*1* Misting Article from the Macon Telegraph (click)

*2* Practice Makes Perfect

By Jeff Porath
I'll be talking about three different calls…the closed reed, open reed and the diaphragm. There's a wide variety of instructional DVD's out there with different animal in distress sounds. I highly recommend you get one. Listen to the cadence of the calls…the bigger the critter, the longer the cadence. For example, a cottontail voice will be higher in pitch and will scream and cry with a shorter cadence than a fawn bleat. You get the point.

Let's start with a closed reed. I think it's the easiest call to master. Don't just blow through the call, use your diaphragm and force air into it. Experiment with using one or two hands over the end of the call. You'll get a different sound with each. You can growl into the call to add rasp. You'll be surprised at all the different sounds you can get out of a closed reed just by playing with it.

Open reed calls are very versatile. The lower you go down on the reed, the lower the pitch. You can use your lip or your teeth on the reed. Experiment with both and use whatever works best for you. Like the closed reed, you can growl, grunt and groan into the call to change the sound. Go high on the reed and flitter your tongue for bird sounds. The more time spent practicing, the more sounds you'll master.

Turkey and elk hunters definitely have a head start using diaphragm calls, but they have a place in predator hunting as well. You can get a lot of different sounds out of a diaphragm and they're hands-free to boot. I'm not trying to pitch my own product here, but I feel I need to mention the Killer Kitty diaphragm. It imitates the pitiful meows of a housecat in distress. It's deadly on nighttime fox and the yotes seem to love it, too… especially when you get one hung up. A couple of meows usually seals the deal.

I know some very successful dog whackers who call continuously. I like to run my series 20 to 30 seconds. Let wind and terrain dictate how long and loud you call, and then come up with your own routines through practice. When I practice, I blow the calls as long a I can to get my lungs in shape so that if I do have to get on a call longer, I won't be out of breath and miss the shot because I'm gasping for air. I highly recommend wearing earplugs when you practice. Your ears will take a beating if you don't. I blow calls a lot in my truck while on the road. That way you can listen to a CD and imitate the sounds you hear. And the little woman isn't telling you to blow those damn calls outside. Trust me on this one…the ex-wife used to say it all the time!

So grunt, groan and growl into those calls and practice daily until it becomes second nature. Remember, practice makes perfect. Hunt hard, never quit!

*3* Listen to the Woods

The woods will tell you when a predator is in the area if you know what to listen for. Let's start with the squirrels. The grey and fox squirrels will run for the trees and begin to bark. The little red squirrels are a nightmare for deer hunters trying to sneak into their stands, but a Godsend for predator hunters. The bluejays, like the red squirrels, are blabbermouths, too. They'll fly from tree to tree, calling all the way, signaling the approach of a predator.

Whitetail deer will get very nervous and run off flagging or begin to blow. When you hear the deer begin to blow, get ready. Coveys of flushing dove, songbirds flying away, the flushing of a pheasant, and the putt-putt alarm call of the wild turkey are all indications of an approaching predator.

Crows at times will follow in an approaching predator.
I once saw a redtailed hawk flying about 10 ft. over a coyote that was running across a field coming to the call. So, if you see a low-flying hawk coming in, look underneath it. If you're hunting around farms, watch the animals. When you see the horses, cows and sheep getting nervous and all looking the same direction, be prepared…something's coming that way.

Let me mention magpies. There's none where I live in Southern Michigan, but while hunting out West, they're a sure sign of an approaching coyote.

So don't get caught with your pants down. Pay attention to your surroundings and all the sounds in the woods. Birds and animals will usually tell you long before you see anything that a predator's in the area.

*4* Extending the Hunting Season By Don Fraim, Special to the Pekin Times

The 2007 hunting season is on the downside. Something that is fun, challenging and without a season is coyote hunting. Recently, a predator call manufacturer named Jeff Porath out of Michigan introduced me to this most interesting sport. During my deer hunting this season I noticed that the aggressiveness and hunting pressure that coyotes bring was more prevalent than usual. I told Jeff about some encounters where coyotes actually challenged hunters for the rights to a downed deer. Coyotes actually create a hunting pressure that causes deer to move in a nocturnal pattern. Jeff was more than willing to help eliminate some of that coyote pressure. Jeff is a call designer, and he has several one-of-a-kind call patents on the market. My thought was that if you want to get a handle on the sport of coyote hunting, you might as well learn from one of the best.


If you think deer are a challenge and turkeys are fun, then you need to coyote hunt because they are at the top of their food chain in Illinois. There are a lot of ways to kill coyotes, but I was interested in the sport of coyote hunting. We didn't hunt over bait or use any poisons, we worked for them. Jeff is a very experienced caller and predator hunter.

We met with Darrel Smith, a local outfitter who has access to 20,000 acres of rural ground, to begin our project. Darrel and I have never hunted coyotes before, and Jeff informed us that we would be making our stands. A stand is an individual setup where we would make a series of call patterns for about thirty minutes and watch for coyotes to respond to the calling. There were about seven different calling sequences, and if there wasn't any response we moved to another set. One of the disadvantages that we had was the wonderful snow storms and ice storms that central Illinois is blessed with experiencing. A coyote will travel a long way to come to a distress call. Wind can be a hindrance, and if the wind is too strong, the sound doesn't travel as well. The ability of a coyote to hear an animal in distress from such a long distance is due to their extraordinary hearing ability. Their ability to smell is just as keen as their hearing, and their ability to pick up on movement makes them a hunting challenge.

Coyotes are also dangerous. Many times a missing pet is the result of a pack of coyotes luring them away to be their next meal. Since coyotes seem to be adapting to the spreading urban life, they can be dangerous to humans as well. Not only are you doing your part to keep the balance, hunting coyotes is a fun and exciting sport.

When that first group of coyotes came in like storm troopers on a mission of destruction, Darrel and I were instantly addicted to the sport of hunting the hunters. The fast and furious action sent our adrenaline levels skyrocketing. Every hunter needs to give this sport a fair shake. You can find out about Porath calls on our website on our links page.

*5*  Getting Started, by Jeff Porath (click)