Found myself with an unexpected free day so made an IV run. I wanted to shoot my .22 and my shotgun so devised a plan where I arrived at a cottontail spot at sun up. Some big hay stacks next to an alf Alfa field with a patch of native desert on the other side. Went full camo and set up my tripod and stool for some sniper action with scoped Ruger 10/22. The rabbits were pretty abundant but most were popping out 75 to 100 yards out, where my skills just weren’t up to the job. After missing several shots I moved closer to the sweet spot and picked off a few.
Then I went looking for some bird action and found a mother lode of ECDs but they were in Imperial city limits and not safe to shoot anyway. Typical ECD frustration, plenty of birds but not shootable.
So cruised some canals on the east side and spotted a quail covey. Parked and stalked where I saw them heading. Five feet in front of me about 20 birds flushed at once and I went full Elmer Fudd, missing everything with three shots. It was the ol’ too many targets at once deal. Chased them around for a while but couldn’t get any good opportunities. Moved on to a favorite spot of mine. Loaded up with steel 6’s because there are usually some bunnies there along with quail. Flushed several coveys, and they were calling loudly trying to regroup. That made it easy to dial in on them and I bagged five as it was getting dusky. A poor decision resulted in another bird downed but in the canal 25 feet from the bank. Took one more cottontail here too.
Fun day shooting and scouting. Nice cool temps for hunting. Happy New Year everyone.
Then I went looking for some bird action and found a mother lode of ECDs but they were in Imperial city limits and not safe to shoot anyway. Typical ECD frustration, plenty of birds but not shootable.
So cruised some canals on the east side and spotted a quail covey. Parked and stalked where I saw them heading. Five feet in front of me about 20 birds flushed at once and I went full Elmer Fudd, missing everything with three shots. It was the ol’ too many targets at once deal. Chased them around for a while but couldn’t get any good opportunities. Moved on to a favorite spot of mine. Loaded up with steel 6’s because there are usually some bunnies there along with quail. Flushed several coveys, and they were calling loudly trying to regroup. That made it easy to dial in on them and I bagged five as it was getting dusky. A poor decision resulted in another bird downed but in the canal 25 feet from the bank. Took one more cottontail here too.
Fun day shooting and scouting. Nice cool temps for hunting. Happy New Year everyone.
