I hunted Saturday night with buds Aaron and Jake and Bistro, an ex Army friend of Jake's. The three of us doing the shooting "enjoyed" some woeful shooting. Bad enough we took a break to check zero on all three of the rifles- it wasn't the rifles! (Never is either.)
It was relatively warm out at about 48* when we started, with a nearly full moon, and a very bright night. West wind 10-15kts, dropping to 5-10kts as the night went on.
Our first stand resulted in zip. Same with a our second and third - all this on nearly a virgin farm we hadn't hunted on but once, early in the fall. We figured the warm weather and bright night were keeping the predators, mostly fox around this area, from the typical aggressive reaction to a call.
Our fourth stand resulted in a hard charger that pulled up maybe 25yds from the call, 50yds from us. I will swear until I die that the cross hair was on his chest as he looked at us when the trigger broke, but I friggin' missed. He took a step and did his best to imitate a setter on point and Aaron, standing next to me and who will also swear he was on target, missed. Then we all missed running shots. Jake thought we might have all missed a gray fox, but I'm not sure. A fox for sure though.
Next we spotted a ground hog foraging. We did a count down and from maybe 75yds away we got a couple of rounds into him as he ducked into his hole.
Our final stand at this farm was from next to the ground hog hole and we spotted what might have been a fox or maybe a coyote, looked to big to be a fox to me, at the edge of the woods maybe 250yds in front. He moved around a bit but would not come to the call. Another cam hard charging from the right, where I was as a lefty shooter and I missed again at maybe 45yds. My only excuse was that I had to hurry to get off the shot before the fox trotted into a no fire zone with farm buildings down range. As the fox took off we all missed, and then Jake connected tumbling the fox, but he recovered and made his escape. We never found him despite looking hard. Jake has been using I think Sierra OTM's and they just don't seem to be opening reliably.
We changed farms and took an opportunity to hang a hand warmer on a target and shoot at just shy of 50yds. We'll, as I wrote, it wasn't the rifles.
Aaron and I had hung some goose carcasses at four locations at the next location, but they were frozen when we hung them before sundown. We saw nothing on the carcasses, but we did manage to call in one fox, which Jake shot - and actually hit! - at 45yds or so. We did a count down on a raccoon we saw on the way out and I think we all hit him at 90yds or so.
Here's a photo, Bistro has my P-22 with a SiCo Spectre II in his pocket since we thought the fox might need a finisher, but he didn't. I can only attribute Jake's expression to a combination of angst for what should have been and some consolation for the one he finally did kill:
JPK
It was relatively warm out at about 48* when we started, with a nearly full moon, and a very bright night. West wind 10-15kts, dropping to 5-10kts as the night went on.
Our first stand resulted in zip. Same with a our second and third - all this on nearly a virgin farm we hadn't hunted on but once, early in the fall. We figured the warm weather and bright night were keeping the predators, mostly fox around this area, from the typical aggressive reaction to a call.
Our fourth stand resulted in a hard charger that pulled up maybe 25yds from the call, 50yds from us. I will swear until I die that the cross hair was on his chest as he looked at us when the trigger broke, but I friggin' missed. He took a step and did his best to imitate a setter on point and Aaron, standing next to me and who will also swear he was on target, missed. Then we all missed running shots. Jake thought we might have all missed a gray fox, but I'm not sure. A fox for sure though.
Next we spotted a ground hog foraging. We did a count down and from maybe 75yds away we got a couple of rounds into him as he ducked into his hole.
Our final stand at this farm was from next to the ground hog hole and we spotted what might have been a fox or maybe a coyote, looked to big to be a fox to me, at the edge of the woods maybe 250yds in front. He moved around a bit but would not come to the call. Another cam hard charging from the right, where I was as a lefty shooter and I missed again at maybe 45yds. My only excuse was that I had to hurry to get off the shot before the fox trotted into a no fire zone with farm buildings down range. As the fox took off we all missed, and then Jake connected tumbling the fox, but he recovered and made his escape. We never found him despite looking hard. Jake has been using I think Sierra OTM's and they just don't seem to be opening reliably.
We changed farms and took an opportunity to hang a hand warmer on a target and shoot at just shy of 50yds. We'll, as I wrote, it wasn't the rifles.
Aaron and I had hung some goose carcasses at four locations at the next location, but they were frozen when we hung them before sundown. We saw nothing on the carcasses, but we did manage to call in one fox, which Jake shot - and actually hit! - at 45yds or so. We did a count down on a raccoon we saw on the way out and I think we all hit him at 90yds or so.
Here's a photo, Bistro has my P-22 with a SiCo Spectre II in his pocket since we thought the fox might need a finisher, but he didn't. I can only attribute Jake's expression to a combination of angst for what should have been and some consolation for the one he finally did kill:
JPK
