We do most of our calling at night, from a vehicle, since the jackal, caracal, fox and the African wild cat are mainly nocturnal. The advantage of calling at night is that one is obscured by the darkness, the predators feel safe and don't hesitate to come to a call. We use cassettes and cassette players to call but I have recorded a few of our own prey animals in distress on c.d. and use a portable c.d. player to call. I also use a remote control c.d. player to call, which make it easier to get the call smart jackal. Many people in South Africa don't believe in calling, especially the older farmers. They have hunted jackals for ages using dogs, horses and traps. I believe calling is the most effective way of dealing with problem animals such as the black-backed jackal or fox (the caracal is less predictable).

We hunt on privately owned land and always get written permission when the owner is absent since this is required by law. The farmers are very grateful to anyone who can kill a jackal. There are many farmers who allow hunters to shoot jackal for free.

The most jackal I shot in one night : 19

A trap wise jackal that got away twice but misjudge him with the calling technique

CALLING EQUIPMENT

There are two types of calling devices for the calling of predators in South Africa:

The Electronic call (cassette or c.d. player) replays the authentic animal sounds. The advantage of the electronic call is that it has greater volume in strong winds, different sounds can be played and the speaker can be placed away from the hunter so that the predator focuses on the sound and not the hunter. Recordings of animal sounds are not commercially available in South Africa and we therefore must make these ourselves. I came up with the idea of putting the sounds on c.d. which makes calling easier. One has the advantage of being able to select a range of calls from one c.d. at the (silent) press of a button and by using the "repeat one" function, a particular call can be played over and over again. In addition, one can use a remote control, which enables one to position oneself some distance away from the calling equipment. To my knowledge, I am the first person to have used a c.d. remote control unit. I have tested the range of the remote to 800 yards without any problems. I usually take up position 120 yards from the c.d.d. but have used it effectively at a distance of 200 yards from one side of a valley to the other. The quality of the animal sounds on c.d. is excellent and one does not have to carry a lot of cas