Native Americans living along the shores of a giant inland sea that covered parts of five modern states were hunting ducks since before recorded history began.

Although I can’t prove it, I’ll bet that those ancient hunters were also using duck calls as well as decoys. Putting food on the fire for your family was deadly serious back then, and it is well documented that game calling was one on the tools used by primitive hunters.

A book entitled Ishi by Theodora Kroeber describes the story of “the last Wild Indian in North America.” In it, Kroeber mentioned some of the hunting techniques used by Native Americans, including using animal calls as a hunting technique.

Modern hunters, too, use sound to more successfully attract their animal quarry. In fact, using sounds to attract or deceive wild critters is a useful tool for almost anyone who ventures outdoors.  If you are a bird watcher, an outdoor photographer, or even an angler, there are gadgets using sound to help you attract your quarry.

I took a stroll through my local sporting goods store and also perused the internet to check out the type and selection of game calls available. Quite truthfully, I figured that I had a pretty good handle on the subject of game calling. Boy was I wrong!

There are more new developments and game calling gadgets than I could have possibly imagined. It’s just amazing.

Try this: close your eyes and imagine a hunter calling wild game. What do you picture? Ducks? Maybe elk?  There are calls available on the market today to attract deer, crows, coons, geese, moose, turkey, coyotes, wild hogs, and bear — and that’s just for starters.

The big hunting retailers have page after page of game calls listed in their on-line catalogues. In the big retail stores, there are literally isles dedicated to selling calls for each of those species! It’s hard to believe, but there is a duck call isle, a turkey call isle, an elk call isle, and a section dedicated to predator calls alone. No jive.

Although critter calling has been around since prehistoric times, probably the biggest change in recent years has been the advent of electronic game calls. I got my first predator call about 50 years ago, and with it a good caller can call in coyotes, foxes, bobcats, lions, bears and even hawks and owls. It can take years to learn to become a good predator caller.

Today, you can buy an electronic game caller that will reproduce the sounds of dozens of species of animals.   Obviously, predators are animals that hunt and eat other animals. Predator calls are designed to sound like one of the prey species so they will attract a hungry predator looking for a meal.

Probably the single most effective predator call in the world is the rabbit distress call. The sound of an injured rabbit is like an engraved dinner invitation to every predator alive.

Whether you’re a cattleman trying to keep your calves alive, an ordinary working stiff trying to feed your family, an outdoor photographer on assignment, or just want to see more of Gods amazing critters, if you want to see more wildlife, I recommend you try modern predator calling. You’ll be amazed at how much it adds to your outdoor experience.

Until next week.



To contact Don Moyer, email don.moyer@gmail.com.