Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Best Electronic 'Yote Call <$100 for Newbie?

I'd like a push-button caller w/ remote for 'yote hunting. I'd like to keep it around $100. Anybody have insight to share?

I may end up doing other varmint hunting later so one that has the means to change sounds would be great, but not totally necessary.

Thanks all,

efw

Bout the closest your gonna get.
Johnny Stewart

Buy a used Johnny Stewart PM-4

Prey Master JS

For less than $100, I don't think you will be happy? The Foxpro FX3 seems to be dropping a little in price but still over $300. Find a buddy and split the cost of the FX3. The FX3 is programable, has a remote and has great volume and realistic sounds (lots to choose from).

Save up another $100 and buy the FoxPro Spitfire for $199. Lots of features and reprogrammable for either the FoxPro sounds or MP3. I have one of there older 416b with only 16 sounds and I love it.

Thanks; I'm on it!

Thanks to others who have made suggestions as well; I'm just not up to the bigger investment at this point.

EFW,

I'd imagine that PM-3 will work fine for you. It's got to be way better than my el cheapo Johnny Stewart Attractor ($15 on clearance at Wal-Mart), but even that unit has had some success. It called in a coyote on it's first stand 2 years ago, and has brought in four more (that I have seen) on the 10 or so stands I've done since. Below are a few photos of some of it's successful stands.

I think stand location and stealth influence success much, much more than sound type or quality.

Enjoy your new caller, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Armen, what impresses me most in your photo is not the call you used, nor the coyote (though it is a very nice yote), it's that rifle. What caliber is your 788?

Big time there Big Sky! I still miss the days of finding them in the minni nickle mags or pawn shops for sub 200 bones.

I got out last Sat for yote, the score was yotes 8 and Dober and Spudz one...once again they kicked my butt!

Dober

Mark, breaks my heart every time I walk in a pawn shop or used gun store. Just can't find a good deal on them anymore.

Troy it about breaks my heart to see the prices of the things. I can buy a new T3 which I think is nicer anyway for less money than a cherry 788 anymore..

What's the world coming to anyway.

Hope you and yours has a super Day!

Mark

I wouldn't waste money on a sub $100 e-caller. Just not worth it IMHO. Buy a couple decent handcalls and a good predator hunting video so you hear what sounds to make and see what a good set-up looks like. Spend the rest of the money on ammo and gas for the truck to go hunting.

Big Sky,

It's a 243.

I bought it 'gently used' two years ago for ~$275. It's accuracy outshines my other centerfire hunting rifles.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any in that price range since.

Go to the Varmint Al Webpage;on the Coyote Hunting page, he details making your own call for very cheap. He has many good sound files that I have used with success to call in coyotes. Here is the formula for the call and for a moving decoy:

EL-CHEAPO ELECTRONIC CALLER.... I have tried this combination and it plays the MP3 sound files with good quality and plenty of volume. The little mini-amp can easily drive the PowerHorn type speaker with good volume. You will want to mark the volume setting so that there will be no distortion. The two minutes of silence is just about right to walk about 80 to 100 yards away from the caller. A 512Mb Secure Digital card will hold plenty of sound files. All MP3 players are NOT the same. Some of them will not play the MP3 files as they were. I have now converted them over to FM quality and they should work with all MP3 players. The TRIO MP3 Player works fine and runs on one AAA battery. The Mini Audio Amplifier runs on one 9V battery. I have used the same set of batteries for about 6 stands of 30 minutes each and the batteries are still working. As far as I can tell, the TRIO MP3 Player has been discontinued. But there are numerous other MP3 players available. Check the first item listed below.
Note: The almost identical setup is listed on the Predator Masters Tech Section. It is called The Homemade E-Caller. I was not aware of it when I put the info together for the El-Cheapo.

Here is a list of the parts:

MP3 Player with (No Memory) using a SD card. The old Mach Speed TRIO MP3 Player has been discontinued.

512Mb Secure Digital (SD) Card Search for (Secure Digital Cards) The current price on a 1Gb card is not less that it was for a 64Mb card a couple of years ago.

Mini Audio Amplifier

4x6" 50-Watt Indoor/Outdoor PowerHorn

12-Inch Shielded Stereo Audio Cable The cable between the Mini Amp and the MP3 Player. I have heard that the mono cable into the MP3 player sometimes has problems by shorting out one channel and distorting the sound in the channel being used.

All Electronics Corp. Catalog No. PMP - MONO PLASTIC 3.5 MM PLUG. The connector will need to be soldered to the PowerHorn's cable. You can get this connector at Radio Shack when you get the Mini Amp here abut at a higher price.

Note: Above are the places where the hardware is still avaliable. There are many other places where the items may be purchases. Also, the 1GB Secure Digital cards now cost about as much as the 512MB SD cards were priced a few months ago and the 1GB SD card has twice the storage size.


The Hammock Decoy
Hi Al,
My wife Valinda came up with the ideal to use a Weasel Ball toy for a decoy. I bought one for about $7.00 at a local toy store. The problem with it was on un-level ground it didn't roll well and you couldn't see it over the brush. So when I got home I went to work on it. I unscrewed the cap off the ball to access the motor this is what I came up with.

1.) Disconnect the tail/Weasel from the ball unscrew ball halves (discard top half of the ball keeping motor half). Motor turns/spins inside ball half.
2.) Take the three screws out of the weight retaining cover on the electric motor and remove the weights (a little pressure with screw driver helps achieve this). This gives the motor more speed yet still allows it to wobble when finished.
3.) Drill tiny hole 1/16 into side of weight retaining cover then screw back to motor.
4.) Drill 1/16 - 1/8 hole in bottom of ball half and glue in a 1/16 - 1/8 steel rod approx 1 - 2 foot long also take a hammer and flatten out about 4 inches of end of rod that goes into the ground to keep rod from spinning (the ball wants to spin the rod so by flattening what's stuck in the ground it keeps the rod from spinning so motor is all that spins) Rod and ball half doesn't spin only motor.
5.) Spray paint the assembly dull gray.
6.) Reinsert tail/Weasel into hole on motor weight cover.
7.) Push steel rod into ground and turn on, it spins the tail and wobbles as well.

Total cost around $10.00 and gives motion as well and uses 1 AA battery. Please e-mail me back and let me know what you think of it.

IIRC the Speco spc-5p speaker was highly recommended for sound quality even though only 15watt max input, and $20 or less.

I'll ditto MOGC even though I know we sound like curmudgeon dinosaurs.

I had only one hand call for more than 20 years and called about 25 varieties of critters with it from southern California to central Canada, including enough coyotes to help with the downpayment on our first house.

For coyotes a hand call is super effective and it teaches you a TON about critter behavior, how to set up ambushes, etc. etc. Learning to use a hand call will make you a far better caller and allow you to make far better use of an e-caller if you ever get one.

As I've commented before, I would not spend the money for an e-caller just to call coyotes. They are too easy to call with hand calls, and that's a far simpler way to hunt. But I don't expect new predator hunters to pay any attention to such comments!

I built two remote e-callers plus called critters with a Wal-mart boombox before deciding to drop the coin on a top notch e-caller. The hand calling and self designing of an electronic call helped me know exactly what I wanted in an e-caller, and the cheap ones were not worth buying for what I wanted. Our mileage does vary, and that's what makes the world interesting.

If you buy a hand call and want info, I'll do a little coaching via PM's if you want. You can move way up the learning curve from guys on this site.

Great advice. If I were not so lazy, I would still be using handcalls exclusively.

Originally Posted By: MOGC
I wouldn't waste money on a sub $100 e-caller. Just not worth it IMHO. Buy a couple decent handcalls and a good predator hunting video so you hear what sounds to make and see what a good set-up looks like. Spend the rest of the money on ammo and gas for the truck to go hunting.

+1...nothing beats the joy and rewards of handcalling in ole willey coyote and then busting him with a handload from your 788 rem .223..bought mine when I was 14 yrs old for $174.00 brand new!!

I was field staff for Minaska Outdoors last year and pro staff for GameTraks currently. I own quite a few electronic callers and know for a fact that a predator hunters kill ratio will increase when they learn how to use an electronic caller effectively. That being said you will find that as the prices of the callers go up as the caller gets louder and clearer. A smaller cheaper priced caller will not be as loud and its sound will not project out well enough to attract the attention of predators. There will always be hunters who call in a few coyotes in with a cheap call but people who consistently produce high numbers over the long haul are using high quality, loud and clear electronic callers. That does not mean there is not a cheaper caller out there for the hunter not wanting to drop $600. I know Foxpro just came out with the Spitfire which is a few hundred dollars and the Dillions make quality products. I have not messed with one yet.

The home made callers that use a tramsmitter and receiver to make them remote will have a lot of interference. I know I built one 4 years ago and used top quality products.

I would save up your money and get a quality piece of equipment and you will not need to replace it once you have 'outgrown' its performance.

Just my 2 cents.