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I am very new here as I was encouraged by a member (Shoot-it) on here to join and post. I have had quite a bit of success in smaller caliber lead free load development and he mentioned there was much about that on here. Anyway, this is from last weekend when I was invited when I was graciously invited to go to the Central Valley and do some hunting with him. This is cut and pasted from another forum and I have removed the two pics of the lead free wounds as I am not yet exactly positive on what is and isn't acceptable as far as that goes. I did not post them on the other forum to be graphic, but rather to show the results of the lead free versus leaded. That being said, here is the post, thanks for reading,
I went out this holiday weekend to visit my "other brother" John (Shoot-it). We were going to shoot some squirrels with my new 17HMR as well as make some stands for some four legged furries.
Saturday was mostly shooting squirrels and a couple blank stands. Sunday started with another stand, but we blanked out again. Hard to believe because this orchard looked like an international coyote and raccoon highway. There were fresh tracks everywhere, but nothing coming in. John came to believe they have to be moving around in the dark. Luckily I also happened to have some equipment just for that.
We left Sunday evening in the dark and I told him he needs to make something "postworthy" happen lol. He did! We were less than 10 minutes deep on the previous orchard again when eyes were spotted. He tapped me, I turned, and after I FINALLY found it in his kill light I put a 50gr Nosler LFBT in her right side as she was standing broadside. Sweet! I thought I was going to give him a heart attack when I couldn't find it :unsure:. He said we should keep calling, and we did. Raccoon fight was still playing and a pair of eyes were spotted again moments afterward! It goes flying by us and it was small, but I could hear the sound of the plastic on my caller being hit and attacked. He thought it was a fox because it was so fast but it was a damn raccoon. Muted the call and threw dirt clouds at it until it lost interest and left. We stayed and a few moments later ANOTHER pair of raccoons were coming in! Muted before they attacked it and they quickly lost interest. Decided to keep raccoon fight on since it was bringing things in and just moments later we see more eyes!!! He lit it up and both said it was a gray fox, not open for two more weeks, so it got a pass. Same call still playing and like one minute later eyes again near where we just saw the fox. John lights it up and starts whispering "coyote!, SHOOT IT. I wasn't sure if it was that same fox or not? But after realizing he was about to rip the rifle from my hands I let a shot fly and drop another coyote. We decided to leave that stand after that.
I laughed all the way to his house telling him that orchard was like a regular wildlife petting zoo, full of critters just wanting to come up to us :lol:
First one was a large female. The 22-250 put a hole in her I could get three fingers into, almost four with no exit! She flopped a couple times (I don't know how?)
The second one was a young female. she was looking our way when I put one into her neck. She got up and tried to take a step when her leg gave out but she kept trying. Again, I have no idea how?!?! But at night I could not take any chances so I did put one more into the chest just in front of the leg. And again, a huge hole in what used to be the jugular.
One thing I have learned about doing this at night is that you have even less time to drop them than you do in the daytime because you can lose them in the light in a nanosecond! You pretty much have to pull the trigger when your crosshairs get close and trust your instincts, and don't be afraid to shoot again because finding them even when you know where they are is tough. But what a rush!!! Seeing eyes light up out of nowhere is enough to make a dead man's heart race.
Thank you once again Johnny for everything! As always I had more fun than I should be allowed to. You definitely know your stuff. This is yet another one of those pictures that I will forever look at and smile
I went out this holiday weekend to visit my "other brother" John (Shoot-it). We were going to shoot some squirrels with my new 17HMR as well as make some stands for some four legged furries.
Saturday was mostly shooting squirrels and a couple blank stands. Sunday started with another stand, but we blanked out again. Hard to believe because this orchard looked like an international coyote and raccoon highway. There were fresh tracks everywhere, but nothing coming in. John came to believe they have to be moving around in the dark. Luckily I also happened to have some equipment just for that.
We left Sunday evening in the dark and I told him he needs to make something "postworthy" happen lol. He did! We were less than 10 minutes deep on the previous orchard again when eyes were spotted. He tapped me, I turned, and after I FINALLY found it in his kill light I put a 50gr Nosler LFBT in her right side as she was standing broadside. Sweet! I thought I was going to give him a heart attack when I couldn't find it :unsure:. He said we should keep calling, and we did. Raccoon fight was still playing and a pair of eyes were spotted again moments afterward! It goes flying by us and it was small, but I could hear the sound of the plastic on my caller being hit and attacked. He thought it was a fox because it was so fast but it was a damn raccoon. Muted the call and threw dirt clouds at it until it lost interest and left. We stayed and a few moments later ANOTHER pair of raccoons were coming in! Muted before they attacked it and they quickly lost interest. Decided to keep raccoon fight on since it was bringing things in and just moments later we see more eyes!!! He lit it up and both said it was a gray fox, not open for two more weeks, so it got a pass. Same call still playing and like one minute later eyes again near where we just saw the fox. John lights it up and starts whispering "coyote!, SHOOT IT. I wasn't sure if it was that same fox or not? But after realizing he was about to rip the rifle from my hands I let a shot fly and drop another coyote. We decided to leave that stand after that.
I laughed all the way to his house telling him that orchard was like a regular wildlife petting zoo, full of critters just wanting to come up to us :lol:
First one was a large female. The 22-250 put a hole in her I could get three fingers into, almost four with no exit! She flopped a couple times (I don't know how?)
The second one was a young female. she was looking our way when I put one into her neck. She got up and tried to take a step when her leg gave out but she kept trying. Again, I have no idea how?!?! But at night I could not take any chances so I did put one more into the chest just in front of the leg. And again, a huge hole in what used to be the jugular.
One thing I have learned about doing this at night is that you have even less time to drop them than you do in the daytime because you can lose them in the light in a nanosecond! You pretty much have to pull the trigger when your crosshairs get close and trust your instincts, and don't be afraid to shoot again because finding them even when you know where they are is tough. But what a rush!!! Seeing eyes light up out of nowhere is enough to make a dead man's heart race.
Thank you once again Johnny for everything! As always I had more fun than I should be allowed to. You definitely know your stuff. This is yet another one of those pictures that I will forever look at and smile
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