Tooooo many misses.

J

jmeddy

Well-known member
Having good luck calling them in but my shooting is in the crapper!! I am 1 dead for 6 shots since May 16. The 4 l remembered to hit record showed me being off target at the shot on 2 and holding steady BUT on the belly line on the other 2.
Changed the reticle to the single dot from the “broken” cross hair in the SH today to see if that makes me center up. 71 year brain fog l am accrediting it to—. Haha
 
Hang in there, you will connect. I bought a tripod from Night Goggles, the lighter 1, and it is pretty steady. My buddy got the heavier 1 and that thing is rock solid, but I wouldn't want to tote it that often.

At 58, I hope that I will still be out there pursuing them at 71.
 
After 65, things get easier to explain. We just say we are getting older and people seem to understand. It still don't make the misses feel any better though.
 
This is one of the main reasons I went to shooting coyotes dead center. Half way between front and back legs and half way up and down. Hits the back part of the lungs and the diaphragm muscle and they are drt.
 
I use a swagger bipod but have been thinking of a tripod BUT as you said I got enough to carry now. I also live in very hilly terrain and can see the tripod being troublesome when coyotes come from a different direction than expected--i.e., they might be presenting a steep uphill shot instead of downhill.
 
Originally Posted By: jmeddyI use a swagger bipod but have been thinking of a tripod BUT as you said I got enough to carry now. I also live in very hilly terrain and can see the tripod being troublesome when coyotes come from a different direction than expected--i.e., they might be presenting a steep uphill shot instead of downhill.
Running a ball head on your tripod eliminates that concern.

You can have just enough tension that the gun stays put, but you can pan & tilt at will w/o touching the adjustments.
 
Believe me a tripod is not troublesome if you want to kill coyotes. It will move any where you want it to. Look at where I live. Get the tripod.
 
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Good tripods and ballheads are money well spent. I will be shooting off of a 2 Vets next season. I put some time into getting my rifles to balance with almost zero ballhead tension as well. It seems I'm often the first one ready to shoot and I chalk that up to the time spent perfecting my pod/rifle set up. Takes a longer heavier profile barrel to get a good balance without my radius out front but I don't mind extra weight if it means more hits.
 
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I now carry a high end RRS tripod & ball head. Love it, rock solid & lightweight ! I still miss too ! I enjoy the video capability to see what I might have or did do wrong to help me improve even more being a senior. The fact is we all miss. Those that claim they don’t I just chuckle at !

Hunting your terrain, the bipod probably is your best option.

With the videos I have seen many runners that are running dead ! Property owners have verified this later by buzzard sightings. So maybe they aren’t all misses !!

Watch this !
 
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Good vid Mick. I have measured a few myself but never the frontal--that is a little target.

I am pretty sure they were misses cause I went back to look and "smell" 2 days later after each miss. I don't count any as kills unless I touch em.

Anyhow after talking to "oldcat" on the phone and "alf's" comment on here I have a tripod coming tomorrow.
 
Tripod came, is installed (bolted an arca plate to my stock just ahead of the front action screw to do away with the weight of a gripper), and sighted in. POI did move 2-3/4” down.

Now to see if it helps me from just “throwing lead”.

As has been said on here it is a very steady platform.
 
You guys that use tripods are you sitting or standing? I currently use a swagger bipod with a mono pod under the butt of the gun. I sit down on all my calling stands. I think a tripod would be nice if the coyotes show up out front but if they happen to show up to the sides I think it would be a struggle getting tripod moved over. Maybe not?
 
WELL MISSED ANOTHER!!! Vid showed looking excellent then l slowed it down and as the shot broke l was on the hairline in front of the chest.
Verdict can’t be made on the tripod with just one shot but it showed up over my right shoulder and downhill, had to move the tripod and make the back leg shorter so l could look through the scope. I was sitting in a Les Johnson seat on the ground.
I think l am going to do as suggested here and aim more to center of mass instead of the front shoulder. At least till l get this gremlin out of my head.

I plan on attaching my .22 to this and do a lot of shooting as soon as l get the triaxle of landscape stone spread that is to be delivered tomorrow
 
At night with thermal we do all of our calling standing using a good tripod and ball head. Mostly the guys I call with use Two Vets tripods (I use the No Name as does another of my calling partners, another partner uses the QDT), and 55 ball heads. We shoot 250+ on a regular basis using 6.5 Grendel AR's with pretty good success. Of course misses still happen. We both missed the first coyote at 130 yards the other night. Should have been a chip shot, but wasn't. Things happen when calling.

I think one key to shooting standing with a tripod is most people set them up too high. High is nice and comfortable while scanning for extended time but not as stable while shooting. I would say set the height about 2-3 inches lower than you think is right. That will force you to spread your legs more, get a better base under you, and will steady you up. Especially on movers it gives a nice smooth swing. With the gun level on the tripod, I like to set mine with the top of the buttstock (heel) middle to bottom of my sternum.

If your tripod has 3 leg sections do this: The middle section extend all the way out and lock it there. The top section bring those legs in about 3" from fully extended. Take a silver sharpie and mark around the leg at that point. Now use the very bottom leg section to adjust to the right height for you, on flat ground. Like I said set it a couple inches shorter than you think. Use a sharpie to mark this adjustment too. Now you have a good repeatable "baseline" you can get used to shooting from that is easy to come back to after adjustments or collapsing the tripod for transport.

You might be wondering about that 3" adjustment you left up top. That is for quick adjustments due to terrain while on stand. The goal is to have some adjustment room "up top" where the leg locks are easy to reach and can be adjusted without really having to let go of the gun. If all your adjustment is on the middle or bottom leg sections it is going to be a real pain and hard to do quickly. With adjustment room up top though it is much easier. Just hold on to the gun, rock the whole setup off the leg you need to adjust, reach down with one hand, unlock and slide a leg section in or out.

Those are a few tricks I have worked out that really help us at night.
 
Thanks jtp. I don’t stand very often cause it makes my feet and back hurt but l will try some of your suggestions. Major problem is my topography, from any stand l might have to shoot from 45 degree up to 45deg down hill and many of my sets are “tight” so l may have a very short window of opportunity. LEVEL GROUND is not a term here-tehe.
 
I can totally understand about the feet/legs/back thing. I'm no spring chicken, and my back isn't great. We usually don't spend very long on stand though. 15-18 minutes is normal. Sometimes a little longer. Sometimes we set up, call, kill a couple coyotes, and are out in less than 10.

I'll throw this in too since you say many of your sets are tight. Any time a piece of your anatomy is anchored to the ground then speed and flexibility suffer. One thing I really do like about standing is how fast and flexible I am with changing targets. While standing if you will put about 10 feet between you and your partner either of you can move really fast in about a 270 degree arc (don't swing across each other) to adapt to changing opportunities. And if you do need to shoot to the other side of your partner you just pick up the tripod, take 2-3 steps, plop it back down and you have a whole new field of fire.

Last thing. Up above you remember I said about setting the tripod/gun up lower than you think? Well stability is one reason to do that (even though it makes legs/back hurt more, so tradeoff). The other is up/down shooting angles. If you set your gun up too high then while it makes it pretty easy shooting uphill it makes it really tough shooting downhill. You have to get way up on your tippy toes (not very stable) to shoot. Set the gun up lower and you can depress the muzzle much more before you run out of leg length to get the buttstock up high. This is an issue for us not just calling but shooting sounders of pigs. Get your gun set up too high and if they run in close they can get under your gun where you can't shoot. Especially if they are close, and downhill. Standing gives lots more vertical options, lots faster. You can even set the gun up pretty hard on the low side and if you need to shoot hard uphill just drop to one knee behind the gun/tripod.

The best thing to do is go out and play with it during the day with a normal scope. Set up different ways, play with different options, see what works for you. Don't be scared to think outside the box.
 
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