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Post by Chingacook on May 13, 2009 22:20:29 GMT -7
Yeah I didn't care for them, no consistent sound, but I only used one or two.
Before I got the ones with the chukar sound I just used the rabbit even though I had a choice of rodents and woodpeckers and such. It worked well.
One morning I was sitting on the side of the road waiting for it to get light enough to see and a couple of coyote callers pulled up, while I was talking to them I could hear the squeaker going off in the distance.
Everytime it would go off I see the one guy kind of shake his head like he'd heard something. It was on the opposite side of the road from his open window. Haha!!
Joel
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Post by lynx/cat-trapper on May 14, 2009 5:58:16 GMT -7
LOL.... sometimes it's kinda HARD to play dumb ;D ;D
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Post by lynx/cat-trapper on Jul 7, 2009 5:40:47 GMT -7
DEFINETLY gonna have to pull in a couple of the chuckar calls this year...
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decoy
lion trapper
Posts: 801
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Post by decoy on Jul 7, 2009 6:07:58 GMT -7
Got a squekker the other day from Roger at Pacific in Spokane. He bought out an old trappers supplies that had been sittn in storage for over 10 years. It's 5.5 long and 2.5 wide rd. pvc. Has a pic of a cat and says 'The Squeaker" red and black wire coming out of one end with a whole bunch of tiny holes in the other end. Have put the alligator clips on all kinds of different batteries but no sound..HHMMMM  |
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Post by grumpyoldman on Jul 7, 2009 7:34:34 GMT -7
Decoy, those may be collector item squeekers.. made by the Helen Keller Lure Co.
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gritguy
cat trapper
The SQUEEKERMAN
Posts: 662
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Post by gritguy on Jul 7, 2009 7:39:36 GMT -7
Most squeakers run on AA's either two or four, however some like my first unit will run on a 9 volt not many do not though.
I'd say if you have no sound at all from the unit with any kind of combo of battery's theres a componet inside thats blown, either due to the combo mix doing it or because it was blown out or broke before. Could be aspeaker wire come off or even one of the power wires seperated from the board as well.
Squeakers are very resilent and very difficult to break except for the IC's which are terribly power discrimintory, meaning if you run the wrong current thru them they will pop out.
Early units came along way before small voltage regulators and they used larger resisitors to buffer this, however even some of these were not standard in construction.
I have quite a few of Ed Courtneys Proto units that Slim sent me a few years ago and these still preform like when he made them, although if you run the wrong power thur them they are toast.
Also early units were all potted, meaning the circuit boards are all encapsuled with a type of epoxy coating to prevent copying the design, no way of repairing them today.
Somethng goes out on mine or a problem develops, you send it back I either fix it or repair it for free cept for a power mixup on the unit, there is a charge for a new chip.
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Post by GLMallory on Jul 7, 2009 8:26:26 GMT -7
My experience has been much like Joel's. I have better luck catching cats as they hunt toward the squeaker. There is a knack to using them. The first year I tried them I didn't have much success with them. I think, for me, I was trying to use them too close to my traps -- but that's just me. The next year, I tried Joel's suggestions and had great luck with them on cats. Last year I had one set location . . . . just a big rock spine out on the desert floor, miles from any trees or other cover. I could see where someone else had an old set but it didn't look like it had ever seen any action. I was kind of hesitant to set it up, but I did anyway. I placed sets on what I thought were the trails coming to the rock spine. One of these sets was an honest 150 yards away, but it was an obvious trail leaving a wash and coming to the rock. The first week or so, nothing. Then I placed a squeaker about 3 feet high in a big bush sticking out of this rock spine. I caught 7 cats at that location. I caught two sets of doubles. I'm convinced the squeaker made all the difference in the world, but I'm also confident that spreading the traps around and covering the access points to the rock was a big plus. I like the squeaker best in areas where I don't feel I can narrow the cat down, or can't decide whether I'm on location. A boulder-strewn hillside, an area where three or four washes come together, where several small canyons converge, a big brush covered flat, near a mountain spring, etc. Other good spots are adjacent to areas where you think the cat(s) might be hunting, but its difficult to find good set locations there. One area that comes to mind is a big bouldery hillside, chock full of sage and rabbit brush, that is always full of chukar. I could set a thousand sets on that hillside and never cover all the good spots. On the opposing hillside (which is a southern exposure) is an overhanging ledge with a cat toilet or two in the sand under the ledge. I place sets on the "ends" of the ledge overhang, and then conceal a squaker up under the ledge between the sets. It works great. I think its also important to conceal the squeaker. Not just hide it from human or animal eyes, but put it in a spot that creates interest and inrtigue -- down a hole, in a lava flow, in the low crotch of a tree, etc. My own impression is that the Wasatch units have PLENTY of volume. In fact, I like to put mine where the volume is muffled slightly. On a still night, cats can probably hear that sound at great distances. Too much noise probably causes more harm than too little noise. Here's one of those 7 cats. This set is about 10 yards from the squeaker.  Here's the Caven clan and AndyS with another one of those 7 cats.  Just my two cents worth. |
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gritguy
cat trapper
The SQUEEKERMAN
Posts: 662
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Post by gritguy on Jul 7, 2009 14:07:41 GMT -7
I will change volume for those wishing a custom unit as part of the options all they have to do is note that on the order.
Looks like your learning curve was very successfull, you have given a lot of great info for setting the units.
People really do under estimate animals and their abilites, volume on the units is more for people to hear the unit so they can sort thur each distress call more than it is for use. It does serve it's purpose though as animals have such a more pronounced hearing ability than humans do.
That being said I've done a whole lot of custom lion calls where most customers request a lot more volume on the unit.
What ever works, it's not terribly difficult to muffle the volume on the units when setting them though.
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Post by GLMallory on Jul 7, 2009 15:20:14 GMT -7
I'm sure the volume is an individual preference sort of thing and its not enough of an issue to warrant changing them, because its so easy to "adjust" the volume by how you conceal the squeaker. My only other suggestion would be to log in your squeakers on your hand-held GPS (what? You don't use a GPS?? ). I have lost more squeakers than I care to mention because I couldn't remember where I set them, or which set had the squeaker, etc. Now I just log them in on the Garmin and walk right back to them. |
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Post by lynx/cat-trapper on Jul 7, 2009 16:14:46 GMT -7
Volume? NUTHIN a little duct tape cant cure...  |
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Post by GLMallory on Jul 7, 2009 16:33:27 GMT -7
Volume? NUTHIN a little duct tape cant cure... You're talking about the Squeaker, right?  |
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Post by lynx/cat-trapper on Jul 7, 2009 17:29:08 GMT -7
HMMMMMM.... what WOULD WE GET if we mixed nightwishie with some GORILLA tape ;D ;D
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Post by grumpyoldman on Jul 7, 2009 18:50:19 GMT -7
;D Only one way to find out!
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jorge
mouse trapper
Posts: 197
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Post by jorge on Oct 31, 2010 20:20:43 GMT -7
I tried the sqeakers and felt like my catch went down over not using them, maybe I'm crazy
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Post by warcraft1975 on Nov 4, 2010 3:23:31 GMT -7
ive been real curious about useing them for awhile now ...i think it might help out in a heavy wooded area i like to trap ....would it be good for trail sets? thats really the only idea i had with it
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