Larry R
Old Mossy Horns
Haven't been able to hunt lately, my son was struck by an automobile while crossing the street in Cornelius, NC. He is doing some better but bruised, sore and hurts all over but thank God his life was spared. He was using a flash light as he crossed the street to catch the mass transit to his work in down town Charlotte. One driver stopped but the other in the oncoming lane did not and claims to have never seen him. The driver that did stop gave a police report and stated that he was flashing the light, no way the other driver should not have seen him. Anyway I spent some time with him and then returned home. He flew up on the hood of the vehicle, busted the windshield so badly the cops would not let the driver drive the car and it was towed. Thankfully no broken bones or internal injuries were detected. He was taken by ambulance to the trauma center at CMC. I cannot believe that after they did tests, x rays, etc etc and he spent all day there they did not attempt to pick the glass out of his head. In fact they gave his girlfriend a wet towel and told her to wash the blood off of his face, neck, hands and arms. An EMT I know told me at the trauma center their ONLY concern is to insure that you are kept alive or don't die. I may be wrong in my thinking but how the hell could they tell how bad you are injured if they don't look closely enough to see that he still has glass in his head.
After I found that he was going to survive I told him that it's a good thing he hit head first or he could have been seriously hurt. In fact after his daughter was assured he was going to be OK she told him the same thing. I can't thank God enough for sparing his life, it could have been so much, much worse.
After I got home I figured I needed some distraction to keep me from worrying about him so much so I put out some coyote bait at a friends condo. He had put out the remains last Thursday of four deer he and his son had killed. I took some remains from a butchered beef and wired it down yesterday morning. There was not a speck of sign of the four carcasses he had put out, he had not bothered to wire them down. I went in before dark last night. It was pretty warm at 45 degrees, a slight wind, a full moon (from experience the worst time to hunt coyotes at night although you can see everything with night vision, even see things without the aid of NV or a light. It was also broken clouds. It's been my experience that for some reason I don't see near as many coyotes under a full moon.
Finally got every thing set up and settled in to wait. I've hunted and killed several coyotes from this condo before and know that the "computer" chairs have a tendency to "pop" if you are not extremely careful when you shift your weight. Haven't been able to remedy this so I take a few practice moves to see how much leeway I have before the chair pops.
The top of the hour was the ticket last night. I could see practically all of the hay field enough to see anything moving without the need for a light or NV but there was a small area of about 20 X 20 feet between the bait pile and thick weeds, brush and briers that was shaded from the moonlight and difficult so see without NV. At 2057 as I scanned the field and I looked at that blind spot thru the NV mounted on a solid tripod. I noticed a dark spot and as I continued to watch Mr. Possum faced me and I knew immediately what it was by the sparkle of the eyes. It came down to the bait pile and only stayed a minute before it turned out the hill and then went back up into the thick stuff.
At 2204 Mr. "Garfield" came down out of the thick stuff at the same location where the possum had entered the field. From the eyes and the way it approached I knew immediately it was a bobcat. It too came down to the bait pile. I picked it up in the thermal NV scope again just to see how well I could move without that dang chair popping. I appeared to hesitate only a second and smelled the bait pile then turned out the hillside in the same direction that the possum had gone. I followed it in the NV and it went about 30 yards before stopping. It turned back to the bait pile and stopped about five feet from the bait and sat down. After about 2 or 3 minutes it stood up and started scratching grass with it's back feet similar to what I have seen dogs do after they wee wee. Basically marking it's territory I think.
It started walking away from the bait pile and after about 10 yards humped up and dumped a "load" and immediately continued on around the hill and back up into the thick stuff. I got a good laugh when I realized that at about 75 yards I could clearly see the "package" the bobcat had left. In the thermal NV the pile of crap showed up "white hot".
At 2302 that, or another bobcat, came out of the thick stuff, sat down for about 20 minutes between the bait pile and the thick stuff. Rare for a bobcat. They usually show up and go directly to the bait pile whereas a coyote will come out, stop, survey the area for several minutes before continuing to the bait pile. It eventually went on down to the bait pile and immediately turned around and went back into the thick stuff.
At 0002 that or another bobcat again came out of the thick stuff but this time from a different entrance point. It went straight to the bait pile and began eating. After about 15 minutes it got up and went back up into the thick stuff where the others had come out into the hay field. I kept watching the thick stuff thru both the Thermal scope and IR Binocs. From time to time I could detect the eyes in the binocs and the "white hot" thru the scope up in the weeds. It appeared that the bobcat hadn't completely finished it's meal but it never came back down to the bait pile.
After daylight as I was packing up stuff to come home crows swarmed into the bait pile along with a few Ravens. They were pretty brave and one buzzard remained sitting in a tree only 30 yards from me as I exited the condo.
Rare night when I hunt there without seeing a coyote or as a minimum hearing the howl but last night not a peep. I'm not sure that the bait I put out (a cows head from the butchered beef) wasn't still frozen and probably didn't give off much odor to attract the coyotes. To bad I'm not man enough to handle two nights in a row for a consecutive all night hunt. LOL.
Got home and after eating and a shower I went to bed. Shorty wasn't having any of that. He had slept all night so all he wanted to do was play. I think I might have gotten an hour, hour and a half at most of sleep.
After I found that he was going to survive I told him that it's a good thing he hit head first or he could have been seriously hurt. In fact after his daughter was assured he was going to be OK she told him the same thing. I can't thank God enough for sparing his life, it could have been so much, much worse.
After I got home I figured I needed some distraction to keep me from worrying about him so much so I put out some coyote bait at a friends condo. He had put out the remains last Thursday of four deer he and his son had killed. I took some remains from a butchered beef and wired it down yesterday morning. There was not a speck of sign of the four carcasses he had put out, he had not bothered to wire them down. I went in before dark last night. It was pretty warm at 45 degrees, a slight wind, a full moon (from experience the worst time to hunt coyotes at night although you can see everything with night vision, even see things without the aid of NV or a light. It was also broken clouds. It's been my experience that for some reason I don't see near as many coyotes under a full moon.
Finally got every thing set up and settled in to wait. I've hunted and killed several coyotes from this condo before and know that the "computer" chairs have a tendency to "pop" if you are not extremely careful when you shift your weight. Haven't been able to remedy this so I take a few practice moves to see how much leeway I have before the chair pops.
The top of the hour was the ticket last night. I could see practically all of the hay field enough to see anything moving without the need for a light or NV but there was a small area of about 20 X 20 feet between the bait pile and thick weeds, brush and briers that was shaded from the moonlight and difficult so see without NV. At 2057 as I scanned the field and I looked at that blind spot thru the NV mounted on a solid tripod. I noticed a dark spot and as I continued to watch Mr. Possum faced me and I knew immediately what it was by the sparkle of the eyes. It came down to the bait pile and only stayed a minute before it turned out the hill and then went back up into the thick stuff.
At 2204 Mr. "Garfield" came down out of the thick stuff at the same location where the possum had entered the field. From the eyes and the way it approached I knew immediately it was a bobcat. It too came down to the bait pile. I picked it up in the thermal NV scope again just to see how well I could move without that dang chair popping. I appeared to hesitate only a second and smelled the bait pile then turned out the hillside in the same direction that the possum had gone. I followed it in the NV and it went about 30 yards before stopping. It turned back to the bait pile and stopped about five feet from the bait and sat down. After about 2 or 3 minutes it stood up and started scratching grass with it's back feet similar to what I have seen dogs do after they wee wee. Basically marking it's territory I think.
It started walking away from the bait pile and after about 10 yards humped up and dumped a "load" and immediately continued on around the hill and back up into the thick stuff. I got a good laugh when I realized that at about 75 yards I could clearly see the "package" the bobcat had left. In the thermal NV the pile of crap showed up "white hot".
At 2302 that, or another bobcat, came out of the thick stuff, sat down for about 20 minutes between the bait pile and the thick stuff. Rare for a bobcat. They usually show up and go directly to the bait pile whereas a coyote will come out, stop, survey the area for several minutes before continuing to the bait pile. It eventually went on down to the bait pile and immediately turned around and went back into the thick stuff.
At 0002 that or another bobcat again came out of the thick stuff but this time from a different entrance point. It went straight to the bait pile and began eating. After about 15 minutes it got up and went back up into the thick stuff where the others had come out into the hay field. I kept watching the thick stuff thru both the Thermal scope and IR Binocs. From time to time I could detect the eyes in the binocs and the "white hot" thru the scope up in the weeds. It appeared that the bobcat hadn't completely finished it's meal but it never came back down to the bait pile.
After daylight as I was packing up stuff to come home crows swarmed into the bait pile along with a few Ravens. They were pretty brave and one buzzard remained sitting in a tree only 30 yards from me as I exited the condo.
Rare night when I hunt there without seeing a coyote or as a minimum hearing the howl but last night not a peep. I'm not sure that the bait I put out (a cows head from the butchered beef) wasn't still frozen and probably didn't give off much odor to attract the coyotes. To bad I'm not man enough to handle two nights in a row for a consecutive all night hunt. LOL.
Got home and after eating and a shower I went to bed. Shorty wasn't having any of that. He had slept all night so all he wanted to do was play. I think I might have gotten an hour, hour and a half at most of sleep.
