I hope you all are enjoying a great Independence Weekend.
I thought I'd head up yesterday to get in some rabbit hunting. The spot is on private land and you have to walk through a pasture, so as I walked I did a little target practice on a couple of ground squirrels: about an inch low at 25 yards, and right on the money at 50...
The little .22 Winchester Wildcat in the picture is the one my friend gave me last year that had the warped fore end in need of some work. My eyes are too old for iron sights so I added a slightly-used Leupold scope I bought from NBK when he was upgrading.
In the lower pastures it was easy to watch the cow paths for snakes, but as I worked my way farther in, I felt pretty stupid not having my heavier (leather) boots and snake gaiters or maybe even snake chaps. You know the feeling, when you picture how stupid you'll feel when you have to report how you got bitten by a rattler? That's how I was feeling, and it was kind of distracting. I was snooping around stands of wild roses so there weren't any well-worn trails to follow. In the really deep stuff I couldn't see the ground and that was pretty creepy. At one point a 12-15 inch-long spotted creature wriggled out of my way. I thought it was a big lizard from the way it wriggled rather than wound its way through the grass, but I backed away and went around just in case.
As I worked my way to and around the stands of roses, I spooked up two juvenile coyotes that were lying hidden under the tall grass. I had my .223 in the scabbard of my Eberlestock H2 pack as well as the .22 in my hand, but I gave them a pass for the day. I'll be back another day looking for them and their parents.
There was good habitat, and I almost stepped on a cottontail as I approached a dry creek bed with 6" tall green grass among several stands of cover. It scampered off down the trail and into the bush. So I just walked around a bit more to let the shadows lengthen. I saw three hen turkeys with no poults, feeding on a hillside about 500 yards off. I tried photographing but even at maximum mag, it was hard to see them. There were plenty of ground squirrels out but I didn't want to make too much ruckus at this point. As the sun descended, I spotted one very skittish cottontail that kept retreating to cover whenever I moved. I eventually got him; he's the one in the middle The one on the left was sitting quietly just inside cover minding his own business, and I just happened to notice the white around his eye while I was scanning the row of roses waiting for the other one to show again. I squeeze gutted both of them and headed back to the creek bed. Meanwhile one of the coyote pups had showed again on a trail along a fenceline about 50 yards off. He didn't see me as I stood motionless waiting for Peter rabbit to show, but his day pass was still good. The rabbit on the right came out at dusk right where that first one had disappeared after running up the trail. She's a fat momma. I missed a fourth that came out just after her, farther down the creek bed. He didn't give me time for a follow up shot.
All in all it was a good afternoon.
I thought I'd head up yesterday to get in some rabbit hunting. The spot is on private land and you have to walk through a pasture, so as I walked I did a little target practice on a couple of ground squirrels: about an inch low at 25 yards, and right on the money at 50...
The little .22 Winchester Wildcat in the picture is the one my friend gave me last year that had the warped fore end in need of some work. My eyes are too old for iron sights so I added a slightly-used Leupold scope I bought from NBK when he was upgrading.In the lower pastures it was easy to watch the cow paths for snakes, but as I worked my way farther in, I felt pretty stupid not having my heavier (leather) boots and snake gaiters or maybe even snake chaps. You know the feeling, when you picture how stupid you'll feel when you have to report how you got bitten by a rattler? That's how I was feeling, and it was kind of distracting. I was snooping around stands of wild roses so there weren't any well-worn trails to follow. In the really deep stuff I couldn't see the ground and that was pretty creepy. At one point a 12-15 inch-long spotted creature wriggled out of my way. I thought it was a big lizard from the way it wriggled rather than wound its way through the grass, but I backed away and went around just in case.
As I worked my way to and around the stands of roses, I spooked up two juvenile coyotes that were lying hidden under the tall grass. I had my .223 in the scabbard of my Eberlestock H2 pack as well as the .22 in my hand, but I gave them a pass for the day. I'll be back another day looking for them and their parents.
There was good habitat, and I almost stepped on a cottontail as I approached a dry creek bed with 6" tall green grass among several stands of cover. It scampered off down the trail and into the bush. So I just walked around a bit more to let the shadows lengthen. I saw three hen turkeys with no poults, feeding on a hillside about 500 yards off. I tried photographing but even at maximum mag, it was hard to see them. There were plenty of ground squirrels out but I didn't want to make too much ruckus at this point. As the sun descended, I spotted one very skittish cottontail that kept retreating to cover whenever I moved. I eventually got him; he's the one in the middle
The one on the left was sitting quietly just inside cover minding his own business, and I just happened to notice the white around his eye while I was scanning the row of roses waiting for the other one to show again. I squeeze gutted both of them and headed back to the creek bed. Meanwhile one of the coyote pups had showed again on a trail along a fenceline about 50 yards off. He didn't see me as I stood motionless waiting for Peter rabbit to show, but his day pass was still good. The rabbit on the right came out at dusk right where that first one had disappeared after running up the trail. She's a fat momma. I missed a fourth that came out just after her, farther down the creek bed. He didn't give me time for a follow up shot.All in all it was a good afternoon.
. I tried calling with my mouth call but couldn't distract them from what they were doing... They sounded like they were on a kill, then they were quiet. Maybe their bellies were full. 
