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Winnie, seeing is half the fun. (OK, one quarter )

Tip o' the day: Carry a small predator call handy around your neck.

I tuck mine between buttons into my shirt so that it doesn't bounce around and clack against my binocs. But it flips right out and is ready in an instant.
I don't go afield without one.

The one below is great for this use. It's small (<2.5"), so can go unnoticed all day, and the foam lip seal is very comfortable.


Its value for calling predators, perhaps during off hours while hunting other game, is obvious.
Even more important to me during big game season- a blast on a call can halt a moving buck. I've taken a half dozen deer with this trick.
I've not bothered to try to stop a buck that is running scared from me, but it works like a snake charmer's flute on unaware animals, even those that are otherwise concentrating on following their deerly beloveds.

I hate shots at walking targets. Just last year I boofed such a shot at an antelope: I was prone over my daypack, swiveling to track him. Just as the last ounce of trigger pressure came through, the friction between pack and stock changed and my rifle squirted forward, sending the shot in front of the buck's chest.

Nearly any sound can work, of course. But I can't whistle (Yeah, I heard her, too: "You just put your lips together and... blow.") And any human-made sound that can reach out to 300 yards with power requires movement and effort. I can be snuggled up to my rifle, aimed and ready, and give a loud blast on a hands-free call like the above without [much] disturbing my position. Buck stops to look, KABOOM.

To speak to your hunt: Either of those bucks might have turned to a squeal from a call, perhaps enough to allow a sure killing shot.

Crow call for me. We are often kind of spread out on the ridges and the crow call fits in just fine with all the other noise for getting each others attention. I no longer carry predator tags since I dont carry a bear tag and they tend to show up unhappy when no dying something is found.

Okay, maybe I don't need too many more pointers to get by-
I went up into the hills today to verify some zeros before the trip, stopped at a favorite spot to call up a coyote. I squallered for something less than a minute, and then within thirty seconds I had a cougar at twenty feet. And the only reason it stopped there was because I waved my hands and spoke to it.
I'd thought at first that it was one of the occasional bobcats that come in, but got myself corrected quickly. It came in at a steady walk, not particularly intent. It didn't seem to really see me until my movements. I was in blue jeans and green shirt, sitting against an oak trunk in a sea of dried wild oats.
So it stopped and just stood there looking at me while I made conversation (and unlimbered my .45, just in case). But then its ears went flat and it sank down two inches! At that I stood up and said some nasty things to it. It still just stood there, twenty dang feet away. I wasn't quite comfortable with the situation, so I dumped a .45 a few feet behind it. Not much reaction, but it began to amble away at an angle. I sent another round under its tail to reinforce my position, and at that it left at a slow trot. I followed it, at a sane distance, and made sure that it was gone for good.
Kinda ruined my coyote setup, though.
I'm no expert, but I'm thinking that it wasn't a full-grown specimen. And it sure wasn't roly-poly fat. I guess it, too, has noticed that our deer population isn't what it once was.

Bears come to crow calls too.

MtnHtr