I thought I would share this. Maybe y'all have experienced this. Despite all the frustration, it was an exciting little hunt...
Last night it was chilly in North Texas with temps right around 35 degrees with a light northerly breeze and 60-65% humidity. The landowner had reported hogs and I had checked the game cameras and found that the hogs were back, both morning and night the day before. So things were looking good for a hog hunt. The hours passed and no hogs. Using thermal scopes, I watched deer, rabbits, the occasional skunk, rats or mice, a couple of coons, and was even noticing birds roosted in the bare tree limbs, the birds looking like giant glowing berries on the trees. So after the hogs had failed to show, I decided to take a stalk around the property and see if there was action elsewhere.
This is a property that is largely open pastures that are surrounded by groves of trees that either mark old fence lines or ravines that criss cross the property. The large open areas are usually no more than about 10-20 acres and some are just a few acres. I was situated in a long hay field with a little dog leg at my end where there was a food plot and feeder. The deer had spent most of the evening in the foot plot, but now they were gone and I was headed in the opposite direction. One last scan of the area in all diretions revealed no activity. Time to head out...
As there was almost no wind and the hay grass was crunchy, I was going slow (for me). Usually there is enough wind and rustle from the trees that a lot of my motion is drown out or otherwise covered, but not tonight. I had gone maybe 60 or 70 yards in this field in about 5 minutes time, hugging the tree line, when I spotted small dots on my FLIR spotting scope. The FLIR is a spotting scope and for small targets, it does not have the resolution for good identification unless you are closer or have a good, unobstructed view. What I was seeing was winks of light through the hay grass that I took to be a couple of rabbits doing their thing. Sometimes I see rabbits "playing" and chasing each other around, or otherwise fighting. One of the rabbits was slightly bigger and didn't seem to move like a rabbit. Maybe a raccoon? I got my rifle up for a better identification and spied a cat's head above the grass in side profile. As I watched, I saw the pointy ears of the smaller target as well. This two were bobcats working the hay for little critters. Every now and then I would see them rise up suddenly and then disappear down into the grass and out of sight. Cool!
These were smaller bobcats. That is about all I could tell from approximately 100 yards distance. The bigger one was the one protruding above the grass most often and so it was going to be my target...
As I reached into my pocket for my call, I realized my first mistake. It was sitting up in the stand I had just left. No problem, 100 yards isn't an issue. That is the distance at which my rifle is sighted. Well, I can't hold steady on a small target at 100 yards and so mistake #2 was realized, I never broke out my shooting sticks. They are still back in the truck. Errrrrr.
So I had to take a knee. The change in angle, landscape, and grass meant that the small cat disappeared and the large cat all but disappeared from view. So going prone was out of the question as well. I was going to have to get closer, change my position to the cats somehow, in order to get a clean shot.
For about the next 10 minutes, I slow stepped and spotted and kept an eye on the cats and made it maybe another 40 or 50 yards, but the cats either had run out of prey or had taken notice of me. The smaller cat had wandered off into the tree line behind it - no hurry. It was almost like he had lost interest. The bigger cat had continued hunting, but was moving away from me at the same time. I had gained maybe just 20 yards on it. I would stop, try to hold steady for an offhand shot, fail to steady up, take a knee, lose the cat in the grass. I would stand up and move forward slowly while watching the cat through my spotter, stop, repeat. I did this several times. I kept thinking that I just needed to find a break in the grass to get a good view for a shot.
Understand that for me, this is taking an eternity. I am getting frustrated by my lack of preparation, inability to steady up on the target, and the terain and vegetation. The whole time, my heart is racing. My knees hurt from the slow deep knee bends. Finally, I have pushed the cat out into an open area, low grass and I can see all but its legs. It is still working the ground, looking for rodents or shrews or whatever and I am maybe 50 yards away. Everything is coming together but I can't steady up for offhand even that close. So again I take a knee and as I do so I notice the lights above my rifle scope in the distance. I get to my knee, look through the scope and have a good target picture, but raise my head to check the lights and I am directly aligned with the neighbor's house. The house is probably 300 yards distant, slightly up hill, and beyond a nice grove of trees, but I can see their slights and so I know my bullet could make it there with just a slight upward ricochet.
I am going nuts in my head. I have a line of slight ground level shot at a bobcat that I have stalked in an open field for over 20 minutes on a quiet night, am within about 50 yards and finally can steady up my shot (kneeling) and there is a house that is behind the cat. I swear, the Three Stooges would have better luck than this!
As I watch, the cat moves away from me and disappears down into a pond area. I try to move into a position to see where he has gone, but by the time I finally get there, the cat is nowhere to be seen. Dejected, I give up on the cat and head across the property to check the areas I had originally intended to check. I managed to dodge 5 different skunks, three of which were little ones, but that was sort of the theme for the hunt - skunked.
Last night it was chilly in North Texas with temps right around 35 degrees with a light northerly breeze and 60-65% humidity. The landowner had reported hogs and I had checked the game cameras and found that the hogs were back, both morning and night the day before. So things were looking good for a hog hunt. The hours passed and no hogs. Using thermal scopes, I watched deer, rabbits, the occasional skunk, rats or mice, a couple of coons, and was even noticing birds roosted in the bare tree limbs, the birds looking like giant glowing berries on the trees. So after the hogs had failed to show, I decided to take a stalk around the property and see if there was action elsewhere.
This is a property that is largely open pastures that are surrounded by groves of trees that either mark old fence lines or ravines that criss cross the property. The large open areas are usually no more than about 10-20 acres and some are just a few acres. I was situated in a long hay field with a little dog leg at my end where there was a food plot and feeder. The deer had spent most of the evening in the foot plot, but now they were gone and I was headed in the opposite direction. One last scan of the area in all diretions revealed no activity. Time to head out...
As there was almost no wind and the hay grass was crunchy, I was going slow (for me). Usually there is enough wind and rustle from the trees that a lot of my motion is drown out or otherwise covered, but not tonight. I had gone maybe 60 or 70 yards in this field in about 5 minutes time, hugging the tree line, when I spotted small dots on my FLIR spotting scope. The FLIR is a spotting scope and for small targets, it does not have the resolution for good identification unless you are closer or have a good, unobstructed view. What I was seeing was winks of light through the hay grass that I took to be a couple of rabbits doing their thing. Sometimes I see rabbits "playing" and chasing each other around, or otherwise fighting. One of the rabbits was slightly bigger and didn't seem to move like a rabbit. Maybe a raccoon? I got my rifle up for a better identification and spied a cat's head above the grass in side profile. As I watched, I saw the pointy ears of the smaller target as well. This two were bobcats working the hay for little critters. Every now and then I would see them rise up suddenly and then disappear down into the grass and out of sight. Cool!
These were smaller bobcats. That is about all I could tell from approximately 100 yards distance. The bigger one was the one protruding above the grass most often and so it was going to be my target...
As I reached into my pocket for my call, I realized my first mistake. It was sitting up in the stand I had just left. No problem, 100 yards isn't an issue. That is the distance at which my rifle is sighted. Well, I can't hold steady on a small target at 100 yards and so mistake #2 was realized, I never broke out my shooting sticks. They are still back in the truck. Errrrrr.
So I had to take a knee. The change in angle, landscape, and grass meant that the small cat disappeared and the large cat all but disappeared from view. So going prone was out of the question as well. I was going to have to get closer, change my position to the cats somehow, in order to get a clean shot.
For about the next 10 minutes, I slow stepped and spotted and kept an eye on the cats and made it maybe another 40 or 50 yards, but the cats either had run out of prey or had taken notice of me. The smaller cat had wandered off into the tree line behind it - no hurry. It was almost like he had lost interest. The bigger cat had continued hunting, but was moving away from me at the same time. I had gained maybe just 20 yards on it. I would stop, try to hold steady for an offhand shot, fail to steady up, take a knee, lose the cat in the grass. I would stand up and move forward slowly while watching the cat through my spotter, stop, repeat. I did this several times. I kept thinking that I just needed to find a break in the grass to get a good view for a shot.
Understand that for me, this is taking an eternity. I am getting frustrated by my lack of preparation, inability to steady up on the target, and the terain and vegetation. The whole time, my heart is racing. My knees hurt from the slow deep knee bends. Finally, I have pushed the cat out into an open area, low grass and I can see all but its legs. It is still working the ground, looking for rodents or shrews or whatever and I am maybe 50 yards away. Everything is coming together but I can't steady up for offhand even that close. So again I take a knee and as I do so I notice the lights above my rifle scope in the distance. I get to my knee, look through the scope and have a good target picture, but raise my head to check the lights and I am directly aligned with the neighbor's house. The house is probably 300 yards distant, slightly up hill, and beyond a nice grove of trees, but I can see their slights and so I know my bullet could make it there with just a slight upward ricochet.
I am going nuts in my head. I have a line of slight ground level shot at a bobcat that I have stalked in an open field for over 20 minutes on a quiet night, am within about 50 yards and finally can steady up my shot (kneeling) and there is a house that is behind the cat. I swear, the Three Stooges would have better luck than this!
As I watch, the cat moves away from me and disappears down into a pond area. I try to move into a position to see where he has gone, but by the time I finally get there, the cat is nowhere to be seen. Dejected, I give up on the cat and head across the property to check the areas I had originally intended to check. I managed to dodge 5 different skunks, three of which were little ones, but that was sort of the theme for the hunt - skunked.
