Here is an interesting article.

Pay attention to what he says about "hunter pressure."

Calling all critters: Report to Jim Arnold

Wildlife responds to what Littleton native has to say
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor

Sunday, April 01, 2001 - When Jim Arnold calls, you never know what will come running.

Whether they quack, honk, gobble, squeal, grunt, bellow or simply remain quiet, critters of every stripe respond to the calls of a man who,at age 22, has blown his way steadily toward the top of the game-calling fraternity.

Not since Dr. Doolittle has anyone talked to so many animals.

"I have this burning desire to get next to nature, to approach birds and animals as closely as I can," Arnold said, explaining a fascination with game calls that had him studying animal sounds almost before his ABCs.

Growing up in Littleton, Arnold early on trailed behind his father, Jim Sr., on waterfowl hunts. With the soprano tones of a 7-year-old, he began calling geese by mouth, a talent that quickly made him a popular addition to any hunt. When he was 9, he experienced an epiphany of sorts when his father took him to a sportsman's show where various sportsmen demonstrated their talents.

"That really sparked a flame in me," Arnold said. "I started blowing every call I could get my hands on. I drove my parents up the wall."

Most of all, Arnold became enthralled with diaphragm calls, the kind you hold inside the mouth.

"I got a youth model cut small to fit my mouth," Arnold said, explaining his first try at turkeys. At age 9, he called in his first tom near Can~on City.

He added coyotes and other predators to his repertoire by the time he was 10, then turned to elk. Arnold bugled a five-point bull within 15 yards when he was 13 and bagged it with a bow.

"After the season closed, I still went out and worked the call. Anything to get better," Arnold said. "Mostly, I just like the exposure and connection to animals."

He learned to attract deer with an assortment of grunts and rattles. He also brings antelope within bow range with chirps and a decoy.

Arnold's growing expertise also prompts another sort of call. Other experts have begun to sing his praises as well.

"Jim is the best all-around caller I've ever heard," said Jeff Budz, a Boulder resident who might be the nation's most successful turkey hunter. "I've hunted with Jim since he was 17. I've been amazed at what he can do and how he has progressed."

Sometimes Arnold's calls can be a little too good, such as the day last year when he hunted turkey near Wetmore.

"I heard a tom gobble about 100 yards away and quickly set up in a blind to start calling," Arnold said. "He talked to me for about 10 minutes and then just stopped abruptly. I couldn't figure out what happened until I peeked out to see a black bear heading straight for my blind.

"It was a really big bear. I stood up and waved my arms and the bear high-tailed it. But things got sort of sketchy there for a moment."

Even in his relatively brief experience with hunting and calling, Arnold has seen a major change in the sport.

"Hunting pressure has increased, and most hunters are better educated. You have to work harder to stay a step ahead of the crowd," said Arnold, whose sturdy frame made him a football player at Heritage High School. "A lot of people have picked up the basics. It takes a little extra, a few new tricks in the bag."

The biggest difference, Arnold said, is in the evolution of calls, particularly the materials from which they're made.

"That old $25 goose call doesn't work so well anymore," he said. "You need a $175 short-reed call for that extra sharp sound."

Turkey experts have replaced their $15 slates with aluminum surfaces and carbon strikers, with a price tag of $50 to $75.

As with other aspects of life, money isn't everything. When it comes to game calling, experience and insight still make the man. Arnold uses the wily toms along the South Platte River as a prime example how hunting pressure dictates a change in tactics.

"They just don't respond to crow calls anymore," he said. "I now use a screaming peacock to get a shock gobble for location."

Arnold experienced a similar challenge with snow geese, which generally became difficult to attract during the special late season that ended Saturday.

"Most people crank their electronic call way up to attract the big flocks of snows," he said. "But if you take time to listen to geese on the ground, you'll notice they don't make much noise. I find the electronic call works well to pull geese in from a distance. When they get closer, I turn it down and begin working more softly with a mouth call."

The result? On a recent hunt in northeast Colorado near Jumbo Reservoir, Arnold and two companions bagged more than 90 snow geese. Like the apocryphal route to Carnegie Hall, Arnold stresses the need for practice. He recommends two tapes in particular: "Flute Calling Past and Present," by Tim Grounds for geese, and "Pressurized Gobblers: Formulas for Calling Shy Turkeys," by Jerry Peterson for turkey.

Arnold, who works as a landscaper during the offseason, will obtain his outfitters license next month and will begin guiding independently for ducks, geese and turkey. He can be reached by calling 970-336-1259.

Meanwhile, he will enter the Illinois State Open goose calling championships in October and, a month later, travel to Stuttgart, Ark., for the heralded World Duck Calling Championships.

"That'll be a real test," he said, almost reverently. "That's where the big boys play."

At his current pace, Arnold soon might be the biggest of them all.





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