Monday, August 2, 2010

Best of the Outdoor Bloggers: Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors: Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death

© 2010 Albert A Rasch and
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
$g&m f9bd 45kd q!?5. trochronicles.blogspot.com

Best of the Outdoor Bloggers

Remember I mentioned a week or so ago I would be going through everyones archives and finding those posts that I thought were interesting and worth revisiting? Well, I found the following post, Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death, on Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors, dusted it off, and am presenting it here for everyone to view again!

Picture Credit: Wild Ed
When I was a small child I spent many holidays with my grandparents. They owned a ranch near Round Mountain, Texas a small community southwest of Marble Falls, Texas. Sometimes my grandfather would go to Marble Falls for cattle feed and supplies and I got to ride along. It was always a special trip to town for we would stop at the Blue Bonnet Cafe, a Texas tradition, for granddad's coffee and pie. I would get a soft drink which I drank as fast a possible so I could ask to go across the street. Permission granted I headed to my favorite shop in the whole world. It was Burnham Brothers Sporting Goods and for a youngster eat up with hunting this place was heaven on earth. They used to have a window full of live rattlesnakes and all the latest hunting gear, but better than that it had Murry and Winston Burnham. They would sit in the shop and tell stories about calling in predators with calls and many times with sounds they made themselves. I considered these two men the superstars of predator calling. I would sit and listen to whatever golden words of advice they would give me and go back to the ranch and practice varmint calling for hours. Two of my most prized possessions were Burnham Brother Predator calls. One day when the Burnham’s were passing out the gospel of varmint calling the subject of lip squeaking came up. I do not remember if it was Murry or Winston that helped show me how to suck on the back of my middle finger and make this wonderful squeak that sounds something like a young squirrel, rodent or even rabbit in distress. Learning to make this magical sound was the beginning of a lifetime of calling animals.

The sound is simply made by making a kissing sound with your lips while pressing them against the palm-side of the middle finger. You can play with the way you do it until you get the best sound and volume. Most people would call me a liar if I told them about the hundreds of animals that have come to this sound.

Picture Credit: Wild Ed
I will never forget one icy cold morning when my uncle and I were going to break ice on the stock pond so the cattle could get water. As we drove through the pasture a grey fox ran across the road. At that time grey fox furs were worth about $30.00 which was a lot of money back then. We cut the truck off and set for a couple of minutes. I then began to squeak on the back of finger and here came the fox running to capture what thing was making such a frantic scream. This was the first time I had a witness to what I could do with this sound.

PictureCredit: Wild Ed
I became a success at squirrel hunting overnight. Squirrels that hear the sound may come running or move from cover. Many squirrels will start barking and chattering upon hearing the squeak. I have called numerous hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes, coons, ringtails, bobcats, feral cats, ground squirrels, rock squirrels, wild dogs and I am sure others I can’t remember. I have had even deer, javelina and feral hogs come to the sound, maybe out of curiosity, but they came. This is one call I always have with me and do not have to remember where I put it. To the Burnham’s wherever you now are I want to say thank you for a lifetime of making memories and instilling the flame of predator calling in my heart. Even 45 years later it still burns. Good calling, Wild Ed

Wild Ed also has a follow up post on the "Kiss of Death." It's a demonstration and you can find it at: Kiss of Death Demo.

My friends, that is the first installment of "Best of the Outdoor Bloggers," which I hope to make a weekly series. I want to thank Wild Ed of Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors for allowing me to share his Predators, Varmints and the Kiss of Death, with everyone.  If you have a post that you are particularly proud of, or if you want to look at your Analytics and check out what your # 1 post is, please feel free to forward it to me and I will gladly post it and link the snot out of it to your blog!

Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member:Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...


The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles



Keywords: Predator hunting, predator, predators, predator calls, making a predator call, fox hunting, jackel hunting, bobcat hunting, predator shooting, calls for predators




2 comments:

Wild Ed said...

Albert I am truly honored. It is people like you and some of my readers that make my Blog worth the time and effort as it has been a non profit work since the inception. Thanks my friend,
Wild Ed

tom said...

Ed, if you rant and rave about stuff you like for FREE, people may or may not like you for it, but the people that like you for it appreciate you took the time to write it and trust you.

As for marbly falls (funny side note, my Illinois grandma once asked where the "falls" were...under the 281 bridge, in the lake...mostly...if you are keeping score at home.)

"Yankee Roast" pot roast or CFS and PIE with UNSWEET TEA!!!

Guitar picker buddy of mine used to live, literally, walking distance from there, more or less. Breakfasts at Bluebonnet are good to, but I can never finish them.

I've never been there even once because I hated it! :-)

If you ever end up back in the area again, though, there's the Chrome Cactus burger joint by the REMAX office on 281, and they have a HALF POUND BURGER WITH, get this, cheese and CHICKEN FRIED BACON on top.

My cardiologist and pancreas doc says it's a bad idea and I think I'll die some day anyway, so I may as well eat!

Not every day, but it's as fun of a place to eat as Bluebonnet in a different way. My dad likes Bluebonnet better when he visits because of the PIE.

Stay Safe in the land that Genghis Khan forgot! And in Round Rock, too!