Consider this a "calling 101" type question.

I know there's mouth calls, electronic and many others.

Looking into buying my first. Recommended models and brands? Coyote, thinking a dying rabbit, couple other types.

The market is saturated, and I don't know where to start.

Cheap & fast starter kit:

Get a Primos Catnip. It's a "bite" call. Very easy to learn and use. You can get all kinds of sounds out of it.

Also get a little Hand Squeaker.

So far, your under $20.00

Fox Pro's Spitfire Electronic Caller is a good value. I have had great luck with mine.
You'll be knocking on the door of $200

There are lots of great call makers on this forum, but they cost more than $12.00 and for good reason.

If you get a mouse squeaker, get the one you sqeeze. Get some velcro tape and fix it to your gunstock. That way when you get a coyote that hangs up, you don't have to go figiting around looking for a coaxer call, it's right there. I have a Spitfire and love it. It could use more memory for additional sounds, but it is a great economical electronic call. Search the internet, you can find some good deals. Good luck.

Haydels government model. clear plastic model. sounds just right.
has a sqeaker voice in the end also. 2 calls in one.

In the past, have sold hundreds of my own hand-made calls, but this is the one storebought model I keep 2 of.

Why not just squeak with ur mouth? Price is right and you'll have a hard time forgetting it in the truck.

X2

I have actually squeeked a coyote in with just my mouth, actually I was sucking on the side of my thumb and danged if it didn't work.
Lucky opportunity though, was driving down a ranch road and saw one cross in front of me and run trot into some brush.
I didn't have a call with me but he didn't seem spooked so I grabbed my rifle and eased out into a spot where I thought he might be close and started smooching my hand.
He came trotting in like a sacrificial victim and that is what he ended up being.
I would seriously hate to have to count on much success doing it though.
for one your lips are going to get dang sore..

for serious work I use a fox pro and a decoy, I usually carry the mouth piece from an old cow elk call in my jacket pocket all the time however and its really easy to make distress sounds with it, its small and loud enough and there have been many that have been fooled by it.

I've used an electronic call on an Iphone of all things, for my 1 coyote kill so far (2 years back in summer).


Not against electronic calls, but for now will probably stick to the recommended ones and a squeaker.

Anyone else, feel free to chime in. I know what I don't know.

I'd go with an economy type electronic until I got most of the kinks worked out, and your sure it's something you want to do enough to invest in a foxpro or some of the other e-callers. Blowin' into a mouth call gets very tiresome, after about the first 3 minutes. I have called in a ton of animals back in the days of cassette tapes with a K-mart player/recorder that used 6 c batteries. There aint a critter out there that knows how much your caller cost, all they're interested in is something to eat, without gettin' ate.

From a callmaker, get a Haydels or Burnam Brothers call, you can pick them up in most sporting good stores. A jackrabbit and a cottontail distress, watch some You Tube videos about coyote calling. It would be better to have some one show you the ropes to shorten the learning curve, but the videos a will be a start.

I really like using a howling mouth call in addition to what others have said. Primos' Hot Dog has brought in a lot of yotes for me. It and the Primos KiYi have worked great for me, and they cost less than $40 together.

VSB just something to think about is that with a mouth call they are going to be coming in fixed on your position.Nothing wrong with that really , it can be kind of fun when one throws sand down the back of your shorts, or jumps over your legs. Hell I even hada young one run into my back one time, and if you don't think that won't make you mess yourself, whooee its a wonder I didn't shoot my foot off! nuther good reason to always have your safety on at a stand.
But the real problem is that if your in brushy , kind of tight country your going to miss a lot of opportunities.
If your not calling continously in the brush they are going to oftentimes stop coming in and circle you, hell they are probably going to circle you anyway but more likely to if the noise stops.
Or else they are going to see your hand movement blowing on the call and thats going to bust you.
One little thing I like to in this country down here is get back in the brush where a lot of folks don't want to go and set up a electronic and decoy in a small clearing. then I stand backed up into some brush with a shotgun. You will get a lot of what I call " fly by's" they will come ripping it through the clearing taking a quick look at what is making the noise, kind of like pass shooting dove..
Or if your not seeing anything and you know that there are coyotes in the area, well someone has probably been educating them from a county road sitting there blowin on a call and drinking beer.
If you have a electronic with a remote I would try setting it up somewhere and then easing about 75 to a 100 yards downwind and set up where you can watch a clearing, or sendero.
You can't do those kinds of things with a mouth call worth a dern.
Now out west in New Mexico and Az I have called in more than I can count with a mouth call, but the country is different and you can use a different calling pattern, call watch, call watch.

In the bush its call, call, call, boooom ,holy crap where did he come from !??!!

Get an open reed call, the primos lil dog is good. Pm tjshockler on here, I have one of his calls and it turned to be my favorite fast.

I say get an open reed because you can do so much more than a closed reed. You can do vocals and distress where to can't with the other.

You have to practice and practice a lot to correctly use an open reed. Until you are sure you know what you are doing an open reed is nothing but a gamble and an educator for the coyotes. After you have learned the open reed it can be the go to call. Unfortunately most callers haven't a clue on how to use the open reed.

More predators have been scared off by the misuse of open reeds than ever have been killed. Know your calls, BEFORE you go out and hunt with them.

I don't care too much for the dying rabbit calls, I'd rather use a wounded bird or rodent sound.

Easiest way to make bird sounds is to use a cottontail distress and trill your air like when you roll an "R" in Spanish. With variation you can have a woodpecker distress or a blue jay distress. They are great sounds for calling in bobcats.

I have to agree, but....

My first custom call was an open reed. It took a bit of time to get the hang of it. Honestly, I'm probably still not completely there. Don't know if I ever will be sometimes. LOL

The bite call i mentioned is basically a "contained open reed" in my own idiot opinion. I found it easier to manipulate. It seems to me to have a huge range of sounds as well. And believe it or not, but I am actually able to get a good squirrel chatter out of it by puffing back-n-forth.

Long story short... there have been lots of great suggestions. Start picking some stuff up and playing with it.
If you can find someone that is "seasoned" to hang out with, that would be a great head start. You could try their stuff and pick up some great pointers.

Friend whose land I hunt is 'seasoned' (he's got a string of coyotes, hogs, deer, etc) growing up a country boy. But i'm not always on his land and he now works cross-state from his own land, so he may not always be about. He's also the one with the Iphone caller Downloaded the call, carried a little pair of speakers with him.

As we did nail a coyote that first time out, i'd say it worked.

Other times, weather, movement/etc did not agree, we could hear them, but always on the wrong side of the road/fence and no clear shots.

Been looking at smaller e-callers. May be buying one soon if budget allows, and a squeaker.

Thanks for the tips guys.