Well it's that time of the year again to slither back into my Night Patrol private land hunt/pest control. I had mentioned that I had spoke with the resident who had the critter invasion problem last year and I was called in to wage war against, G-hog's, Bandit's and Country Rat's. Well he had mentioned again that the G-hog's were back along with some critter's doing night raid's on his garbage can's and even spotted a Bandit on his deck the other night.
:0 I told him that I would be happy to get back up to his property and get after them. For the last several day's I have been focused on getting the G-hog's but their still in hiding or out when I'm not there hehe. I stopped by the resident's yesterday and told him and his wife that I will be up there around dusk and would be taking the critter's on from the wood's again, the wood's are all yours he said. I spent the early evening fine tuning the glass on the NP since she was going to take on a tough critter and I wanted her dead on with the FTS pellet. I planned on a all nighter out there and hunt into the next morning in hope's to nail a G-hog so I made a strong batch of Java and with the NP, hunt gear and thermos loaded up I headed out around 8:30pm. I was on location in minutes and it's great having some hunt grounds close by so with shooter and gear in hand I headed for the timber. I gave my hide a quick once over and then proceeded to set up my lamp's on several tree's to light the game trail. The game trail was fresh with critter track's so I had a good feeling about getting something tonight. The last ray's of light faded away so I switched on the lamp's then adjusted the lighting so it would bathe the trail with a nice glow but not to bright. I made my way back to my hide 25yrd's away from the lamp's and about ten feet off the game trail then settled in it and relaxed to let my night eye's fire up. With a glance at my watch I was surprised to see that four hours had passed and it was just after 1:00am I had been so focused on watching the trail by the lamp's and listening to the night that the time had flew by hehe. I poured myself a cup of Java and relaxed back into the hide staying focused on the trail but also taking in Ma Nature at night, very relaxing. I had just finished my cup of Java and set the cup down when I spotted a flash of white just outside the lit trail.
The NP was already resting out in front of me so I settled in behind the glass to get a better look at the visitor and and sure enough it was a skunk. I thought that flash of white could only be one thing and then he stepped into the light and gave me a full view of himself. :0 I don't drop skunk's do to the fact that I don't feel like trying to dispose of them and it would give my hunting grounds a really bad funk for some time. I just glassed him and he casually made his way down the trail past me and into the darkness beyond leaving a wisp of his funky stink behind. :0 With Peppy gone I relaxed back into the hide and felt my second wind kicking in or it could have been the last cup of power Java and with my eye's locked onto the trail another three hours passed without a peep. Another time check revealed that it was after 4:00am and pretty chilly since the cloud's had broken up to reveal star's and lower temp's. I poured the last cup of Java to shake of the chill's and told myself that there's still time to catch a night critter moving around so Zen up and be ready. The Hunt God's must have been reading my mind I just had caught a glance of a head just outside the light and it had a mask on it.
I slowly settled back in behind the glass and through it searched the darkness just outside the glow of the lamp. The first Bandit of the year suddenly stepped right into the light with out any signs of fear or caution and he was giving me a perfect frontal shot. The Bandit would stop scratch and dig around at the side of the trail then move to the other side to dig into the soft ground, looking for bug's I thought and I just needed him to stop for a moment . He moved back to the other side stopped long enough to give me a nice frontal view with one eye shining back, cross hairs on the eye and FTS away. The impact of the FTS echoed in the night followed shortly by the Bandit dropping down on it's belly for a moment then going into one of the wildest death dance's I've seen. I reloaded then watched him in the distance as he slung blood on the trail and tree next to it then as quickly as it started it stopped and he slumped to his side on the trail with a pool of red exiting from his eye socket. I slowly made my way out from behind the hide and moved down the trail towards him keeping I sharp eye on him along the way. I arrived and then gave him several poke's for safety measure then inspected the damage. The FTS found it's mark alright it entered his eye socket and on through into the fusebox, blood was still coming out from the fatal wound. I had decided to pull an all nighter then hang till around 9:00am this morning to hopefully get a early rising G-hog so I gloved up and hauled the Bandit up to the front of the wood's by my other hide that I G-hog hunt from. He would hold until then and I could already see the first ray's of morning coming up. I made my way back down into the wood's and retrieved the rest of my gear along with the NP and headed back up to the G-hog hide to settle in there. I watched the sunrise from the hide but not one G-hog decided to play this morning so around 8:30am I set the Bandit up for some pic's with the proud Trail NP and with a big yawn I called it a morning. I was moving slowly on my way back to the rig but was happy as punch that the NP had performed great and is worthy to be called a Night Hunting shooter. I had just enough poop left when I arrived home to dress out the Bandit and get him in the icebox which has been empty for too long. With the game and gear cleaned I tucked the NP for some rest and gave her a kiss goodnight hehe I then fell into bed myself to recharge the hunting batteries. This Bandit is for brother Gene, she's a great shooter brother and earned her stripes this morning. Ed
