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Author
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Topic: Good night of calling! (Pic)
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jasonpredhunter
Knows what it's all about
Member # 3843
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posted February 19, 2013 06:18 PM
My buddy and I ended up winning the Lewis and Clark's Championship Hunt this past weekend here in VA. It's a series of 6 hunts throughout the winter and you accumulate points and the top 7 teams are invited back for the 7th hunt or the championship hunt which was this past weekend. We won 3 of the 6 during the season and finished either 2nd or 3rd in the rest. We had another good night for the championship hunt which went from 6 p.m. friday evening til 8 p.m saturday evening.
First, we headed to some fox country so we could put up some good numbers and ended up doing pretty well. On the first stand we got a red. On the second stand of the night we called in 3 reds and 3 grays on the same stand. I was racking the 22-250 bolt as fast as I could and ended up with 3 reds and 2 grays when the smoke had cleared. They were seriously running everywhere! If I coulda got to my shotgun in time I would have had the other gray but I was pretty happy either way. We made a few more stands and got a couple more grays then decided to head back down the road into some coyote country back in the mountains. We made a our first coyote stand at about 2:30 a.m. and I gave out a few howls on my diaphragm call then went into some pup distress. At about the 4 minute mark we had eyes bouncing in. She started to check up about the 100 yard mark so I went ahead and dropped her with the 22-250. It was a good night hunting and I was lucky enough to be 100% shooting. My buddy was running the light and did a great job at it too. We finished the night with 8 fox and a coyote out of seeing 9 fox and 2 coyotes. It was good enough for first place and we ended up winning about $1,200 for our effort plus had a little fur for the shed. Here's pic we snapped just before check-in.
[ February 19, 2013, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: jasonpredhunter ]
Posts: 68 | From: VA | Registered: Jun 2011
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Baldknobber
Knows what it's all about
Member # 514
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posted February 21, 2013 08:14 AM
That is some serious hunting. Congrats. Tell us about your light setup and do you hunt out of the truck or walk in and set up?
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JTBMO
Posts: 202 | From: Missouri | Registered: Jan 2005
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TundraWookie
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Member # 1044
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posted February 21, 2013 12:25 PM
That's some impressive killing for sure, good job. I'd also like to hear more about your light setup if you are willing to share info about it.
Posts: 857 | From: Alaska | Registered: Dec 2006
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jasonpredhunter
Knows what it's all about
Member # 3843
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posted February 21, 2013 02:33 PM
Sure, we are using kill light 250's. My buddy sits either beside me or on his knees right behind me and scans with a red kill light 250. Once he spots one, we just halo him to where we can barely see his eyes and let him come as far as he will. Most times he'll just come on in to shotgun range. I also have a red kill light 250 mounted to my scope for shots out over 100 yards+ and flip it on if they hang up just for some extra light. It's been working pretty good for us. I know when I started out 17 or 18 years ago I used to carry a lawn-mower battery in a back pack attached to a light and lug that thing around all night! It was usually good for all night without charging but you sure felt it the next day! These kill lights I can just stick in my pocket and you never even know they are there. My how we have evolved as hunters! LOL
To your question about walking in or how I set up. We always walk in. It's illegal here in VA to hunt or shoot from a vehicle. We'll usually try to sit up just on the edge of a thicket and try to get on a point so we can see the most amount of ground. I don't hunt with decoys, but my buddy took one the other night and set it about 30 yards off the edge of the thicket in front of us and I was actually impressed how they responded to it. I was mouth-calling on every stand and didn't figure they would pay any attention to it but most of them were pretty focused on it and had a couple greys go up and circle it and bristle up to it.
One thing I have to say about these foxes, they rarely ever stop and are in and out before you know it. I'm pretty quick on the rifle and shotgun and didn't let but one slip by me out of 9 so I call it a pretty good night. I think fox hunting at night is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on!
Posts: 68 | From: VA | Registered: Jun 2011
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Baldknobber
Knows what it's all about
Member # 514
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posted February 21, 2013 03:36 PM
I received the set of xlr100&xlr250 lights as a gift. We cant night hunt in Mo.though.But just playing with them, the xlr100 is not bright enough to use as a scanning light. That is just my opinion. I'd say having 1 pair of the 250's is the way to go. Well , we can night hunt here but not with a light.
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JTBMO
Posts: 202 | From: Missouri | Registered: Jan 2005
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jasonpredhunter
Knows what it's all about
Member # 3843
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posted February 21, 2013 03:50 PM
I couldn't imagine not being able to night hunt. I love it. I rarely go out in the day time much anymore. I love seeing those two glowing eyes coming bouncing in too much!
Baldknobber, the XLR 100 does look like it is too dim to scan with but you'd be surprised how far it will pick up eyes. I've hunted with one a couple times and it's actually a better scanning light than the 250. You can't really even tell it's on sometimes, but it seems they don't spook quite as bad with it. I just like the 250's because I've got long and short range covered. You can halo them with the 250 and pretty much have the same results. As long as you don't burn them up with it they'll come on in and not pay much attention to it. The coyotes are a little more sensitive to it, but overall I've been really happy with the XLR 250. It sure beats a lawn mower battery!!! LOL
Posts: 68 | From: VA | Registered: Jun 2011
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TundraWookie
Knows what it's all about
Member # 1044
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posted February 21, 2013 04:16 PM
I'm running the XLR250 and 150's as well. They work well, just needed a little tweeking to work reliably in the -30ºF and colder temperatures. Thanks for sharing information on your equipment.
Posts: 857 | From: Alaska | Registered: Dec 2006
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the bearhunter
HM PROSTAFF & MIDWEST REGIONAL GURU VOTED MOST HANDSOME MINNESOTAN
Member # 3552
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posted February 21, 2013 05:14 PM
sounds like a great night.
full moon is coming in a few days and we got lots of snow. might give it a whirl.
Posts: 1049 | From: minnifornia | Registered: Jan 2010
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Krustyklimber
prefers the bunny hugger pronunciation: ky o tee
Member # 72
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posted February 21, 2013 05:20 PM
J "I couldn't imagine not being able to night hunt."
I can't imagine not being able to hunt on Sunday! ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
But, it does make for a nice "safe" day to go calling with my camera.
Krusty
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Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that!
Posts: 1912 | From: Deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia | Registered: Jan 2003
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jasonpredhunter
Knows what it's all about
Member # 3843
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posted February 22, 2013 12:58 PM
Krusty, yeah the Sunday thing is ridiculous! Every time I go to another state and hunt and it falls on a Sunday I feel weird hunting. I feel like there's gonna be a trout trooper around every corner just waiting to nab us! LOL Maybe someday they will change the law, but until then, Sunday is my target practice day.
Posts: 68 | From: VA | Registered: Jun 2011
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