Hey guys,
Hope everyone is well and able to get out a bit considering all the rain and snow we have gotten. Sunday Marley and I headed out to the high desert to film for several field reviews. The area I had decided to camp had just received a good amount of rain and snow so getting there was somewhat of a task. My girlfriend said I was completely crazy for wanting to "tent" camp in such cold weather, something I don't often do. One of the things I enjoy about doing field reviews is sometimes it forces me to get out of my comfort zone. The plan was to arrive early to film some time lapse footage and to find a good location to camp. With the recent storm I had expected little to no animal activity but was hopeful to try bringing in some Coyotes. I had brought several guns but the one I would be filming with was a Daystate Safari .303 High Power PCP that pushes 49gr bullets. This is somewhat of an exotic rifle as it's firing system is electronic, cold weather and "electronics" don't mix well from my experience. I figured this trip may be the ultimate test of the rifles "real world" durability and field use. Beyond hunting I wanted to film some survival type things to be used for another project. The high of the day was 34 degrees with a low of 19 at night. Brrrrrrrr to the bone!
The road going into the area was pretty awful to say the least, the Jeep mashed through it like a champ though. Most of the way to my spot was covered in snow, a beautiful winter wonderland. I drove to several spots before I settled in and decided where I would camp, definitely a change of scenery from a hot and dry desert. I found a spot that had a dry patch that was surrounded by Joshua Trees, really cool area.
I filmed most everything and will enclose a link at the bottom to just part of the video. After setting up camp Marley and I made way North to set out a caller. The snow was pretty deep in some spots with a ton of Jackrabbit and Coyote tracks, pretty amazing these animals survive such a desolate area. Marley flushed one Jack that was buried under the snow, they lay under the sagebrush with ears back. The snow falls and covers the brush almost like an igloo. I set up a caller and we concealed ourselves between some large Joshua Trees, this area looked like a good vantage point.
I ran the caller for a few minutes using Mouse Squeaker that has worked for me several times. Within about 5 minutes I spotted a large Coyote at about 145 yards, he finally made way over the hill and came into about 100 before stopping just behind a Joshua Tree. I had a great shot lined up but he quickly spooked down to the left out of sight. Tried the caller again but it never returned....uggggg/ was happy I at least called one in. By this time it was late afternoon so we headed back to camp to make a fire and get some grub, made some mac&cheese lol Dinner for the lazy as I call it. Was nice to have a fire and enjoy the dead winter silence, well worth the trip just for that. That night was cold as predicted but we managed well with plenty of blankets. (Note) Bring extra socks!!! The following morning the sun did come out and brought enough to start melting the snow fairly quick. Marley and I headed away from camp through the forest of Joshua Trees where I spotted several fresh Jackrabbit tracks as well as the yellow tinge in the snow. We made our way to the edge of the forest where I spotted a fair sized Jackrabbit at just over 130 yards, made a great headshot that took it down clean. THWAAACK!!! Marley sprinted out to recover and was excited as can be with her first kill of the trip. Thankfully I captured everything on both my large camera and Tactacam 5.0 with FTS mount.
I was so happy to have some success, really did feel like an adventure and was well worth a cold night. After this trip I plan to do more cold weather camping, was very pleasant. Enclosed is an unpublished video I will share with you through my drive. Click on upper right of thumbnail to open then hit play. ENJOY!
Hope everyone is well and able to get out a bit considering all the rain and snow we have gotten. Sunday Marley and I headed out to the high desert to film for several field reviews. The area I had decided to camp had just received a good amount of rain and snow so getting there was somewhat of a task. My girlfriend said I was completely crazy for wanting to "tent" camp in such cold weather, something I don't often do. One of the things I enjoy about doing field reviews is sometimes it forces me to get out of my comfort zone. The plan was to arrive early to film some time lapse footage and to find a good location to camp. With the recent storm I had expected little to no animal activity but was hopeful to try bringing in some Coyotes. I had brought several guns but the one I would be filming with was a Daystate Safari .303 High Power PCP that pushes 49gr bullets. This is somewhat of an exotic rifle as it's firing system is electronic, cold weather and "electronics" don't mix well from my experience. I figured this trip may be the ultimate test of the rifles "real world" durability and field use. Beyond hunting I wanted to film some survival type things to be used for another project. The high of the day was 34 degrees with a low of 19 at night. Brrrrrrrr to the bone!
The road going into the area was pretty awful to say the least, the Jeep mashed through it like a champ though. Most of the way to my spot was covered in snow, a beautiful winter wonderland. I drove to several spots before I settled in and decided where I would camp, definitely a change of scenery from a hot and dry desert. I found a spot that had a dry patch that was surrounded by Joshua Trees, really cool area.
I filmed most everything and will enclose a link at the bottom to just part of the video. After setting up camp Marley and I made way North to set out a caller. The snow was pretty deep in some spots with a ton of Jackrabbit and Coyote tracks, pretty amazing these animals survive such a desolate area. Marley flushed one Jack that was buried under the snow, they lay under the sagebrush with ears back. The snow falls and covers the brush almost like an igloo. I set up a caller and we concealed ourselves between some large Joshua Trees, this area looked like a good vantage point.
I ran the caller for a few minutes using Mouse Squeaker that has worked for me several times. Within about 5 minutes I spotted a large Coyote at about 145 yards, he finally made way over the hill and came into about 100 before stopping just behind a Joshua Tree. I had a great shot lined up but he quickly spooked down to the left out of sight. Tried the caller again but it never returned....uggggg/ was happy I at least called one in. By this time it was late afternoon so we headed back to camp to make a fire and get some grub, made some mac&cheese lol Dinner for the lazy as I call it. Was nice to have a fire and enjoy the dead winter silence, well worth the trip just for that. That night was cold as predicted but we managed well with plenty of blankets. (Note) Bring extra socks!!! The following morning the sun did come out and brought enough to start melting the snow fairly quick. Marley and I headed away from camp through the forest of Joshua Trees where I spotted several fresh Jackrabbit tracks as well as the yellow tinge in the snow. We made our way to the edge of the forest where I spotted a fair sized Jackrabbit at just over 130 yards, made a great headshot that took it down clean. THWAAACK!!! Marley sprinted out to recover and was excited as can be with her first kill of the trip. Thankfully I captured everything on both my large camera and Tactacam 5.0 with FTS mount.
I was so happy to have some success, really did feel like an adventure and was well worth a cold night. After this trip I plan to do more cold weather camping, was very pleasant. Enclosed is an unpublished video I will share with you through my drive. Click on upper right of thumbnail to open then hit play. ENJOY!
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