Night Vision Night Ops

[wigwamitus]

12-13 June 2021
1200 12 June thry 0200 13 June
50F-80F
Wind NNE 5 MPH (avg)

Goals:
Multi-part training exercise
Stag - familiarity practice with Joe bolt gun/ammo .. to aid in decision to purchase a bolt gun, desire is to target shoot out to 1000m and hunt.
Hoob - Testing of 18" bull-pup self-loader rifle with Steiner 1-4x optic.
And both team members also want to practice team walks, day and night.

Environment: The day was sunny and hot-ish .. .temps in the 80s ... drying from prior weeks of "monsoon" rain had occured. There was mud, but not has bad as things had been even a week prior. A tiny sliver of moon setting as we headed out at night, but generally a "dark" night.
A bit of wind, but not much.

Equipment: Lots and lots but some of the main pieces

Stag: 762(22) bolt gun (my usually with Bravo chassis L&S mk6 3-18x T3, rem700 SA+Criterion) shooting FGMM 175gr. At night UTC-x
Hoobe 762(18) bulpup self loaded with Steiner 1-4x ballistic reticle (he dialed for all shots). I think he was shooting M80, but he''l have to clarify.

Stag: joe PVS-14 and breach with OpsCore Ballistic and Comtac3 rail mounted headset. DTR700 radio.
Hoobe: Hoobe 14 with Hoobe head mounted thermal, Hoobe headset and joe PTT for DTR700.
Joe: Joe 14 + Skeet + COTI with TW bump and DTR ptt for DTR700.
Joe: 556(10) carbine with OTAL and ELIR-3 and Taps Synch

Activity: In day time we confirmed zero at 100yds. Talked a bit about fundamentals, Stag did fine rds 6 & 7 were on both on the dot he was aiming at, so he was confirmed.
Hoobe was getting 2rds tight and 3rd outlyer ... probably something to do with the optic, but we did not diagnose. For his purposes this was close enough.

Then loong day walk down in the creeks gulleys woods. On the map the distance between our start point and firing point was 880yds ... but counting all the wiggles we made in the creek system I'd call it about 1000yds on the ground. Avg speed about 0.3 MPH so about 2.5 hours to reach the FP. On occassion we were literally crawling. Hoobe was point, Stag tail gunner and I patrol leader, comms and nav.

At the FP (a wooded around about 475yds from one group of targets, we setup the two RRS and got the two shooters ready. I checked the wind and distance. And did ballistics for Stag, Hoobe did his own ballistics. Stag got first round hit on torso (IPSC 2/3). I don't recall Hoobe's torso shots, but he did get two hits with two shots.

Stag's day target

The hits below the center were from a prior Joe session. One of the hits on the right should was Stag's first torso shot.

After getting the torso shot, I had him aim for face. The first face shot was low and left and hit same area the torso hit, hit. We made adjustments and his second shot on face was dead center on face.

==
Here's Hoobe's day target

The Torso hit was aimed at the torso and the face hit was aimed at the face. I remember he didn't get a 1st round hit on the face, I think it was 2nd/3rd rd hit. I don't recall about the torso hit. Hoobe can amplify.

==
Then we egressed back to base, via a different route. Total elapsed time of the day walk was ~5hrs (2 hrs for uploading and zero prior to the 5hrs).
==
"dinner" break, then prep for night mission. Basically a repeat of the day mission though different routes were used.

Stag's night target

He fired one round (from same FFP) a got 1st rd hit. He was aiming for torso but a torso hit on face counts as a hit (a face hit on torso counts as a miss).

Hoobe's fired 3rds on his target IIRC and didn't get a hit and Stag was unable to spot the splash of the misses, so we had no feedback for hoobe. He was using a difference gun and was unsure of his zero.

==
While proceeding down to the target on foot to take pics, I fired two shots with laser from 100yds and got two hits ...

Again we egressed by a different route.

Summary/Results:
After RTB we did debrief and wound up at 2am. Time for Hoobe and Stag to nap before rolling home.
Activity enjoyable for me. Team training also a good thing for me !!!

In subsequent dialog, Stag seems to have continued interest in future bolt gun purchase, scope, range finder, kestrel, etc. So a new long distance shooter, joining the ranks !!

Some feedback included the idea of rating possible routes by speed/concealment and choosing routes to optimize goals along those variables. I was attempting to optimize concealment with choice of routes in woods, creeks, gulley's. But that certainly did not optimize speed!

 

[shoobe01]

Hoobe 762(18) bulpup self loaded with Steiner 1-4x ballistic reticle (he dialed for all shots). I think he was shooting M80, but he''l have to clarify.

Rifle was an M17S 308. Need more scope than 4x at the top end of this range.

Ammo is 150 gr SALTECH. Swiss, new and recent commercial manufacture identical to euro-spec "M80" ball.

Not great off tripods yet, none I own are heavy enough for that and I have no need to use them at my ranges anyway. I think that the bolt gun night miss is not unrelated to that. More specifically, it was close to the balance point, which only in retrospect did I realize; I got off okay with the M17 as it was clamped well forward, so I was able to work with the weight to the rear to get it stable. Wobbled the whole time with the bolt gun.

I was the primary failure, both in shooting and movement. Got REALLY tired from the hot daytime. Only equipment issue of mine was that a new cheapass ARCA rail on the bottom of the bolt gun is out of spec, wouldn't fit into any of the clamps, so we had to borrow one of Wig's saddles as I thought it would work, left mine at home.

Firing point during the day:

Stagg had to get up higher to get over the grass after all, but this position looked good and is the photo I have:

Ready for the night march:

Thermal is in the SORD hard LRF pouch on the LBE right front. Clipped it on once outside, later. Pack is a Crossfire DG-3, tripod is in a SORD tripod pouch on the back of that. Terrific packs.

 

[Boon20]

Sounds like a long day of all kinds of fun.

 

[CheaperRooter]

Very interesting. But I have to say it makes me want to keep my patrol as in my opinion I preferred the picture. Well better said, I don’t see the need to anxiously run out and purchase one when I already have the patrol. Even if in others opinion the picture is not as good, it’s good enough. But for me, at this point, one thing that no testing can provide is longevity. How will it hold up to the constant abuse of weapon firing, that is something (for the time being) the patrol has going for it. Time will answer that question.

And as usual, there are few people that can write a more in-depth review then you can Joe! EXCELLENT!!!!

But DANG that 18650 is screaming out to me…

 

[wigwamitus]

Prepping for "banzai" season. That 2 weeks or so that happens around here, usually first two weeks of November, but rarely earlier and slightly less rarely a little later, where the critters go "banzai" and charge in towards the coop. I'm sure that's not really what they're doing, but it seems like it. I usually get 1-2 chicken predators per night during the period: Coons, opossum and yotes. I'll be using the mk12s mostly this year and so mk12-2 being readied today/tonight.
Zeroed the iron sites last week and the day scope today, then tonight co-witnessed the CQBL laser to the reticle at 150yds.
There's also an olde armasight LED illum on the 3'oclock ... it has a nice wide and clean beam out to 200yds, so plenty for my current purposes.
And the UTC-x out front gives a distance punch off the tripod. So, I can walk and stalk with the laser and then setup and shoot off the tripod. The "do everything" gun !!

I'm using IMI 77gr ... I load 77 SMK for the mk12s but the IMI 77 is really exactly equivalent to my load, so I can use them interchangably. I'm impressed with the IMI 77 !!

No critters spotted tonight. Two neighbor dogs 1 mile away heard. An owl squawking in the yard. Still too much vegetation to see thru the tree line out into the alfalfa patch, hence I'm planning to walk and stalk to some better positions, either into the West pasture or the alfalfa patch.

 

[NHPiper]

Prepping for "banzai" season. That 2 weeks or so that happens around here, usually first two weeks of November, but rarely earlier and slightly less rarely a little later, where the critters go "banzai" and charge in towards the coop. I'm sure that's not really what they're doing, but it seems like it. I usually get 1-2 chicken predators per night during the period: Coons, opossum and yotes. I'll be using the mk12s mostly this year and so mk12-2 being readied today/tonight.
Zeroed the iron sites last week and the day scope today, then tonight co-witnessed the CQBL laser to the reticle at 150yds.
There's also an olde armasight LED illum on the 3'oclock ... it has a nice wide and clean beam out to 200yds, so plenty for my current purposes.
And the UTC-x out front gives a distance punch off the tripod. So, I can walk and stalk with the laser and then setup and shoot off the tripod. The "do everything" gun !!

I'm using IMI 77gr ... I load 77 SMK for the mk12s but the IMI 77 is really exactly equivalent to my load, so I can use them interchangably. I'm impressed with the IMI 77 !!

No critters spotted tonight. Two neighbor dogs 1 mile away heard. An owl squawking in the yard. Still too much vegetation to see thru the tree line out into the alfalfa patch, hence I'm planning to walk and stalk to some better positions, either into the West pasture or the alfalfa patch.

I love your updates Wig! You need a blog or a show. Like North Woods Law in NH.

 

[jstokes1]

Been sequestered some time to the ole night ops myself

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-10-02
2000-2200
60F
10MPH WSW

Goal(s): Patrol up to signal hill, set up and overwatch back pasture.

Environment: Light rain, overcast, moonrise not till 0300 light breeze from WSW.

Equipment:

556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTC-x, RRS, Leica 3500, Helmet with PVS-14 and Breach. DTR700 w/ COMTAC3, CQBL Laser and Armasight LED Illum.

Activity: Headed out across turtle creek and up signal hill and setup on West side mil crest. Measured wind. Observed and ranged all visible critters (except field mice, which were abundant).
Heard screech owl, to the West.

Cattle to the SSE ~600yds

==
Cattle to the North ~1200yds

==
Cattle to the West, thru trees, 1000yds

After many 360s of the same scenes shown above, no other non-small critters observed, (other than one hawk flying by), packed up and did RTB. Many field mice observed.

Summary: Breach was fairly washed out as far as seeing the terrain, due to we had rain on and off all day and it was light rain during the outing. But had no problem detecting the critters inside 800yds. Could not detect critters farther out.
14 actually could see very well. I tested the illum and laser before I headed out, but did not use during the outing.
This phone camera is the worst I've ever had, its in a class by itself. But it looks like I get a slightly better image by zooming in with the camera.
As always, the real image was much better. The day scope was on 8x for these images. Though I was using scanning on 2.5x, I switched to 8x for these pics.

No yotes seen or even heard ! And no coons or opossum either. The cold snap hasn't started yet.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-10-03
1800-1845
70F
2 MPH WSW

Goal: Confirm DOPE at 461 meters

Environment: Not much weather impact on the situation. Mostly sunny a few clouds. Barely a breeze from 270 off the bullet path (which is about 350 azimuth) 2 MPH. Which at 461 meters (I'm switching over to meters from yards - when I first moved out here I switched my brain over from (army) meters to (civilian) yards, that was TOUGH - it took a couple of years. I think switching back will be easier. I'm gonna use "decimeters" instead of "inches". A decimeter is also a mil at 100 meters.

Equipment:
556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR,, RRS, Leica 3500
So my turrets are in 1/2 MOA ... but I want to train myself to think in decimeters (we sure didn't do that in the Army I was in ... we used meters and centimeters and km). So I still had AB "other units" in imperial and AB said almost 6 inches for 2MPH drift at 461 meters, so 1.5 decimeters.
Elevation showed 11.5 MOA, so I dialed 11.5 MOA (23 clicks). The target was a bit "sideways" and I could only see the tip top of it up over the grass, even though I was up on a hill with the tripod ! So first shot I went for face and held on the left edge (relative to me) of the face and got a hit.
Then realized I should've held aligned to the left side of the torso (up on the face) since these are 12 inch wide targets (IPSC 2/3) at the torso. So actually I made a mistake and got lucky !

Held left side of torso, down below where I couldn't quite see the target and got second hit.

Summary:
So everything worked, except me

I left 1 click extra at the bottom. So when I RTZ I click back up one click. That gives me a little wiggle room for temp changes.

I really like this scope - for what it is, I'm impressed! It seems to hit the target no matter what I do !!

One reason I want to switch to meters is I think it will be easier to teach. 1 mil at 100 meters is 1 decimeter. At 500 meters that's 5 decimeters. I think people can do 5 times 1 easier than 5 times 3.6 ( 5 mils at 500yds). At least I hope so !!

Several people want me to teach them "long distance shooting" but, they go "deer in the head lights" when I start asking for things like 3 times 3.6 ... ( 3 mils at 300yds). I've been converting everything to inches so I can estimate inches on the target. Including how much did I miss by if I miss. I want to use decimeters for that going forward. Which I'm calling "4 inches" (almost). So "face" is 6 inches wide which is 1.5 decimeters. Torso is 12 inches wide or 3 decimeters. That doesn't sound too hard to me !

And a quarter mile will now be 400 meters (almost) and half a mile 800 meters etc. That's not so bad.

Decimeters seems like it will be easier than centimeters, which would generally have more digits. Less digits is probably easier than more digits.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-10-03
50F
0 MPH

Goal: Coop patrol

Environment:
Very clear, Milky Way clear and high in the sky. Big Dipper to the West, Cassiopeia high over head. No wind at all - this is bad as no sound cover ! Usual screech owl screeching

Equipment:
556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTC-x, RRS, Leica 3500, Helmet with PVS-14 and Breach. DTR700 w/ COMTAC3, CQBL Laser and Armasight LED Illum.

==
2100 - Neighbor dog barking a mile to the north. That often means yotes are about, but heard no yotes. Saw no other critters. Thermal image looked MUCH better tonight. Humidity lower.

2300 - Heard yotes about half a mile to the North, yip-yipping, probably a hunting pair. No critters seen.

10-04
0100 - Spotted feline trying to get under fence to coop, fired, DRT.
I generally give felines a pass as they take out the mice. But, felines trying to get into the coop area at 1am do not get a pass. Won't post kill pic as might offend feline lovers sensitivities It was a big 'un heaviest feline I've lifted in a while. I get a few a year if they are too interested in the coop in the middle of the night. If they're away from the coop during day, or during dusk or dawn, they get a pass.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-10-05
40F
0 MPH

Goal" Coop Patrol

Environment:
Clear again, Cassiopeia high overhead, Orion off to the East, Big Dipper to the West. Another no wind night.

Equipment:
556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTC-x, RRS, Leica 3500, Helmet with PVS-14 and Breach. DTR700 w/ COMTAC3, CQBL Laser and Armasight LED Illum.

==
2200
Took PVS-27 for a change, no critters, but got a pic of Andromeda, which as all you night hunters know, is pointed at by Cass.

I'm sure I can do better, so I'll try this again, but the later I go out, the higher up Cass is and I can't get a good angle, so need to try Andromeda pics earlier in the night.

==
0200
Coon, 150yds to the West of my FP heading in towards the Coop (100yds from the Coon). Coon flopping around after first shot, so gave him a second, made a mess.

Also saw a rabbit (not a target). Heard the screech owl and some yotes, far away to the South, but nothing else.

==

Summary: I'm not seeing a cold snap coming in the 2 week forecast, so it still looks like early Nov before Banzai season really starts. I'll keep varying my times.

 

[camocorvette]

Love the updates.

 

[Ronin_64]

Noooooo! Rocket, what has he done???!!!!

Just kidding. Nice job.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-10-06
1200-1245
50F
0 MPH

Goal: Coop Patrol

Environment: Overcast, no stars, no wind, what we call a DARK night. 14 works but not great. breach still working.

Equipment:
556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTC-x, RRS, Leica 3500, Helmet with PVS-14 and Breach. DTR700 w/ COMTAC3, CQBL Laser and Armasight LED Illum.

Activity: Went out to the rows of bales to the west and set up there. Have good North South LOS/LOF but not good East/West. Can see into the Apple Orchard (which BTW had LOTS of apples this year - versus none - last year - even though we had -27F in Feb and below freezing whole month).
Saw coon approaching coop from the West, within 50yds, Bang down, but squawking. Gave it another one.

This one was much smaller than last night.

Summary: We're still not in the banzai phase. I still don't see any temps in the 20s or 30s in the "10 day" forecast (which goes out 14 days. Forecast shows lows in the solid 40s after 15th of the month and we're often 5 degrees cooler here due to low ground along the creek. So end of month still feels about right for the banzai period.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-10-07
0300-0400
50F
0 MPH

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: Clear again, Milky Way highly visible, no wind, no moon.

Equipment:
556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTC-x, RRS, Leica 3500, Helmet with PVS-14 and Breach. CQBL Laser and Armasight LED Illum.
Forecast thru the 21st shows lows in the 40s starting Monday, so its cooling off and the leaves are definitely falling.

Activity: Setup in several spots. Still can't observe out into the alfalfa patch except in a TINY area. I had dumped the coons out there as "bait" though its a forlorn hope to attract a yote that I'll see. The Turkey Buzzards are still around and were circling yesterday.

After the umpteen 360, saw a feline heading towards the coop, waited until it reached the fenced area (which is not much of a barrier for a determined critter), fired and DRT. Again no kill pic to avoid offense. This was another heavy one.

Summary: Still estimating "banzai" season to start around the end of the month. I'll continue to go out at random times.

 

[Hogrider2000]

what is the "banzai" season ??

 

[Ronin_64]

Read post #105

what is the "banzai" season ??

 

[wigwamitus]

No critters stopped around the coop last two nights, but I will update on activities.

2021-10-6/7
0 MPH
50F

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment (Thursday night)

Partly cloudy, some stars visible, but not all. This made it a tiny bit difficult to ID constellations, but not impossible. No wind, no moon.

Equipment:

556(18), 77 IMI, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTC-x, RRS

Activity (1000 6 Oct):

Set up in the usual spots and did 360s, roughly 20 minutes per spot over 3 spots, per usual. Saw a tiny piece of the rear end of a critter disappear behind guest house to the S. Panned back and forth to the two egress areas I would be able to see. 5 secs per area as I would likely only have a few secs to acquire and engage the critter if I did spot it (due to other obstacles in our "yard" like stock trailer and green house.
But I did not spot that critter. What little I did see of it seemed to be moving fairly quickly, so I thought it might be a yote. But later I decided maybe it could've been a feline. Just didn't see enough for long enuff to make the call.

Later I saw a probable feline near the house, but not at an angle where I had a shot. I attempted to close and even loop around the house, but lost the critter while moving and never saw it again.

0100 7 Oct

360s in the usual spots, clouds cleared up, Milky Way highly visible, but no wind and no moon. And no critters spotted. Screech owl screeching per usual.

==

2100 8 Oct

Overcast, no stars, no moon. No wind.

Setup in usual spots, did 360s in each of 3 spots for 20 mins. No critters spotted.

0400 Oct

Overcast, no stars, no moon BUT, we had wind. Wind for the first time this week !!
The wind turbine was turning and based on sound wind was between 6 and 12 MPH, avg around 9-ish. Occasionally dropping to 5-6 which is the "start point" for the prop turning.

So, for the first time this week, the screech owl was not screeching, which seems to confirm that the screeching was the owl alerting on me. So, it became a goal to operate without triggering the screeching.

I setup in three places in general on these outtings. I'll call then the "NE position", which can let me see out into the Alfalfa patch (not much right now, but later in fall and winter and early spring when there is less vegetation). And I can also see "behind the house - down by the creek" to be able to intercept any critters circling around from the front yard.
Then there is the "central position" which gives fields of fire in the most directions. 415 yards up a ridge to the SSE, 225 yards to some woods to the West, 509 yards to the Alfalfa patch to the NE and 167yds, to a ridge to the SSW. Our 7 buildings surround this "central position".
Then there is the "West position" which looses the Alfafa patch and the SSW ridge (blocked by the green house) but adds the Apple orchard. I did see a mouse in the apple orchard tonight, which was the first critter I've seen in there this week. We did have a LOT of apples this year. I invited neighbors over to help get some, but there are still TONs on the trees and they will fall soon and then the critters will swarm in there. I've even see a yote up on its hide legs grabbing an apple. I certainly thought it was a deer and first, but kept watching and eventually saw it was a yote and got it (that was several years ago). But an example of "take your time with PID" !

So I was able to setup in the NE Position and do my 360s and no screeching. Then moved to the central position and no screeching. The wind was still present, though occasionally would drop down to 5-6 MPH and the whirring of the turbine would drop off a bit, then the wind would restart and the whirring got louder. I did kick a rock by mistake while doing 360s from the CP and got one screech. I chastized myself and continued.
Then it was time to move to the W position. I was moving VERY slowly, Id say 2 inch steps. I made it about 3/4 of the way before accidently kicking a rock and got 3 screeches this time. Then after a wait, continued to the W position and setup. Saw aforementioned mouse.

Oh, I while at the CP I had seen a critter in a tree about 150yds from my position to the SW. I could not PID but it had a long thing curved tail, so probable opossum and possible feline. I zoomed in to 8x, but could not see the full critter (only rear end) so no PID. After setting up and W position, I tried to find that critter, but could not. I figured I didn't have a good angle and was blocked by vegetation.
After 20m of 360s at W position, I headed back to CP.
Oh, due to the wind, I had a little bit of washout with the UTC, so I had dailed the gain up to 6. That made it a tiny bit better. I tried 7 but that made it worse. I was on 20% brightness.

On the return trip I walked on the grass beside the driveway and that was considerably quieter and I was able to go faster with out triggering any screeches.

I setup again at the CP, but could not see the critter in the tree. It had moved out. I scanned about for it, but did not see it.

I moved back to NEP and briefly scanned some more, but no critters spotted.

 

[wigwamitus]

Still going out 2-3 times per night, varying the times, not a lot of action. Got 6 mice, but don't count them, since they're just pests, not predators. Have heard more yotes, haven't actually seen any, but their vocalizations are getting closer and more frequent as it cools off. I haven't seen my thermometer go below 32F yet, but its been sitting on 32F one morning and 33F another, so we're getting there.
Some nights its overcast so no stars and moon is a cotton ball in the sky. Other night moon is a giant flashlight in the sky.
Some nights its windy and I can beat the screech owl, other nights you can hear a pin drop and I'll screw up and kick something and the screech owl screeches and I have to stop moving for several mins before he stops.
I think its him I watched him hunting, swooping down to the ground and then back up to the tree and then down to the ground etc.
Still expecting more activity to start soon-ish around 1 Nov, about a week, historically.

 

[stefan73]

Last night we had almost zero illum and no significant coyote movement. I did happen to catch a trash bandit working up towards my ducks and chickens so I removed him and have made him available as buzzard feed.

 

[wigwamitus]

Hum, you still have turkey buzzards ? I haven't seen any in at least a week, maybe two. I think ours headed to "Florida" for the winter

 

[stefan73]

Hum, you still have turkey buzzards ? I haven't seen any in at least a week, maybe two. I think ours headed to "Florida" for the winter

I am not sure if we have any down here. I know this is part of their area but they are normally bigger than some of the ones that I have seen. We had one at my parents house before the Zoo came to get it back (it had escaped and was really friendly).

 

[Hogrider2000]

that buzzard was not friendly--it was looking at you as a potential meal!!!!!!!!!

 

[wigwamitus]

Well, got into 30s but still not below freezing last night.
It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, had a hard time keeping the screech owl from screechin' but mostly did.
I rezeroed the mk12 I'm using as the zero had shifted due to the cooler temps. So got that done and reverified no POI shift with UTC.
Saw some rabbits in the apple orchard, but they got a pass. Saw no predetor critters last night. Went out at 9pm, 11pm and 2pm.
Took the breach as well. Makes it easier to do continuous 360s. Breech detected the rabbits, UTC PID'd.
Forecast was showing 20Fs for this week, but now just low 30s.
As usual, it changes every time I look at it

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-02
0100-0200
0-3 MPH NE
33F

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: Clear and cool, no moon, no wind.

Equipment: As before, with addition of breach for easier sustained scanning. Detect with breach, PID with UTC. Full list:
mk12-01, L&S mk4 2.5-8x tmr, UTC-x, RRS, 77gr SMK, Breach.

Activities: Only reporting on second outing, where there was some action. This was between 0100-0200.
I'd been out in the usual 3 positions, scanning and scanning, doing 360s with the breach and UTC. Saw some deer I see every night now. They've "moved in" to our front yard. Also saw a rabbit and a pack rat in the apple orchard. All these critters are attracted by the rotten apples in the apple orchard (we picked a zillion, but left another zillion). This is a normal activity and one reason I've gotten a ton of critters in the apple orchard over the past year, though it is just across the creek from the chicken coop.

So, I'd cycled through the positions, moving out to the west and then back to the house and seen no predators and was about to pack up, when I did one last scan with the breach and saw a moving blob 150yds to the west in the woods.
So I looked with the UTC and saw critter climbing a tree, given size and speed of motion, probably coon. I relocated to obtain a better FOV and then saw the critter coming back down the tree. I waited until it reached the ground and fired and saw it jerk and then disappear (below FOV). Took the breach and headed over there, found the coon, already dead and got pic. Will relocate to the bone pile today.

This was one of the biggest ever, I've probably only gotten 2 others that were this big. A true "2-hander".

Definitely well feed !

Summary/Results:
So is it really "banzai time" yet ? We'll find out, but the activity in / around the apple orchard is consistent with such.

Screech owl update
So, when I came out of the side garage door I got one screech. Then through moving to setting up and operating in the first three positions, no further screeches. While in the 3rd position and making no noise doing 360s, some screeching started, so this one other critters causing the screeches. Screeches continues for the remainder of this outing.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-03
0300-0400
0-3 MPH
35F

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: Overcast, very quiet, zero sound cover.

Equipment: As usual mk12-01, L&S mk4 2.5-8x tmr, UTC-x, RRS, 77gr SMK, Breach.

Activities:
Only recording activity in this particular outing, not the other two which saw no "action".

Went out directly to Western most position and setup. In previous outing had seen two coon/opossum critters fairly far out 300-400yds in West pasture, but lots of intervening vegetation on the bullet path, so no shot.
This time saw one critter far up a tree, watched for a while and no movement. Continued 360s, eventually saw hot spot in the apple orchard. Zoomed in with UTC and saw movement. Continued to watch.
Screech owl screeching, but that's normal.
Eventually got a broadside view and took a shot - critter's tail was then wagging up in the air, but he was still making slow lateral progress across the ground, so gave second shot and no movement.

Unzipped that critter ! The 77gr doesn't have much penetration, but it does fragment and this was a smaller opossum, so did a number. This was 20yds from the coop, just on the other side of the creek.

Summary:
While recovering carcass, noted the shoots had to pass through branch of a tree. There's still a lot of vegetation out there and it still hasn't gone below freezing yet. I take pics of the thermometer outside the kitchen window during this time or year and in prior years noted that by mid-Nov, we were down to 10F last year and -5F prior year. So, thus far, its a warmish year and I don't think banzai season really starts until we get below freezing on most nights and we definitely aren't there yet. Last weekend the forecast said we would, but it hasn't happened yet. I've still not seen ANY morning with us below 32F.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-05
1030-1145
40F
5 MPH SW

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: Clear, no moon, a little bit of wind. But mostly, my pasture partner was gathering bales in a pasture 1/2 to the East with the tractor and that was providing a small amount of sound cover for the first 30-ish minutes I was on for this outing. I got a screech when I first existed the door, but few to none thereafter.

Equipment: Same, 556(18) with 77gr, UTC and Breach.

Activity: Working my way out to the Westerly position, I saw some deer on the ridge 167yds to the SSW with the UTC, there were behind a tree line. The breach could not detect them. The UTC could see them clearly (3 deer) on 8x on the day scope.

I saw a bird in a bush (that's normal, lots of birds sleep in bushes around here). Eventually I did a "walk about" of the coop scanning outward in all directions with the breach and I saw a hot blob in the apple orchard and I stopped moving and I could then detect that the blob was moving. Returned to the UTC, nuc and had a look at the critter was looking right at me, it problem heard me moving thru the leaves. It was a target, either a coon or an opossum. I aimed and fired and it disappeared (behind intervening vegetation. After about 2 mins, I took the breach back out of my pocket and approached the location and took the pic.

Summary/Results:
It was a decent sized opossum, not a LARGE one, but an upper end middle sized one. About 5 years from the spot where I got the other one in prior post and again about 20yds from the coop, in the apple orchard, on the N side of the creek.

We still haven't had even 1 hour below freezing yet and the forecast says it will be getting warming next week, so it still hasn't actually turned yet and so we aren't in "banzai" season yet. Probably can't happen now before mid-Nov at the earliest. So this is officially a "warm" fall.

==
On the gear front, Choid sold me his L&S mk4 2.5-8x mil-dot illum

I'll put it on my second mk12. Its a close match to the one I'm using on the first mk12 TMR vs MILDOT. But I want to upgrade the turrets, to turrets like I have on my original Mk4 2.5-8x, so I'll be sending it in to L&S next week.

Thanks Choid !!!

(these scopes are getting harder and harder to find !!)

 

[wigwamitus]

Phenomena this morning in the 0300-0400 that I had not experienced before.
When I first got out there, zero wind, but I heard "rustling" sounds ... sort of like active misting ... and maybe there was some. When I got out to the Western most position and set up ... I still heard these sounds ... sounded like a cross between breeze, misting and creek running very low sound, but persistent. And lots of leaves were falling and that was making noise also. IDK what was making the sounds but it was actually providing decent sound cover, even though the evidence for actual wind was nil. But that large number of leaves falling was also a bit unique. So, "noted - but not fully explained".

No critters seen during that outing. Dogs barking briefly at distances of 800-1700 yards.

On last 3 nights, the same three deer hanging out in our front yard and the apple orchard.

But no coons, opossum or yotes seen recently. Didn't even hear the screech owl last night, though heard a hoot owl at about 800yds distance.

 

[Hogrider2000]

just for info--
on the farm that I hunted up until this last season we had a lot of pigs, coons,squirells,deer and turkey. This year that activity has been cut back A LOT. Yesterday my friend sent me a pic of a mountain lion print. The pic was perfect and the cat print was Very fresh. And two years ago I had one visit my stand for about 10 seconds. He was very identifiable with my thermal..

 

[shoobe01]

Phenomena this morning in the 0300-0400 that I had not experienced before.
When I first got out there, zero wind, but I heard "rustling" sounds ... sort of like active misting ... and maybe there was some. When I got out to the Western most position and set up ... I still heard these sounds ... sounded like a cross between breeze, misting and creek running very low sound, but persistent. And lots of leaves were falling and that was making noise also. IDK what was making the sounds but it was actually providing decent sound cover, even though the evidence for actual wind was nil. But that large number of leaves falling was also a bit unique. So, "noted - but not fully explained".

Have encountered something similar for winds aloft, just a few dozen yards above you. Whacking the tops of the trees which causes some leaves to move/fall and some of the noise but since it's above you and mostly not touching anything you are near, just weird sounding.

I figured out what it was the couple times I have because I was in hilly or actually mountainous territory, went up and there's suddenly wind on top of the hill, sounds like wind when in it. Go back down and... the low noise. Weird when it happens though.

Wx phenomenon wise, I think of it not unlike fog layers. I've been places the fog layer was so well-defined that as we walked uphill into it, you could first put your hand up into the cloud, comes back wet. Weather is weird.

(You may have found something else, but still worth knowing about for future).

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-09
2200-2345
50F
5 MPH ESE

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: I'll call it "mist". Forecast says "rain" but hasn't rained yet. There is a tiny bit of wind offering some sound cover, but also several conveyances, both ground based and flying went by providing additional sound cover. When the sound cover increases, my speed across ground can also increase. The screech owl was screeching, but not at me I don't think.

Activity: Well there were 4 deer in the apple orchard. I did hear a yote close in, probably 300 yds north, on the other side of the apple orchard, not visible due to embankment. But for whatever reason deer and yotes don't occupy the apply orchard at the same time. I kept watching the flanks but no yotes spotted. After the deer (very slowly) departed, the rabbits came out, 4 of them, and some field mice, a pair of them. I could see a family of coons (probably a mom and 2 little ones) way up in a tree about 400yds off, but too high an angle of fire in that direction, so no shot.
Eventually I saw another feline. I kept watching and it was circling around the coop, not just passing by, so I fired and it went down, DRT. No kill pics of felines. They're one of the few critters that are smart enough to actually get in to the coop, them and coons. I'm not sure about opossum. But the neighbors all say opossum no different from coon as regards being chicken predators.

Summary/Results:
The warm trend continues, though I'm seeing forecast for lows in the 20s over next two days. If you're keeping track, I still haven't seen temp below freezing yet this season, so no banzai season yet.

Oh forgot to mention. I was on edge detect for about 45 mins of this session, to reduce eye strain ... and I had absolutely no problem detecting and even PIDing the deer thru three layers of vegetation. I was also about to detect those coons, but had to go toggle WH/BH to PID. Same with the rabbits, when WH/BH to pid but detected on ED.

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-12
2100-2130
25F
15 MPH NW

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: Thermometer finally showing below freezing tonight. At 9pm was showing 25F, this morning was showing 21F

Note everything in the window you see other than the thermometer is actually a refection - our kitchen IS inside the house

Wind was estimated 15 MPH when I was out at 9pm, but forecast was for wind to get up to 25MPH. Sky was overcast. I bundled up a bit due to the wind and temp, I was fine.

Equipment:

As my specific task in my first outing of each night is to close things up, I had the mk18-ish and helmet with 2 x pvs-14 and coti. The mk18 has stiener otal with NDF also there's a luna. Both are switched together by a taps pro, which gives me instant on for both with one button or laser only with the other. I hadn't shot any critters with this setup yet, this season.
The mk18-ish also has an eotech.

Activity: We alternate the males (2 guineas and 2 roosters) and the hens (10 hens) outside each day. At night, the males stay in the barn and the hens stay in the coop. Each night my first outing, I close up the coop or the barn which ever is open. The hens, so far, have always gone in their coop at night on their own. The guineas and roosters have all "forgotten" to go in the barn exactly once per critter and I've had to encourage them to go in before closing the barn door.
So expecting the usual quick outing to close the barn door (it was boys day out today), I grabbed the mk18-ish and helmet and in the garage I powered everything up (lights out in the garage) and then headed out. As I rounded the corner, I saw a bright spot, elongated, up against the coop run (steel grating) trying to get in. From 40yds I fired and the critter started moving towards me. It stopped about 1/3 of the way and struggled. I gave it a second shot and it stopped moving. I approached and noted that it was a large coon.

So, the coon would have had a hard time getting into the coop. It would've either had to open the human door on the opposite end from where it was. That would require standing up on a short ladder and manipulating the door handle. I won't say a coon could never do that. But I can say I don't think I'll live long enough to see it happen. Where the coon was, it would've had to dig its way under the outer run steel grating. I'd give the coon a much better chance of doing that. I have shoot an opossum trying to dig under the run in prior year.

But more dangerous was, the barn door was still open. The guineas sleep up in the rafters. They're harder to get to, but last year I lost one guinea to a coon climbing up in the rafters. After that, I shot 3 coons in the barn in 4 days, one of which had already climbed up into the rafters and was approaching the guineas. I got there with seconds to spare that time. This time, the coon would've had to decide to give up trying to get into the coop and instead head into the barn. The coon might have be within a minute of doing that. Once the coon was in the barn, the two roosters sleep on the ground, so they would've been dead meat, literally.
So my arrival was "in the nick of time".

Around here I say "you never know what will happen when you head outside" ... and tonight was no exception!

I closed the barn door, then cleared the 5 acre around around the coop to make sure there were no other critters of interest in the area. There were none.

Otherwise, later last night. No further events of note, the usually 3 x deer appeared in the apple orchard and bedded down in there. There's an embankment on the North side of the apple orchard which would shield them from the wind. And there are still tons of apples even on the trees in there, so they won't starve.

Saw a feline, but it was up on the bales hunting rats ... so I gave it a pass. We could use some help with the rats !

Results/Summary: So I guess, with the temp finally getting below freezing and the coon within 0 yards of the coop, I can finally say "banzai season is here!"

Given that its getting dark earlier, I'm gonna have to go out and close things up earlier !!!

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-15
2200-2300
40F
10 MPH SE

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment: Pretty much overcast, a star or two here and there, but making out whole constellations is about like PIDing critters in thick woods Decent wind provided some sound cover. BUTT ... in every case tonight the critters were down wind of me, so I was very challenged ... and mostly had to stay as still as possible to not add any further clues to the big primate smell clue.

Equipment: The usual. Mk12, L&S mk4 2.5-8x TMR, UTCx, RRS, Breach in the pocket for fast scanning close in.

Activity: Well this outing was all about watching deer in the apple orchard. I'm seeing approximately this sort of scene every night now. The apple orchard being "grand central station" for the deer around here. What was unique about tonight was I started out with a solitary buck on the ground, lying on its side at first, I was having trouble PIDing thru the vegetation and had just indexed it as "largish critter on the ground at 9 degrees 84yds". But guessed it was a deer lying down. And yes, his head was on the ground and not visible to me, I was just seeing the rump.
Kept watching, eventually detected a critter (a non-buck deer) moving in to the apple orchard from the East ( the right side in the pic). So did the buck and he leaned upright still on the ground.

Then the two deer were close enough to get a combo pic.

Then the buck stood up and I got a shot which included the antlers. A second non-buck deer had showed up. There was a bit of swirling around movement in the middle of the apple orchard.

The two non-bucks were now on the West side of the apple orchard and the buck in the center

Then everybody headed North, the buck trailing in the rear

Then a couple of new players (2 non-buck deer) showed up to the West, headed for the apple orchard.

As I egressed to the East, one of the first pair of non-bucks returned to the center of the apple orchard.

One of the two new arrivals heading into the apple orchard from the West

Results:
So anyway, no bang bang on this outing, but I actually enjoying watching critters and moving around and trying to remain undetected. Stalking is actually far more challenging than shooting in these conditions !!! But these pics do give you an idea of what many of the unreported outings I go on involve. Watching deer or other critters doing their thing !!!

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-11-16
0000-0130
40F
10 MPH SE

Goal: Coop Defense

Environment and Equipment, same as above.

Activity: This time, went out and setup near the house. Scanned in close (with the UTC) to clear the immediate area around the coop. Saw a rabbit, it was not moving so it had detected me.
Then scanned back into the woods to the East and immediately saw a yote egressing. It had detected me as well. It had the wind guage and I make a bit of noise exiting the house.
So I had to work on aiming. As it was headed away I had an ass shot, but it wasn't getting any better so I took it. That shot anchored the yote as he was spinning round and round and hollering and unable to move far from the spot. Aiming at the yote was exciting given all the movement, but I gave him a second shot and he went down and didn't move again. I continued to scan for a possible partner but none was seen. I did a 360 to clear the baffles and there was a deer alerted on me 70yds to the rear. Continued the 360, no other critters than same rabbit in same spot detected.

I took the breach and me over to the spot, ( a fairly long circuit, given having to cross the creek which is running ). As I approached the yote, I got a single bark from farther back in the woods. The partner. I closed on the yote and got some repeated challenge barks. If I had the mk18 I would give a weak, tentative bark back to see if the partner would investigate, but I didn't have the mk18, so I made no sound.

Got the pic.

This one was fairly small, not a pup, but I'd rate as a "juvenile".

As I egressed the challenge barking continued. I knew it was a long shot, but long shots never pan out if you don't take them and I usually take them in these sorts of cases, so I went back in the house and got the helmet and the mk18 and headed back out.
Then proceeded into the alfalfa patch and to the ENE the direction I had heard the barking. I now heard barking to the N and this I rated as neighbor dogs who had detected the yote moving that way. By moving North he could've just been leaving ... or working on the chickens up there which are much weaker defended than ours down here. But by being North of me he was also retaining the wind advantage ... and me out in the alfalfa patch did not help with sounds either as the grass is higher and so "swishier". So after 30m of moving around in the alfalfa patch, I did RTB.

Results/Summary.
Had I first scanned with the breach (per plan) I would've probably seen the yote or yotes immediately and 5-10 seconds earlier and that could've made a huge difference in the result, the probability of getting both would've been greater than zero for sure. There's a reason you're taking the danged breach out there, to do fast close in scans 24 degree FOV on the breach versus 6 degree FOV on the UTC !!! So follow the danged plan dumbass !!

But in general, critter behavior indicating we are in "banzai" season finally.

 

[rlsmith1]

Banzai season is in swing here too. Had a couple weeks ago where I'd see 10-15 out in the picked corn and then nothing for about a week. Observed about 10 in the field though the 30 until about 2100. Wandered out with a thermal and 14 armed with a 22 pistol and went to work. Should have gotten more but I ran out of ammo, these suckers have been on full feed the last month and absorb bullets like a little kid eating gummy bears. The questionable zero on my IR laser didn't help either.

 

[Hogrider2000]

those are very fat.. You must feed them well!!!!!!!!!

 

[rlsmith1]

@Hogrider2000 a couple hundred acres of corn is a buffet for everything when you use older equipment

ETA: the neighbor uses brand new stuff and they seem to like his field just as much

 

[stefan73]

I think I have put too much pressure on my property. Haven't seen a thing on my side of the fence.

 

[wigwamitus]

The deer have moved in around the chicken coop ... I never woulda thunk it ... the deer platoon defending the chickens ... no yotes ... no coons ... no opossum ... the deer platoon ( one team of 4 including the buck and another team of 2 ) keeps the predators at bay night after night ... I'm just out there watching night after night

==
And, while I'm waiting on some more "Real Long Distance Thermal Clipons" to roll down the road in my direction, I found a source fora good ole apollo 100mm thermal clipon ... not prism collimated ... but for $3.5k ish ... not shabby at all !!

Big, heavy, long ... hecque this thing might be longer and heavier than a dang pvs-30 !!

And you can see the offset between the rear lens of the apollo and the objective of the day scope ... but the image thru the scope looks almost centered. I'll still consider running a rail on rail to bump the day scope up another 0.5 inch.

==

The reticle you see to the right and high relative to the day scope reticle, is one of the apollo reticles. I didn't have a lot of time to take these pics I was busy when the apollo showed up today - but wanted to get a couple of pics anyway. And I didn't elaborately focus either ... but the image did not pixellalate on 8x (the highest the day scope goes) ... so it should get up to 12x or even higher. The front lens is 4x before demagnification, so in theory 16x ... but there are several variables, so I'm not counting on that.

But anyway, more impressed so far than I expected to be. More to come !

 

[wigwamitus]

2021-12-03
2030-2130
50F
SE 5 mph

goal: Coop Defense

environment: Very clear, Cass, Big Dipper, North Star, Orion, Sirius everybody visible out there tonight ! A bit of a breeze, minimal sound cover.

Equipment: 5.56(18) 77gr Apollo 100mm (later UTC), RRS, Breech.

Activity: Two deer out in the Alfalfa patch, but a coon snuck in within 70yds of the coop. I had the apollo on the rifle. I dialed the gain way down from 30 to 15 and it looked a LOT better (more UTC like). But since I hadn't collimated the apollo yet, I had to switch to the UTC to shoot, which I did. Lots of intervening vegetation took 3 shoots to finish him. Didn't feel like crossing the creek tonight, so took pics with the breech and camera.

breech

UTC thru day scope on 8x

 

[wigwamitus]

The mk12s

The apollo 100mm is twice the size and weight of the utc ... but the apollo focus run turns 3x easier than the pvs-30.

The main issue with the apollo 100mm is the 100mm lens means the mount has to be like 2" ish center ... I've got the L&S mk4 2.5-8x scope on the near mk12 in 1.34" spuhr mount on a 0.5" riser ... but still 4mm low. So, I'll try a larue lt111 at 1.535 center with the scope, that will get me up over 2" ... and I'll need a RISC on the CTR and even with that it will be a chin / stock weld.

Using the apollo 100mm on a bolt gun long scope base with a step down might be ideal, but a lot of my stuff is packed up now - pending move.

Its possible to mount the apollo 100mm on the objective ... but all that stuff is packed up also .. and I experimented a good bit with objective mounts way back in the dark ages and wasn't impressed with the results. Would have to remove the mount for that to help ... and again with that big ole lens up there, the scope would still have to be high enuff to keep the lens off the rail.

 

[stefan73]

When you get settled let me know and I'll send you that AMRF to play with.

 

[carbonbased]

I must quit reading threads like this. The NV/thermal lust is strong, and I grow weak…

 

[TxWelder35]

Per request from @wigwamitus wanting to see the dbal d2 in action.

2021-12-03
2000-2100
67f
4mph north wind

Goal: equipment testing

Environment
Clear sky, star light, 1/4-1/2 moon visible high, plenty of in town ambient lighting, lots of street lights

Equipment
AR with the new Midwest industries night fighter handguard, KAC pic mlok Mount, dbal d2, Fortune cookie laid up on the truck. Pics through iPhone 11 and a milspec L3 UWP pvs14 FOM 2400ish. The d2 does have a high/low setting for the LED IR Illuminator, all pics here are with it set to high.

First pic IR laser in tree line, 350 yards

Next is the IR laser next to a light it’s just to the left of that light, this light is not dim

Next up is the LED IR Illuminator tightened down to a spot. Trees are roughly 100 yards away, far tree line is 350

Baseball field buildings lit up by lights 250 yards, IR laser just to the left of the light again

Next up for some closer in pics, fence is 50 yards away. Pics in order are with the Illuminator in spot, then full flood, then full flood with a flood diffuser lens in front, then no Illuminator. Pics may make it look the IR washes out the laser but in person you can see the laser well even with it tightened down to spot at 50 yards.

Last image is just the IR laser, on a tree line 450 yards away,

 

[wigwamitus]

Ho Ho Ho, over the past six months, huge amounts of my time have been spent rolling back and forth between old place in KS and new place in MO, we're moving to MO. FInally "done". Closing on the KS place was last Thursday. But I have barely started crawling back into gear and over the past month have been trying to defend the barnyard in the new surroundings. I'm not impressed with my performance. The "assault opossums" are more aggressive down here and have managed to kill both roosters over a couple of weeks. I'm fighting back and have killed the two perpetrators (caught red handed) as well as 2 others and an armadillo (never saw any of those in KS) who was trying to get in the barn as well.
Using new-ish CMMG 16" .22LR "resolute" upper with eley 40gr HP ammo. VO pstg2 1-6x scope with apollo42 thermal clipon.

First dead rooster

First dead perpetrator

==
Another assault opossum before he got in the barn

9 bander before he got in the barn

==
2nd rooster lingering. I had hopes he might survive, but he did not.

second assault opossum perpetrator

==
And another assault opossum from last night.

==
Only the guineas stay the barn now and they stay up on a rafter I put up for them, so harder to get to. But not impossible. I'm back in the "out 2-3 times per night" routine. Using breach for quick 360s and then 22LR for PID and shots. Then hens stay in a separate coop, harder to get in there.

I've sold both my UTCs and skeet and patrol, so all 4 of the oasys cored units are gone. Clearing shelf space for a couple of nox-18s and a couple of theons. In the mean time, I'm soldiering on with a couple of breaches, a couple of cotits, 4x pvs-14s, a pvs-27 a CO-X and two new olde stock armasight apollos (a 42 and a 100) I got in a firesale back in November. Even crappy stuff works WAY better than nothing !!!

 

[bullseye13]

Good to see you back in action. Keep up the good work.

 

[shoobe01]

I was just thinking I hadn't talked to you in a while, wondered what was up. Good to see this.

 

[aslrookie]

I had no idea possums killed roosters. Little bastards.

 

[stefan73]

I had no idea possums killed roosters. Little bastards.

They've taken some of my chickens. I had a friend that thought I was full of it until he caught a possum taking one of his chickens. I almost wanted to remind him of that conversation.

 

[PlinkIt]

As far as the chickens are concerned the armadillo is basically a possum in heavy armor...

So now you have assaulters & heavy infantry

All you need now is a few using chemical warfare ( skunks ) and you've got the chicken snatching trifecta