HUNTING
DECOYS AREN’T JUST FOR DUCKS HOW TO USE FAUX BUNNIES, BIRDS, FELLOW FURBEARERS TO HELP ATTRACT STEALTHY PREDATORS By Art Isberg
T
he remote, high sagebrush desert country of northern Nevada is about as far from any signs of civilization as a man can get these days. Roads, where you can find one, are little more than rutted four-wheeldrive tracks leading off for miles into who knows where. This is the same brutal land that pioneer-era wagon trains struggled through heading west
170 years ago. Nothing has changed. The wagon tracks are still there. I have spent many moons in this vast land camping, hunting predators and just enjoying the sundown solitude. And with every species you can target, decoys can play a role in your success.
COYOTE One would think hunting coyotes
here would have to be duck soup. I did until I seriously spent time going after them. But the fact is that the wily coyote (Canis latrans) was as wary and smart as his suburban relatives living at the edge of cities and urban sprawl. It was a lesson learned. I’d call in the little brush wolves, only to have most stop well out from my stand and refuse to come closer – no matter what calling change I
Hunters in search of wily and stealthy predators like bobcats, coyotes and foxes can follow the lead of waterfowl hunters and use decoys to help bring in critters. A double decoy set-up for fox hunts is one such tool to help hunters. (ART ISBERG) calsportsmanmag.com | DECEMBER 2020 California Sportsman
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