Small Game, Predator and TrappingFrom shooting squirrels in your backyard to calling coyotes in Arizona. This forum now contains trapping information..
Hello, i've been wanting to make a homemade electronic caller for a while. I was going to make one using the Energizer Outfitter lantern, but they basically do not exist anymore.
I am looking for good links to guides for building your own. Also, any other information on parts to use such as which MP3 players are good, what bags you used to hold everything in, or perhaps another flashlight like the Energizer above that was modified to carry the whole kit inside.
Thanks.
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Remington 700p LTR .308, Leupold Mark 4 Tactical PR, DPMS Tactical AR-15 sling, Federal Gold Medal Match 168 gr., Federal High Energy 180 gr.
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Silence is Acceptance. "To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men." ~ Abraham Lincoln ~ Stand Up and Be Counted !
Location: Westchester county, NY/Denver Valley, NY
Posts: 56
Honestly, you can spend less money and get the same sound quality and exact same sounds without buying a fox pro. Go to walmart, or costco or anywhere that sells ipod accessories, and buy a speaker dock, you can get a REAL good bose, studio quality system for about 100 dollars with a remote that reaches real far, some up to almost 100 yards, and is portable some take aa batteries . This is all assuming you have an ipod, i personally have a 160gig ipod, so i can fit way way way more sounds on my "e-caller" than any other one you can buy, plus you can listen to music from it as well. This also offers the advantage of setting up a playlist of calls and patterns, you can have a 5 min distress sequence followed by 10 mins of silence and have the track loop, or throw in a howl. And if need be you can pause the sequence as well, also raise/lower the volume.
it's essentially the same exact thing, coyotes wont know the difference, but your wallet will.
I ordered mine directly from Foxpro and customized the 24 calls to my needs.
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Silence is Acceptance. "To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men." ~ Abraham Lincoln ~ Stand Up and Be Counted !
$23.00 for mine.
Just got it today. Went to "odd lot closeouts" store in nyc at lunch time. the one on Duane street if anyone is interested.
Picked up a no name 2gb mp3 player, identical to old ipod nano for 14.99 and a round battery powered speaker for 6.99.Downloaded a bunch of mp3 files from the internet and got my setup. Doesn't go really loud as speakers are only powered by 4 AAA but it should be fine for distress sounds of smaller rodents rabbits etc.
Going to see how it works and try out the whole coyote calling thing etc. If I enjoy it then I will consider a more expensive dedicated caller but this thing works great(to my ear in my home) and much better then the 5 call electronic handheld my friend has and we have gotten the coyotes to respond to that. Biggest problem will be picking out what files to put on it and their order. If it turns out I need a remote I'm going to buy a 100ft roll of speaker wire for 5 bucks and see how that works.
If it turns out to be totally useless I will give the ipod clone to my kidsand I'll only be out 25.00. If it works and I end up enjoying predator hunting I will definitely consider one of the big dollar units. Also took one one of the kids old toys, its a little furry puppy that sort of hops up and down and goes yip yip and then flips over when you push a button on the controller.Doesn't flip over anymore and just sort moves around and falls over but it sshould be fine. The controller is connected to the puppy by a 4-5 ft wire that looks like a leash. Will use some extra wire to extend the length of the "leash". got a caller and decoy for next to nothing and actually having fun setting this stuff up. I'll post any results and will probably get out in two weeks or so. Gotta take the kids trick or treating this weekend. take care all.
forgot to add that I decommisioned the speaker in the puppy.
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Rock River Arms - AR-15 .223 cal
Ruger 25-06 -(Deerstroyer)
Tauras - 1911/wRAILS .45 cal
Walther - p99 .40 cal
Mossberg 12 Gauge Silver Reserve
Many more those just the highlights
I built 2 callers when I was in college out of flashlight bodies. One was a cassette based model and the other a CD model. The cassette player was built into the side of the flashlight using epoxy, for the CD player, I put longer screws through the body of the flashlight into the bottom of the Diskman. Both used compact rechargeable batteries, so I could fit the player, amplifier, battery, remote unit (remote relays, power to the speaker could be cut off), and speaker all into the flashlight housing.
I built one about a year ago based on an MP3 player dock, but added an amplifier and higher volume speaker. I tore apart an MP3 player dock that had a blown speaker that I bought at a garage sale for $1 and rebuilt it into a project box from RadioShack (about $5), and the amp and speaker were another $40. Of course, my MP3 player was a couple hundred dollars, but I'd also have one regardless of coyote calling.
That said, I also agree that it's VERY cheap to get a battery powered MP3 player dock, and use your MP3 player as a head unit.
Homemade E-Callers parts, guides, etc
