Electronic Game Caller Volume - Your Worst Enemy? by Jerry Malbeck

On almost a daily basis, I see posts on internet sites relating to volume and the need to use lots of it. Most questions regarding electronic callers are "how loud will it play?"

I have found that, unless calling wide open areas with unlimited visibility or night hunting, using too much volume can be your worst enemy. Granted, when calling at night, where you will be seeking any predator within ear shot of your e-caller or mouth blown call, it can be advantageous to use a lot of volume due to the fact that the light you are projecting will hide your presence from wary incoming predator's eyes-especially when using an elevated killing chair. Likewise, when calling big country where you have large areas of visibility and can use the sun, shade, and vegetation to hide you, allowing you to take that one or two hundred yard shot. High winds would be another good reason to use higher volume. I prefer to let the wind carry my sound out for me and I usually call cross wind. If the wind is blowing hard, I prefer to stay home.

When calling close-quarters, I am an advocate of less is more. To have control of your setup and to have control of the animal coming in to your call, you must not have an animal that is charging in. It makes for great film footage, but the kill ratio goes way down. Rather, what you want, is an animal that is hunting for that sound; coming in slow and searching for that crying rabbit.

Loud volume and decoys both have the same affect on a predator-they excite them and cause them to blindingly race in to the set. Most callers will admit that a moving coyote-even a slow moving coyote-is a bad bet when trying to connect with anything less than a shotgun.

Most of the ground that I call is sagebrush or CRP fields. These types of areas afford the incoming predator a host of tricks to use against you-wash, rocks, vegetation, and those little dips right front of you that you never know about it until it's too late. Most of my coyotes are shot at 70 yards. This is not by choice, but simply the way it happens.

The "less is more" concept will allow you to call a small area more thoroughly. By using less volume you can setup 1/4 mile or less from your last stand and make several stands instead of just one or two-turning limited acres into very productive areas.

I usually start every set with a lip squeak. I can't remember how many coyotes I have called in with that wimpy sound, but is has been many. A coyote can be called with a lip squeak from as far as 1/4 mile if the conditions are right. When using a FOXPRO digital game caller, I start my sets with a volume of 12 - 15 and rarely take it louder than 24.