5 Tips for Surviving Youth Wrestling Tournaments

Over the years, I spent plenty of cold winter days at youth wrestling tournaMents, and plenty of drawn-out weekends at high school wrestling tourneys. As if the wrestling matches themselves weren't tough enough, making sure you had everything you needed to pass the time was always a challenge.

5 Tips for Surviving Youth Wrestling Tournaments

5 Tips for Surviving Youth Wrestling Tournaments

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5 Tips for Surviving Youth Wrestling Tournaments

5 Tips for Surviving Youth Wrestling Tournaments

In the hope that my experience could help someone else, here are my tips on surviving youth wrestling tournaMents.

First: keep a pAir of nail clippers in your wrestling bag. The tournaMents are long enough already, and don't need to get held up by refs sending kids to the side to get their nails clipped before the first match.

Second: avoid bleacher butt by keeping one pillow in the wrestling bag for every butt that's going to be in thosebleachers "all day. These can double as a cushy place for your head if you find somewhere to take a snooze. (Just don't sleep through to match!) Also, get up and move around--this keeps the blood moving and helps to stave off that bleacher pain.

Third: put your name on all of your wrestling equipMent. There's so much floating around, you don't need to risk losing yours. We used to find shoes and headgear all the time beneath the bleachers ".

Fourth: bring healthy, energy snacks. Most tournaments sell junk Food, and you hardly want to encourage surges and drops of energy during the day, which is what injections of sugar do for you. And you don't want to feel lethargic because of greasy burgers and fries.

This is especially important forhigh school wrestlers who are trying to Watch their weight. Roller-coast blood sugar levels cause hunger and can lead to weight gain.

Fifth: bring something to pass the time. There's a lot of time between matches. Books, homework, even Gameboys (with earphones) are good ways to enjoy yourself or to be productive along the way. (Mom or Dad might be able to even get some work done.)

For the wrestler at any tournament, practice is the main way to prepare for tournaments. But by following these tips, you can make it through the down time and enjoy the experience just a little more.

5 Tips for Surviving Youth Wrestling Tournaments

Calling Coyotes With Hand Calls Or Electric Game Calls-Which is Best?

The first thing you have to understand when calling coyotes are the reasons they respond to the call.

Calling Coyotes With Hand Calls Or Electric Game Calls-Which is Best?

Calling Coyotes With Hand Calls Or Electric Game Calls-Which is Best?

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Calling Coyotes With Hand Calls Or Electric Game Calls-Which is Best?

Calling Coyotes With Hand Calls Or Electric Game Calls-Which is Best?

Coyotes respond to your call out of hunger, territorial issues, social issues or curiosity. I believe that most of your responses will be from hunger and territorial issues.

The majority of all coyotes are called in using prey distress sounds. The good old fashioned rabbit-in-distress sound has probably been used to call in more coyotes than all the others combined. I don't believe this proven technique will be replaced any time soon.

In just the last few years, using coyote howling sounds like have become more popular. I'm a big fan of using coyote sounds for calling but, I think it's best for beginners to start out with some simple distresscalling and learn the basics. It can get a little tricky when you're trying to talk to the coyote in its own language.

Hand Calls

There are two kinds of hand calls: reed and reed closed open An important difference between the two is that the closed reed type will tend to freeze up more quickly in cold weather. The closed reed might also be a little easier for a beginner to use, but it will usually limit the variety of sounds that can be produced. An open reed call is more flexible, allowing a variety of sounds from prey distress to coyote vocalizations. Either type will get the Job done.

Hand calls are easy to carry, reliable and inexpensive. One disadvanTAGe is that you are limited to the variety of sounds, although the number of sounds that a caller can produce skilledfrom just one hand call is amazing. Of course this takes a lot of practice which will more than likely drive your family crazy.

Learning how to use a mouth blown rabbit-in-distress call is fAirly simple. Almost any of the calls on today's market will work just fine. I recomMend that you purchase at least a couple of different distress calls. This will provide you some variety. You'll find that just switching your calls up on a stand just might be what's needed to hear that coyote.

I could go into detail on how to blow the call but there are so many great coyote hunting videos out there right now that I recomMend that you purchase a few and just sit back and Watch them. There is nothing better than seeing and hearing the real thing in action.

Electronic Calls

If youever want to start a good arguMent among coyote hunters just bring up the subject of guns or electronic calls. Not only will you fire up the diehard hand callers you'll get plenty of discussion on which e-call is the best.

There are some definite advanTAGes of using an electronic call; the major advanTAGe is being able to move the sound away from you. As I mentioned earlier, when you start calling, you put the Coyotes on full alert. Its goal now is to find the source of the sound.

If you're using a hand call, the source of the sound is you know, when the coyote comes in its eyes, ears and nose will be focused on you. This can lead to problems.

Another advantage of the electronic call is the ability to produce a variety of sounds. Some hold hundreds of electronic callssounds. With an electronic caller you can instantly become an expert caller. At least you'll be able to make some good sounds. Hand calls require some practice and some people just have a hard time producing a good sound.

However, electronic calls can be quite expensive, heavy, and require batteries. Occasionally there will be problems. I would recommend that you practice and become proficient using hand calls just in case you find yourself out in the field with dead batteries.

As you can see there are advantages and disadvantages to both types of calls. I might go out without my electronic call but, I'll never go out without some hand calls.

Calling Coyotes With Hand Calls Or Electric Game Calls-Which is Best?