Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Predator Call for Pennies







I have known for some time that many photographers and hunters use predator calls to call in predators such as foxes, coyotes etc. I also know that some of them will use a squeaker from children's stuffed animals. Well today my dog Badger tore apart yet another dog toy from "Dollar Tree". Inside was a round plastic squeaker. He also tore that apart. The squeaker part was located in a tube that was about a half an inch long. On impulse I picked it up and blew through it. A squeal with a perfect imitation of a cottontail being killed emerged. As you can imagine an idea for a predator call immediately popped into my head.

I cut a short length of 3/4 inch pvc (1/2 inch would also do) about four inches long. I drilled a hole of about the same diameter as the tube from the squeaker about one inch from the end of the pvc. I took the squeaker tube pushed it into the hole and glued it into place with super glue. I'm sure some other glues might work as well.The final step was to spray paint it black. Make sure you stick some tape over the squeaker to keep it from being filled with paint.

Blowing the call is quite simple. You just place the flat of your hand over the end closest to the squeaker. Put your mouth on the other end and blow. You can flutter the flat of your hand against the call to vary the sounds coming from the call. It sounds great.

God's light and love and blessings to all,

chris