know. Right. Right. Now, Richie, you you're no stranger to the shotgun shootout as well. I know like you like we was talking about, you and Rusty were partners this year and you all won it. Uh but you've hunted it hunted it in the past as well, haven't you? I have. Yeah. And it is definitely a very challenging hunt. Um you never know what the weather conditions are going to be. It could be hot, it could be cold. Um you just don't know until that weekend out here in the west. And it it's it's such a fun hunt. Like Rusty said, it's probably our favorite to do. I've hunted it with Nick in the past, u Chance Boswell in the past, and it's just it's just a good time. Just good people, and it's just fun. And that's that's what we need to all get back to is is just having a good time. Right. Right. Well, this past year, you decided you want to do a little bit more than just have a good time. So, you teamed up with Rusty so you could win it. Well, Rusty's, like you said, the season champ on this hunt. And uh the the cool thing that Rusty likes to prove to to the public and the other hunters out there that do it is is that he does it with somebody different usually every year just to show that he can do that. You know what I mean? And hats off to him for, you know, inviting me to do it this year because it's just something I've always wanted to do. and we've hunted probably three or four big contests together and we've always done well and you know got double digits and it's just we hunt hard and when I hunt with Rusty it's like I did CrossFit for three days straight afterwards my legs are numb but I'm it's no joke we we run to and from the stand and by the end of it we are just toast. Well, I know you talk you uh I know you two hunt quite a bit together, you know, outside of contest hunting, just pleasure hunting and stuff like that. But, you know, uh Rusty was saying earlier he likes anything that adds a little bit more of a challenge for coyote hunting. That's he must been wanting a challenge to win this seventh uh straight title. That's the reason he picked you as a teammate. He wanted he thought that might hinder him a little bit and he wanted to add to the challenge. Yeah. Well, it's how it goes sometimes. But, you know, when you hunt with somebody so, you know, so often, it's like it's like really you're making music out there. You know, I know what he's doing when I I don't have to look over there. I can I can hear him move and I know something's happening, you know. Same thing with me. He knows what I'm doing. It's just over time that that development in a team member is is crucial to to winning or even placing. So, it's been really fun to just hunt like you said, for fun. We hunt day, night. We go on trips. We film a little bit and y um it's just it's just a good time together and I only hunt with a handful of guys, you know, and it's just about making memories with them. So, if it's with a title or just having fun getting pictures and it's just what we enjoy. Yep. No, it's You got to tell John about You got to tell John about the last stand in that contest that we Let's hear it. Let's hear it. So, so we we obviously this year in the contest you were allowed to use ebikes and e scooters and Rusty's got a scooter and I borrowed a buddy's bike and we we undo them off the truck and it we're getting down to close to checkin time. We got to do one more stand. That's always the problem is do we go in or do you do one more stand? Well, we rolled the dice and we did one more stand. We unhooked the bikes and we went back in about a mile and a half on this little twotrack and it was like that that untouched desert ground that had been rained on and rained on. So it was all pitted but it was untouched. Y and there was some rolling hills and some cedars and there was a bootleg canyon up to my left and Rusty sat on my right about 50 yards from me. I always seem to take the downwind side and uh here's a little nugget for you guys. Rusty's left-handed, so he sits on the right side of me and he can pan faster to the right side and I sit on the left of him. Yep. So, we always plan that that way. And it just so happened I was on the downwind side and uh like I said, the bootleg canyon went up to my left and Rusty starts to call and I, you know, corner my eye out of these cedar this little cedar pocket, I see a flash and I'm thinking it's a jack rabbit. And then it comes through again and it's actually a pretty big coyote and they're about it's about 40 yards and then another one's behind it about 30 yards pops out. So it's moving from my left to my right towards Rusty and it's always a dice roll. Do you take the first one or do you wait? In a contest, you know, you try to just get at least one because it can sour very fast. Yeah. And you know, we're in ghillie suits, face paint, and they don't know I'm there. So, I'm keeping myself calm, which Rusty knows is very hard for me to do cuz I'm a trigger happy person. And uh and uh you know, 40 yards, the these coyotes are just on a Sunday stroll to the call. They didn't have a clue. It was so cool to watch them in their own element come from that that distance. So, I said, "If I let this first one pass, I know Rusty will see him and I'll get the second one." And as soon as they that one first one passed, the second one was in the bushes and I'm like, I got to let him clear. I got to let him clear. And when that opened up at 40 yards, I I let him down. Yep. With that Hornady BB and Rusty immediately pulled the trigger right after my shot. So, we got a double on the last stand for the 19 181 19 coyotes. And uh off to checkin we went. And I mean it was we stand up and Rusty looks at me and he says, "It's like you knew what you was doing. You made a good choice in partner." Sound like Rusty.
But no, it was a memorable stand. I actually kept the shotgun show from that one and sitting with the buckle. So pretty awesome. Well, let me ask you that. Y'all y'all killed 19 coyotes, right, to win it? Is that correct? We did. What What was second place? Uh I believe Craig Sandy Craig Sandy and Chris Loper had 14, I believe. Oh, really? Yeah. I know Craig, he's a he's a fantastic coyote hunter. He's he's from Idaho, too, as well, right? Yeah, he is. Yeah, he was over in Boisee area. Yeah. Yeah. What's that? town. I I'm See, I used to go through Boise all the time. What's that next town right outside of Boise? Headed 84 there. Is it Caldwell Meridian? No, it's not Codwell. It's Is it before or after Boisey? Cuz there's not really much after Boisey other than the Oregon border. Well, it's like you're headed towards you're headed towards uh Oregon. You get on Interstate 84 going Ontario. No, it ain't on Ontario. Good grief. Thought y'all knew Craig. Sandy. I'm trying to think what that town is. Oh, Craig. Na. Na. Na. Na. Idaho. That's That's where he's from. I'm pretty sure. I remember. Na is just right is the next town out right there. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Well, Craig and Chris had us beat the first day. We were down We were down two coyotes, I believe, to them. Mhm. Well, I was wondering, you know, with y'all 19 and 14, that's pretty good gap, you know, especially when you're talking about coyote tournaments. I was just wondering, you know, y'all decided to make that last stand and chalk two more coyotes up. I've heard people doing that and, you know, that last stand that they made and whether they killed a single or double or whatever they made, that last stand caused them to to win a tournament. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Anything anything can change a contest in two stands really. You could call a triple in or a quad. You just don't know. Right. Right. Yeah. Oh yeah. You could be totally out of it and a triple quad put automatically put you right back in the ball game. Yep. There was one year that the Idaho State Championship I was doing it with Chance Roy and I've done a lot of contests with Chance. Yeah. Yeah. And uh we were down bad. We were not having a good good contest and we seen a guy at the gas station and he had I don't even know he had a pile of coyotes like just whooping our butt from the first day. On the second day though we were down you know we were like we we got to freaking hammer out. Our first two stands we killed two quads in a row. We put eight coyotes in the truck in the first two stands. They put you right back in it. Yep. We're right back in it. And it was it was unreal. Two quads in a contest doesn't happen very often. No. No. And you you talking about Chance there. You and Chance have won I know you've won it once. The World's Coyote Calling Championship. Did you have y'all won it twice? Yeah, we've won it twice. I think you guys are a very select few that's ever won two of the Worlds. I'm pretty sure if my memory is serving me correctly. Yeah, that's a pretty big that's a pretty big deal in my book. Yeah, it's it's freaking awesome. It was definitely a goal that I had for a long time. What about Are y'all planning on is the world still a thing? I thought I heard that it sold. Is Is the world's happening this year? Uh I don't think anybody's really said much about it. From what I've heard, it's sold to somebody and it's not happening this year. But I mean, that's that's just hearsay. You know what I mean? So, it's it's hard to say for sure. Nobody's come out and said that they're the new owner. The old owner's not said anything. So, well, they better be getting their butt in gear. They're going to do something, especially they were going to do it this year. I mean, it's usually held in December, right? Yep. Yeah. I I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen this year. And if it does, it'll just be a little stinky. Yeah. Ain't the ain't the same old worlds, is it? No. No. No. Definitely. Unfortunately. Yeah. That that's a that's a kind of a sore subject for a lot of people. But yeah, that's a Anyway, we're talking about the Nevada shotgun shootout anyway. But I was want to ask you guys like when you guys are heading into a tournament like this, uh, you know, let's talk about the preparation and scouting. Uh, how much scouting is actually involved and how far in advance do do you guys generally start trying to put pieces together? So, I normally like in the past, I don't really honestly do a whole lot of scouting anymore. Yeah, I just got my spots that I I go to and check, you know, maybe a week or two before just to make sure that there's still good numbers there and, you know, nobody's been hammering it real bad. Yeah. But the I do a a lot of a lot of my stands, it's not just one area. Mhm. I mean, it's probably I don't know. I we probably in the first day went 200 miles easily. Yeah, easily. I just I have in contests it's not necessarily who can put in the most stands. I mean, yeah, that helps, but the the big thing for contest is doing stands that you know produce you're going to call in a coyote. Yep. trying to just hit 100% stands. And yeah, you might have to drive a little bit more, but I'd rather drive for a half hour than do 10 stands in a row and not kill nothing. You know what I mean? Oh. Oh, definitely. Definitely. And you talking about like checking the week before and couple weeks leading up. You talking about like do you go in like locate is what you're talking about or you just looking for sign or what's it look like? Well, in in the past, I've I to find my areas in good good spots. I I do a lot of calling through the summertime. Do a lot of calling and I I call and kill before contest. That it it doesn't doesn't make no sense to me to call them and then just let them run off. You know what I mean? All that does is make it harder for you to call them in next time. Well, I'm guess I'm assuming like you know you go hunt areas and uh in the summertime like you was talking about and you get in some good denning type coyote action like I know you do a lot of decoy dogging. If you get on coyotes who are really engaging dogs and stuff, it probably means you got a family group's going to be there that following fall and winter, right? Yep. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And I I did I used to do a lot of of howling and just locating driving through valleys, you know, in the middle of the night and just getting a a an idea how many coyotes are there. Yep. Normally, when I go and check out an area for the first time, I'll I'll I'll do three stands through the valley. I'll do one at the first, I'll do one in the middle, and one at the end. And I'll call and just like any other, you know, just call and kill whatever I call in. And if I get one at the first of the valley, and then 20 miles down the road, I kill another one and another, you know, at the very end of the valley, I know that there's a whole bunch of stands in between those three stands that I just did and killed coyotes that I can kill more coyotes. So I can go back to that area and then on a contest or whatever and hammer it out. Yep. Now you're talking you're talking about covering a pretty good stretch of area right there. And earlier you were talking about one thing you're wanting to check is make sure uh you know other people haven't been hammering it too hard. So it sounds like you're talking about public ground. Yeah. Yeah. So I I'd say 90% of the land that I hunt is public. Mhm. the um what was I going to say? Oh, and the stands that I do uh when I'm scouting or whatever, trying to find new spots, the stands that I do during that time are the most obvious, goodlooking, off the road, easy to hide your truck stands that I can find. Right. Right. That way I know that if I'm calling coyotes and in the easy, perfect, good-looking spots that people haven't been been there hitting that area already. Yeah. Those hard to get to spots are definitely going to be money then, aren't they? Yep. Yep. Well, that's that's pretty impressive because you hear about some of these big tournaments that guys go in and they win and especially guys it's maybe racked up you know numerous buckles and you know contest wins and stuff over the years at these these bigger contest a lot of times they're they're saving some private ranches behind lock gates that have untouched coyotes for a full year before they go on there and hunt them. So public land, doing this on public lands, another Well, I just like you taking Richie as your partner. It's just adding another element of uh of of some toughness there. Yeah, the that is one of the things that I always I never really liked getting permission and having to deal with all the land owners. It's just way it's easier and funner to just go hunt. Yep. Yep. And it makes you better, too. 100% 100% 100%. Y'all like y'all like how I'm ragging on Richie? Yeah, I get it. But that's why he also he also takes me to talk to the land owners if there is a is a private ground piece we want to hunt. He's like, "You you're better at it." So I go over do the talk. Hey Rusty on Rusty. Yeah, that makes complete sense. He likes to talk and I'm going I like I like giving Richie a hard time. It's like I've known Richie for a long time. Just like I've known you for a long time, Rusty. We don't get to talk too much. You know, we've talked on the phone once or twice, but we fought each other on Instagram and all that stuff for for years now. And I did the same thing with Richie. And the first time I ever met met him in person, I guess is that time we hunted down there in Arizona, wasn't it, Richie? Me, you, and Al? Yeah. Yeah. Well, the the f like the we met up at at Al's house. S picked me up at Salt Lake City airport and Al don't live too far from there and I think I can't remember we think we was waiting for you to get off work and get in there and we took off driving for Arizona but when Richie showed up you know we shook hands and you know said whatever and Richie was pretty quiet that that afternoon and evening he really didn't say much but of course we was in the truck with Al. Al loves to talk. He don't never shut up. So that might have been part of it. But it was like Richie was quiet for this big long stretch and then all a sudden when he started talking, he never shut up. And he's still like that today. So I understand why you had him go talk to all these land owners if you ever go do that.
I don't know if you had get used to me or what or if it was just overpowering everybody was like yeah it's like nothing and all a sudden it just it started and never ended. That's sounds about right. But back to back to partnering, I guess that's what makes a good duo is knowing who whose strengths are good where they are. And you know, Yeah. And you know, like when we're on stand, I let Rusty call and he's got his sequences and I got mine. And if his aren't working, you know, halfway through the day, he'll he'll tell me, "Hey, you give your style a try." you know, it's not very often, but you know, that's just knowing knowing that each of us have strengths and weaknesses is, you know, what keeps pushing us to the next limit. So, Right. Right. Well, speaking of that, you guys uh you know, partnering up and and knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses and and and playing off that. You all were talking about setup there a little bit ago, like you like to set up uh Rusty on the right side because he's left-handed and you on the right because you're right-handed. Uh when you guys are setting up these shotgun type stands, uh tell us about how you all generally go in and look look how you set that up, like how far away from each other will you usually set and and that type of stuff. Uh we nor we don't set a whole lot further apart. Like I still like to be able to communicate. We don't use radios or nothing like so, you know, just close enough that you can hear each other move and that kind of stuff, but I always like to whoever's calling sets back a little bit further and then the the person that's not calling sets a little bit like he usually is always on my left side and uh a little bit further downwind in front of me, more even with the caller or whatever. Yeah. Yep. But like you said, it's still close enough where if you need to communicate, you can. Or you can hear some movement. Usually if you hear somebody moving a little bit, there's probably a good chance they're they're adjusting because they're seeing some coyotes coming, I guess. Yep. Yep. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And what? Go ahead. for the for the viewer, you know, like or the listener, what we're saying on the downwind side is, you know, as Rusty's sitting up to the right of me, we're trying to keep that scent cone tight and I'm sitting to where that that line of his scent is probably still behind me. So, I'm cutting the coyote off before it can get to his scent on the downwind side, if that makes sense. Mhm. It it wouldn't work real good later in the year just because the coyotes they circle way further out early in the year. They they normally just come right to the call. They they usually go a little bit to the downwind side, but they're not circling like they do later in the year. Those are my type of coyotes. I need those dumb ones like that and eager to come in. Yeah. Yeah. With that being said, with that being said though, we're we're Rusty's got his route and these stands that we're hunting in this particular contest is super super thick. And when I say thick, sometimes he would shoot coyotes that I couldn't even know were there. And then it was a surprise for the coyote and a surprise for you. And the best one, the fastest one wins basically when it comes to these stands. So that's how thick of stuff we're hunting in this contest. Yeah. Some of the fast one to the call wins the shotgun load, right? Yeah. Yeah. Some of the stands we couldn't see 10 ft. Really? You're literally shooting a coyote as it jump. You hear them coming most of the time before you ever see. Yeah. And shoot them as they jump over a sagebrush to the call. So talking about stuff like that, I only see that. So you're all set, you must be setting the call on most of these stands right on top just right there with you, right? Yeah. I was probably 10, 15 feet. Yeah. Yeah. There's some stands where standing up in it was so tall and thick. Really? Mhm. Well, you talk, you know, you talking about earlier I me asked you guys about like preparation and scouting and stuff. It it sounds like to be I guess efficient would be the proper term to be efficient there's still quite a bit even though you don't have to do as much scouting as you used to do. uh Rusty because you you've learned these spots so much over the years and plus what you find out through the summer, but there's still a pretty good amount of of preparation and you know some thought that goes in how you lay out the stands and what order and what areas you want to go to, I'm assuming. Is that right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's uh I Well, before we do I do a lot of driving around before and just making sure we looking for pulloff tracks to see if somebody's maybe done a stand a little bit down the road before. Like we'll pull if I see pulloff tracks, I'll pull over and and look to see if there's foot tracks walking out and stuff just to get an idea of how how pressured the coyotes are. And then also the the spots that I do there I I we go in a lot further with the sh when we're doing shotgun contests. Wherever wherever I know that the coyotes are coming from instead of setting up on the hill, you know, up where you would normally call from, we go another two 300 yds in and get down in the bottoms where they're more comfortable moving where they circle to. If the wool is up on the hill, you know what I mean? Yeah. Crowd that crowd that travel area or crowd that spot where they actually lay up. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Some of them K some of the coyotes in this contest like it was they were they were there within 30 seconds. So they we were setting up right on top of them. Well Well, speaking of that, like when you all go make these stands, you know, you've got everything laid out. you know what you're going to be hitting, what areas you're hitting, and that type of stuff. He's talking about some of these coyotes showing up uh so fast like that, and that's that means you're right on top of these coyotes. So, your your game plan is working, especially if you're calling them up that fast. What like in your all's mind, like when you go in to make these stands, I'm sure you've probably got like a set time limit on how long your stands are actually going to be. Is there is there like you saying, "Hey, I'm just going to call 8 minutes here. I'm going to call 10 minutes or 12 minutes, whatever." What's that look like? Or do you even, you know, you've got to, there's got to be a time that you've got to cut that stand off because you're cutting you're shaving too much time off because these contests are usually just like what, a day and a half and you got to get to to check in, right? Yeah. Yeah. Every it it I wouldn't say there's a specific time. It's it's just depends on the on the stand itself, right? Like if if we ain't got no birds showing up, everything's quiet, we're not seeing nothing moving, we'll get up and leave, you know, six, seven minutes even. Right. Right. What's the like what's the longest you would set on stand? Like if you know, say if you didn't hear a coyote howl back or if even if you're running sounds where a coyote would answer. Uh but like you said, it just seems kind of dead and you don't have high expectations, you know, how how long what is the longest you would set? 10 minutes tops. 10 minutes tops. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean there's some stands that uh that where we where we walked over that uh little sand dune, Richard, where you shot the coyote behind you. We were there for probably 25 30 minutes before that coyote actually showed up. Yeah, I seen a a female on a jump up on a stand, which was very rare in this disc cuz we were hunting flat stuff normally, but I seen one in the distance at about 300 and that's what made Rusty decide to wait and keep calling. And then it showed up behind me on the downwind really and it popped its head up between this little burm and all I could see was a face and ears and I wasn't fast enough. I got my gun up and no shot and me and both jumped up at that time too. Yeah. And we're in ghillie suits. We're you. And sure, I mean, I went right into Kayi on my on my hand call and Rusty kept calling, you know, with the e call with the X-wave and it come back one more time. But I was ready at that time and I got him right in the face. Nice. But that female that female still sat out there on that sandm about 300 and and sat there and challenged and but she sent that male in to kind of come and see what was going on. It wasn't the coyote you saw out there. You actually called it a second coyote. Okay. Okay. It was a coyote. It was barking and howling at us as we were picking up the other coyote and walking back to the truck. And I think that was the the only coyote that whole contest that we could have shot with a rifle. Yep. Oh yeah. That every other every other stand we did, everything that we called in we we I think got Yeah. Yeah. We didn't have any that circled or anything like that or that we could see. I mean, we're so thick stuff. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's that's that's good stuff right there. One thing I was thinking about, you was talking, you know, talking about that stand taking so long to get one killed, but it paid off. Y'all put one in the truck. U What about these stands you was talking about earlier, uh, where you had some where y'all killed them within 30 seconds? You know, if you killed a coyote right off the bat, soon as you started calling, like those 30 second stands, y'all jump up right away and and gather stuff up and move on, or do you go ahead and keep calling for at 7 to 10 minutes? See if you can't get a second or a third? Uh, definitely we would keep calling. Yeah. I don't think it ever it ever benefited us, but we anytime we kill one right off the bat, we'll keep calling for a minute. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. cuz you never know when you, you know, if you're in that loose, that loose family group right there, that that single could turn into a double or triple pretty quick or even a quad like you was talking about that you killed two quads on that that one hunt. Y something. Oh, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say we did have that one longer stand that I remember now. was that pair that came in on your side. Um that come off the hill, but it took I mean we threw everything at it between hand calling and the e call. It came in about I think it was like 26 30 minutes. The ones that you shot at like 80 yards. Oh yeah. Yeah. So that was the longest. Well, do you guys have a pretty good mix of singles, doubles, triples, stuff like that? Or were they mostly singles, doubles, or was mostly singles? Really? Really? Yeah. I think we got two doubles. Two doules. The rest singles to finish it off. And this this year, Rusty said to me in the truck after, you know, about after the first day, he said, "There's something different about this weekend." And like he said, normally in this contest, he's getting just run over and he shoots over 150 shotgun shells at these coyotes in this contest. And Mhm. I think we only shot maybe 40 rounds at the most. Oh yeah, if that. So y'all pretty much running like 50% on shooting and killing. And they were just coming in and standing up, you know, just posting up at 10 feet or 30 yards. And that's a tough shot. A lot of people might not think it that's a tough shot. The year that I did it with Tom Hanner and I even the the years that I done it with Seth, we we uh when we were calling we we were getting groups of pups coming in. Yeah. And that's what you want. And that time of year that's normal. Like to get three, four, five pups running in in a group. We didn't have that one time this year. Yeah. And normally you're emptying your shotgun when you you get the groups coming in, you know, and just going through tons and tons of bullets. But this year, yeah, we definitely saved a lot on ammo. Well, one thing I s thinking, you all had to be pretty dag on efficient getting in the stands, getting out of stands, getting to stands, all that type of stuff, because you're talking about all these singles. You killed 19 coyotes in pretty much a day and a half. And uh 15 of them are singles. Said you don't kill two doubles, right? Yep. Yeah. That's a pretty big feed if you think about it because I'd say there ain't too many people that finishes off in the teens and killed that many singles and and won the hunt. You know, usually you got to be picking up those multiples, I would think. Yep. Well, the I I don't I the the only thing that I can put that to is is the stands. the stands that we're doing. I've killed dozens and dozens of coyotes at this the stands and it's I mean you got you got stands that you know for a fact you could go to right now and call in a coyote. Yeah. Yeah. And I I just got enough of them out in that area that I know are good stands. like the the the last stand that we did, we drove I don't know, it was probably 60 miles to get to that stand and I was like, I promise you, Richard, it'll be worth it. It'll be worth it. I drove I drove past it twice trying to find it just because it was such a It's a It's just a random spot out in the middle of nowhere, but there's always coyotes there. Right. Right. Well, it paid off. Sounds like um how how many blank stands did y'all have? Do you even keep track? Was there too many? Was there many of them? I'd say it's probably half and half there. It was probably 50%. Yeah.
I mean, we did a lot of stands. I bet we did 25 stands the first day at least and then probably another 14 the second day. And I mean that's a runins. Well, is that kind of is like that type of number? You're talking about that many stands those days. Is that was that kind of like a target? Hey, we need to make x amount of stands before we can be in the placing in this contest or winning it. Do you kind of have that mindset going into it or no? Uh my mindset is is just just be hustling nonstop. you're it doesn't matter how many you do. Just the ones that you do do, do them as quick as you can and get back to the truck, get everything loaded back up and on to the next one as fast as you can. I I I've never really kept track of how many stands we've done. I know. I I mean it's a we do a lot, but it just just being consistent and doing as many as you can and making sure that they're good stands that you you know, you know what I mean, right? And not only not only that, you know, being consistent means like being consistent on how you load your gear in and out of the truck every time. Knowing that when a coyote hits the ground, I was the run running back to get the the tags and write everything down, get the phones for the video. Rusty would go and drag them back. I mean, it was just clockwork. We eat on the go. We don't stop and take a lunch. We didn't stop and, you know, go have a drink at the bar, you know. We just we just never stopped right the whole time. So just just grinding and and pretty much like your mindset for how many stands you're going to make is just as many as you can squeeze in practically. Oh yeah. Yeah. If you got to go to the bathroom, you know, someone's by the truck going to going to the bathroom and someone's right there doing a stand, you know, if it's that thick. So you don't there's no breaks or you be peeing as you're walking, right? Yeah. But I mean, that's what it takes to beat some of these guys out there. I mean, there's some there's some straight killers out here. Well, yeah, of course. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. There's tons and tons of excellent contest hunters out there. And yeah, you've got to be that's the name of the game cuz I'm sure there was there was two or three other teams, if not many, many more that was doing the exact same thing, hustling just like you guys were. Uh you all just put it all together, you know, better than the next guys. Well, and there's there's cont there's contestants in these contests that Rusty's hunted other contests with, so they understand and know how hard he goes and they want to win. They want to beat him, you know, just like in a contest that I do against Rusty, I want to beat him. I don't want to put my money in there and just hope I'm trying to win. And that's that's the what you have to go into these contests with that mindset that you're you're you're going to win. If you have any doubt, then you shouldn't even try. Right. Right. Right. Well, and it's kind of like you, you know, certain corners of the country, especially in you know, especially out west, you know, if you see Rusty's name on the on the ticket there that's entered up, he's automatically a favorite or the favorite. So, that is who you're gunning after. You know, if you beat him, you got a you got a chance to win it all. He told me in a contest we did uh last year, he goes, "Make sure you bring about $2,000 in cash because the C is going to be hammered to get me." And I was like, "Really? I don't want to just have two grand into my pocket or, you know, just to try and buy us out or whatever." And yeah, it's no no joke that, you know, and that's what makes a contest great. Like when Big Al and Garvin competed a bunch, people came to that contest to kick their ass. And that's competition and that's how you get better and you want to you want to go against those guys because it makes you go harder. It makes you better and then at the end of the contest, you get to joke around and talk about the contest and learn a few things, you know. So going to checkin is actually really important, too. Oh, of course. Yeah. Well, speak speaking of that, Rusty, you know, how's it feel knowing that everybody's gunning for you, that everybody's trying to take you down at that first place spot? I love it. I absolutely love it. I figured you did or you wouldn't be doing it. Yeah, he he does. He thrives off it. The It sounds stupid, but I even like it better when when I get beat, especially by somebody I know. Yeah. because then it makes me try even that much harder the next year. Yeah. Yeah. The the contest uh like the contest mentality from back in the day when I first started going and I was I was the one that was trying to, you know, do good and and beat all the old-timers that were bringing back piles of coyotes when you know what I mean? thinking, "Oh, they they got to be doing something illegal. There's no way they're killing that many coyotes, right?" And then I I just couldn't put it together in my head like, "How the heck are they doing this?" And I had an an old-timer take me on a contest. And it was funny because the weekend before I had went and hunted this area and didn't didn't do any good, which you know that doesn't say anything really cuz one weekend it could be good, the next weekend not. Exactly. But he was taking me and he'd be like he's an he was an older guy, you know, so he would he was just sitting in the truck and he'd take me and be like, "Okay, you go go over and sit by that rock over there and I'll go up the road and sit and wait for you. Wait till I hear you shoot and then I'll come back and pick you up." And and it was I I don't even know how to explain it. I it was the same areas, but it was where he was placing me in like just random spots out in the middle of nowhere and the coyotes would be there in like 30 seconds or you know a minute or two difference in a blew my mind on how important the location of where you're setting up. Like you could be 100 yards over to the left or whatever and call that spot the exact same day and you wouldn't have called nothing in. It like just where you're setting at is so important 100%. And that's a that's a thing for, you know, not just contest hunters. You know, we the thing with Fox Pro like this podcast, the reason we do it, you know, we want it to be entertaining and stuff, but one of the biggest things we want to educate people. Uh, you know, we want people to be successful out there. If you're going to use our products, we want you to have a good time with them. Uh, a lot of our other accounts are very educational based. One of them is like Tik Tok. We got a Tik Tok account and we're always answering questions on there. And we had one come through today. Um guys asking, you know, hey, I do everything you guys talk about and I listen to all these other guys that are well known in in coyote hunting and they give me tips and I go out and try to try to use them. I call just like you guys do. I use the same equipment you guys do and all this stuff. And he's like, "Man, I can get coyotes to answer me, but I don't ever get no coyotes to show up." And I just today that type of question I tried tried to explain to him like guys, you know, you can you can do everything right as far as, you know, hitting the right buttons or squalling on that mouth call the right way or howling on that mouth diaphragm and all that good stuff, but proximity to coyotes and setting your stuff, your stand up is make or break these. You know, there's just so many people that can't get into their mind that that you can't just call up a coyote from any place. you just you just randomly decide to set. There's a lot more goes into it than pushing the right sounds buttons on that remote or blowing a call the right way. It has tons and tons to do with proximity and where you actually place that call and place your butt. Yep. And the only thing that can get you to that mindset and that experience is the time in the field. Like Rusty is saying, that old that old-timer took him on that one trip, that old-timer that that we both know that Rusty introduced me to, he has over 40 or 50 years hunting out in this desert. You know, it's amazing to just sit and listen to him. And one day I hope to even get to hear him on a hand call because the guy is just a wealth of knowledge and he's one of those guys that you'll never see on social media. So, you got that crowd out there too that Oh, yeah. doesn't doesn't get online and they're just going kill. And some of those guys you're competing against. When you guys were One thing I was want to ask you guys was talking about setting stands up and calling how long your stands were and stuff. I wanted to ask this one here. Uh how many sounds on average do you all play out on one of these contest stands where you're just calling seven to 10 minutes? Oh, that's a a really really good question. I I usually will because every day is different. Every day they're coming to a different sound or different sequence or I I start off every contest I start off usually with like a rabbit distress or something because you have those days where they just run you over coming to a rabbit. You're right. But that doesn't work. I'll I'll just I never even usually give breaks in between the sounds. I'll just turn on a sound and if it doesn't work, you know, for a minute I don't see nothing, I just push another sound and I'll do birds distress, fox distress, like it just keeps switching them until something starts working. And then usually that day once it starts working, it's going to work for the rest of the day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to stick you're going to stick with the sounds. Move those sounds up that that you're getting success with. Yep. And then once you get a little sequence going of one that's worked a couple times in a row, very rarely do I switch from that after it starts working. Mhm. Yeah. That's that's good stuff. That's good stuff. One other thing you was talking about there, you know, I asked, you know, how's it feel to have, you know, you got all these guys that's gunning for you and you was talking about, you know, you first got it started in the contest world and you would see all these old-times bringing in these piles of coyotes and you was like, you know, I need to get to a point where I could beat those guys. Is there like when you enter up in a contest, do you look and do you ever look to see who else is in it? You know, is there is there ever a time where you come across a name or a team that that's entered up and and you're thinking like, man, I might have some trouble out of those guys? Oh, yeah. Every every contest there's multiple like Craig Sandy, every contest he gets in, he's he is right there. Like he's a good one. He's a good one. Yeah, he does really good. And the old time the other old-timer I was telling you about is Don Burch. Mhm. It he's he's definitely he's an older guy, but he will bring back just as many as you, if not more, almost every contest. He's slowed down a lot the last couple years, but yeah, that's that Don is he's the reason that I am what I am today. Awesome. For sure. He beat me I I don't even I couldn't even tell you how many times just year after year he'd beat me by one or two coyotes every year for as long as I did those Idaho state championships and nationals and all that. Yep. Every year it was one or two coyotes he'd beat me by. Is it the first time that you beat him? Is that when me and you hunted the hand call contest together? No. Well, me and Chance beat him and I think it was in the state championship and then we beat him once in the nationals, but I think I don't quote me on that. So, I remember that was the first time I met him is when we did the hand call tournament and you said after the first day, don't let up. This guy is the the bee's knees. He's coming for us. Yeah. I'm I'm really bad at I don't even know. I I if I think that I'm doing really well, I will kind of get laxed and and not push as hard as if I think I'm behind. Right. Right. If that makes sense at all. It does. It does. It does for sure.
Well, before we we still got a few minutes left here, guys, one thing I was want to ask you tell tell us about your shotgun setups. Like Richie, tell us what what gun, what choke tube, that type of stuff was you running for this. So, I'm running a Winchester SX3 uh with a pistol grip on it, and I run a red dot on top. It's a sight mark red dot with a big sight window. And um it's I took the uh plug out, so there's no plug. Rusty's running an extension tube on his. I just haven't bought one of those, but it's just just a simple SX3. Uh they actually made an SX3 Coyote and I'm running the Rob Roberts T2 choke in it. Okay, nice. Nice. You said you shooting Hornady BB's. I heard you say earlier. Hornady BB. And then Rusty was kind enough to share a couple TSS's with me after. I Yeah, I I told you about the TSS stuff. You thought I was joking, didn't you? Oh my lord. You were not joking. We We were They hit hard at 50 yards with that two shot and it was peeling their eyelids back. Like I couldn't I couldn't believe it. So next year we will be I will be buying some of that. Oh. Oh definitely. What about What about you, Rusty? What's your shotgun setup look like? It's pretty basic. It's just a Mossberg 930 Pro. Uhhuh. Uh with the Mossberg X full. Yep. I did buy a suppressor thinking that was going to be the bees and knees, but those things are pointless on a shotgun. I've heard that from a few people. That kind of breaks my heart because I think I love the idea of it. Oh, yeah. They they look cool. They I mean, they're fun to shoot and everything, but it it gives you absolutely no benefit. If anything, it it hinders you just because it makes your gun so much longer and awkward. See your sight as good. Like I don't run a red dot or nothing. I tried that and I just I had issues hitting running coyotes and then like the battery dying. Yeah. I uh got rid of that right quick after I started with it. Yeah. Yeah. What about what was your all's uh sound like y'all had some I think you said earlier 10 feet. Uh what was y'all's closest kill and what was your furthest? I shot one at I think it was like 86 yards with the Oh my gosh. One shot. One shot, one kill. Yep. And then I shot one at I don't know, two feet. Yeah.
It about rolled right onto me when I shot it. Oh my gosh. That's I couldn't I was looking out the corner of my eye and I could not believe he let it get that close. Like you know when you shoot him with a shotgun close they kind of do that like when they're jumping they kind of do that limp in the air kind of thing. It was like slow motion and that and it landed pretty much at his knees. I'm like oh my heavens. How do you let it get so close? Oh yeah. You don't Hey, those are the best ones. You don't have to drag them as far. You don't have to go get them. They're they're there with you. It was awesome. And the 86 the 86 yard shot one that he had our line of sight was really different. this thick brush, the sage, and and he shot and it ran and then I saw the tail flip up and he's like, "It it got away." And I'm like, "I don't think so, dude." I'm like, "You better go look." Sure as hell that thing was laying there. It was laying in the bush right where it went out of sight. Well, I tell you, two two foot from two foot to 86 yards is a pretty good little stretch. That's pretty awesome. Yeah. And uh you know what that 86 yard uh tell you what Richie you didn't have a chance at that BB's.
Hey I Rusty I had a conversation with him before I can't remember when we had this Richie. you. It was probably three weeks, four weeks before the contest cuz I think I'd asked you if you was going to be shooting TSS and Rusty I said just when you tell people that's never never ran TSS what the difference is they and I ain't saying Richie was like this but a lot of times they're like they think you're BSing them. They're like Oh yeah. I I wasn't a believer until I actually used it. Oh my gosh. You go from you go from shooting a coyote with some BB regular lead, copper plated lead or whatever you like to shoot, nickel plate or whatever, uh, you know, number four bucks and, you know, whatever else is out there, double hot and BBs and everything else. You go from shooting a coyote at 45 yards that'll flip-flop spin and take off running for 50 or 60 yards and you might find him and you might not to to busting their high end at 90 steps and are just stone cold chilled. You mean it literally doubles your effective range. Literally it I was blown away that we were shooting two shot. Yeah. Yeah. I man I Hey, I've killed them. Um, I've tested all kinds of different stuff. I've even shot straight number sevens. Straight number sevens and killed them pretty good little piece out there. You wouldn't believe it. But like stuff like number fives and number sevens. Birdshot guys. Birdshot is rough on them with TSS, right? I was I was we were almost ordered some and from Foxtrot. The guys at Foxtrot. Yeah. Awesome dude. Bryce awesome guy. He we just his shipment came in and I wasn't you know I to test before I go went out and hunted this contest and I we just didn't have the time. So that's who that's who I got mine from was the fox truck he's a good dude. He's a good dude too. Fellow hunter, fellow coyote hunter, fellow turkey hunter. He's he's a good Yeah. Old Bryce. Yeah. that that I told him that we were we were wanting something that we could reach out and touch, you know, at Yep. 100 yards. And he's like, "Oh, yeah. This stuff will do it." And I was like, "All right, I bought this shit's expensive. I bought 25 bullets and we we made it right to the very end of the contest without shooting all of them. I have maybe four or five left." But man, they're they're they're worth it. Especially when there's money on the line or you want to make sure you shotgun a coyote. It's just it's the stuff. The difference, like Rusty pointed out to me on the contest, it was like we were shooting a a basketball of BB's at them the whole time. It just held tighter longer and Yeah. It was hammering them. Yeah. And it and you know, it carries that energy out there that you need too. It's just like uh I've literally shot coyotes, we'll say just a straight number fours, and I'm not talking about number four buck. I'm talking about number four bird shot and shot coyotes like in the snow at like 60 like 65 yards 70 yards before and the you know go up to the coyote and pick it up and then on the back side of the coyote will be little dots of you know where you pick the coyote up there'll be little dots of blood in the snow and that is e exit the exit not the entrance the exit shot plum through these things with number four birdshot it's Crazy. Wild. Yeah. So, I've heard Tory Cook, he talk he likes shooting number twos. He's talking about shooting at coyotes that take off running like and running away from him. He'll shoot them in a back end and still knock teeth out of the front end. Oh, I believe it. Yeah, that's I would say that's one of the the biggest things in them uh that shotgun content. Well, just hunting coyotes with shotguns in general. uh using TSS or just regular number four buck or buckshot or whatever it is. If you can shoot the coyote before it realizes what's going on, your your chances of getting that coyote double. Oh, just before that adrenaline kicks in and all that. If he turns and runs, you have a lot it's a lot harder to kill that coyote or you probably killed it regardless, but it's going to run for a long ways. Yep. Yep. No, I'd completely agree with that. I've seen it. I know you have too many times. Yeah, that's 100% right. Well, tell us real quick what what calls are you guys using? Uh y'all use I know you said you all mentioned X-Wave a minute ago. Did y'all pack more than just the X-wave? Yeah, we have X uh the X Richard had the X360 out there and the X24. Yep. Yep. So, I really like just cuz I can play two sounds. Yep. But the small compact X24 is is pretty hard to beat in contests. Yep. Sound like it uh it's helped you win several of them. Oh yeah. Yeah. I've I've done really well with Fox Pros. Yep. Yeah. Well, uh Go ahead, Richie. I was going to say that's another thing is, you know, preparation wise in any contest, we always bring two to three, maybe four calls. We always have an extra gun each. Yep. You know, numerous amount of rounds. You just don't know what's going to happen out there. You could get rain and jam a gun up. You could drop your scope. You know, anything. Yeah. I left my call on the shotgun contest I did with Chance Boswell. We got back to the hotel room and I left my call 85 miles out in the desert and had to He's like, I'm going to bed. And I had to go back out there and go get it, you know. us. Yeah. 160 mi round trip for nothing. Mhm. But yeah, I mean, you got to bring extra gear. So, did you find it? We did. I was right where we finished that day. For sure. Well, uh, what what's next for you guys? Y'all got any other contests you're all planning to do for this season? I I got nationals out in Wyoming, the nationals in the state championship that I'm doing with Brady uh born. And other than that, I I really don't got nothing nothing else on the books as far as I know. I know there'll be a lot of little contests here and there that I'll do throughout the year, but yeah, I haven't posted them yet or nothing. Well, the Nationals has kind of resurfaced there. Uh which which is we're pumped to see. But there's one thing I was going to ask you earlier about like this Nevada Nevada shotgun shootout. I know y'all killed 19 and won, but is it is it a straight numbers contest or is it a weight contest? It's numbers. Awesome. What in nationals? I think it's weight now, isn't it? Uh I So nationals, I believe, is weight, but I think it's I think Well, you do two contests in one. So you have the state championship and nationals. And one of them is the five and five and the other is most. So I'm I can't remember which is which. So, you still still want to get as many as you can, but right, get that average up. Get the five and five for sure. That's good stuff, guys. I really appreciate y'all coming on and uh got to say huge huge congratulations for winning the Nevada Shotgun Shootout. Uh to both of you and and Rusty, I'm telling you, a seven in a row. That is That's awesome, dude. That's uh that's pretty crazy. That's pretty crazy. Congratulations. I appreciate it. Definitely didn't do it by myself. I mean, lots of lots of good partners throughout the years that have helped me do it for sure. Except for Except for Richie.
No, I like I like give Richie a hard time. He's a Richie is about as consistent as it gets. He knows his stuff. Richie's a Richie is one of the better coyote hunters in the country. That's for sure. He's just easy to give a hard time to. So, yeah, he definitely makes it easy. Well, I'd rather be lucky than good any day. So, me, too. But I want to I want to thank uh all the listeners out there that tune in every week with to Fox Pro and watch Fox Pro Hunting TV and and I want to thank Rusty for being one of my best buddies and letting me hunt this contest with him. And and that's what I want to encourage everybody else to do is just get off the couch, get out there in the field, run your Fox Pro and just go have some fun. If it's a contest or even for a fun hunt, just just get outside. It's what we all need. Yep. Yes, sir. And and Rusty, I don't I don't want to hunt no dag on contest or nothing, but when are you going to take me coyote hunting? I'm going to go coyote hunting with Rusty. I keep telling you every time I talk to you, you just tell me when and I'll be there. Well, we're going for the planning one. You got all the these hunts here and there and everywhere and I I just hope to fit in one day. I'll even I'll even video it for you guys. It's It's coming together pretty quick then. Sounds good to me. But Russ, do you got anything you'd like to leave us with, buddy? No, I I appreciate you having me on and I I encourage everybody to it. Even if you're not into the coyote contest, go give it a whirl because I mean the more people we have come to them, the better they are, the funner they are. Yes, sir. It's a good way to support the uh support each other and it's it is a lot of fun. You know, always I don't do any contest hunt, but I always keep track with it. I love uh uh seeing what goes on during them. It is a good time. But everybody out there, we hope we hope everyone enjoyed this episode. We hope you join us again right here on the Fox Pro