How to call animals with the bleat caller effectively?

[Panzer]

Is there any certain things I should know before trying to call deer to me? And how to track animals effectively without spooking them?
I just got given a warning call by a bear that judging by the call prompt, was very far away, and I was crouching the whole time.
Basically I'm super new to this game and I want to know how to track animals well and not spook them every time by making too much noise with bushes or moving.

[Mr. Ed]

When you hear vocals or see vocal rings generated from downwind of U or If U hear an animal calling from the same place more than once it is probably at a drinking or eating zone. Either way your chances of success at calling the animal in to U are very very small. Even when all is perfect using a call has only a 60% chance of success (even with all the skills). Doe Blacktail deer are famous for responding to a call. They appear, walk around a bit and then put the bum rush on U by trotting quickly straight into your face. To avoid this I usually will call then hurry (as silently as possible) a few meters to the side so I can get a more broadsided shot at the animal.

The calls effective distances are about 200m and have a 90 second duration. That being said it might take an animal 4 or more minutes to appear in response to your call. For Whitetail and Blacktail deer the does tend to appear first, Don't get discouraged if one puts the bum rush on your location and then spooks away. Use the call again. Odds are either she will come back or that previously unseen buck will emerge. When I use the bleat caller I'll hit it twice, wait 60-90 seconds and then give it one more bleat. Then I wait, listen and watch for 3-4 min tops before giving one more bleat. If nothing show within 2-3 min I move on.

Tracking effectively? That depends upon the animal, the time of day/night and what kind of tracks they are leaving (walking, trotting, running) and which way the wind is blowing. If and when I find a track with a good weight to it I might follow those tracks to the 1st pile of poo. If that poo says it's very old then I figure the animal is long gone. If it says "fresh" or "very fresh" then it's time to find a place to hide and call from. When the poo says "just now" it's like a silent fart because by the time you discover either one it's too late.

Walking or running while tracking is not the best way to go about it. Doesn't matter if it's a wounded or unwounded animal. The idea is to find them before they discover U. Once an animals tracks turn and head downwind of you...the jig is up. I don't follow tracks to find the animal that left them. YAY!! I found some tracks..now the puzzle is why was the animal that left them here, here in the first place and about how long ago was it here. Where was it going (point B) and where did it come from (point A)? These animals do not wander around aimlessly. When they are not eating, drinking or resting they are going from point A to point B or they are either chasing prey or moving away from predators (incl U).

[Panzer]

Originally posted by Mr. Ed:

When you hear vocals or see vocal rings generated from downwind of U or If U hear an animal calling from the same place more than once it is probably at a drinking or eating zone. Either way your chances of success at calling the animal in to U are very very small. Even when all is perfect using a call has only a 60% chance of success (even with all the skills). Doe Blacktail deer are famous for responding to a call. They appear, walk around a bit and then put the bum rush on U by trotting quickly straight into your face. To avoid this I usually will call then hurry (as silently as possible) a few meters to the side so I can get a more broadsided shot at the animal.

The calls effective distances are about 200m and have a 90 second duration. That being said it might take an animal 4 or more minutes to appear in response to your call. For Whitetail and Blacktail deer the does tend to appear first, Don't get discouraged if one puts the bum rush on your location and then spooks away. Use the call again. Odds are either she will come back or that previously unseen buck will emerge. When I use the bleat caller I'll hit it twice, wait 60-90 seconds and then give it one more bleat. Then I wait, listen and watch for 3-4 min tops before giving one more bleat. If nothing show within 2-3 min I move on.

Tracking effectively? That depends upon the animal, the time of day/night and what kind of tracks they are leaving (walking, trotting, running) and which way the wind is blowing. If and when I find a track with a good weight to it I might follow those tracks to the 1st pile of poo. If that poo says it's very old then I figure the animal is long gone. If it says "fresh" or "very fresh" then it's time to find a place to hide and call from. When the poo says "just now" it's like a silent fart because by the time you discover either one it's too late.

Walking or running while tracking is not the best way to go about it. Doesn't matter if it's a wounded or unwounded animal. The idea is to find them before they discover U. Once an animals tracks turn and head downwind of you...the jig is up. I don't follow tracks to find the animal that left them. YAY!! I found some tracks..now the puzzle is why was the animal that left them here, here in the first place and about how long ago was it here. Where was it going (point B) and where did it come from (point A)? These animals do not wander around aimlessly. When they are not eating, drinking or resting they are going from point A to point B or they are either chasing prey or moving away from predators (incl U).

I really don't understand much of that last paragraph, but I'll try that bleat calling thing you did, but how do I know if an animal has spotted or heard me? Like what if I can't see the animal and I have no idea if its long gone or not? And how do I avoid making noise when I have to be in the bush to not get seen, but the bush makes noise? I have so many questions, but I just can't say them lmao they're on the tip of my tongue but I can't put them into words.

[Alter_Schwede_62]

If you were crouching it was the wind.
The bears can see and smell very good.
If you are in the wind, you do not have any chance, because they are always running away.
Even if you do not see them.
But because of that you have the wind display.
Always have it in mind, because f.e. if you decided to hunt a lake to north direction and the wind blows from the south, you have lost from the beginning on.
Then go south, or any other direction exept north.
Sometimes wind changes as time passes, so keep the wind indicator always in mind.
It is very important for all animals. So they will flee, even if you havent seen any of them.

[kesi96]

Hey,
I don´t agree with Mr. Ed, usually the callers are very effective, at least for lower level animals. Just the big trophy-bucks won´t react very often, but does and smaller bucks usually get attracted. As it was already said, be careful with the wind, no matter if you call animals in or track them you should get the wind in your face, not in direction of the animals. Then just crouch, while walking animals will detect you very fast. You can hear it if an animal gives a warning call. But not every animal gives warning call when they detect you! Therefor its very helpful to take the binoculars from time to time, looking around. Sometimes you can detect animals behind brushes or trees which you haven´t seen before. When you spot an animal you can also see if it has detected you. When it´s calm, it didn´t detect you so far. Nervous means it was spooked or alarmed before, when it is alarmed or attentive it has seen you. At this point it is important that animals react the same way on predators like puma, wolves or lions, in Parque Fernando, Yucon Valley and Vurhonga Savannah. So an alarmed animal can also mean that there´s a predator around. You can also see the behaviour, if an animal detects you, it walks a few metres away from you, turns, and comes back straight into you direction.
If you see tracks you can follow them until you find droppings of an animal, then it is shown how old the tracks are. "Just now" just means that the animal was there the last minutes, it still can be a few hundred metres away, so don´t worry about, but be prepared for stepping over it when it stopped at a need zone for example :D
Just try around a little bit, at the beginning it is maybe easier to go hunting in more open areas, where you can see very far and you can detect animals with you binoculars. Then crouch and in close range lie down on the ground to get close enough for a good shot. Just try out a little bit how close you can get. Or when you see animals within your caller range of 200m call them in as far as you have a good place to overview the direction the animals will come from. You will get into this very fast.
Just try to ask what you mean, I think you will usually find sb here who understands what you mean :)
Good luck so far!

[Hidden Gunman]

Once one animal goes skittish in a group, it effects the entire group, which also means that using a caller to lure in a high level animal in a group is likely to attract the lower rankers, which can result in them spooking the high ranker as well.

[Panzer]

Originally posted by kesi96:

Hey,
I don´t agree with Mr. Ed, usually the callers are very effective, at least for lower level animals. Just the big trophy-bucks won´t react very often, but does and smaller bucks usually get attracted. As it was already said, be careful with the wind, no matter if you call animals in or track them you should get the wind in your face, not in direction of the animals. Then just crouch, while walking animals will detect you very fast. You can hear it if an animal gives a warning call. But not every animal gives warning call when they detect you! Therefor its very helpful to take the binoculars from time to time, looking around. Sometimes you can detect animals behind brushes or trees which you haven´t seen before. When you spot an animal you can also see if it has detected you. When it´s calm, it didn´t detect you so far. Nervous means it was spooked or alarmed before, when it is alarmed or attentive it has seen you. At this point it is important that animals react the same way on predators like puma, wolves or lions, in Parque Fernando, Yucon Valley and Vurhonga Savannah. So an alarmed animal can also mean that there´s a predator around. You can also see the behaviour, if an animal detects you, it walks a few metres away from you, turns, and comes back straight into you direction.
If you see tracks you can follow them until you find droppings of an animal, then it is shown how old the tracks are. "Just now" just means that the animal was there the last minutes, it still can be a few hundred metres away, so don´t worry about, but be prepared for stepping over it when it stopped at a need zone for example :D
Just try around a little bit, at the beginning it is maybe easier to go hunting in more open areas, where you can see very far and you can detect animals with you binoculars. Then crouch and in close range lie down on the ground to get close enough for a good shot. Just try out a little bit how close you can get. Or when you see animals within your caller range of 200m call them in as far as you have a good place to overview the direction the animals will come from. You will get into this very fast.
Just try to ask what you mean, I think you will usually find sb here who understands what you mean :)
Good luck so far!

I'll try and camp around a need spot when its at his used time, and I'll stay hidden and quiet, but if I spot an animal, why can't I just instantly shoot it? Why call it closer? Wouldn't that use more time?

[Alter_Schwede_62]

Yes, you will loose time, but first Hunting isn't a time depending game, and second, the closer an animal is, the better you can place a shot.

[Furley]

3 minutes of trying to bring them in closer can save you 20 minutes of tracking.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by The Panzer-Pleb:

I
Basically I'm super new to this game and I want to know how to track animals well and not spook them every time by making too much noise with bushes or moving.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Usually if they're close enough to give the warning call they're close enough for the caller to work. They won't normally run that far unless you directly pursue them, so most of the time simply stopping and using the caller will start bringing them in.

If I'm stalking and I hear a warning call what I usually do is stop, turn to face the call and give a quick scan with the binoculars to see if they're in sight (note the animals won't necessarily run directly away from you, they'll usually try to continue to wherever they're trying to get through by moving around you if necessary, which is one of the reasons it's useful to do it at a need spot). If conditions are good - wind blowing away from their likely approach, decent field of fire and good cover nearby - that's when I'll crouch and use the caller. Usually I'll give three calls and start moving towards cover while using the binoculars to scan for their approach. I'll stop and repeat the calls every couple of minutes if I'm still moving (if the animals appear before I get into position then I drop and crawl, otherwise crouching should be fine). Once in position you can use the caller to encourage them to get closer, and take the shot once you're comfortable you can make a kill.
If you don't drop it on the shot it's worth not pursuing straight away. You'll see the hunting pressure appear on the map if the animal dies (give it five minutes or so, it can take a while for a deer to bleed out), and if you chase after it you're only encouraging it to run further. Wait for the map to confirm the kill then follow the tracks to the body on the other hand and you'll usually find they don't run that far.

You might want to check out some of the videos on YouTube for hints while stalking. I usually find Flinter's are pretty good.

[Panzer]

Originally posted by archonsod:

You might want to check out some of the videos on YouTube for hints while stalking. I usually find Flinter's are pretty good.

Could you give me a link to any of this "Flinter"'s videos? Any that you find particularly helpful? Also, would it be worth finding an experienced partner and they can tell me some tips on how to hunt well, while we're in a hunt? I could follow along the partner and do as he/she says.

[Guts]

Use calls as much as you want. They don't spook animals ever. If the animal hears, sees, or smells you then they spook but the callers don't mess up anything even if you use it repeatedly for 3 minutes.

[Alter_Schwede_62]

archonsod, you should differentiate a bit.
In my oppinion it always depends on the quality of the shot, what follows next.
If you after a bad shot are waiting too long, you perhaps never will find the trace, f.e. if many animals are running around, like on a need zone.
For me the best is, to watch where the shot animals go to as long as I can see them. Moose, elk and bears can run very far if the shot was bad and if you wait too long, you will never find those animals.

animals cannot see you too when you get in crouch position. You do not have to go to crawl position.
Too nearby a tree or a bush let you become invisible for the animals.
Hehe, but that doesn't prevent you from beeing attacked by bears/grizzlys, wolfs and bisons.
In the same moment you shoot at them and hit them, they know where you are, and will try to chase you.

[Panzer]

Originally posted by archonsod:

Originally posted by The Panzer-Pleb:

I
Basically I'm super new to this game and I want to know how to track animals well and not spook them every time by making too much noise with bushes or moving.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Usually if they're close enough to give the warning call they're close enough for the caller to work. They won't normally run that far unless you directly pursue them, so most of the time simply stopping and using the caller will start bringing them in.

If I'm stalking and I hear a warning call what I usually do is stop, turn to face the call and give a quick scan with the binoculars to see if they're in sight (note the animals won't necessarily run directly away from you, they'll usually try to continue to wherever they're trying to get through by moving around you if necessary, which is one of the reasons it's useful to do it at a need spot). If conditions are good - wind blowing away from their likely approach, decent field of fire and good cover nearby - that's when I'll crouch and use the caller. Usually I'll give three calls and start moving towards cover while using the binoculars to scan for their approach. I'll stop and repeat the calls every couple of minutes if I'm still moving (if the animals appear before I get into position then I drop and crawl, otherwise crouching should be fine). Once in position you can use the caller to encourage them to get closer, and take the shot once you're comfortable you can make a kill.
If you don't drop it on the shot it's worth not pursuing straight away. You'll see the hunting pressure appear on the map if the animal dies (give it five minutes or so, it can take a while for a deer to bleed out), and if you chase after it you're only encouraging it to run further. Wait for the map to confirm the kill then follow the tracks to the body on the other hand and you'll usually find they don't run that far.

You might want to check out some of the videos on YouTube for hints while stalking. I usually find Flinter's are pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKquh_wyGGw&feature=youtu.be
This is my gameplay, anything I could have done differently that would have benefited me further when hunting?
Also, about 30 minutes after this Bear Kill, I shot a Moose in the head, and 4 times in the body, yet it still ran away without dying?

[Steven]

Yes please take the shot earlier next time I was getting bored 😜

For one I wouldn’t use a 243 ranger on a bear, I would use 270 or 7mm if you have one. (Think 7mm gives full integ, not played lakes in a while)

But going for a bigger cal gun means you could of taken the shot earlier and double lunged.

Personally if I was that close and wanting a brain shot I would of spotted again and also used torch to make sure I could see what I was doing better but that’s prob just personal preference.

Nice shot though.

Apart from me having a few bugs with the 300 I’ve always found that all bears go down easy if you hit a vital, so I normally will take a long distance shot rather than having to slowly creep closer.

Also you mention the moose, well if you used the ranger 243 with those soft point bullets the moose will still be running next year!

Go for 7mm or 338 on a moose with poly tip bullets.
Ideally go for a heart shot or doing lung.
The head shots are clearly effective but it’s all too easy to hit skull or jaw and miss brain and that will lead to a loooooong time tracking until he gets to 0 a 25 health and then suddenly the blood trail stops.

I only go for decent size bull moose now, never bother with females because if it’s not an ideal shot it can take a while to track the thing down.

Originally posted by The Panzer-Pleb:

Originally posted by archonsod:

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Usually if they're close enough to give the warning call they're close enough for the caller to work. They won't normally run that far unless you directly pursue them, so most of the time simply stopping and using the caller will start bringing them in.

If I'm stalking and I hear a warning call what I usually do is stop, turn to face the call and give a quick scan with the binoculars to see if they're in sight (note the animals won't necessarily run directly away from you, they'll usually try to continue to wherever they're trying to get through by moving around you if necessary, which is one of the reasons it's useful to do it at a need spot). If conditions are good - wind blowing away from their likely approach, decent field of fire and good cover nearby - that's when I'll crouch and use the caller. Usually I'll give three calls and start moving towards cover while using the binoculars to scan for their approach. I'll stop and repeat the calls every couple of minutes if I'm still moving (if the animals appear before I get into position then I drop and crawl, otherwise crouching should be fine). Once in position you can use the caller to encourage them to get closer, and take the shot once you're comfortable you can make a kill.
If you don't drop it on the shot it's worth not pursuing straight away. You'll see the hunting pressure appear on the map if the animal dies (give it five minutes or so, it can take a while for a deer to bleed out), and if you chase after it you're only encouraging it to run further. Wait for the map to confirm the kill then follow the tracks to the body on the other hand and you'll usually find they don't run that far.

You might want to check out some of the videos on YouTube for hints while stalking. I usually find Flinter's are pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKquh_wyGGw&feature=youtu.be
This is my gameplay, anything I could have done differently that would have benefited me further when hunting?
Also, about 30 minutes after this Bear Kill, I shot a Moose in the head, and 4 times in the body, yet it still ran away without dying?

[Alter_Schwede_62]

Why do you hunt at night?
It is much harder to track shot animals because with the head lamp you only see a small part of the whole scene, and of course of the tracks. At night it is much easier to loose tracks. My experience.
I try to avoid night hunting.