Now’s a great time to call predators. With food supplies only now recovering from the cold-weather season, you may cause a wily coyote to let its guard down. In addition, you can do some early-season turkey scouting at the same time. A born-and-raised Texan, lifelong predator-hunter Gerald Steward probably had a coyote caller for a pacifier as a baby. His expertise is well known, and he shares some of his tips in this insightful profile:

I came across an idea a number of years ago, and I don’t remember exactly how I figured this out. But my dad, Johnny Stewart, had always been interested in how to approach predators in an area where you want to hunt predators in a quieter way. So, I began to modify the tail pipe of my vehicle and point the tail pipe down toward the ground instead of up or out. This way, the sound of the exhaust goes down into the ground rather than being put out behind the vehicle.

If you’ll notice, when you lay a caller’s speaker on the ground, much of the call’s sound goes into the ground. The same is true if you turn the tail pipe of the vehicle you hunt with down to the ground. Another thing I’ve learned is that animals react differently to various types of vehicles and if yours sounds like the farmer’s equipment, they are less spooky.

Discover Stewart’s hunting vehicle of choice and what kind of call he prefers in this Hunterspec.com profile.