Hand calls vs Electronic

Nowadays with SOOOO many people out trying to call coyotes, most not doing well. I find you almost have to use both, each has there own high points. Anymore we use two Foxpros and diaphragm calls at each set.


We call 100% public lands, it may be different on places with limited access.
 
Last edited:
I used them when I was younger(e-calls were record players, for you younger guys think of a very large CD that only hold 3 minutes of sound) but asthma put a halt to that until I retired(asthma retired at the same time). Now I still rely on an E-caller as I hunt a lot of close cover and not having to juggle a gun and call when you have just a short window to get a shot off. More open country it is fun to use a hand call or a combination.

How and where you hunt is a big dictator to what is going to work the best. I hunt public land that gets hunted fairly hard, things slowed down after the first of the year, local contest etc. I fell into the trap of trying something different and vocal and it wasn't cutting it like it did in the past. One day I said " The H--- with it" and ran Lightning Jack hard and continuous, through the end of Feb it continued to bring them in. It is always good to have a lot of arrow in the quiver

Impromptu coyote taken for a rancher with a Sceery Jackrabit in April

C3gith.jpg


 
Last edited:
I use hand calls for all my bobcat hunting because we are not allowed to use E-callers for them. I use both for coyotes.

AWS, I LOVE that pic.
 
I use both hand calls and electronic calls. There are many advantages and disadvantages to each. Certain stands and locations may dictate what I think will be most effective. The electronic caller is nice in thick cover because a coyote can suddenly show up at 10 yards and it is nice to have their attention focused at the e caller, instead of me holding a had call in my mouth.

I will say that I will go call coyotes when I don't have an electronic caller and only have hand calls. I wouldn't ever choose to call coyotes only with an electronic caller and no hand calls as back up. More than once I've had dead batteries on the caller or remote.
 
I sometimes use a hand call to bark a challenge to initiate my sequence but otherwise I rely almost entirely on e-callers. Hand calling is noisy, exhausting, and necessitates movement of the hands to give emotion and variance to the call. Movement gets spotted. I often use two different e-callers to vary the sounds.
 
Hand calls, 99%+ of the time, though I carry an ecall on every hunt.

When bobcats are the target, I'll use the ecall, just turn it on and let it rip until the end of the stand

My hand calling sequence is about 20 seconds of sound, then stay quiet for 3-5 minutes. Repeat.

I hunt wide open, sage brush country and have watched coyotes come in from way beyond my lasers range, a Leica 900, so having them bust me for movement with a handcall is probably minimal.

Hunting in heavy cover, I can see an ecall being helpful.
 
75% of the time, I use a handcall. I like when the coyote is coming straight to me. I have a higher kill ratio that way.

Towards the end of my hunts, I am usually sick of listening to myself blow the call. I'll use the Foxpro then.
 
I use e-calls sometimes but have way better luck with hand calls. After doing research, I think it's the frequency of the sound. Others may disagree but it makes sense to me. Between that and putting more emotion into it. Watching Ed Skeerys videos helped a lot with hand calls. They are free to watch and he breaks it all down so anybody can do it
 
I’d say about 80% of the time I use my hand calls, I use the Foxpro the other 20% or to throw in sounds I can’t do with hand calls.
 
The vast majority of my hunting was done before they had Foxpro and the rest. The ecallers back then were not remote, were cumbersome and a PIA. We only used hand calls although we did sometimes use a JS jackrabbit tape at night while hunting from the truck. I still use hand calls the majority of the time when I hunt nowadays. Almost always when hunting with a friend.

I've never thought actual sound made a huge difference. I've had friends that called and I thought sounded terrible but they called in stuff. I have a foxpro and have used it plenty. I think I play maybe 3 to 4 sounds on it max and it calls in lots of stuff so I don't think you need to be too unique in how you present your sounds.

The biggest advantage with remote ecallers is getting the sound away from you. Especially when hunting solo. Huge advantage. Cant say how many times I've had a critter backdoor me while hunting solo and blowing a call, rarely happens with e caller. The second biggest advantage is volume. No way you can blow a call as loud as an ecaller. It's nice to have the volume, and not a headache, on a breezy day.
 
Nighttime I'm 100% electronic callers. Daytime I'd say it's 50/50.

I don't like having predators focused on me at night. After having a bobcat attack my caller before I could react it kind of spooked me.
 
Both for me. Terrain and circumstances dictate what I use. If using a hand call or diaphragm I have either mouse or vole squeaks playing on the Foxpro about 50 yards away. It seems to hold their interest while I prepare for the shot. Usually of course.
 
Where I hunt in Texas it seems like predators respond at a much higher rate to the hand calls vs the e call. Day Vs night doesn't seem to matter in our area.
 
I've used both E-caller and Mouth Calls together and have been successful...lately I've just used my mouth calls.I like using the E-caller for the more difficult Coyotes sounds or if I'm hunting in more open field when I can keep the sounds further out and away from Me if I'm calling by myself.

I need to send my Caller to the Manufacture and have the battery issues checked out and I want to add a lot more sounds to it.
 
Back
Top