Western Rivers Predation MP3 caller

[Calif. Hunter]

Does anyone have any experience with this electronic caller? The reviews at Cabellas are mixed - some love it and others had nothing but problems...

 

[Oak]

Yep, I have a ton of experience with one, but not for calling predators. I use one 80-100 days a year for work, though. What do you want to know?

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I was wondering how well it worked, was the volume sufficient and how well predators responded to it. Is it reliable? I have read the reviews at a couple of retailers like Cabelas, but they are very mixed. Some folks have nothing but good to say about them,while others have absolutely nothing good to say about them.

So I thought I would check with the folks here.

 

[Oak]

For what I use them for, they work great. I think the volume is pretty good. The sound does tend to get a little distorted if you crank it way up. I did not buy the remote, as I have no use for it, but I've heard that they don't work nearly as far away as advertised. One problem we have had with them is the buttons wearing out. But we are turning them off and on and scrolling through the calls constantly throughout the day, literally for weeks at a time. I think we probably abuse them much more than the typical hunter would. The computer in them seems to be kinda cheezy. It will sometimes freeze up and you have to reset the unit. Sometimes you have to re-format the hard drive which will erase all the calls you have loaded on it. The solution to that is to just use a card in it, instead of loading the calls on the hard drive. They used to only accept MMC cards (look just like an SD card), but I think the new ones will accept SD cards. That's important because MMC cards are becoming hard to find.

The thing I really like about them is that you can make your own calls and load them on the unit. All I use are my own homemade tracks. If you can digitally record what you want to use, or convert a recording to digital (MP3 file), you can then use an editting program (Audacity is great, and is a free download) and make continuous loop of your call, as long or as short as you want it.

Battery life seems to be 6-8 hours. I've found that if I turn the unit off between every calling station, I can use one for several days between charges. That likely wouldn't be the case if you're calling continuously for long periods of time.

I use the caller to do raptor surveys in the summer. I have a protocol to follow which includes a playing a call for a certain amount of time, followed by a period of silence, the call again, more silence, etc. I can make a call track exactly as long as I need it for one calling station, with the silent periods built in. So there is no looking at my watch and counting seconds of silence or calling. For this, the callers work great. Since I don't use them for predator calling, there may be some cons to the units I'm not thinking about.

 

[Washington Hunter]

We used my brother's Western Rivers call three years ago on a spring bear hunt here in Washington. It managed to fool three bears, one of which I killed. Seems like a pretty decent call for the price. The volume didn't seem to be quite as loud as I would have liked, but I guess bears have better hearing than I do! If money was no object I'd be getting a Foxpro.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Yep, WH, the Fox Pro is the cat's meow... .... but I don't spend that much time calling predators, so I don't wnat to spend that much on one. I was wondering if this less expensive caller was effective.