Baiting

6mm06,
I am keenly interested in your project. I am a tinkerer too. My coyote I had coming to the bait every night for 6 weeks has not been back since I took the shot at him. I don't believe it is dead. I couldn't find any blood. Think he will come back?

DoubleUp,
What is the negative on the ND3x50? I found plenty of negative about cold weather operation but I won't be hunting below 50°. I borrowed a ND3 and it got dim beyond 100 yards. I did like it. The beam didn't spray all over the place like my Q-Beam does. The ND3x50 is 50mw vs 18mw for whatever that means. I have read a bunch about all the lights that are mountable on the scope. All I want is to be able to see the varmint out to 150 yards and it not take off in a sprint when the light hits him. I have a LED MagLite 2 D cells. I made some wooden clamp mounts to clamp it to/under the barrel. It lights up good to about 150 yards but is white light and HEAVY. I need to shoot it to see if the POI changed. It seems like there is no real consensus about red or green but for sure not white. I am just confused and only want to buy 1 expensive light one time!
Sorry for the long and rambling post. Hopefully it is understandable.
Jerry

PS the alarm went off twice at 8.50pm CDT. Didn't see anything....waiting. Guess he ran.
 

Jerry,

The verdict is still out on the project, especially at longer ranges like you need. My bait site is only 60 yards from the cabin, so not much of a problem. Time will tell if it works or not.

As to the coyote returning, it's anybody's guess. Maybe if he wasn't too scared, then he may come back after a while. But, that's just me guessing. They are very unpredictable.

Coyotes here are generally nervous all the time. I have a male coming to the site now regularly and I'm just waiting for an opportunity (if and when the rain ever quits) to try to get him with the new night vision outfit and a new CZ .17 Remington. One night he seems relatively comfortable at the bait site, while another night is jittery and nervous over the slightest thing. I've been watching him for a while now.

For me, I have to go to the farm, stay at the cabin all night with the sensors on, and hope he turns up that night. So, it requires some effort and time on my part to make it work.

Last summer I had coyotes coming regularly, almost every night and two or three of them hanging around. When fall came they seemed to disappear for some reason, even though I had bait waiting for them every night. I thought by keeping them coming all summer and allowing them to always find bait, that come fall / winter it would be a cinch. Boy was I wrong. One might show up on any given night, eat all the bait and then be gone for a week, two or three. I even went one month inbetween visits at one point, yet the coyotes knew bait was there, or at least they always had something to eat when they visited. Crazy. That makes it really difficult to hunt for them when they don't come on any particular pattern or schedule.

I've had a coyote come to the bait sometimes and pay no attention to the trail cameras or IR lights, yet other nights the same coyote (best I could tell) would jump out of it's skin when it saw the red glow of the camera. Seems they are just nervous critters, and their tolerance for this or that can vary on any given night.

The male coyote that is coming now is nervous one night and more relaxed the next. Go figure. He looks up in a walnut tree as if he expects to see something there. Last year I had IR lights mounted up in that tree, but have since taken them down since coyotes didn't like them and would spook. You would think they wouldn't look up like that, but they do.

People who think that baiting coyotes is a piece of cake either haven't done it very long, or just don't have proper knowledge. It's fun, but it's also work, planning, technique, with a lot of patience required.

David


Here's a photo extracted from video from two nights ago. You can see the coyote looked up.
He was looking up into the walnut tree. Whether he saw my lights up there last year, or
whether he is just cautious, I don't know. Seems they don't miss a trick.






Looking back toward the cabin.






But, he wanted the bait, so he hung around for a while. I generally put out only small pieces
of bait, scattered here and there around the site. That seems to work pretty good and keeps
them lingering longer and searching in the grass to find the small pieces.






Here's a coyote scared of the lights in the tree last year.




 
Jerry, I've never owned an ND3 so I have no personal experience with them good or bad. When I was looking to buy a light for night hunting, I read a lot of reviews including many on the ND3. Of course battery drain in cold weather was often mentioned (won't effect you), but there were other issues as well like spooking coyotes. This was a couple of years back and they could have improved the product by now, but many new and improved lights have come on the market in the past two years. My XLR 250 is way back in the pack now but two years ago it was the leader of the pack.

Everything is personal preference and you may be perfectly satisfied with the ND3. Best wishes to you on getting that coyote. They often will come back, but with a lot more caution, and usually become much harder to kill. Stay with it and don't be discouraged by the miss. It happens.
 
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My coyote came back last night. He is a spooky one. I got 1 picture and 1 video. My alarm went off 5 times between 9.45pm and 2.30am. I never even saw eyes but knew something was out there. I will bait the rascal until I get him. It will eat old cheap dog food if nothing else is available. We eat a lot of chicken so mostly the bait is bones and raw skin. I have to get outside without the yote seeing/hearing me. It was so calm no way could it have smelled me 120 yards away.
The camera only got the yote 1 time.....why? I have it set on 5 seconds.
Link to video taken last night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT0gcvhzLBE&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for all the encouragement,
Jerry
 

Jerry,

I sometimes get the same thing - one video and then he's off to somewhere else. Some nights I get lots of videos and other nights one or two. Sometimes I even get blank videos, but I know that something tripped it in or about the same time a coyote showed up on video.

I have noticed that coyotes sometimes circle the bait or quickly go around it before committing to it. That could be the issue with your yote. If it's the same one you shot at, he may be a bit nervous and need to settle down a bit. Just keep baiting him and have good food for him nightly. You'll get him.
 
David,
Here is my light mount I made on my homebrew CNC router. It works great..... the proof will be a dead yote. It did move the POI a little up and left about an inch each way at 200 yards. I rigged up to shoot out the bathroom window. In daylight it looked real good. The alarm went off about Midnight. I got in position to shoot, turned the light on and could not see anything but the aluminum pole for the martin house. Tonight I will go to my little tent blind
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DoubleUp,
I like the laser. I figured out what I liked about it when the martin house pole blinded me. The laser makes a beam with no halo or splatter. I could have shot if I had the laser still borrowed. All it shows is a green dot which is adjustable. I set it to the same size as what the scope sees. I sure would like to try that ND3X50 you know try before you buy. The ND3 worked at 120 yards but that would be the very maximum for my eyes.
 

Looks like a good machining job on the mounts. Too bad you can't test the green laser.

Good luck tonight.

The male coyote was back at the bait site last night around midnight. He lingered around, then left for about an hour and returned again, staying until around 2:40 AM. He got lots of good morsels.

I had two cameras set this time, from different angles. Both got several videos.

As well, I put out three new sensors yesterday, as well as the original DoubleUp modified one, so now I have four sensors guarding the site. I had spray painted them some time back and had allowed them some drying time before putting them out. I can still smell a slight odor of paint, but the coyote didn't seem to mind. He's becoming more accustomed to the bait site and has been coming regularly now for a couple of months or so. I have just been baiting him along.

I have been wanting to wait until fall / winter to take him when his fur will be better, but I'm almost afraid to wait. Last year I waited, letting coyotes eat the bait all summer. When fall came they seemed to disappear.

So, I had planned to hunt last night, was looking forward to it but something came up at the last minute and I couldn't. Can't hunt tonight either since I have to be out of town early tomorrow morning. Rain is in the forecast for the next several days, so looks like I'll just have to be patient and wait for a better time. I'm anxious to try the new .17 Remington and the home-made night vision outfit. Otherwise I would just wait for cooler weather and better fur.

There was a female coming with this male occasionally sometime back earlier in the summer. I haven't seen her for a while. Once I take the male, I may have a long wait before I get more activity.

Also, I did have some other activity recently on another section of the farm.

Click the photo to see the video.




 

Yotekiller,

Our coyote season runs all year (except Sundays), but I generally like to hunt them in fall and winter. I normally don't hunt much in summer months even though I can.

Our bobcat season opens November 1. This cat has been hanging around for a while, I think. I have had two trail camera videos of it just recently.

If you like bobcat videos, here's one I posted earlier. This cat came nightly to the bait site for quite a while, allowing me to get some good trail camera videos. This was back in the spring. We can't shoot them over bait here, so I'll have to try to call this one this fall if he's still around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk1sECtZuSw&feature=youtu.be


 

Well, last night was a test of both rifle and load, as well as the new home-made night vision. This project has been in the works most of the summer, and tonight was the first opportunity I had to try it out. It all came together early this morning. The alarm went off (by my watch) at 0302. By 0306 a mature male coyote was down and I was back in bed.

This male coyote has been visiting the bait site most of the summer. I just kept him coming by keeping the site baited. I placed small, 2 inch or less chunks of meat at the site, spread around here and there so he had to hang around for a while in order to get all the pieces.

The new rifle, a CZ model 527, .17 Remington and a 25 gr. Hornady hollow point dropped the yote instantly, but I'll explain that later. The Bushnell Trophy Cam HD got the shot on video. I was disappointed in that the video looked foggy, probably due to the rain earlier in the evening. Most likely water was on the lens. The shot can still be seen, but not well. At least the camera did record the sound of the shot.





















As to the home made night vision, the verdict is still out. Although it worked last night, it was bitter-sweet and needs more testing.

THE PROS: The bullet camera (used for the night vision) saw perfectly at the 60 yard site. Illumination was via trail camera infrared. I set the Bushnell camera to record 59-second videos, thereby allowing it to remain on for an extended period of time, enabling me to take my time to get a good shot. I set the interval at 7 seconds, so once the camera turned off, it would turn on again after 7 seconds and go for another 59 seconds, essentially keeping the area flooded with IR. As I mentioned, the little bullet camera saw perfectly, very clear and bright and easy to put a crosshair on the coyote with my scope setting of 7X. I had an Eagle Tac IR illuminator attached back at the cabin, but didn't have to turn it on since the Bushnell provided excellent IR for me to see. I was amazed at how well the bullet camera could see that coyote and surrounding ground.

THE CONS: The scope was sighted in from the cabin a few days ago, but when I tested it yesterday evening before the hunt, the bullet POI had drifted way low and right. I readjusted, requiring several shots to get the bullet near center of the white bullseye. When I shot the coyote, the bullet hit considerably higher than yesterday evening's zero, hitting the coyote right at or just below the spine. He dropped on the spot instantly as would be expected, and was dead within seconds, but the spine shot didn't really yield any results from bullet performance for a lung shot. This morning I set the target up once again, in the same spot, and fired a shot. The shot went high, about the same height it did on the coyote, but a bit to the right.. I'm not sure what's going on with bullet POI. Seems I've had problems keeping POI adjusted.

There are several variables to consider. First is the scope, a Tasco. Perhaps it's not holding zero. Another possibility is that the night vision apparatus was disconnected from the rifle scope a few days ago, and when reattached, the POI was not the same as before. Yet another, the rifle barrel extends through the window foam, causing the foam to compress against the barrel. The foam is flexible, but not sure if that could cause POI shift or not. The above possibilities might explain the shift in POI from one day to the next when the NV was removed and reattached. What I can't figure is the POI shift after sighting in again, NV attached, and the barrel protruding through the window. The only other consideration is that the coyote shot and this morning's shot were from a cold barrel, though I don't think that would have caused so drastic a change. So, the verdict is still out as to how well this outfit might work.

Even though the tiny .17 caliber bullet hit high in the back, there was no exit. The skin at the top of the coyote's back was puffed up. Apparently the bullet, traveling at an average velocity of 3,921 fps, went to pieces inside.

I will say this; however, that if this POI problem can be solved, then the home-made night vision will be the neatest thing since sliced bread. It sees wonderfully.


Here's the video of the shot. The rain and moisture messed up the video, making it look foggy, darn it.

Click on the photo to see the video




 

Description of my home-made night vision outfit.


Up front I will say that I take no credit for this deal. All credit goes to Roland on YouTube (Rolaids Night Vision).

There is a company in the UK that produces a similar apparatus called the Nite Site. The Nite Site scope costs (at my latest currency rate check)
something over $1,000 US. I have slightly over $200 in the home-made job. I began searching for a home-made solution, to see if I could find something
similar, and found it here. Roland also has other videos pertaining to night vision, so check them out.



Roland also has a list of parts needed to assemble this home-made job. Just click on "more" in his explanation at the top of the page.

Here's what I did, but first a quick look at the completed project (first two photos). I have since tied up all the wires to make them neater.








Beginning:

I put a picatinny rail mount on my CZ 527. That allows me to attach a scope far forward
on the rifle so as to keep the NV extension from coming so far rearward as to be in my face.






I then placed both scope rings in the same area of the scope tube, to allow the scope to mount far forward.






A bullet camera was purchased from Ebay for $105 shipped. This little camera is affixed so that it looks
through the daytime rifle scope. I use a 12mm lens as suggested by Roland.






In order to hold the bullet camera in place, I used a 12.5" picatinny rail. A matching pair of scope rings
(high rings) are placed on the rifle scope to attach the picatinny mount, and also to hold the bullet
camera in place. I purchased a 90 degree picatinny mount ( on the right in the photo) for an LCD
monitor to sit on.









Next, a picatinny mount was purchased to attach to a LCD monitor. I simply drilled a hole in the base
of the monitor and put a small bolt through to attach it. The monitor will now attach to the 90 degree
picatinny mount that is on the long rail.








This shows how the long picatinny rail attaches to the rifle scope. It attaches to the ring that is
turned sideways on the daytime scope.




 

I modified my project just a bit from what Roland did. I got a scope ring picatinny mount on Ebay and attached that to the scope
rather than mount the illuminator onto the long picatinny rail. But, if hunting from a bait site and with a good trail camera, the IR
produced by the camera will be all you will need - as long as the camera trips and records a video.









The bullet camera and LCD operate on 12-volt DC power. Roland suggests using a small battery (available on Ebay)
that allows for mobile hunting. I use a small Cabela's Gel Cell battery that sits on my shooting table inside the cabin.
It's the small black battery to the left in the photo.






I wired in a remote control switch to turn on the bullet camera and LCD screen. The remote is available on Ebay.
It looks like a remote car door opener. You can see it lying on the table, circled in blue.






Here's the rifle / scope setup sitting on my shooting bench inside the cabin. I use a PVC pipe fit to the
objective end of the scope to allow the scope to see outside the window. The window foam seals up
around the rifle forearm and scope / pvc pipe which allows light to remain inside the cabin, as well as
to keep cold air out.






The good thing about this NV deal is that it can be used during the day time too if need be.






The tree to the left of the crosshair is at 57 yards distance. The white column on the building is 125 yards.
Of course, this is daytime viewing.






This was taken at night, very dark along a path in the woods behind my house. The canopy of trees
overhead keep a lot of ambient light out. I used an Eagle Tac T100C2 illuminator at 850nm.
Distance was 60 yards with a scope setting of 3X. Target object is a box sitting on top of a 5 gallon bucket.






60 yards at 6X






94 yards at 6X. No target, just showing the distance and illumination.





 








This project has been a lot of fun for sure, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg. The parts to put it together cost just slightly over $200. Since I already had the Eagle Tac illuminator, I didn't need to purchase one. But, if you need the illuminator, it's something like $70. But, the best method for illumination that I have discovered is nothing more than the IR from a trail camera. Most coyotes get used to trail camera IR, and that is just the ticket to help this little camera see well.

The home-made deal looks cumbersome and complicated, but actually it's pretty easy to put together. If I can do it, anyone can. Watch Roland's video a few times and you will get a good understanding of how to do it.

This NV won't replace a good night vision scope, but also I will say that it sees much brighter than my Gen 1 scope does, so that speaks well for the little bullet camera. It's been fun to play around with, and to take that one coyote. Time will tell whether it pans out or not.

As I mentioned previously, the verdict is still out as to the POI issue, I plan to speak to Roland and see if he has had similar problems and I will report back once I gain any further information.

UPDATE: I have since spoken to Roland. He reports no issues similar to mine with POI shift, nor has he had anyone else report that problem. I'm thinking I have a daytime scope problem at this point.

As to where this deal would be effective, I think bait site hunting is the cat's meow. Out and about, the unit can be used, but you probably need the lighter-weight battery that Roland suggests. As well, there is back light from the LCD screen that could give away your position. I understand that some guys are placing a red filter over the LCD screen to cut down on light coming back into your face.

Just thought I would throw out this idea and information in case anyone might be interested. I'll be glad to help out if you need it.

Now, let the laughing begin from those die-hard, big spenders who own Gen 3s.

Of course, I may have to laugh at myself because I would love to have a Gen 3.


 
Congrats on the first blood with Mighty Mouse and the homemade NV. Was curious to see how the 25gr. Hornady behaved on fur and how your economical camera would work. Are you starting to feel better about shooting coyotes, foxes, and cats with this setup than your last?
 
6mm06, congrats on making it all work for a drt yote! my guess is your poi changing is parallax related. the reason it is moving on you is your cheek weld is slightly different when you are looking through the scope between shots. my first NV scope gave me the same problem. I spent a lot of money in ammo trying to sight it in and every time I thought I had it right I would encounter the problem all over again the next time I shot it. that is the scope I gave to my partner and he uses it to scan with and it no longer lives on a rifle. it sure sounds like you may be experiencing the same problem. cheek weld position.

I should add, the way to check this is to sight in on something, and not moving the gun, move your cheek on the stock a little and see if your poa changes. if it does, that is your problem.
 
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Corey, yes and no. If I can find a solution to the POI change, then this system beats my Gen 1 scope. If the POI problem continues, I may go back to the Gen 1.

Sureshot, I too considered parallax as a problem, but also the bullet camera looking through the ocular of the daytime scope doesn't move or change, it is stationary and looking at the same place, so I would think that takes care of any parallax issues. Maybe I'm wrong. To shoot, you use the LCD screen for aiming since the camera projects the crosshair onto the LCD. You don't look through the scope, but rather the LCD.

One other nice thing about this little deal is that it can be used as a scanner without affixed to a daytime scope.

Also, there is a small portable DVR available on Ebay for less than $100 that would allow video footage of what the scope sees to be recorded. If I continue using this outfit, I think one of those DVRs may be in order.


 
Well done David.
I knew that that Coyotes days were numbered and was also sure you would bring all the elements together to pull off the kill.
You'll work through the minor issues and have it working to perfection with out doubt.
Always a pleasure to watch your exploits knowing what you've put in to achieve the end goal.
YOUR'RE AN INSPIRATION AND YOUR WILLINGNESS TO SHARE IS COMMENDABLE.
 
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