My friends Jake and Jeremy and I went predator hunting last night in a county north of Baltimore where the season opened up the 1st.
Jake has his own thermal and NV gear and was using a set of PVS 15's a 320 Knights Armament clip on on his 5.56 and an Insight 320 CNBD-T as a spotter Jeremy was borrowing my son's 5.56 and Patrol and decided to pass on a helmet and PVS 14, I was using dual PVS 14's, a Pulsar HD19A for a spotter and my 35mm MKII on my 6.8. Gear wasn't an issue!
We were hunting on a friend of Jake's very nice and very large for the area's farm and had lots of room to try different sets. Our first set was a small down wind corner, and produced one opportunity. But Jeremy missed a fox at what he estimated as 30yds. I watched the fox come over a rise and charge within 10' of the call, but he was in Jeremy's zone. Jeremy couldn't get on him until he was headed out.
After that miss, and Jeremy was a scout sniper in the Army, he was thinking the rifle, Patrol and Wilcox weapon mount were the problem. To restore confidence or comfirm he fears, we set up a target and the rifle was maybe 1" high at 50yds on the one shot, certainly good enough...
Our second set resulted in three foxes coming in within moments of turning on the call. One came from the left, Jake's zone, one from center right, Jeremy's and my border, and one right in the center, but further away then the one towed the right. Jake was first on the trigger, and his fox apparently dropped. Jeremy was next and we could hear the bullet strike, but the fox took off, I tried and missed, Jeremy missed, I connected and then Jeremy connected and the fox rolled. The center fox kept coming and then held up at maybe 100yds. I took the shot and the fox dropped. As we got up, Jeremy told me mine was still moving, but he didn't think he needed another shot.
After the high fiving, we started looking for Jake's fox, and came up with nothing, and then the same for both Jeremy's and mine... WTF?
Jeremy was shooting 72hr Federal Fushions, notmideal for predators, but they have worked well in the past, Jake was shooting a 62gr OTM, which he said had worked well in the past, and I was using 110gr TSX's, again, notmideal, but they have done the job well enough in the past. Must have been some poor shot placement.
Next se resulted in one nice male that circled down wind about 60yds away, but in a direction which was unsafe for the shot, the fox then circled back up wind, cleared a farm house then hung up and then began to quarter away at about 150yds or so. I tried the first shot and missed, but Jaked nailed him when he pulled up 20yds further.
Our next set was a blank.
We drove to a remote spot and tried a set in the middle of a large field with no results, moved closer to a tree line and tried again. We had a huge buck approach to about 30yds, I could see his rack through the thermal, and it was impressive. Couldn't get a point count but he was typical, with a rack well outside of his ears and twice as tall. After a good thirty minutes a critter appeared which Jeremy couldn't ID since it was facing straight at him, but he was thinking coyote. Jake had some angle and could see a tail and took the shot. Jeremy and Jake heard the bullet strike and both tried to follow up, but again, nothing...
A bit of a frustrating night, and I think we need to hit the range! But we had a good time, despite the frustration.
We are planning our next night hunt, which will be on the Eastern Shore, after Novemenr 15, when all counties seasons open up.
Btw, forgot to get a photo of Jake's fox, which was a beauty.
JPK
Jake has his own thermal and NV gear and was using a set of PVS 15's a 320 Knights Armament clip on on his 5.56 and an Insight 320 CNBD-T as a spotter Jeremy was borrowing my son's 5.56 and Patrol and decided to pass on a helmet and PVS 14, I was using dual PVS 14's, a Pulsar HD19A for a spotter and my 35mm MKII on my 6.8. Gear wasn't an issue!
We were hunting on a friend of Jake's very nice and very large for the area's farm and had lots of room to try different sets. Our first set was a small down wind corner, and produced one opportunity. But Jeremy missed a fox at what he estimated as 30yds. I watched the fox come over a rise and charge within 10' of the call, but he was in Jeremy's zone. Jeremy couldn't get on him until he was headed out.
After that miss, and Jeremy was a scout sniper in the Army, he was thinking the rifle, Patrol and Wilcox weapon mount were the problem. To restore confidence or comfirm he fears, we set up a target and the rifle was maybe 1" high at 50yds on the one shot, certainly good enough...
Our second set resulted in three foxes coming in within moments of turning on the call. One came from the left, Jake's zone, one from center right, Jeremy's and my border, and one right in the center, but further away then the one towed the right. Jake was first on the trigger, and his fox apparently dropped. Jeremy was next and we could hear the bullet strike, but the fox took off, I tried and missed, Jeremy missed, I connected and then Jeremy connected and the fox rolled. The center fox kept coming and then held up at maybe 100yds. I took the shot and the fox dropped. As we got up, Jeremy told me mine was still moving, but he didn't think he needed another shot.
After the high fiving, we started looking for Jake's fox, and came up with nothing, and then the same for both Jeremy's and mine... WTF?
Jeremy was shooting 72hr Federal Fushions, notmideal for predators, but they have worked well in the past, Jake was shooting a 62gr OTM, which he said had worked well in the past, and I was using 110gr TSX's, again, notmideal, but they have done the job well enough in the past. Must have been some poor shot placement.
Next se resulted in one nice male that circled down wind about 60yds away, but in a direction which was unsafe for the shot, the fox then circled back up wind, cleared a farm house then hung up and then began to quarter away at about 150yds or so. I tried the first shot and missed, but Jaked nailed him when he pulled up 20yds further.
Our next set was a blank.
We drove to a remote spot and tried a set in the middle of a large field with no results, moved closer to a tree line and tried again. We had a huge buck approach to about 30yds, I could see his rack through the thermal, and it was impressive. Couldn't get a point count but he was typical, with a rack well outside of his ears and twice as tall. After a good thirty minutes a critter appeared which Jeremy couldn't ID since it was facing straight at him, but he was thinking coyote. Jake had some angle and could see a tail and took the shot. Jeremy and Jake heard the bullet strike and both tried to follow up, but again, nothing...
A bit of a frustrating night, and I think we need to hit the range! But we had a good time, despite the frustration.
We are planning our next night hunt, which will be on the Eastern Shore, after Novemenr 15, when all counties seasons open up.
Btw, forgot to get a photo of Jake's fox, which was a beauty.
JPK
