What got you hooked on nitetime predator hunting?

[foxpro51]

My first experience was in Texas. I was hunting off a high seat trucked. The guy I was with was outstanding caller and he only used two different Sceery hand calls. I can steal remember my second set. After he called i scanned the red light around. Moments later I seen a red dot which I though was a reflector. I told the guide I was seeing a red reflector. He told me to put the light on it again. He said do reflectors blink? He said put the cross hairs right between those two reflectors. To my surprise I had just bagged a nice bobcat. Yep, I was hooked on this nighttime predator hunting. I hunted with him 7 more times and learned a great deal about predator hunting.

[bdawg]

the first time i hunted at nite was with scott, he put me in a spot and told me where they would be coming from, couple mins into it i had eyes  coming toward me it turned off into the brush, then had another set they went the other direction, i didnt get to fire a shot but i was hooked at that point

[bdawg]

forgot to add i learned a heck of alot also

[smokey]

The first set of bouncing eyes hooked me!  The calm of night time hunting as well.  Who cant get hooked on setting on top of a ridge and howling like a wolf (coyote) by the moonlight!

[predator77]

It's hard to say wahat got me hooked on it. I had the desire to see what was going on in the woods while most hunters where sleeping. I have seen fox in the fields when I was looking for Archery deer at night but like most I thing it was the first time it all came together. My first was several evenings of blunders with grey fox. I finally got one and later hit a red (that ran in a hole) but when I got that grey fox you would have thought I killed a 12 point buck from the way I acted. I still get nervous before and excited after the shot.

[scott]

for night time hunting, for me it is the eyes.  i love to see those red or orange eyes staring back.  i am also like p77 i get more pumped up about predators than deer.   

but i think what hooked me was daytime coyote hunting with snow on the ground. 

[uncle buck]

Lack of other previous abundant game animals got me interested in it. Namely the downhill hunting of ringneck pheasant.  I was thinking about doing it for a long time too.. I got an award when I worked from Uncle and decided to buy a Johnny Stewart Cassette player.. Old one too not the model 512.  This one look like a rectangular storage box with a large speaker..  First year I tried it I missed a gray and and red.  After reading Dennis Kirk's book for the new upcoming season  "All You Need To Know About Fox Calling!"  I started to harvest fox.  I was hooked The first time I ever turned that electronic caller on.  First fox I got was a gray fox on a railroad... I called it in with the JS Gray Fox Pup.. 1000's and 1000s of fox called in since that time in 1986...25 years I am hooked!!!!!!!

[Seeking_Coyotes]

Couple of things....
1.) Somebody cared enough when I asked to hunt with them they said yes.
2.) Just love nighttime
3.) Lack of deer population
4.) The glowing eyes of course
5.) Being able to not get up at the crack of dawn.
6.) The challenge
7.) Shooting a few with my recurve in archery season.
8.) Nothing better to do than hunt critters!
9.) Hunting style that you get to move around a lot to different places instead of sitting in one spot for four hours.
10.)  The great guys I have met who are predator hunters.
11.) The mystery of the critters...coyotes especially...still havent found one :-)

[SongDogSilencer]

Reviving this Older thread because it's so awesome.

I got into hunting fox with my dad when I was 12 (first year hunting).
I will never forget that first fearless grey running up 10 yards away and dad whispering "Take him, TAKE HIMMMM!" lol. I was using a giant H&R break apart 10 ga. and that gun weighed about 10 pounds and still rocked me when I shot it. Funny thing is, I never felt a thing when I squeezed off on that fox. Then I wouldn't let dad alone. He was real cool about it. He would take me and my school buddies out quite often. I'm sure spending those nights in the woods with me helped me stay out of trouble and probably a big reason he never seemed to mind going any time I asked. Now we're really just getting started into the whole coyote thing. We've shot them in wyoming but, I think you'd have to be a complete maroon not to be able to kill a yote out there. I've seen more dogs out there in one day than I've seen in my entire life of hunting in PA.

[coyotenightmare]

One of the Fox Pro guys at the Eastern Sportsmans Show about 8 years ago talked me into one of their calls. For the first couple years all I used it for was scaring people and other mischief like that...getting in trouble.. (Yes, I was a teenager then) LOL When I finally did try predator hunting, I got a portable spotlight, went to an area I knew had foxes, and turned on the call. After sitting in the dark for a couple minutes, I turned the light on and there was a gray fox with his head cocked and ear up to the speaker of the fox pro. I jumped up started walking to him to scare him farther away and when he stopped to look back at me, I shot him with a 223. I shone around and there was 2 or 3 other gray foxes running away by then. Since that first round of beginners luck, I have been hooked. Started hunting coyotes in blue jeans and no camo. They often would come in and hang up around 200 yards. I wouldn't shoot them, because on videos they are supposed to come into shotgun range. Yeah, I sure educated a lot in my day and the coyotes in my area are ten times smarter than they used to be. Now I don't get more than 4-10 coyotes a year to even come into the open when I am calling. Live and learn... I still get pumped up at the sight of eyes, but a big buck in the rut is more exciting to me.

[predator94]

first time i ever tried nighttime predator hunting was with coonreaper last year me and him set up at the end of a cut bean field strip in between two strips of corn only a few hundred yards from my house we had his 17 hmr spotlight and mouth call thats it first 30 seconds into calling nice red came out of the corn into the cut bean field heading straight at us i think we were so dumbfounded that it actually worked that coonreaper missed but then we got up and looked down along my cattle fence and there was another one sitting there but he missed again but its not always about the kill its about the experience and ever since that night weve both been hooked and had many more exciting nights

[predator1]

The fact that there are usually no people up and around and those glowing eyes bouncing towards you.The more times in the mountains the better.I enjoy predator hunting but also love disappearing during archery-bear and deer seasons.Grab a tarp-my wiggys sleeping bag(best bag ever made)a backpack and disappear into the mountains(mainly Potter County) for a couple days.For me there is NOTHING better than sitting on a ridge-fire going and nobody around.Hunt all day-sleep wherever you end up.Could there be anything more Simple in life.Love it--Heyapi--yuha iye iwastegla--have a great day-Lloyd

[my7pointmonster]

I can still taste the way my mouth felt that night, it was a cold and blistery one, we had called about 10 spots to no avail, I was beginning to become wrestles after a night full of failure, I didn't realize it at the time, but the tactics we were using would be some of the best tactics I've ever learned. The experience I gained on this Cold and Snowy Decembers night would stay with me the rest of my life.  We went to the legendary Spooky barn spot. Myself being all of 16 years old was more the intimidated by the name of this spot, after a walk that felt like it took forever through the dense undergrowth, there she stood, Tall and mighty in her prime, standing in all of her white glory, the signs of age taking their toll on her exterior, the spooky barn welcomed the unexpected visitors with a warm embrace. We picked a shadow and setup, the three of us, me being the only one with a tool for death. The call blared as we scanned, my heart was truly racing as I got "The Nudge" my head whirled and there it stood, about 40 yards away, Rodney whispered in my ear, "Stay calm, take your time and Aim. Just squeeze the trigger" Little did I know the events that would unfold would be one of the wildest rides I' had been on to that point in my young life.  I raised my shotgun loaded with my three and a half inch kiss of death, and slowly squeezed the trigger, now it was at this point I expected things to go like normal, However lady luck decided to play a slightly different hand for me. I was as ready as I could be for the Donkey Kick that I would be receiving however in my rush to get setup I had failed to realize the patch of Ice I was standing on, this would now come into play and be a game changer, I took the recoil like any 16 year old 135lb young man would however it was at that point I realized this was not like any of the other times that I had shot my 3.5" magnums I was looking up at the sky and laying flat on my back going what just happened? I heard the laughter as they stood me up and I skidded and realized my error. The snowfall was beautiful as I walked up upon her, my very first Grey fox ever. The rush I felt was better than any drug, and I knew instantly I had found my addiction.

Ryan.

[Leglifter]

Great story my7!!
Lady luck can really dish it out, right?

[my7pointmonster]

Great story my7!!
Lady luck can really dish it out, right?

You could say that I have a headache or I'd have written more/done better
Ryan.