Night Time activity is at a record high!

[atchman2]

I haven't got to try out my new "hide" yet because of rain and snow! (Yes I'm a gurl when it comes to getting cold and wet, but I did it for a decade for my country and now I have a choice).  The dinger has been going off like crazy to the point where I've turned it off at midnight.  

Hopefully the weather will hold and I can go out hunting tonight.  Last night I actually drove off a raccoon from my back deck!  He has developed a taste for cat food I guess.  

To be honest, I'll bet I could get five critters in an evening if I would just stay up and out there.  However, I'm going to ration them.    

The squirrel population is going "nuts" too!  The acorns I kept from the fall are getting a little old and smelly in my garage so I put out about 5 pounds of them yesterday.  They were all gone by this morning and it is nothing to see half a dozen squirrels at a time.  My wife is going out of town this week so my hunting activity will spike!  I can put the video camera out on the deck and get in some good shooting, hunting, and treat you guys to hopefully some good footage.  

I've been reading up on how to skin a raccoon.  I want to make hats for presents this year!

[dk1677]

Maybe some us need to pay you a visit and help you with the pest problem LOL Looking forward to more videos from you!

[jake]

good luck! make sure to take lots of vids and pics!

[atchman2]

I managed to get hold of all of the leftover chicken bones from our Church Super Bowl party!  That will bring them in like crazy!

[Furseeker]

Are you planning on staying up tonight to try and bag something? Because if you are I'll keep checking into to see the score between you and the vermin.

[atchman2]

Might have to wait until tomorrow night  to get the bait out early.  I put the bones in the refrigerator so I can use them for several nights.  I probably need to raid Hooters trash dumpsters for bait eh?  

It is almost midnight and no dinger so far.  The TF 89 is upstairs and ready to go with RWS domed pellets.  I sighted it in today and the domed pellets ROCKZOR in it!  

Today I shot the Titan but it broke the scope stop!  Then the scope just slid off the back eventually.  Later I shot it with great success with open sights.  

(PS: Haven't sent your mount yet, but I will find it tomorrow).

[Furseeker]

No worry about the mount I have my 350 working for me now, but I am kind of excited to see what that 28 will do when I can get the scope to stay still. I ran a few more through the chronograph tonight. The 28 is stll just barely under 900 fps and the 350 is only about 100 fps less. Neither gun has had a tin of pellets through it yet so I'm wondering where they will both settle in at. I still want to get out and try for some Raccoons but I want in to warm up a bit before I go sit in the dark waiting for one.

Do you have  a fix in mind for the broken scope stop? Let me know if you need me to fab one up for ya, I still owe you one.

[atchman2]

I'm just going to order a one piece mount and try it.  It works on my 350 and my TF 89 so I'd think it would work on the Titan.  Something that some folks probably don't know is that the Titans guts are the same, but it doesn't have a cocking arm like the 89 does.  The 89 is easier to cock because of it.  (The TF 89 is a lot nicer gun than the Titan as its stock is a little nicer and the cocking arm is better).I managed to shoot it pretty well with open sights some yesterday, but the weather here has not been nice at all.  

The mount should help the 28.  I'm sure they are a harsh gun out of the box. My 350 would send the scope skittering backwards with every shot.  I bought that mount for it and put my Leapers AO scope on it.  It just became so heavy to tote around hunting though.  I moved the Leapers over to the Whisper which is light as a feather and it has a Picatinny scope mount similar to the one for the RWS.  The mount totally stopped the slipping, but I think I had to shim the scope because it wouldn't adjust very well.  Since it was my first scope I must have messed it up a little, turning it against the stops (I didn't know any better then).  However it and the Whisper have a love affair and I shoot that gun the least of all of mine; not because there is anything wrong with it, but because it is so accurate it is boring!  My daughter loves to shoot it because it is light and easy to cock.  She is only 5 foot 1 and about a 110 pounds.  



I found a pellet that the TF 89 loves-RWS Domed pellets!  Heck it may be more accurate with them than the 350!  I'll have to do a side by side one day this week.  With the new pellets and my amateur lubrication of the 89 it is turning into a pleasing gun to shoot.  It isn't NEAR as smooth shooting as my 350, but it is still not bad.  I adjusted the trigger screws and got it where I liked it and then did the same thing to the Titan so they both shoot the same.  One thing that is different that I like is I can actually fire the 89 from a rest.  I rolled up a towel to rest my arm on the other day since it was wet outside.  As an experiment I put the 89 down on it and it did great!  The 350 hates rests of any type.  I guess it just wants human contact in the form of the back of my forearm or resting lightly on my left hand.  

My wife put some old vegtables down in the bottom lands.  The critters don't seem to like them.  I'll bet they'll go NUTS over that HUGE pile of chicken wings and bones!  Something is going down tonight, I'm hoping my first raccoon.  My hide is getting some improvment this week with the addition of a camo net!  I ordered it off of Fleabay.

[atchman2]

So last night and the night before I couldn't hunt, but I put the Game Camera out to take a look around.  My wife is leaving for Kansas to visit her dad for his 85th birthday so I needed to spend some "adult time" with her before she leaves (if you know what I mean-I know, I know too much information).  

Last night I put out the chicken bones down in what I'm calling a "composting area".  You see I have a recycle bin now because of my "green" daughter, so now I'm "composting"-get it?   The chicken bones must have been a HIT with the critters!  I found the paper plate down near the culvert.  With the disarray on the ground they must have been fighting over it.  

The Game Camera stops at 59 pictures. I'm going to go get a SD card for it today so I'm not getting deprived of the other half of the night.  Anyway, I thought I would post a few of the better ones. I'm planning from nine to midnight tonight in the "hide".  That seems to be the time that they first come through looking for stuff.  

[atchman2]

More pictures including two at once.

[shadow]

Time to buckle down bro and get after em. I haven't hunted any night critters since last summer and your giving me night patrol fever hehe. I've done several scout trip's out to my private hunting grounds and there's been some activity so I may get out soon to do a chilly night hunt, were getting slammed with some heavy snow right now. Ed

[atchman2]

The weather here has been terrible! It is a drizzly cold rain today too.  We've had more snow this year than I can remember in the last decade and more rain.  That is good for the farmers and the mast crop though!  I'm going to have a Gazillion squirrels this year!  Tennessee has a SPRING squirrel season!  

[dk1677]

You have a critter goldmine there!

[atchman2]

Looking bad for Night Manuevers...steady rain and the ground is soup!  I may try for an hour or so.  If I can sneak out I'll get a tarp for some overhead cover.

[shadow]

Sometimes Mother Nature throw's her worst at you bro I just smile back at her and keep after em. Ed