2020-12-01
1830-2200
20F
03 MPH NW
Goal: Nox-18 in open pasture on rifle
Environment: Overcast, but moonlight still burning thru the clouds. No wind, so no sound cover from wind.
Equipment:
Mk12 556(18)
77gr J-Loads (2710)
RRS
CQBL
TH helmet with 14 and skeet
Activity: Walked out from house to new land pasture where 21 cows and 1 bull are. Along the way, moved in the down moon shadows along the tree lines. That lengthened the journey to about 2 miles as the feet walk. Took nox pics of rabbits and deer along the way. Gave up even bothering to count field mice and pack rats ... there are zillions. Dry fired on the rabbits with the laser.
Along the way, I did get some sound cover from a military jet flying overhead and making a lot of racket ... and from a semi rolling down the state rd 2 miles away. So could move faster during those periods.
Once in the new land pasture, headed up to the first hill and setup .. that gave me a great all around field of view.
You can also see the giant TV tower now about 5-6 miles distance off the front of the gun. That's the same TV tower we could (barely) see from the pics atop signal (aka one tree) hill I made earlier.
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I finally figured out I got none of the pics I made on the way out because I never "enabled" the pic mode" ... so I enabled the pic mode and did a 360.
That's looking North, you can see most of my cows and that TV tower The cows are averaging about 400yds.
That's looking SE into the creekbed at about 500yds.
That's looking SSW back on to the "olde" land ... hill 1309 visible and to the extreme right signal hill also visible.
Looking W into neighbors empty pasture. He keeps about 30 steers in there each year in the summer. They've "headed to Florida" now.
2x Some cows resting others huddled around the three protein tubs.
4x
8x
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Next I attempted to optimize the image for current conditions. These are the settings I wound up with that looked best (to my eye). This shot of the settings was taken later when back in the house
So I kept the brightess at the setting I liked best which is "3" ... the factory setting is "5" ... that's way too bright for my liking.
gamma is up to "2" (from factory "1") ... this mellows this out and seems to get more sensitivity, thus making the image look more like the three BAE-OASYS units I have (at least to my eye
)_
ROI is set to 1/2 (from factory 1) though my eye could not tell any difference.
So, for tonight's conditions, those settings optimized the image for my eye.
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Then with those settings, I did another 360 with pics.
At the tip of the chevron is the one tree on signal hill, though you can't make it out from the background. Its about 1200yds from my current position (I moved to be able to get it in view).
Looking W. If you compare to earlier W shot, you can now differentiate trees on the side of the grassy hill that is the divide between our two major creek systems. Its about 2 miles away from my current position.
On 2x still with new settings, there's a couple of hedge trees in olde pasture demarcating a 40 acre boundary (150 yrs ago on this land, before barbed wire, hedge trees were used as fences and they are still ALL over the place still maintaining their rows, where they haven't been cleared.
2x looking down into the creek bed
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By this point I'd been standing in this position for about 75 mins and decided to take a break and hydrate and sit down. So I leaned up against a fence post and took a 10m "awake nap" ...
After that stood up and got back behind the Nox ... and saw a critter of interest at about 400yds to the NE moving ESE.
Now I realize I had a huge advantage being able to actually see the critter in motion. But viewers are invited to make their own call. Is it a yote or a deer !!??
After the COI (Critter of Interest) sank beneath a fold in the ground, I attempted to close towards an intercepting position by moving due East. I felt like I was making a lot of racket in the tall grass. So it was 10 steps (yards) and halt (and look) ... and 10 steps and halt (and look) for 250yds ... gaining occasional sound cover from overflying aircraft or distance vehicles. But I never saw the COI again. Probably headed down to the creek but out of my LOS.
Finally after another hour of 360s ... I headed back again skirting the down moon treelines ... and noting a further rabbit. Didn't see any deer on the return. Heard two pairs of yotes hollering at each other to the S but no sightings.
Our deer gun season starts tomorrow. Its usually 1 week in early Nov. This year its 2 weeks in early Dec. So, I won't be shooting as much, the game wardens go berserk when they hear people shooting at night during deer gun season
But I'll continue to test !!
