A friend and I were talking about the coming summer and the chances to go shooting!

For the last 3 years a small group of us have enjoyed going to shoot in Texas where literally all we have done is have a full week of shooting.

Last year I was at a stand near pond which wild hogs used for drinking whilst a friend and his son moved off to different locations on the ranch we were visiting.

As evening turned to dusk and then to darkness I made my way a half mile or so from my stand to the corner of a wood where I expected to be picked up from.

After 10 mins or so my friends son could be heard making his way towards me on a John Deere "golf buggy".

On arrival he commented that a coyote had run down the trail ahead of him and he asked if I had seen it, which I hadn't?

I asked if he had tried holding up and calling it in, which he hadn't.

So I started calling - we saw a dark shape quickly cross the trail that Joe had just driven down and thought we would be on to him.

I kept calling and we were both startled and surprised when out of nowhere, we were "buzzed" by a large owl who for one instant thought he had found dinner

We never did get the coyote to come in but its a "calling" that I will never forget. The owl took up residence in a tree right above our heads and started hooting scornfully!

As we spoke recalling this event, our minds turned to some other events we have had out.

A couple of summers ago, we were walking the fields after the harvest and using the large round hay bales as cover whilst out for foxes.

In the distance we could see a massive skein of geese heading in roughly the same directions as ourselves but on a "path" that would be say 400 yards parallel to our own. Without the aid of any kind of call my friend started "honking" like geese do, the lead bird followed by the remainder turned in our direction and shortly therafter passed right over our heads!

In the same fields just a few days later whilst out again a bird of prey was on a flight path that would have gone directly over us carrying a mouse in its talons.

When it saw us behind the bale, it instantly "back peddled" and did an abrupt 180, dropping the mouse quite litteraly at our feet.

What memorable things have you seen whilst out "calling"?

Outside of coyotes, red fox, and gray fox,

bobcats, house cats, a couple domestic dogs, deer, cows, and coons. One huge coyote/dog/wolf thing that I never did identify and managed to escape into a thicket after being shot, never to be recovered. Red-Tailed hawks, crows, and owls commonly respond. I had a very close incident one night when a Great Horned Owl came in on stealth mode and nearly had his hooks in my face.

And of course people respond too. I can't tell you how many curious people I've called with a rabbit distress. You can sometimes call them from great distances and they don't seem to be very smart when they show up.

I had a skunk come running in at about 5 yards one time.

One of my friends (who is a government trapper) had a badger sneak up from behind him and bite him in the back during one calling session! OUCH!!!

Coyotes,crows,hawks,red fox,coon,deer,turkeys.

Crows, which refuse to land, even when I have decoys and plastic corn cobs out, a cat that I let walk, and two little white dogs which escaped their yard when the buried electric fence thing was cut.

The dogs were pretty cool. One had a tag on his collar that said his name was Duncan and included a phone number. I called the number and told the lady down the road that I had her dogs. Duncan peed on my deck.

Redfox,rabbits and feral Dogs or Feral dog/dingo crosses.

Red fox with a 12 gauge 2 3/4" BB out of a Mossberg Bolt action shotgun. I use a rabbit in distress whistle and coxe em in as far as they dare and hit the lil bugger in the chest.

Rabbits I make a squeeking noise to make em stand up on the hind quarters and present an easier taget for the shotgun pattern to work and put a few pellets into them.

Tend to get the feral canines when they're in the traps or under spotlight.