Assassin Hunting Outdoor News

Hey all, Dakota Dan here, I hope everyone had a great week. 

In the last post I asked what has had more influence on predator hunting, e-calls or the AR 15 platform rifles.  It's a tough question, and to be honest with you there is no absolute answer but here is some stuff to consider. 

Over the last 5 years there has been roughly 5 million AR style rifles sold in the U.S. alone.  That's a lot of rifles, however not all of those are probably being used for hunting.  The development and growth of competitive shooting sports such as 3-gun have vastly increased the popularity of this particular style of rifle and have no doubt added to the enormous sales numbers.  Having said that, there is no doubt that these AR rifles have become extremely popular amongst predator hunters for a number of reasons.  First off, the lack of recoil makes follow up shots very easy.  Secondly, the fact that they are semi auto makes them very quick.  So is that it?  Are guys emptying their clips on running coyotes?  Are trigger happy hunters educating the predator population?    Maybe, but what about the e-call?

In the beginning, e-calls were scratchy horrible sounding representations of the rabbit distress, the doe bleet, and in some cases sounded like a pack of sick tone def coyotes.  Those days are long gone!  Todays e-calls are state of the art, light weight, easy to operate, and above all sound really good.  Mouth calls are still somewhat popular and when used in tandem with an e-call can prove to be lethal. But from what I've seen, the occasional predator hunter, and or beginner, usually doesn't have or make the time to really learn how to call.  The proliferation and sometimes uneducated use of these calls has undoubtedly made the predator population much more wary.  Put yourself in there paws.  How many times would you get in close to investigate an apparently dying rabbit or challenge howl if the first time you did it your friend got shot and you got shot at.  Most likely never!  Predators are inherently curious so they will most likely always react to some extent no matter what kind of calling you are doing, but they are also very intelligent.   So in my opinion it is most definitely the e-call that has had the most impact on predator hunting over the last 5 years.

That's all for tonight check in next week as I will discuss habitat and what one Midwestern state is doing that may have a huge impact on wildlife. 

Don't Forget!  Stay active! Stay healthy! Stay outdoors