Most of my campfire tales are more cautionary than tall, but here's one from last month.
It's about midnight, and I'm tucked into some mesquite and cactus near what used to be a waterhole back when it rained (you know, in the '90s).
About every three minutes or so, I scan the area with the thermal monocular and pick up a coyote trotting by about 60 yards away. Against the backdrop of the dirt clods, he stands out like a Klansman on a tarpaper roof.
I'm out for hog tonight, of course, but it's been a slow couple of hours and it's hard for me to pass up a freebie coyote. I tilt my Mossberg up on my trigger stick bipod and flip on the night vision. Perfect image – looks like a PETA screen saver.
Just as I'm about to pull the trigger, he does something completely unexpected - cocks a leg and starts to urinate.
And I stop. I'm not sure why.
Maybe it's because it doesn't seem quite sporting (which is odd, because I wouldn't hesitate to dust a hog if it was taking communion at the altar).
Perhaps it's because of that outhouse scene in "Unforgiven".
Most likely it's the result of those bonding moments I've shared with my hound taking a leak under the full moon together.
Anyhoo, there's a crosswind and he can't smell me - I know this because Photon has a 3.5 magnification, but I have the doubler on, increasing it to 7x magnification. And I can see a southeasterly breeze gently ruffling his whiskers.
He finishes up and starts trotting off, so I tweak the squeaker attached to the forestock. He pauses, looks directly toward me, the crosshairs drop on his chest and I light the fuse. Boom.
I lift the thermal wondering if he dropped where he stood or had been blown back five feet by the Hornady 150 grain Vortex. And I see… Nothing. At all.
I had completely missed him.
After replaying the scenario in my mind, here's the theory: Still holding the thermal monocular by in my left hand, I failed to grip the forestock tight enough to keep the barrel from bouncing off the bipod, allowing the round to go high.
Turns out the coyote actually got the freebie, but I figure if he hadn't emptied his bladder before the shot, he most certainly did in the next 1.2 seconds thereafter - and at a dead run. Field mouse is probably off of his menu for a while, as well.
I called it quits about an hour after that, without sighting any hoggage.
T'was a good reminder though…Technology cannot compensate for poor technique.
It's about midnight, and I'm tucked into some mesquite and cactus near what used to be a waterhole back when it rained (you know, in the '90s).
About every three minutes or so, I scan the area with the thermal monocular and pick up a coyote trotting by about 60 yards away. Against the backdrop of the dirt clods, he stands out like a Klansman on a tarpaper roof.
I'm out for hog tonight, of course, but it's been a slow couple of hours and it's hard for me to pass up a freebie coyote. I tilt my Mossberg up on my trigger stick bipod and flip on the night vision. Perfect image – looks like a PETA screen saver.
Just as I'm about to pull the trigger, he does something completely unexpected - cocks a leg and starts to urinate.
And I stop. I'm not sure why.
Maybe it's because it doesn't seem quite sporting (which is odd, because I wouldn't hesitate to dust a hog if it was taking communion at the altar).
Perhaps it's because of that outhouse scene in "Unforgiven".
Most likely it's the result of those bonding moments I've shared with my hound taking a leak under the full moon together.
Anyhoo, there's a crosswind and he can't smell me - I know this because Photon has a 3.5 magnification, but I have the doubler on, increasing it to 7x magnification. And I can see a southeasterly breeze gently ruffling his whiskers.
He finishes up and starts trotting off, so I tweak the squeaker attached to the forestock. He pauses, looks directly toward me, the crosshairs drop on his chest and I light the fuse. Boom.
I lift the thermal wondering if he dropped where he stood or had been blown back five feet by the Hornady 150 grain Vortex. And I see… Nothing. At all.
I had completely missed him.
After replaying the scenario in my mind, here's the theory: Still holding the thermal monocular by in my left hand, I failed to grip the forestock tight enough to keep the barrel from bouncing off the bipod, allowing the round to go high.
Turns out the coyote actually got the freebie, but I figure if he hadn't emptied his bladder before the shot, he most certainly did in the next 1.2 seconds thereafter - and at a dead run. Field mouse is probably off of his menu for a while, as well.
I called it quits about an hour after that, without sighting any hoggage.
T'was a good reminder though…Technology cannot compensate for poor technique.
