Foxpro's Wildfire 2
March 2015
The Short Story
For my human ears I could hear the Wildfire 2 up to 500 yards away, course what you’re hunting has better hearing. It is very easy to download new sounds to the Wildfire 2. The panel lights up on the remote at night so you can see what you’re doing. The Wildfire 2 speaker is a tough little fella as I had it in mud, rocks, trees and trucks. The remote is also pretty darn rugged looking in construction. I found it difficult when stalking to make sure the mesquite branches wouldn’t rub the speaker and cause a loud scraping sound which can give away your position. I’d suggest coating the device with a thin layer of rubber as an option to dull the sound during movement or bumping equipment. Other than that minor issue I take the Wildfire 2 on every hunt and have repeatedly called in animals of different types.
The Long Story
I received this fancy huntin’ gadget as a Christmas present from my momma and dad. Needless to say I went nuts immediately wanting to go hunting and try the Wildfire out.
A little background story on this feller is that I had been researching into calls quite a bit. Techniques on making calls with your own voice so your hunting buddies can think you’re as bat crazy as Uncle Si on Duck Dynasty. Hand held calls that always have the look of some medical device or…other device. Then I kept running into the products from Foxpro Inc. Buddies on my forum said to use it, heck a kid in the neighborhood went nuts when I told him about it and he was only 12! Hot dog! If a 12 year old kid knows about it then how the hell do I not know about it, better yet, why haven’t I used it!?
Well, Santa was good to me and knew I hadn’t yet shot any reindeer yet and decided to bring one to me for Christmas. Course I immediately dug up batteries and got the Wildfire 2 running. I also connected it to the computer through USB and easily downloaded all the hog sounds I could ever want. My family was so happy when I started playing the adult cottontail in the house.
Fast forward to the important stuff!
First hunt of the year we went out for hogs and coyotes and ended up with two bucks and a doe…that’s how it works right? One of my buddies had just down his first deer, a beautiful doe, and we were on our way back to the ranch house to get the truck to pick her up for cleaning. In the field in front of the house was a coyote trotting off about 500+ yards from us. I happened to have my Wildfire 2 on me and we quickly setup in the trees while I put the foxpro about 15 yards away from us.
I selected Adult Cottontail and hit “Send” and cranked the volume to about 17. The coyote whipped around instantly. We all started laughing in disbelief! This feller knew there was a delicious meal waiting for him by us and said “hey, free lunch!” and began heading our way with a quick trot. 400 yards out, 300 yards, 200, now we’re getting ready at 150, still waiting – BOOM! The coyote was running away! One of our guys just couldn’t contain himself and wanted to take a shot while the yote was trotting. Even though the coyote got away we were stunned how the Wildfire 2 worked. That’s right, “worked”!
Fast forward to a more recent hunt in late February. I was mostly hunting by myself which allows me to focus on new techniques in still hunting or stalking and studying animal habits. One of the nights I decide I’m going to hunt a wallow on the ground, only throw out a few handfuls of corn just to get them to stop, and setup a green light. I also have a green light on my rifle (another review for another time).
All set I sit down and wait. You know how it goes, there’s lots of waiting, watching nature, hearing a twig break, checking and rechecking the wind and wondering if I’m in the right spot. On into nightfall I decide it’s time to start up the Wildfire 2. I chose Hog Feeding Frenzy 1. I rotate between the two feeding frenzies that I had and did occasionally hear critter movement. Now and then, I was pretty sure I heard hogs squealing nearby.
Two hours of this and nada. I shut it down and begin to quietly pack up. Then I hear two pigs duking it out nearby! Either someone didn’t want to be mated with or someone was in the big guy’s territory having it out. I eventually started stalking these pigs which wound up taking me in a big circle back to where I started and could smell them.
I decided to use my last resort call on the Wildfire 2. Baby Pig In Distress. Now why this is my last resort is for a couple reasons. A) I’m worried I’ll scare some pigs away B) I’m standing on the ground. In fact I did a combo of Baby Pig In Distress and Sow Protection which has the baby pig squealing in the background while the big momma is calling for reinforcements.
All hog hell broke loose. As I’m switching between these calls at least five “things” come crashing through the mesquite and brush. I still had my hand on the remote and was frantically trying to mute it to hear what direction these animals were coming from. I had one critter come crashing to the other side of a mesquite bush 10 feet in front of me right as I muted it. You imagine me going from very slow hunt to thinking a 30 round magazine might not be enough! I’m standing there shining my light back and forth hunting down any kind of shape in the brush, course they’re smart not to walk into the road! I lower the volume on the Wildfire 2 and start playing the baby pig again, I just need movement…then a truck showed up.
Yup, there went my hunt! However, again, the Foxpro Wildfire 2 strutted its stuff like a 10 point buck saying “I can do anything!” Either javelina or hogs were called in, my best guess is hogs since there were some in the area.
Now the successful hunt. The last morning of the hunt I headed out into the fields and positioned myself in some trees and brush. The Wildfire 2 was about 30 yards from me. I played up my baby cottontail. One of my absolute favorite things about the Foxpro product is the remote’s timer. It tells you how long you’ve been running the device which lets you gauge how long you’ve been at it. This helps in figuring out if you’re at a bad location, switch spots and start over. Usually 15 minutes is what’s suggested before moving to another spot.
13 minutes into this hunt and through my binoculars I spot a coyote cautiously moving in on the “bunny rabbit”. It took him about ten more minutes until he was about 150 yards which is where I took him (see above picture). Good job Foxpro Inc on this Wildfire 2! I can only imaging the rest of the products Foxpro offers! Can't wait to get it back out on my next hunt.