Post by brodeur272 on Feb 7, 2010 4:17:26 GMT
So Highwaystar and I were heading out for an afternoon hunt today. We've been skunked so far this year. Most of it has been no dogs in the areas we were. Well tonite that changed...
We were headed out to this long field that we saw tracks crossing on one spot. The field is bordered on all sides by woods and swamp and there are no houses except on the four sides where the roads are. Pretty large, I'd say over 3 square miles.
Put the FP CS-24 off the ground on the edge of the field with the JIB underneath it. Thanks to Snowcamoman (predatormasters.com) selling me one of his old WT callers, we had WT sounds on the CS-24 and were going to use those. Highwaystar was covering the back door along the creek and I would get the dogs crossing the field.
As suggested by Bystateyoter (predatormasters.com), we started with a male challenge. Well the woods across the field erupted with a group rally howl back. I left the challenge on until after they stopped howling. I switched to a female challenge and let it run. After about what seemed like eternity, the first dog crossed the field. Didn't see me so I brought up the 7-30 Waters Contender up and cocked the hammer. The dog slowed to see the caller. I now realize I should have put the caller about 20 yards into the woods and not on the field. I pulled the trigger, the hammer drops and "click", no shot. I pull the hammer back again, but this black and tan dog is not heading out. I thought I had a good shot again and pulled the trigger. I couldn't see anything else.
Now my glasses started to fog as the hood of my jacket got in the way of my vision. I pulled the glasses off and was just hoping I could see them now. I switched the caller to adult distress and let it fly. At this point I thought I saw a dog cross the field, but can be sure as it didn't come towards me. Then two more came across, almost in formation, in response to the distress. As they approached, I pulled up the crosshairs and they started to run away, having seen it was not a dog. I took a shot as they were quartering away. Couldn't see anything.
While all this is going on, Highwaystar is covering the back door and after my second shot, I hear him rip off a couple on his semi auto. Turns out he had one on the far end of the field barking up a storm. He says it was around 200 yards and his red dot might not have made the shot. After he fired and the dog disappeared, another dog ran across the field into the woods. That makes the count at five confirmed in sight.
The dogs then went to the other side of the field into the woods and were barking up a storm at us. I responded with a challenge bark and could not get them to come back out. They would stay there for the next hour barking at us in one form or another.
So I caught up with my partner after waiting 10-12 minutes for the barking to stop and we went to see if he made a kill or had a blood trail. We could stay out of the field checking his. Keep in mind, the dogs are still barking. No blood trail or dead dog. We then went across the field to see what I might have dropped. We saw one down and went to see if there was a blood trail from the other. No dice, but there was still one dog just barking and howling.
Turns out the kill was a female and the mate must have been trying to signal her to get back to him. We packed her up and headed out. The male still calling for his mate the whole time. If Highwaystar posts pics, you'll notice no blood marks. My shot on the female punched a hole in her left rear flank and did not bleed til we got her to the road over a 1/4 mile away.
Just amazing! Yet another experience we'll never forget. I wish we could have taken more of them down. One of the 5 is nothing to snivel at either. We both think we took down the alpha female. She weighted in at 35 pounds on the scale. I'll skin her out tomorrow...
Hope you all are having some luck! As we've found, it's all about "location, location, location) as quoted from Achmed the Dead Terrorist (see Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist).
We were headed out to this long field that we saw tracks crossing on one spot. The field is bordered on all sides by woods and swamp and there are no houses except on the four sides where the roads are. Pretty large, I'd say over 3 square miles.
Put the FP CS-24 off the ground on the edge of the field with the JIB underneath it. Thanks to Snowcamoman (predatormasters.com) selling me one of his old WT callers, we had WT sounds on the CS-24 and were going to use those. Highwaystar was covering the back door along the creek and I would get the dogs crossing the field.
As suggested by Bystateyoter (predatormasters.com), we started with a male challenge. Well the woods across the field erupted with a group rally howl back. I left the challenge on until after they stopped howling. I switched to a female challenge and let it run. After about what seemed like eternity, the first dog crossed the field. Didn't see me so I brought up the 7-30 Waters Contender up and cocked the hammer. The dog slowed to see the caller. I now realize I should have put the caller about 20 yards into the woods and not on the field. I pulled the trigger, the hammer drops and "click", no shot. I pull the hammer back again, but this black and tan dog is not heading out. I thought I had a good shot again and pulled the trigger. I couldn't see anything else.
Now my glasses started to fog as the hood of my jacket got in the way of my vision. I pulled the glasses off and was just hoping I could see them now. I switched the caller to adult distress and let it fly. At this point I thought I saw a dog cross the field, but can be sure as it didn't come towards me. Then two more came across, almost in formation, in response to the distress. As they approached, I pulled up the crosshairs and they started to run away, having seen it was not a dog. I took a shot as they were quartering away. Couldn't see anything.
While all this is going on, Highwaystar is covering the back door and after my second shot, I hear him rip off a couple on his semi auto. Turns out he had one on the far end of the field barking up a storm. He says it was around 200 yards and his red dot might not have made the shot. After he fired and the dog disappeared, another dog ran across the field into the woods. That makes the count at five confirmed in sight.
The dogs then went to the other side of the field into the woods and were barking up a storm at us. I responded with a challenge bark and could not get them to come back out. They would stay there for the next hour barking at us in one form or another.
So I caught up with my partner after waiting 10-12 minutes for the barking to stop and we went to see if he made a kill or had a blood trail. We could stay out of the field checking his. Keep in mind, the dogs are still barking. No blood trail or dead dog. We then went across the field to see what I might have dropped. We saw one down and went to see if there was a blood trail from the other. No dice, but there was still one dog just barking and howling.
Turns out the kill was a female and the mate must have been trying to signal her to get back to him. We packed her up and headed out. The male still calling for his mate the whole time. If Highwaystar posts pics, you'll notice no blood marks. My shot on the female punched a hole in her left rear flank and did not bleed til we got her to the road over a 1/4 mile away.
Just amazing! Yet another experience we'll never forget. I wish we could have taken more of them down. One of the 5 is nothing to snivel at either. We both think we took down the alpha female. She weighted in at 35 pounds on the scale. I'll skin her out tomorrow...
Hope you all are having some luck! As we've found, it's all about "location, location, location) as quoted from Achmed the Dead Terrorist (see Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist).
]
...Bob..