Baiting

I went out today and did a little calling, haven't hunted this place in two years, its a backwaters of a dam, no real access to it except to walk the ice from the dam, several miles of twisting river backwaters, It is a great place to hunt when the ice is good and the snow isn't to deep so you can walk some. Lots of fingers leading into swampy areas holding rabbits and partridge with overlooking bluffs in some area's. I was set up on a bluff overlooking the river, had the caller going, wind is from the northwest, right to left in the video. no coyotes, but one hawk and one adult eagle, camera was mounted on top of the scope on the ar,(you can just see the end of the bbl in the video) still need to get something in to shoot to see how the camera system works. Rifle was in the shooting sticks so when I picked it up to get the hawk in the tree it spotted the movement and fled the scene.

 
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Originally Posted By: 6mm06
Gobblergetter,

He / she is coming to the bait every night for about two weeks. I've been taking it slow and letting it warm up to the site.

This one coyote is all the trail camera has reported, other than a red fox and some skunks. I definitely want to take this one, so just playing it safe right now.

I'm concerned that the distance from my blind to the site may be a bit too far, 137 yards measured. Not sure if the kill light will illuminate enough for a shot, and I sure don't want to spook it and miss. I've been waiting on a mount to attach the light to my AR, not in any hurry since the yote seems to be coming every night.

Today I moved the bait site a bit closer to my blind. I put out some good morsels at 65 yards, cutting the distance in half. Not sure how the coyote might react to that. It might make him more skiddish. I don't have a trail camera on the new site yet, but will soon.

I've also been thinking about night vision lately, reading reviews until I'm about to go blind, and today ordered a Gen 1 scope from Sportsman's Guide. The good thing is it is returnable for full refund if I'm not satisfied. Can't beat that policy, so will give it a try. I know everyone says to go with a Gen 3, or maybe a 2, but if the Gen 1 will work at 65 yards, then hopefully that coytoe will hit the dirt.

Basically I'm in no hurry right now. Taking him with night vision would be primo. Will see how that works out on the range before attempting to hunt him.

For the future, I can see good night vision sitting on my AR.

David
My neighbor bought the same scope and tried to sell it to me last week. I think it may work out to 50 yds on snow but they only have 2X magnifacation. So I tried it but I did not feel as thoe I could make a ethical shot at my bait pile. But the Kill light is more then enough for 150+yds.
 

DannyK, nice video clips. Beautiful place, looks like a lot of snow on the ground.

Thanks Scalloper, I will return it if it doesn't work for me. The 410 is rated for 5x, but may just be marketing hype. The MK 350 for 2.5x I think. It may be junk. All I'll be out is shipping back to them so I felt I needed to give it a try to satisfy my own curiosity.

You may be right, the kill light may work better. I moved the site to 65 yards from my blind, so shouldn't have as much trouble with that.

 
Danny- What a neat area to hunt! You certainly had that hawk convinced it had a free meal. You said no luck in calling any yotes in, how about signs? Tracks, etc.?
I do quite a bit of video taping, mostly turkey and deer, using a tripod or a tree mount. Do you use a special camera that's made to be mounted to a gun or did you make/buy a mount for a camera you had?
 
Originally Posted By: hsracer201Gonna wait till midnight and then sit out there all night if I have to.
racer- I admire your tenacity!
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Originally Posted By: gobblergetterOriginally Posted By: hsracer201Gonna wait till midnight and then sit out there all night if I have to.
racer- I admire your tenacity!
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I went out the other night in 20 degree temps. and curled up in my sleeping bag and waited from 7:pm until 3:am for them to come in but of course that was the night that they didn't come. They really hit that bait hard last night though so I am debating on whether to got and sit again tonight. We have a major winter storm moving in starting Monday and they are telling us to be prepared for extended power outages and in excess of 12 inches of snow with up to 3/4" of ice. Once the storm passes the winds are supposed to pick up to around 40 mph and have wind chill readings to -20 so the hunting won't be very productive for the next few days. Once the storm is over and the temps warm just a little the coyotes should be moving though.
 
OK, so I went out this weekend and got some boxes of the Hornady Superformance Varmint 53gr. in .223. Took the scope off my AR last night, put it back on and figured on using the Hornadys today to sight the scope back in. Laser boresighted it first . . . that was a joke . . .anyways, my last 4 shots looked like this:
HornadySuperformance54grVarmit.jpg

Yikes!I definatly need more practice here.
 
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Gobblergetter,
I noticed the other day that on your AR, you had both of the scope rings behind the adjustment turrets on your scope. Did you have to set it up like that in order to have room to mount your Lightforce light? I wondered if that ever caused you to have any problems keeping your scope sighted in. It just looked to me like there was a lot of scope tube ahead of the mounts.
 
gobblergetter said:
Danny- What a neat area to hunt! You certainly had that hawk convinced it had a free meal. You said no luck in calling any yotes in, how about signs? Tracks, etc.?
I do quite a bit of video taping, mostly turkey and deer, using a tripod or a tree mount. Do you use a special camera that's made to be mounted to a gun or did you make/buy a mount for a camera you had? [/quote

I just made a mount out of a piece of aluminum strap, the scope on the ar is burris ar332, has a weaver type mount on the top cap, all I did was use a low mount 1 inch scope mount, sandwich the aluminum strap in between the two halfs of the scope mount, mark the holes and drill the strap, then re assemble the mount. Drilled a hole to allow the 1/4X20 bolt to screw into the camera. Mounting the whole thing to the scope is via a thumb screw, easy on, easy off. Camera is a cannon power shot sx110is with a 10X optical zoom.
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Originally Posted By: JackindistressGobblergetter,
I noticed the other day that on your AR, you had both of the scope rings behind the adjustment turrets on your scope. Did you have to set it up like that in order to have room to mount your Lightforce light? I wondered if that ever caused you to have any problems keeping your scope sighted in. It just looked to me like there was a lot of scope tube ahead of the mounts.
You know, there is ALOT of scope tube up in the front. 1.) I needed room to mount my Lightforce, true but 2.)because of the eye relief I need with that scope, I ran out of rail so everything is mounted in back or behind the turrets. I had a problem at first with one of the rings being loose. Answer to that was, the little metal plate that fits down into the rail had fallen out when I attached the scope rings and didn't know it. That's why I took the scope off last night. Found the little plate and put in back into the mount and tightened everything down. I'm sure what I have is NOT a good setup. I was guessing either get a smaller scope or add a rail. What are your suggestions?
 
Connie,
That is what I thought about the eye relief also. It looked like if you moved it back any farther it would be right in your face. I don't know anything about the mount options for the AR's but it just looks like it would be good if you had a mount that would let you get another ring towards the front of the scope. If you end up having any trouble with it working like it is I think I would go to the AR section of this forum and post a picture of your setup and see if those guys know of a way to add an extended base of some kind.
 
Gobblegetter, take a look at the burris pepr that is what
I have on my other ar with a 50mm scope on it, one piece mount plenty of adjustment for fore and aft. Also has the weaver type mount on the top of the scope caps for mounting other things, there is also the larue mount, and I think RRA has a cantilever type mount that is nice for flat top ar platforms also.



2010coyotehunting006.jpg
 
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Gary(indistress): I thought maybe too hold off and see if I have any problems with it; if so, I'll check on the AR gang and see what they suggest. Thank you.

(edit) Danny-thanks I will definatly take a gander at those suggestions.

{Geezie-Peezie, some of you "Yote Baiters" . . with your duplexes in the great outdoors complete with bunks and goose-down sleeping bags . . . What is this predator hunting world coming too!!!
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}

On a serious note: My worry level is now at a stage 3 for Cougar Jim. Anyone heard anything from him yet?
 
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Hey gang,
I too have been worried about Jim. I checked his web site this evening and I see that he has made an update on it two days ago. I sent him an email to let him know we are wondering about him. He has other hobbies besides this so hopefully he is busy with them.
 
Originally Posted By: JackindistressHey gang,
I too have been worried about Jim. I checked his web site this evening and I see that he has made an update on it two days ago. I sent him an email to let him know we are wondering about him. He has other hobbies besides this so hopefully he is busy with them.
Gary, thanks for shooting the email to him and am glad to hear he has been active on his website. Good news.
 
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