Fox caller decoys….are they any good?
- Thread starter Westley78
- Start date
nun_hunter
Well-Known Member
If there is a bit of a breeze I've tried just a feather or squirrel tail tied to a stick next to the caller. It sort of did work but a lot of the time the foxes stood off watching as they weren't sure rather than running in to find he caller as they didn't know exactly what or where it was.
Westley78
Well-Known Member
Interesting, thanks
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
Hmmm.
I have the Icotech 500 with the lure. As a caller it works well, whether it brings more foxes in than my hand call I am not so sure but where there is a clear difference is with the ability to set it up and lie off 75/100 yards working the wind to your favour. That said at night this works best with a thermal spotter and I have on occasion watched foxes sitting studying the caller/decoy at 100yds plus for some time or just trotting in - much the same as hand calling really except they are not coming straight to you.
I have also had some considerable success in daytime where the foxes will sit and study the caller/decoy but even though I am 100 yds off they always spot me no matter how well I think I am concealed!
If you want to see a few videos just pm me your mobile and I will Whatsapp them.
this one was running right to left to the caller - until I turned the IR on!
caller 75 yards to my lhs but this rascal clocked me - standing in shade in full camo
this one kept switching between me and the caller/decoy
Westley78
Well-Known Member
Interesting, I was hoping it would give them something to focus on, and it sounds like it does, but I was also hoping that give me more chance of not being seen in the daytime
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
Aye - testimony to how acute the fox’s senses really are. Sooo many times I see them now with the thermal in full daylight studying the caller/decoy and/or me from cover - without the thermal I would never have known they were there. Amazing animals, more than worthy of our respect.
Overlay
Well-Known Member
I use a seperate battery operated waggler 150 yds away from me it’s on a timer and also slow med or Fast, particularly effective on the edge of where the moon is striking a bit of illumination on the ground, I've found a pair of magpie wings slowly flapping now and then can help to a better night and just as dusk falls, sparse use of a hand call just to stop em Will give you a shot
its another arrow to the bow to success
not an everyday thing, just learning when to use it, its a help
its another arrow to the bow to success
not an everyday thing, just learning when to use it, its a help
Westley78
Well-Known Member
Exactly what I thought
MagicLantern
Well-Known Member
I've bought an Icotec 500 and would like to put it to use this weekend, would an SD member be able to share by email more UK specific sounds? Please PM me for my email address.
Or a link to where I can download, I can't find one.
Thank you.
Or a link to where I can download, I can't find one.
Thank you.
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
If it didn’t come with a UK calls SD Bestfoxpro will do one for free if you send a card and an SAE.
If it has a UK card the WAM, Distressed Rabbit and Pheasant calls work really well for me - just not too loud!
For daylight calling the decoy/waggler is a boon.
MagicLantern
Well-Known Member
I'm flicking through the list now and thought the distressed rabbit was impressive. There's quite a few I can and will try this evening.If it didn’t come with a UK calls SD Bestfoxpro will do one for free if you send a card and an SAE.
If it has a UK card the WAM, Distressed Rabbit and Pheasant calls work really well for me - just not too loud!
For daylight calling the decoy/waggler is a boon.
I'm not sure I need the sounds of coyotes or moose just yet, but hey, I hear re-wilding is all the rage and who know where that will end up.
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
Let us know how it works out please.
Had one for 6 months. It's not bought in anything, tried numerous times with different calls. The faulhaber mouth call and the black plastic one from best fox calls, on the other hand are excellent.
I've been calling Foxes for seventy years and more and it's no different now from when I started, sometimes a call works like magic sometimes it's a total waste of time. At best it's an imprecise science, about the only time you can almost guarantee some success is when the cubs start hunting and then they will come into a rabbit or mouse squeal/squeak for a few weeks.
I suspect electronic calls sound a bit suspicious to some foxes as if ever you're out on a summer evening and a fox catches a rabbit and it squeals, any fox in the vicinity will home in on it., this is why I prefer using the hand to call as this is a "natural" sound and not played through a speaker. Having said all of that, I've had foxes walk within yards of an electronic caller and totally ignore yet occasionally it works well. I've no doubt that a fox hears things on a totally different level from us. I personally use an ICOtec now and then and distressed pheasant seems to work as well as anything
Calling foxes depends on a large number of factors and certainly isn't as straightforward as some people think.
I suspect electronic calls sound a bit suspicious to some foxes as if ever you're out on a summer evening and a fox catches a rabbit and it squeals, any fox in the vicinity will home in on it., this is why I prefer using the hand to call as this is a "natural" sound and not played through a speaker. Having said all of that, I've had foxes walk within yards of an electronic caller and totally ignore yet occasionally it works well. I've no doubt that a fox hears things on a totally different level from us. I personally use an ICOtec now and then and distressed pheasant seems to work as well as anything
Calling foxes depends on a large number of factors and certainly isn't as straightforward as some people think.
MagicLantern
Well-Known Member
I placed the caller ahead of me on the ground at about 125m. Four foxes around last night as it turned dark. Two were in adjacent fields so likely they would have been out of earshot. Number 3 appeared on thermal through the hedgerow at my 4 o'clock position about 100m distant so I'm assuming it came that way, curious about the caller. Difficult to tell because I wasn't tracking it, it just appeared and it could have been one of the earlier foxes doubling back. He went down. Number 4 came in from a 2 o'clock direction twenty minutes or so later. I saw him on thermal at about 250m. He was really motoring, clearly focused on #68 Jack Rabbit which sounds a lot like polystyrene on a mirror. He came in fast then applied full brakes about 10m short of the caller.
Two foxes down in about two hours.
Next time out I think I'll choose a more elevated position for the caller, to give it a bit more range. Maybe place it on a hedgerow or suspended from a hide pole with some concealment applied. Early days, but it's looking like it will be a permanent bit of kit.
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that
David.evans
Well-Known Member
I looks like you have not got the English calls on your sd card
as said send a 64 g to best fox , and stamped address envelope, it Won’t be long befor all the fox calls on it come into there own
good luck
as said send a 64 g to best fox , and stamped address envelope, it Won’t be long befor all the fox calls on it come into there own
good luck
purdeydog
Well-Known Member
Like all things in life there’s a time and a place and a method to them. They do work if used correctly. Harvest time you can get cubs running in, in minutes. Used mine last week, had a fox in a matter of minutes. But I knew his movements and patterns. Later through the winter it can get harder I find and different call needed.
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