Primos Dogg Catcher Review: Compact & Great Value

The Primos Dogg Catcher is a compact and highly portable electronic call that boasts simple-to-use features and great value.

The Dogg Catcher comes in at a sub-$90 price, which is consistent with the best entry-level predator calls under $100 on the market.

Why Buy The Primos Dogg Catcher

The Dogg Catcher is Primos’ entry level electronic call. After other brands started creating their cheaper beginner focused calls, Primos had to compete as well which saw the introduction of this e-caller onto the market.

This Dogg Catcher comes programmed with 12 different predator calls by hunting guru Randy Anderson, so you know you’re getting quality, albeit in a smaller library than a $200 or $300 electronic caller.

Although it’s not a programmable predator e-caller, it’s a true steal at its below-$90 price tag. It will definitely get you started off on the right foot if you’re new to coyote hunting and using an electronic call.

About Primos

We have spoken at length about what a great and historic brand Primos is on our site. Will Primos first started building calls in 1963 and his brand has grown to be in that top tier of predator call companies, with the likes of FOXPRO and ICOtec.

The Primos brand certainly deserves its sterling reputation in the hunting world. The Dogg Catcher is an excellent, great-value-for-a-low price addition to Primos’ awesome product line.

Design & Portability

This unit is made with the high quality composite moulded material Primos prides themselves on, and is made for success in bad weather conditions.

This is a great unit for the predator hunter who’s just getting started and wants great functionality and features at a low price.

This unit weighs only 2.5 lbs – lighter than most FOXPRO units – and plays MUCH louder than any mouth call. It’s also quite portable, with dimensions of 10 inches x 7 inches x 5 inches.

Sound

While testing this unit, we were amazed not only at how compact and light it is, but also how loud our calls were in open fields. It can reach up to approximately 95-100 decibels.

If you were after a caller that had an auxiliary port where you could connect an extra speaker if you were looking for more sound, unfortunately the Dogg Catcher does not have this and you would have to look at other callers for this particular feature.

Just remember that a caller doesn’t always need to be super loud and this is only one feature consideration. Human ears are different to coyote’s who can hear much better than us, and you still want your calls to sound natural in the wild.

You don’t need to be blasting the whole area to be able to attract coyotes in. If it’s too loud, it might even do the opposite and send them running.

There are plenty of e-callers that really struggle with loudness (we haven’t bothered featuring them on our site), but for this cheaper priced e-caller, this baby is surprisingly loud for what it is and will definitely do the job.

Remote

For an entry level unit, the Primos Dogg Catcher still has a great remote range, with the ability to reach out to 150 yards in the field.

Line of sight is important when getting out to the further distances, so you will need to be aware of your set up and elevation if you need to place your caller past the 100 yard mark.

Dogg Catcher remote not working?

If you have issues with the remote not working and activating the caller, remember to initially touch the antennas to establish whether a connection has occurred before taking it out a further distance.

If you still continue to have issues, ensure you have good fresh batteries installed and that there is no other interference occurring. If you are at home, try your caller in different locations in case something unknown is playing havoc with the signal.

Batteries

The Dogg Catcher remote takes one 23A battery while the caller takes 4 AA batteries. Although the unit itself is not rechargeable, you can buy rechargeable AA batteries and rotate them as needed.

Even though this is not as many batteries as some of the other higher end callers, which often require up to 10 AAs, it still delivers in sound and power.

Although actual battery life depends on a range of factors, customers have reported getting up to 60 hours out of the batteries for the caller and significantly longer for the remote.

Although the Dogg Catcher seems to have a good battery life, we always recommend carrying extra batteries on you no matter what. You don’t want to be out hunting and unexpectedly get flat batteries ruining your day!

Play 2 Sounds Simultaneously

The Primos Dogg Catcher’s single high-powered horn speaker delivers volume that would be satisfactory for almost any hunt. Adding to that, this unit can also play two sounds simultaneously, which is a big benefit for newbies and pros alike.

One of the best ways to improve as a predator caller is to learn from mixing different sounds – i.e. the catch cry of Primos being”learning to speak the language”.

With two different sounds playing, you can start to learn how to create interesting and realistic scenarios that will intrigue your prey and bring them in closer and quicker.

Once you learn how to effectively play two sounds at once, your success rate while hunting will no doubt sky rocket.

Not all beginner callers have this feature, so with these facts in mind, you’re getting a good unit with awesome value in the Dogg Catcher.

High Quality Randy Anderson Calls

Randy Anderson is one of the biggest names in hunting today. Dozens of years of predator hunting have taught him how to replicate the language of coyotes. He knows what, and when, to use each type of call.

He’s designed a series of calls, available on the Primos Dogg Catcher, to help hunters across the USA to learn to speak the coyote’s language.

Here is the full list the calls that Randy loaded on to the Dogg Catcher (12 total):

• Coyote interrogation howls
• Female invitation howls
• Coyote serenade
• Adult coyote distress
• Coyote pup distress
• Cottontail distress
• Baby cottontail distress
• Jackrabbit distress
• Baby jackrabbit distress
• Baby fawn distress
• Rodent distress
• Woodpecker distress

Other Primos E-Callers

For a more advanced, more expensive unit from Primos, we recommend checking out our review of the Primos Alpha Dogg e-caller.

Usually electronic calls within the same brand will share consistent base functions, and Primos is no different. The Dogg Catcher is the baby brother of the Alpha Dogg and Turbo Dogg, both of which have MUCH higher price tags and more features to boot.

For example, both the Turbo Dogg and Alpha Dogg are programmed with more than 3x the sounds of the Dogg Catcher.

They also feature hunt sequences by Randy Anderson, whereas the Dogg Catcher only has individual Randy Anderson calls. Hunters new to e-callers shouldn’t be concerned with having a huge library of calls or the ability to run 30-minute pre-programmed hunt sequences.

They’re largely unnecessary and you won’t learn anything or become a better hunter by just running pre-programmed sequences. Because it is simple to use and very inexpensive, the Dogg Catcher is a great entry-level choice for any hunter.

Verdict On The Primos Dogg Catcher

The Dogg Catcher is well-made and has all of the basic features required in an entry level e-caller. Primos has ensured it is designed to make your hunt easy and effective.

It weighs less than 3 lbs, and can be controlled from 150 yards away. With its 12 different calls and powerful horn speaker, this electronic coyote call should satisfy the needs of most hunters.

Although you can’t program your own calls on to the Dogg Catcher, this feature is not a standard feature included in entry level electronic call, so it isn’t fair to expect this. For more features, including a larger call library and programmability, you can always check out the Turbo Dogg and Alpha Dogg.

At a sub-$100 price, the Dogg Catcher really is a ridiculous steal for the features that you do get. You can use it as your primary caller, if not just to have a low-cost back-up handy.

This e-caller is an excellent addition to your bag of hunting tricks, whether you’re a seasoned caller or a beginner hunter learning how to effectively call in those wiley coyotes.