Hyperwrx

.243? .308? Obviously not looking at doing any taxidermy on those harvested animals! haha.

RICK - excellent caller and loud is an understatement.

AZG&F are talking about a controlled roll-out of night hunting in AZ. First stage is trying to get it legalized in the the units where the pronghorn antelope are being severely impacted by coyotes. If and when this is successful, stage 2 will develop. FYI- Any AZ hunting license holder can already hunt at night all they want. Raccoons! Look it up in the regs. I go half a dozen times a year.

The Foxpro Spitfire is a good entry level electronic predator caller. As it's a Foxpro the customer service and reputation are top-notch. That being said, when it comes to volume, it's the bottom of the pile compared to other Foxpro caller. For the $200 a Spitfire costs I'd look to purchasing a used Foxpro FX3 or FX5. Considerably louder in volume. Scorpion uses a small 3" speaker. Not far off on volume to the Spitfire. Someone mentioned attending the APC Seminar on lion calling Steve Craig did. He fired up his Wildlife Technologies electronic caller and wowed the audience with lion vocalizations. That caller uses a TOA PA horn as a speaker. Any caller using that type of a speaker configuration will get louder volume. There are a few different companies using a TOA horn. Minaska Outdoors, Flambeau Madd Callers, and even Foxpro made a CS24 which uses a TOA horn. The most important factor in calling is loudness. The louder your caller is the higher your chances of calling in predators is as the sound is getting out to more of their ears.

He used the "Mighty Atom" electronic caller. The mighty atom is made by same company that made his model, Wildlife Technologies. His is an older model with a larger TOA horn. He mentioned his caller was over a $1000. That would be in part because of the sounds he has loaded by Bill on it. They are defiantly loud callers. I had the pleasure to taking Steve out for dinner at Outback before the seminar and getting to speak with him one on one is worth the price of any dinner. he is a wealth of knowledge and he shares it. That's what sets him apart from the rest.

We have speakers every single month but few can compare to this months speaker- Steve Craig. Steve is from Cottonwood and was the owner of Arizona Predator Hunts, a guide service that concentrated primarily on calling in mountain lions. Anyone can call in a lion by accident (I proved this a few times), but few can boast calling in over 100 lions in a decade. At an 85% success rate its not hard to see why he was booked solid and is still sought after for his advice on articles and videos. If you come out to 1 APC meeting this season, make it this one. Glen- you can stay at my place if you plan on coming down. The monthly meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month at 7PM in the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #9 at 1450 East Main Street. The FOP Lodge is on the North side of Main Street between Stapley and Gilbert Road in Mesa. The meeting is free to APC members and students under 18, and $5 for non-members.

I apologize. I like to post these important speakers a few weeks early so guys can work the seminars into their busy schedules. I typically link the club website for people to go to to find specific information. Steve Craig will be speaking this Thursday, April 14 at 7 PM.

Reed Peterson and Steve Craig. By far the best 2 speakers we've had this year.

On the way to work I sometimes see a coyote or two on the vacant lot to the South on Chandler Blvd between Greenfield and Val Vista.

Been there, done that. That tough part is getting the stupid javalina OUT of the cage. Open the door and it doesn't run out. It gets turned around and is head butting the back of the cage trying to create a new rear door. Tip the cage a little to 'encourage' it out the front and it gets it's hooves stuck in the bottom of the wire and can't move even if it wants to. Bang, kick. scream at it and the cage to no avail. Don't even think about putting your hand anywhere near the wire on the cage. At this point the pig was pissed off enough he was snapping and lunging at a shadow. After 15 minutes he realized how to get his hooves out and bolted off into the desert. Wire bent, steel on door frame bent. You do not want a javalina in your cage. AZG&F recommends using your choke pole and choking it out. LOL. Yeah. I wanna see that.

There are all kinds of places to shoot coyotes in that area. You just need to make certain you're outside city limits. The San Tan Park has all kinds of coyotes, foxes and bobcats in and around the park. Call just outside the park and you're fine. AZ Farms Road between the 79 and the main Johnson Ranch Road has all kinds of coyotes in and around the agricultural fields. Anywhere you find a thicket, get out and call. Coyotes out there are a dime a dozen. South of US 60 past AJ to the South is shotgun only, Down the 79 towards Florence is shotgun to West.

I wouldn't hurt but the bobcat you are convinced that is frequenting your cage could be on a 10 mile circuit and not pass by again for another 4 days. Can't be sure where it is.

It is illegal to place your foothold trap adjacent to a recent kill intentionally. Raptors often become the targets if your trap resides next to a recent kill. Also with confinement traps putting a dead rabbit in the cage to lure the bobcat in is also against regulations. Do not get discouraged as you at least have bobcats in the immediate area. They end up in your trap inevitability. Are you using a gland based lure? It's almost breeding time and the males are on the prowl. Get some Briarpatch Bobcat gland lure or Grahams (there are a ton of them available) and entice the bobcat to step on that pan. Good luck.

All I will say is it's a big looking tom bobcat.

I find this tough to fathom when the population is less than 100 in our state.

Neither should you. There is no 40 pound bobcat in the state of Arizona unless it was eating big rocks. There are misconceptions on bobcat size just like we read about all other big game. People exaggerate. You'd be surprise how little a bobcat weighs even when it looks and feels like a big toad. The average AZ bobcat is between 16-20 pounds. I have never even seen proof of a 30 pound bobcat (scale and bobcat in the same picture). Bobcats get larger the further you go North in the continental US. Get up near Canada and they'll be in the early 30's. Concerning your cages and your discouragement. I hear ya. To catch bobcats you got to be in bobcats. Josh is in a great area as there are tons of bobcats. At that point Josh follows a series of techniques and the odds are in his favor he'll lure them into his cage. It's trail and error. Try something new and pitch it if you don't get results. A good trapper tries finding a pattern and then he runs with it. Josh has found a superb area and has gotten into a good pattern. He's catching a bobcat every 2 days on average over the past 3 weeks. You can't deny he has #1- You need more than urine. Get some serious bobcat gland based lure like Bobs or Graham's. Dip a stick in it and throw it in the back of the cage. A line of urine down the cage and out the door is about all Josh and I use. #2- Get in an area where you can cover up the bottoms of your pan and cage bottom with dirt or some other media. I think the odds go up dramatically when your cage looks more natural. #3 Set your taps closer together. I had 13 traps in a 3 mile stretch of road. #4- Use a dangler of some sort in the back of your cages. Faux fur or some non-game animal fur or feathers.

Josh and I both use Briarpatch Lures. In the back of the cage I put some bobcat gland lure. I also put in some stubtail call. In a tree above the cage I put desert call. Its stronger and carries the scent better. I have a few other bobcat gland based lures I use peridically.

Bob said you bought a 3 cage cluster from him. I am in Queen Creek also and can meet you and show you how to set them up and some tricks of the trade. Let me know if interested. Good luck bobcat trapping!

Plan on Josh +1. Red foxes are on everyone's list in AZ.

Will a .243 work for fox? Sure it will work if you want to scatter the gray fox in 7 pieces across the landscape. Shotguns are always the easiest firearm to use when chasing fox and bobcats.

Look at them spots!

FYI- The .270 will make as much of a mess on a bobcat as it will on a fox. You need to move down to a fur friendly caliber (.17-.22) or a shotgun if you are targeting bobcats.

I also have not had anyone mess with my cages but right now I have them set adjacent to some horse tails that go into some nice washes. I am crossing my fingers. Bobcats getting bigger and bigger each day. Todays was about 45 pounds and smelled real bad.

Bob Smart makes the cages we use. He has the best cages in the nation and we're lucky to have him right here in the valley. Look at his stuff at briarpatchcages.com.

Calling in predators and 'shooting' them with a digital camera is just as rewarding to me as harvesting them with a rifle. I can tell you that it actually takes more skill to get a quality photo of them then to put a bullet into them. I comment you for your efforts. That being said, it takes absolutely no skill to call in and shoot a coyote puppy with a firearm. Unless the removal of the puppies and momma are part of a professional animal control operation, I'd be embarrassed to admit it let alone promote it. Just my 2 cents.