Live for the season...

How to... Home made Predator e-Caller

If you have never tried it, one of the most exciting types of hunting that you will ever do is predator hunting.  Nothing gets the blood pumping like fooling the sharpest critters in the woods into hunting you!  

I have hunted with & called animals with both mouth-blown & electronic callers.  While both can definitely be effective when used properly, I really like the advantages that an e-caller gives you.  The e-caller never fatigues (well at least until the battery goes down), it allows you to keep both hands free, and it gives you the option to choose between many different sounds at the touch of a button.  There is a huge assortment of quality e-callers on the market today.  Prices on these range from a little less than $100 up to over $600.  Another option for those of us who like to tinker is the home made e-caller.

An e-caller basically consists of 4 parts - the housing, the speaker, the amplifier, & the sound source.  In doing my research, I found that most people are using either a flashlight body, an insulated thermos, or just a watertight box / bag.  I wanted to try to make my call with the basic "look" of today's popular predator calls, so I chose to use the flashlight body.  I did some looking & decided to start with this model from Walmart - it was on sale for $8!

The first thing I did was remove & discard the lens, bezel, battery holder, & bulb assembly.

Next I masked off all of the black rubber parts that I did not want painted.  I then painted the housing then a gray spray paint made especially for plastic.

I had found that most people were recommending a SPECO SPC-5 horn speaker for this type of call.  Found one online for $20.  It was white so after removing the mounting pedestal & cutting the bracket off with a Dremel tool, I painted it gray also.

Now it was time for the wiring.  For an amplifier, I went with the Radio Shack mini amp  ($14.99).  I planned to utilize the flashlight's existing switch, but I wanted to add an led light so that I would know at a glance if the caller was on or off.  I also wanted an input jack on the outside of the housing so that I would simply be able to plug my mp3 player into it .  First I drilled a hole in the back of the flashlight housing & threaded a 3.5mm audio cable through it.

Next I took the mini amp apart, removed the built-in speaker, & cut off the original 9v battery connector.  Then I drilled a hole in the top of the housing & inserted the small led light ($1.99 from Radio Shack).  Finally, with some trial & error, I soldered the mini amp, a new battery connector, & the led light all to the terminals from the flashlight's original switch.

Now it was time to attach the speaker.  I used black adhesive caulk to glue the speaker in the black cap of the flashlight.

Then it was just a matter of plugging the 3.5mm speaker wire (I cut some of the length out & then soldered back together to make it shorter) & the input wire into the mini amp, screwing the cap / speaker back on, re-masking the black rubber parts, and spraying on a little camo.

Total time invested was probably about 3 - 4 hours.  Total cost was about $50.  I really enjoyed putting it together & can't WAIT to get out ion the field with it!  Hope to be posting some success pictures very soon!

November Surprise

As a hunter, I am very blessed.  Not only do I live in one of the game richest Counties in Tennessee, but I also to have access to several hundred acres of private land - most of which I either have exclusive or near-exclusive hunting rights on.  I have been hunting  some of the same farms for 30 years now, and have consistently killed deer & turkeys on them for most of those 30.  I often find myself wanting to hunt some of my "old favorite" spots to reflect on memories of seasons past even though this year's sign tells me that another, newer stand location might be more productive.  That being said, there is still something very special to a hunter about killing a deer on your own property.

Brandi & I bought 40 acres in the late 90's with the plans to build our "dream home".  It borders the Elk River & contains a good mix of hardwoods & bottom land.  We are in a part of our County that has historically grown some very big deer, but with very few exceptions they have always seemed to avoid our place.  Even still, my river bottom is my absolute favorite afternoon stand.  It is one of those places that you are almost guaranteed to see a bunch of deer, no matter the weather or time of year.  It is not unusual to have 20 + does feeding around the bottom any afternoon of the season.  Prior to this year, I had only killed 3 deer on my place in the 12 years we've had it.  Plus, I've let several friends hunt & kill deer over the years.  All of these hunts were memorable, but none resulted in a "big" deer. 

Fast forward to the Thursday after Elizabeth killed her deer.  It was early muzzleloader season, but I was taking the kids to school instead of hunting.  We had just pulled out of the drive when a really good buck crossed the road in front of us & ran onto the property that joins mine.  I stopped the truck in the middle of the gravel road that we live on & said "WOW kids - LOOK at that deer!!!".  He looked to be a big framed 8 pt with extraordinarily long beams that came out past his nose.  Elizabeth tried to claim him but Molly quickly reminded her that she had already killed a deer so to be fair, this buck should be Molly's.  I thought it was hilarious that they were fighting over this deer that we would most likely never see again!  

I had had a trail camera out on my food plot in the river bottom since August & had not gotten a picture of ANYTHING bigger than a spike.  So I really thought that us seeing the big deer was just a fluke.  He was probably living across the road, just happened to be ranging a little farther then normal that morning, got spooked by my truck, and just happened to cross the road & run in the direction of our property.  I had very little confidence in ever seeing him again.  All that changed the next afternoon when I went to check my camera.

 

Not a great picture, but definitely the same deer - those long beams were unmistakable!  This picture was actually taken the night before the kids & I had seen him.  1 visual & 1 picture on consecutive days - NOW, it was time to get excited!  

It was the next afternoon before I was able to hunt him.  Weather was a little cooler than typical for our early muzzleloader - low 60's when I got to the stand that afternoon with a forecast of mid 30s for that night.  I don't remember the exact number, but I think I had 6 or 8 does out feeding in the plot by 5:45.  I had taken my eyes off of them for some reason (probably to send one of my buddies a text).  I saw him immediately when I looked back up.  A very big bodied deer with a head full of horns had just stepped out of the woods & was feeding back behind the does.  One quick check with the binocs was all it took - IT WAS HIM!!!  Funny I had ranged the treeline where he came out just a few minutes before.  Nearly 200 yards - not exactly an easy shot for a muzzleloader, but definitely doable for the Savage.

I eased the window of the shooting house open, tried to still my beating heart & settle the crosshairs behind his shoulder.  I touched off the shot, heard the bullet hit, & watched him run the few yard back to the edge of the woods.  I could still see his rack through the trees, he had stopped but he didn't go down...  I quickly found him in my binocs - he was standing in a ditch that runs behind my food plot.  All I could see was the top of his neck, his head, & his rack.  I knew that he was hit hard but he still hadn't gone down...  Uh-oh...  I had visions of the buck of my dreams running off & never finding him as I reloaded as fast as I could.  

Once again I eased the gun out the window of the shooting house.  This time, all I had to aim for was his neck so I tried to steady the crosshairs on his throat patch at about 175 yards.  I touched off the shot.... nothing... he didn't even flinch...  MISSED!  I think I reloaded even faster this time.  Here we go again...  This time I took a couple of extra moments to steady the crosshairs of the center of his neck.  He disappeared from the scope as soon as I touched the trigger.  Quick check through the binocs verified that he was down - I GOT HIM!

He ended up being a 10 pt thanks to a couple of nice kickers.  Haven't scored him but he should go in the low 140s - my 2nd or 3rd best Tennessee deer.  But score or not, this will always be one of my favorite deer - there is nothing quite like killing a trophy on your own land!

About that shot - it turned out he had been quartering to me instead of broadside plus I obviously pulled my shot a little, hitting him too far back.  Thankfully, I was far enough away that none of the deer knew where the shot(s) were coming from.  The does actually went back to feeding & never spooked until I climbed down from the stand to go retrieve him.  Thankfully too I had a quality gun with quality optics in which I have the utmost confidence & was able to put the finisher in him.  

Elizabeth's First Deer!

It is no secret to those who know me best that I have long dreamed of being able to carry my own children deer hunting.  I have known since I killed my first deer at age 10, that nothing would compare to being able to share that thrill with my own kids.   Obviously, it is impossible to grow up in the Barnes house without being exposed to all-things hunting.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see them get so excited about my hunting successes.  I am always quick to answer their questions, I encourage them whenever they show interest, but have always been careful not to push them into hunting just because I want them to like it.

So after both girls killed turkeys this past Spring (Elizabeth, Molly), and both started asking "when can we go deer hunting?", I decide that they were ready.  Fast forward to a sunny, Sunday afternoon this past October - it was time to shoot the "deer gun".  Elizabeth went first & did great!  She was shooting my TC Contender Carbine in 6.8mm SPC.  For those of you not familiar with that caliber, it is basically a .223 on steroids.  It is a .30 Carbine casing necked down to hold a .270 bullet.  Developed jointly by Remington & our Military, it offers basically the same ballistics & felt recoil (almost none) as the .223, but with greater down range energy.  A PERFECT deer caliber for kids!  We were shooting at about 50 yards & Elizabeth was able to put 2 just above the bullseye!  When it got to be Molly's turn, she decided not to shoot.  For some reason, the thought of shooting a rifle scared her even though I assured her that it was not near as loud nor would kick near as hard as the shotgun that she was used to.  But that was ok - I gave her a hug & told her we would try again as soon as she got ready.

Tennessee offer s a early Juvenile (kids only) hunt every year. For 2010, the early Juvenile deer hunt weekend was scheduled to be Oct. 31st & Nov. 1st.  I knew we wouldn't get to hunt Saturday because of a soccer tournament during the day & trick-or-treating that night.  We had Church Sunday morning & I was unsure about Sunday afternoon.  So I didn't even mention Juvenile weekend to Elizabeth - I just told her that we had a long season ahead of us & would do our best to get her a deer.  Thankfully the planets aligned & by Saturday night it looked like I had everything worked out to be able to take her hunting the next afternoon.  I didn't tell her right away just in case something fell through.

Right after Church, I told her to go get dressed cause we were going hunting.  "We're going DEER hunting... TODAY?!!!' she asked very excited.  I had 2 different spots in mind - one where she would be pretty much guaranteed a close shot at a doe but chances of seeing a buck were pretty slim.  I felt like our chances of seeing a buck at the 2nd spot were just as good as seeing a doe, but anything we saw might be too far for her to shoot.  I explained the pros & cons of both stands to Elizabeth & let her make the decision.  She didn't hesitate - she wanted a buck!  So off we went to Rick's farm at Mimosa.

We had been in the shooting house for nearly 2 hours when the first doe stepped out.  I was surprised when Elizabeth barely even looked up from the book that she was reading to look at the doe.  I thought "wow she really does just want a buck - not even excited about a doe".  She later told me that she didn't want to look at the does because it made her too nervous since she was so excited :))  By about 30 minutes before dark, we had a field full of deer but no bucks.  Elizabeth surprised me again by saying "I really just want to kill a deer - I don't want to wait on a buck".  Well OK sounds good to me!  The closest does were about 50 yards behind us so we slowly stood up in the shooting house, got turned around, opened the window, and eased the gun out.  Poor little Elizabeth just fell to pieces!  She was so nervous she just couldn't get the gun on them before they fed out of our sight.  That ok - let's try another one.  We still had plenty of deer out front so we turned around again & slipped the gun out the front window.  

The deer weren't nervous at all - just slowly moving around the field as they fed.  We finally got settled down & were trying to get the crosshairs steady on a big doe when she threw her head up & looked into the woods behind her.  I knew what that probably meant so I told Elizabeth to wait just a minute to see what else was coming.  Sure enough about a minute later another deer stepped out & this time it was a BUCK!  I helped Elizabeth get the gun steady again & told her to squeeze the trigger when she got ready.  I was expecting to hear the gun go off any second when she looked up & said "I can't do it - I'm too nervous!"  I told her "yes you can baby, just like we practiced... are you on him?"  She said she was.  "Then SHOOT HIM - NOW!"  BOOM!  He dropped in his tracks!  I couldn't believe it!  The rest is kind of a blur - I just remember grabbing & hugging her saying "you GOT him baby girl - I'm so proud of you!"

Yep, it was just as good as I had dreamed!  Absolutely, without a doubt THE best deer hunt I had ever been a part of!  Little did I know that history would repeat itself just a couple of short months later.  Stay tuned... ;)