Technique of the Week: Early in my predator hunting career, Verne Howey told me, “When you scout, start at the stock tank. All animals have to drink.”
I’ve applied that advice many times since. OK, so there aren’t many stock tanks in Wisconsin compared to Howey’s home range of Wyoming, but his point still holds. If you’re looking for predator sign, water is a great place to begin your search.
For starters, animal tracks are always more evident in the soft soil near water. You can usually identify with confidence which predator species are in your zip code. You can also get a sense of how many animals are around, and even the size/age of them in some cases.
In general, you’ll also recognize which direction the animals are heading. Follow the trails leading away from water, looking for additional tracks, scat and hair at fence crossings. Search for travel corridors such as saddles, ravines, creek beds and field edges that could make good calling stand sites.
Water also attracts prey animals. Take note of areas of thick cover that hold rabbits, rats and other predator food sources. Often, the most-edible plants in the area are found near a water source, so that will also concentrate animal sign – both of predator and prey.
So whether you’re planning to call an unfamiliar area or just trying to get a handle on the current predator population in your calling territory, head to the water’s edge with your investigator hat on.
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Depending on what part of the country you are from, frozen waterways later in the year also become predator highways. Number 1, hard water is easy to travel on and number 2, like you said prey animals live in or near these areas. Red fox and coyotes love to hunt a frozen muskrat marsh for obvious reasons and bobcats aways seem to follow frozen creeks. This doesn't mean that you will find predators skating in stock tanks though!
Mike Wilhite
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