Baiting

Had a big coon on bait pile one night. Coyote came in & would not go to the bait. Coon never left till the gun went off. Coyote was about a 40# male.
 
I did like the video but seen it before reading the story behind it. I just you had completely gone over the edge giving a coyote the pass. And thanks for the video.
 

DannyK, I finally have time to write a bit about the X-Sight. Seems it's bitter-sweet as I mentioned before. Some good things I really like and other things are problematic.

First, the negatives: Among those are short eye relief, battery consumption though the little PNY 2600 miliamp batteries are great,and the booting process. When it boots properly, it takes several seconds before a crosshair appears to allow for shooting, something around 7-8 seconds or so guessing. The worst negative I have is that the scope locks up sometimes or fails to boot up when turned on. Numerous times it failed to boot up when I pressed the power button. It comes up to a white screen and then just seems to stay there and doesn't continue the booting process. When it works properly, the white screen comes first, then the red ATN logo appears and then the crosshair appears. When it doesn't boot up, none of the buttons work. The power button doesn't work so the only way to get it to shut down is to unplug the battery pack from it. I don't use it with AA batteries, but rather power it with the PNY pack. I then begin the booting process again. Generally it will perform the second try, though I have had to repeat the battery unplug and reboot a couple of times. Once into the screen where I see the crosshair and menu, I have only had it lock up one time. It generally works fine at that point.

Another negative is that the recoil activated video (RAV) function doesn't work with my 6x45 AR, maybe due to the light recoil. I haven't tried the scope on a harder recoiling gun yet, so the verdict is still out on that. And, in the heat of the moment when shooting a daytime hog, I forgot to push the record button so I lost a potentially good video.

The Positives about the scope are the day / night mode which I really like, and the ballistic calculator. Three presses of varios buttons (quickly done) takes the scope from color day to night vision and vice versa.

Before my latest hog hunt, I chronographed my load and entered it into the scope. I then zeroed it at 92 yards. Then I backed the target up to 30 yards and fired a shot. The impact was maybe two to three inches low, so I then told the scope to readjust for 30 yards, and bingo!! It was spot on. I really like that and once on a stand at a known distance, like shooting hogs at a feeder and from a tower blind, you can adjust the POI to be spot on. Without that feature you are guessing hold over since there will be enough bullet drop at close range that might prevent a precise shot.

The first night I sat in a stand that was very close, too close actually, that was more suited for bowhunting. The feeder was about 20 yards but a pile of corn the land owner had poured out was only 16 yards, measured with my Leica 1200 range finder. I entered the new distance for the scope and it automatically put the crosshair where it needed to be, allowing me to put a bullet behind the ear of a hog later that night, with no bullet drop whatsoever.

The second night I watched a rather long sendero where there were two feeders, one at 120 yards and the other at 138 yards. I split the difference in distance between the two and recalibrated the scope. A daytime shot presented itself and a head shot dropped the hog where it stood. Again, the ballistic calculator worked perfectly. As night time fell I simply switched to night mode and I was good to go. Another group of hogs showed up at the feeders and once again I dropped one with a head shot.

The problem I experienced with the night shot was that of graininess and lack of brightness. I think I need a more powerful illuminator or maybe one focused more tightly. I still managed to make a killing shot but it was a struggle to see well enough. Earlier I had tested the scope in the woods behind my house at 94 yards and it seemed plenty bright enough, but in hindsight I think the IR reflection off of trees made the view appear brighter, but the sendero I hunted was more open and at the moment I think that's the difference. I plan to experiment with different illuminators.

For the money the X-Sight is a decent enough scope for hunting, keeping in mind it isn't perfect and not without issues. But for $478 that I paid for it I can't complain a whole lot, given the price of other options. The Photon 6.5X XT scope with a tightly focused illuminator will see really well at those feeders at 120 and 138 yards. Also, the Photon boots up almost instantly, but day time hunting with it generally gives a view that is way too bright, even with the little pin hole cap in place.

Sorry for all the rambling, but just trying to give you my assessment at this time. Here's the link to the hog hunt that I posted earlier.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/for...867#Post3147867


 
Thanks, I finally got around to do some sighting in, although I need to fine tune it with the load I'm using I have no information, as its reloads of military 55 gr. fmj that we pulled the fmj's out and replaced with 55gr ballistic tips' Good enough for punching paper and fox and coyotes which I have taken and one bobcat. I also have a proton mounted on my carbine but when the action cycles it knocks the power off, and I have to re start the scope, moved it to my 17hmr now and have a optic scope on the carbine. I got the corn feeder up and running yesterday with dog food, will check the camera in a week to see what if anything is feeding. the hole in the feeder is to small to allow dog food through, although the small puppy chow should work fine. When we built the 120lb grease can to hold the corn we had the opening to big and the corn just ran out, made a plate with the proper size hole for corn held in place with 4 screws, removed the plate and it works fine, set to run only for a second right now, we'll see how it does.
 
I had been hoping to catch both of the coyotes at the bait pile at the same time and get two with one shot. I had an early morning coughing spell and got up to get a cough drop so I decided to check the bait pile. One of the two was out there, so I decided to take the sure kill. Unfortunately he squirmed enough to fall over into the ditch and get wet and muddy, so he isn't a very good looking coyote. Here's the video.

 
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Excellent job DU!!! Which gun/caliber was this one? It sure seems this is the time of year your action picks up!! If I remember right, I had a comment last year about this time about you having some caged up or tied up and releasing one about every week to shoot. Seems like you killed a few last year at this time. Yep...I know where all mine go now in May for the summer!! They MIGRATE toward the fried chicken!!! Good Job!!! Keep em coming.
 
Lol, yeah I think I did kill 7 in April and May last year. I guess when your snow leaves and they shed those heavy coats, they come south for warmer weather. I was shooting a Ruger Predator in 243 pushing a 58 v-max about 3,850. Scope was my old Photon 4.6XT with a doubler installed.

They don't win any beauty contests this time of year anyway, and when they fall in the ditch and get wet and muddy they're inline for the Ugly Coyote Contest.
 
DU, thanks for the video. Another fine shot at 5* Diner. That place is like the "Hotel California", "you can check in but you can never leave".
 
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You guys are too funny.
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Well here goes, I checked the camera's today, deer, ravens' and a fisher visiting the bait pile, no bear or coyotes. Its black bear breeding season, the coyote pups should be weaned by now. The whitetail does will soon be dropping fawns,so the bear, coyotes, and bobcat will be hunting the fawns. The feeder is working fine at one second once I got the hole the right size. We have a 120lb grease barrel with the spin feeder attached to the bottom. Its on a cable with a boat winch to raise it the 18 feet or so to keep the bear from pulling it down. Overall I'm happy with it, just wish I would see some coyote's, although when the timber wolves move in that takes care of the coyote's.
 
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Danny, sounds like you have it working well. Just need some coyotes to cooperate. I am glad we don't have wolves to contend with here.
 
Yup, my buddy uses it for baiting bear during the bear season, along with other stuff. The feeder is working well, all I need is coyotes to frequent the bait site, although there have been a couple of wolves in the area and that seems to keep the coyotes away.
 
Congrats Jim, very nice.

I thought I would post this video of a compilation of the kill shots we were able to record during the 2018 season. We start our count over each July 1. This is a combination of calling and baiting opportunities. Unfortunately we couldn't get all the shots recorded and our season was down about 25% from 2018, but we didn't have less coyotes. We did have some serious snafu's but hopefully we've worked out most of the problems.

 
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