Man do I love predator hunting. There’s nothing like being out on a winter morning as the sun comes up over the horizon. Sure does beat sleeping in.
Tex snapped this picture this morning as we crossed the ice heading back from a set.
It’s a great day to be alive!
Opie
I had to stop by the store today to pick up some new predator reading material. It is definitely safe to say that I have the “sickness” bad and it is becoming a real serious problem.
Opie
There are a lot of great words that could describe the FLG Predator Team right now but exhausted, disappointed and dejected kind of sum it up.
We have been hunting for 24 hours straight now (minus a little drive time) and have yet to see a dog in the woods. We hit it HARD today making a ton of great sets and walking close to 10 miles in the snow trying to get deep into the big woods for yotes.
Check in for the competition is tomorrow morning by noon so we are heading south to get some rest. We’ll be up before dawn though so we can try once more to hand out some dirt naps before checking in.
Even though we didn’t get anything today we still had some great times and good laughs.
I guess that’s why we call it hunting.
Cheers,
Opie
Well here we go. It’s the 2012 predator challenge here in southwest Michigan and Team FLG is ready to rock and roll!
We are all checked in and are now just waiting for the quick talk from the local conservation officer about keepin it legal.
Stay tuned….it should be a good time.
Opie
It’s been an ongoing struggle for me to find a round of ammo that does everything i need it to while i’m out predator hunting. I shoot a Remington Model 700 ADL chambered in .223 as my go-to gun for handing out dirtnaps to Coyotes and other varmints so I am lucky to have a great selection of rounds available at most retailers.
The tricky part for me has been finding a round that performs well at both long and short distances. I have shot hollow points, soft points, FMJs, ballistic tips and other rounds in many different grains from all different manufacturers. While all the rounds seem to perform as expected during target practice the problem arose when out in the field given the varied ranges and conditions that I take shots while predator hunting. I used to shoot 55gr hollow points but shot coyotes at 200 yards and didn’t get the knockdown power I needed. So I switched to 62gr soft point bullets only to find that they don’t expand enough at close range and carry too much energy through the animal instead of delivering the knockdown power needed. This back and forth battle trying to find the right ammo has been going on for a while so when BulkAmmo.com had a sale recently on their Federal Premium Sierra Matchking Boat Tail Hollow Point ammo I jumped at the opportunity to try it out. I figured in the name of science and experimentation I would try out the Matchking in a 77gr bullet to see if that would solved my woes. I placed the order on BulkAmmo.com (those guys are great BTW) and a few days later what i hoped would be my new Coyote bullets arrived in the mail.
After waiting for what seemed like forever through lots of wind and rain for a good day to shoot i finally got the chance to get out to the range and try it out. With the target set up at 100 yards I squeezed off 3 rounds of America Eagle FMJs just to confirm that the “dogslayer” was still dialed in. After walking out to the target and seeing all 3 holes almost touching in the bulls-eye it was time to test the new Matchkings. I loaded up and sent 5 good shots downrange and headed out there to check out how they performed. I was expecting them to be a few inches low since the gun is zeroed for 55gr bullets but what I saw completely blew me away. There was absolutely no pattern, several shots had missed the target and the rest were scattered around the target in disarray. I spent the next hour up and down the range, and in and out of the Cadwell’s lead sled shooting through a box and a half of Matchkings trying to make sense of what was going on.
Finally after all that frustration and a little research it hit me…BARREL TWIST. My barrel twist rate on the Remington 700 is 1:12 which is optimized for bullets that are 55- 63 grains. The heavier 77gr Matchkings needed my old Ruger M77 barrel with it’s 1:9 twist in order to stabilize correctly. I had dealt with this problem in the past and I couldn’t believe that I had been such an idiot and not remembered when I ordered the Ammo. I was so excited because of all the good things I have heard about the Matchking bullets and am now looking for them in 55gr for my next test.
In the meantime I did manage to find a bullet that has been working great on Coyotes so far this season and that is the 55gr Hornady SST. It has delivered great performance on Coyotes from 50-200+ yards so far this year and flies great out of my Remington 700. I’ll keep on testing bullets as long as I’m hunting and I’ll be sure to update you all on the Matchkings as soon as i get my hands on another box…in the optimal bullet weight for my barrel twist of course.
Shoot Straight,
Opie
It’s amazing some of the things you get to see and experience while coyote hunting on a winter day. Made a few sets here and was taken aback by the view of the sunset over these old barns on this farm.
Life is good.
Opie
I love being outdoors in this winter wonderland chasing coyotes.
Opie with His Opening Day Buck in the Fog
Well we had a tough deer season here in Michigan. Early season had us hopeful that we would really get into the deer but the deer and conditions just wouldn’t cooperate. We were plagued with warm temperatures, huge storms, rain and wind. Add to those factors a bright full moon during peak rut times and you end up with possibly the worst recipe for daytime deer movement.
But despite all these factors we persisted and continued to hunt hard despite the lack of deer sightings from our stands.
Things all changed for me on opening day of Michigan gun season when I had a great encounter with my first shooter buck of the season. It was a warm morning and the fog was so thick I couldn’t see more than 20 yards until an hour after dawn. At 830, staring out into the fog I was startled by the distinct thundering of a 12 gauge coming from the woods were PT was sitting. A few moments later I received an excited text from PT letting me know that he had sent an ounce of hot lead through a shooter buck. He new he had a solid hit on him with good blood but could see that the deer had went over 100 yards and was apprehensive about the shot he had made. I assured him that we would find him and told him I would come get him from his stand at 10 to help track the big boy down.
At 9:30, just as the fog began to lift around my stand i peered out of my blind to see a bruiser of a buck slowly sneak out of the standing corn to my north. I stared at him and slowly reached for my gun wondering just how big he was. A moment later he turned and began slowly walk away from me revealing an impressive rack. I quickly pulled up my 20 gauge and put the iron sights right on him. I let out a loud bleat and he came to a stop broadside at 60 yards. I squeezed the trigger and felt the recoil of the shotgun. The buck jumped, kicked and landed in the grass looking around in bewilderment. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t hit and once again put the sights on him and squeezed off another round. Another jump kick from the buck and he slowly started walking towards the swamp to my south. What the heck I thought, how am I missing him? So I took my time and put it on his front shoulder and slowly squeezed one more time. The shotgun barked and the buck dropped in his tracks. I had my first shooter buck of the season but had surely used up all of my luck for the year.
I couldn’t believe it and neither could PT when I texted him that i had a bruiser buck down on the ground. Within minutes he was walking up to my stand and we were heading over to get our paws on him. After snapping a few pictures to send around to the boys we jumped in the truck and headed out to find PT’s buck. His buck was a little less eager to die than mine and the tracking job was pretty extensive. After trailing his buck over 400 yards we finally spotted him dead in his bed on an oak ridge. The smile on PT’s face as he rushed up to his buck was enough to make the day worthwhile.
PT with his Opening Day 8 Pointer
What a day that was! It really doesn’t get any better than that. Being out with friends and family in the woods, enjoying the tradition of hunting on a beautiful morning and the experiences and memories that are shared along the way. That is definitely one opening day that will stay with me for a long long time.
Opie
Decoys Floating on an Oklahoma Sunrise
Well it’s a new year and another Whitetail season has come and gone for us FLG boys. As always we had an amazing time this fall in the woods, despite the adverse conditions we faced this season. We learned a lot, had some incredible encounters, some outstanding successes and some pretty hilarious failures.
We hit it hard this season and I didn’t get to update y’all on the blog as much as I would have liked to. We have a lot of great stories to share with you from our Whitetail season trails and tribulations and we’ll be sharing them with you over the next few weeks.
In the meantime I’m down in beautiful southeast Oklahoma with Rooney from the FLG Down Patrol chasing green heads for the week. I drove all night to get here and have been having a blast so far. We’ll be running and gunning all week killing birds, hogs and coyotes and having just an all around good time.
Happy new year everyone, this year is going to be amazing so stay tuned.
Opie
The Kids Were All Smiles After a Great Morning Hunt
It was foggy this morning, very foggy! We knew there would be hot competition for this little slough on public land so we arrived early. Legal shooting time was a little after 7am on this cool morning and we rolled up to the parking area around 5:30am. It was Kenzie (Hoss’ 14 year old daughter), my boy Aidan and myself. We were there early to get to our favorite spot, setup “camp” and disperse a few decoys. The Mallard Mafia HitKids, 5 total, would not be too far behind us with their mentor, Steve.
We struggled getting going this morning as it was one of our first hunts of the season and all the equipment was not quite “in place”. My headlamp would not stay on so I struggled with a handheld flashlight stuck between my teeth as we gathered all the gear from the back of my truck. Most everything we had was too heavy for my little guy Aidan to carry so it was just Kenzie and I carrying gear in this morning. We took one decoy bag loaded with a dozen G&H Teal Decoys , two Mallard Super Feeders , three stools and, of course, my thermos of coffee. I slung this bag over both shoulders like a backpack, a cooler full of breakfast food and drinks for all 7 kids over my right shoulder and my trusty bag full of video camera gear over my left shoulder. Kenzie handled her gun and her blind bag full of shells. Off we went on the half mile trek to our favorite hole. This walk proved to be tricky with all the low lying fog. It begins through a heavily overgrown field full of small saplings, tall Johnson grass and lots of sand burrs to frustrate the little guy. I was guessing our location as I did not have any way of using my normal landmarks to guide me into the narrow tree line that breaks the slough from the field. Somehow my trusty lab Cody led us right where we needed to be.
Lets go back to how this Youth Hunt began to take shape. Earlier in the week, I had been scouting this area checking to see if any big ducks had moved in with the cooler weather hitting the north. Although I did not find what I was looking for, I did scout about 100 teal using the small slough. The next day, I scouted again and the teal numbers were growing to an impressive amount. I just happened to send a short text message to all the boys over at Mallard Mafia Hitmen and Steve responded “Do you mind us having our youth hunt in your hole?” and my response was “Let’s do it!”. So the preparations began. I wanted to make sure this was a special hunt for these kids. I continued to scout this area everyday all the way up to Friday. The number of teal continued to rise almost 100 per day all week! At that point, I knew this was going to be a great hunt!
After throwing some decoys, setting up cameras, and getting the kids settled, we sat patiently in the dark waiting on the rest of the group to arrive. Many things were going through my mind as we all sat there quietly. How am I going to make sure everyone is safe? Will the ducks still fly in all this fog? What values will I be teaching these kids today? As I think about all these things, Steve and the HitKids are struggling to find their way thru the fog as well. I hear the sound of a duck call come through the woods. I blow my call back and we finally see each others lights. Its on! As the rest of the kids get situated, Steve and I do some final adjustment on our spread. The first hint of daylight is peaking over the horizon, the kids scurry with excitement. We get them all sat down in their respective spots, keeping them all in line with each other the best we can on the bank of this slough as to protect any one from getting behind another while shooting. Steve stands out in front and gives a safety speech, all the kids listening intently. We help them all load their guns and get situated, giving each one of them an idea of the angles they are allowed to shoot while reminding them that safety always comes first even with the excitement of big flocks of ducks buzzing the spread.
By this time we are 10 minutes into legal shooting light and the first ducks swing in for a look. The kids knock down a few Green Wing teal within the first 30 minutes of the hunt, 5 to be exact, and Cody made quick work retrieving all the downed birds. I felt it was very important for these kids to learn that we always exhaust all effort to find and recover downed game. The dog is important in the effort as well as the hunter actually going out and combing the area for downed birds. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, a group of hunters can take down 5 or 6 birds out of one flock and lose track of those downed birds. This is why, during the slow part of the morning, the mentors would take the dog out again and comb the slough for downed birds and sure enough we found one. My boy Aidan was having a great time helping run the dog and counting the birds for us. Even though he was not toting a gun today, he was still an important part of the hunt.
During this slow part of the morning, I broke out the portable stove that Steve had brought along, pulled over the cooler and cooked a nice, healthy breakfast for these kids. We started off with a toasted bagel, egg, sausage and cheese sandwich followed by a grilled hashbrown and some orange juice. I love cooking during the hunts but it never fails, just as soon as the frying pan started popping with a fried egg, the birds start flying again. This is when the action got hot! We had flocks of 20 – 30 teal at a time cruising down the wide end of the slough back into the flooded grass mats we patrolled. Even though the kids had trouble swinging fast enough to keep up with these feathery jet planes, they knocked down a few out of each flock and very quickly the pile grew to 19 birds. Again, my boy Aidan kept the count right and we decided that it was time to pack up. After a little photo session for the memory book, everything was packed up nicely the way it came in. We had each kid help clean the area including ALL shell casings. We started our long trek back to the trucks, each kid happily carrying gear and birds with proud smiles on their face. It was a successful hunt in my books at that point.
The smiles on those kid’s faces told the whole story for the morning. It was a successful hunt but more importantly than bagging game, these kids had a great time and learned many valuable lessons that will stick with them for years to come. I hope each and everyone of them will join us at different times during the season to expand on what they learned and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. I hope all of you reading this will join me in my quest to get youth outdoors, no matter if its hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, whatever it takes to get kids outside and enjoy what Mother Nature has given us all. If you are on Twitter, give me a follow @JoshDickerson7 and continue looking for updates with the hashtag #YouthOutdoors. With the joint effort of Angi from GooseMafia (@GooseMafia on Twitter) and me, Rooney of First Light Gear, there will be a new youth movement sweeping across the country in the coming years. It will take the effort of all of you to use this tool that we will provide to get Youth Outdoors!!!
Thank you for reading,
Rooney
Rooney Cooking Up Some Breakfast For the Kids
Cody Doing What He Does Best
Sitting in the Fog Waiting For Ducks