February Predator Calling Contest - Great Turnout of 34 Teams
Posted: 3/4/2010
Pearsall, Texas - As many of you know, conditions don’t always have to be just right to call in predators, but it sure does help if they are! Last year was one of the worst droughts in recorded history. As luck would have it, one of the few good rains that we had came the day before our calling contest. We were a little skeptical as to how good of a turn out we would have. But, as the day progressed teams started showing up and we soon had doubled the entries from the previous year. With a little bit of planning and a lot of luck, this year was looking like it would be the perfect calling weather. It appeared that the rain was going to hold off. They were predicting a small chance on Sunday afternoon, but we thought we would be done and gone by the time it hit. WRONG! As everyone hit the field Saturday afternoon, the conditions seemed to be fair. There were some clouds and a light breeze. Our team got off to a little later start than others, but we were on the road by 3:30 p.m. We had a great first location to hunt at. Rolling hills and low brush with several open fields made it ideal for calling in predators. As we pulled in the gate, we could tell that it was quite a bit windier where we were than in Pearsall and as the night progressed the drizzle and fog moved in.
Sunday morning, the weigh in began at 11:00 a.m. After hunting all night and sleeping for an hour and a half, it was a little hard to get motivated to weigh in the animals. Thirty five teams entered the February contest (we will be having a second contest on March 20 & 21). After all of the teams had checked in, and the smoke had cleared from the computers trying to keep up, the official results came in. The first place team, Team 34: Darren Pawlik and Thomas Hinnant, checked in 4 bobcats and 8 coyotes and took home over $2200.00 (also won heaviest coyote). In all, 113 animals were checked in: 78 coyotes, 31 bobcats, and 4 gray fox.
We would like to say thank you to all of the great hunters who took part in this contest. Also, we would like to thank Bog Gear for donating their Red Legged Devil tripods with the new XSR gun rest. And last but certainly not least, thank you to all of the volunteers who lent a helping hand and the Frio County 4-H program for providing the food. We look forward to seeing everyone on March 20th for the next registration!
