MARQUETTE — When deer season ends and before bird season begins there is a way for sportsmen to still enjoy the thrill of hunting in the northern Michigan woods.

Predator hunting, the taking of animal predators such as coyotes and foxes, is legal year-round in the state.

There is no bag limit on coyotes or foxes, although only two bobcats are allowed during the few months of winter during which the cats are in season.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources forest technician Tom Burnis, an avid predator hunter, explained how the act of enticing predators involves posing as their next meal with game calls that mimic the sounds of wounded animals.

“It’s that idea of the hunter being the hunted,” he said. “Basically you’re imitating prey, a wounded rabbit or deer, so (the predators) are literally coming in looking for you as a source of food.”

Burnis, of Gulliver, recalls his first experience hunting coyotes as a high-school student more than 40 years-ago, sitting on the ground with a handheld game call and .22 Magnum revolver.

“I looked up and here come two coyotes on a dead run right for me. It was kind of intimidating,” he said. “I was just sitting on the ground and they come to within 30 yards and stopped. I raised my arm and pulled back the hammer on the pistol. One of the coyotes keyed on me when I made that movement and came rushing in right at me. I shot him in the chest.

‘My heart was pounding so hard. I was hooked at that point.”

Burnis has maintained these original hunting techniques including use of a handheld call rather than more modern electronic devices.

“I started out old school and kind of stuck with it. I find it very satisfying when I am successful with it. I find it very satisfying that I was making the actual noise. It was actually me doing that and not a recording, you know,” he said.

Predator hunting is not always a successful endeavor, regardless of which techniques are employed.

“You actually only see a small percentage of what you call in. Critters come in, detect you, and sneak back out,” Burnis said.

Bobcats in particular tend to fall into this category, and seem to reflect in personality something of their domesticated counterparts, housecats.

“I have called in cats but they almost always come in very sneakily,” Burnis said. “They like to come to a point and just sit there and stare at you. You may see them, you may not, but they see you.”

Predator hunting serves a purpose beyond providing the hunter with a good time.

DNR Wildlife Specialist Cody Norton said that coyotes in particular reproduce very rapidly.

“Coyotes and bobcats take small mammals, squirrels, rabbits all the way up to white tail deer,” he said. ‘Fox extremely rarely will get lucky and get a fawn but they take snowshoe hares, cottontail rabbits and voles.”

Reducing the population of predators through hunting helps keep the wildlife landscape in check, according to Burnis.

“We need predators as part of the ecosystem but there is nothing wrong with controlling populations. There’s a balance. That’s true with everything,” he said.

Jessica Potila can be reached at 906-228-2500. Her email address is jpotila@miningjournal.net.