The thick pine plantations of the East and Southeast are ideal habitat for foxes and bobcats.

Set-Up Strategies
Eastern states like Virginia and the Carolinas have much more cover and far less visibility than Western states, making the simple act of seeing an approaching animal a difficult task. Carr likes to sit on logging roads running through dense cut-overs and pines, and he also sits on the edges of fields adjacent to thicker cover. Foxes will often stay inside the brush or woods as they approach, but they will cross a road or step out into a field for a quick look, offering a brief chance at a shot.

When heavy cover creates visibility problems for Prudhomme, he won't hesitate to climb up a tree as if he were hunting deer. He and his son were sitting in a two-man ladder stand one evening last year when a bobcat slipped through the thick cover beneath them as it responded to Prudhomme's distressed rabbit call. He was hunting a five-year-old clear cut, prime predator habitat, and the dense cover made it impossible to see more than a few yards in any direction from the ground.

"I don't think I would have ever seen that cat until it was too late if I was sitting on the ground," he said.

Carr has also called in foxes from a deer stand, but he usually sits on the ground because the areas he often hunts--clear-cuts and planted pines--don't have trees big enough to support a stand. The only problem with climbing into a tree stand is that approaching predators will figure out the wounded rabbit they are searching for isn't on the ground. Prudhomme has been busted on more than one occasion when he was calling from a tree. He cured that, however, when he switched to a remote-controlled electronic caller with interchangeable animal sounds. He sets the speaker on the ground in an open spot that offers a clear shot while he works the switch from his tree stand. If he had to choose, however, Prudhomme would take a mouth call. So would Carr.

"I can change the volume and the tone and the cadence without moving. My cottontail distress call hangs around my neck, so it's always there when I want it," said Carr. "It's also just more convenient when I'm trying to hit as many spots as I can."

Carr tries to cover as much ground as he can, but in Virginia, large farms are rare and in some cases a single calling session from one location will cover an entire parcel of property. He tries to line up four or five spots for a day of hunting, but if he can't he'll move at least 500 yards before he starts again. He's convinced that any fox within that range will hear his calls and come toward him if it is interested.

Prudhomme stays with a specific stand for about thirty minutes before he picks up and relocates. He said coyotes tend to come in pretty quick, but bobcats will take their time, often pausing for ten minutes or more in thick cover before closing the distance. Carr gives each spot about the same amount of time, but he says foxes tend to show up within ten minutes or even less. Gray foxes, he learned, often come in at a dead run with little regard to wind direction, while reds tend to stop fifty, even 100 yards out and survey the scene before they slink in for a closer look. Sometimes they don't come in at all. Grays also respond in pairs or even trios, while reds are typically loners.