[Tommy]

How many of you guys enter contests? I am in one this weekend in Manhattan Kansas, The Westar Energy Predator Calling Contest, and one next weekend in Norton, Kansas for the 4H Fund Raiser. We also do one in late Feb for the guys at our power company. Anyone around the area should check them out.

On the flip side, how many guys are totally against the contest idea? I was against them totally until I got talked into entering one and placed in the money, haha.

 

[El Gato Loco]

Have never done one but I can see where money might be a motivating factor.

I am planning to go hunt with Tony Tebbe in NM and TX soon. Really looking forward to that.

 

[Tommy]

Yeah, it does make all the miles and gas money worth it!

 

[coyotekidd]

Hey Chris

What part of NM are you coming to?

 

[El Gato Loco]

Hey Chris

What part of NM are you coming to?

Various ranches around Southern NM from what I understand. I just started looking into this a while back. It will be with Tony Tebbe from Predator University: Predator University | Predator Calling School, Instructional and Guided Predator Hunts in West Texas

Where are you located?

 

[[email protected]]

I run a contest every year, and this year was # 4, we gave out 5000$ in cash and prizes, and had 28 hunters. 59 yotes killed in 46 hours.
Had a great time. We will do it again next year.I can post pics if anyone wants to see them.
I think that hunts are a good way to get guys together, and put a hurt on the yotes before calving,and fawning season.

 

[El Gato Loco]

I run a contest every year, and this year was # 4, we gave out 5000$ in cash and prizes, and had 28 hunters. 59 yotes killed in 46 hours.
Had a great time. We will do it again next year.I can post pics if anyone wants to see them.

Who doesn't like to see pictures?! Please do post em if you're up to it.

You won't have to find a place to host them like some other sites. Just hit "Manage attachments" while posting and upload them right to your post.

 

[[email protected]]

Chris, I'll give it a shot.

 

[[email protected]]

This is the total take, I'm gonna try to add some more pics.
The winners.(I'm the skinny guy in the black hat)

Champion Buckles.

 

[El Gato Loco]

Holy cow!!!! That's a lot of dogs! I like the buckles even more though. I need me one of them!

Thanks for sharing.....

 

[yotecatslayer34]

" Holy [Excuse my language.... I have a limited vocabulary]!!!! That's a lot of dogs! " LoL- my thoughts Exactly !! Awesome job Duane!

 

[cmiddleton]

hi Duane, that's a good turn out and the coyotes came to play too.
we are having a get together next weekend so i'll get to meet a bunch of callers from around here.
we are not running it as a contest. i wouldn't know how.
i do hope everyone that comes calls in some and even more i hope everyone has a ton of fun.
I'm a guy who would rather laugh then make money.
i have gone to two contests and felt the seriousness of the contest took away from the fun of the hunt.
i just don't have the competitiveness it changes to when you are into the contest hunt.
i don't have anything against them i liked talking to the guys at the dinners but the hunt was a "gotta do thing"
the laughing and joking stopped. its just not me I'd rather see someone smile then kill a bunch.
my brother was my partner and I'd say it was the least amount of laughing we have ever had while hunting together.
well aside from when the ADC plane about shot my fox decoy then shot the fox we had coming. we had a great laugh over that.

 

[GritGuy]

Sorry not a fan of them, I've seen some bad things with these contests here, always some one trying to bust in with others to conquer the contest and others till always wondering how you can judge them honestly.

They are about like a bounty system when you never know where the dogs are coming from yet still end up getting credit for them any way.

If they work for you fine and your contests have the bugs worked out great, we have several in our state and all it seems to do is educate the dogs for the rest of the season.

They probably would work very well for a large locked up range where you can control access and people. Sadly with open range the honor system seems to have failed in to many of them.

 

[Tommy]

Good points Grit. I have wondered about some of the coyote numbers that get brought in (sometimes up to almost twenty dogs in one weekend) by a single team. cmiddleton, I agree with you on the seriousness part of it. I was in a contest this weekend and felt that right away. It almost takes the fun out of it. We still had a great time but only shot one dog.

 

[coyotekidd]

Nice pics! Those belt buckles are really nice. Post the info on the next contest. Those buckles are enticing.

 

[[email protected]]

Heres the deal with "contest", They are a lot of work for the guy putting them on.Cheating is always a concern, and I try to stay ahead of that the best I can.After 10 years of hunting contest, and 4 years of running one, I think I got some stuff figured out.
There were some good comments made about that fact that "contest hunting" is not fun, if you wanna be in the money it is "work". Any contest that I have been in the money, I worked my tail off, I was not hunting for fun.But when you put out 200$ for an entry fee, you know going in that guys are gonna hunt hard. I can still go 48 hrs strait, and thats what I do when I hunt a contest, but it's not fun , like hunting with a freind on a Sat morning. Contest hunting is a diff game.

 

[UTcoyoteklr]

contests are fun you get to meet some really cool people and see alot of dogs dead with the price of fur down it gives a little more incentive to make a litte money while having the most fun you can have with your clothes on lol

 

[coyotekidd]

[email protected],

I appreciate your posts (very informative) But I've never called in a contest and was wondering how/what ways people cheat and other "issues" to be aware of if I decide to dish out some hard earned money. Thanks.

 

[[email protected]]

Hard to say how guys cheat without knowing the rules, But most common is yotes shot before the contest.(solution) Temp check the yotes.
Trapped or snared yotes turned in, (solution), check every yote for trap and snare marks.
Yotes shot from the air turned in, (solution) check every yote for buckshot in the top of the back.
Make all yotes "property of the hunt". That way once they are checked in, you can skin one(in ?) right their in front of everyone.
Those are a few things I do, I'm not gonna share everything(you understand I have to keep some tricks up my sleeve to catch cheaters)
Also "DQ" CHEATERS , if you can prove it, call them out, and make an example of them. Make it clear that cheating will not be tollerated.
stick to your guns, if your not confident that you can prove in court that someone cheated, you better let it pass. I was threatened with a lawsuit last year because I "dq'ed" a team. I had the proof, and responded I would see them in court, they were "bluffing", but I had all the proof I needed. It would have just been a waste of my time, but I would have won.
This year, we had no problems, I think mainly because guys know I kill upwards of 150 yotes a year,I know alittle about what condition yotes should be in depending on the circumstances, and I run the hunt, and I am the judge, they also know that I will skin any yote in ?. If guys think they will get caught cheating, they don't normally take the chance.

 

[coyotekidd]

[email protected],

Thanks alot for that info. Its too bad people don't just respect the sport and the contests.