PowellSixO
New member
Hey guys, sorry for such a long first post. I figured I'd make it a good on. For the last 4 years I've slowly gotten into predator hunting. A little calling here, a little calling there, but nothing too serious. This year I've gotten a little more into it. My hunting partner and I have been pretty successful calling lately, and decided to enter a predator tournament he was invited to this last weekend. We ended up with 4 dogs. The tournament was put on by the Pelt Pounders, and they did a fabulous job. They had generators, lights, heaters, a food catering service for the weigh in, and a raffle at the end with enough prizes to send everyone home with something. I was very impressed. Any ways, my friend and I woke up that morning at 4 and drove for almost 3 hours to our honey hole
. We started the morning off very roughly. We got a female to howl on the first stand, but she wouldn't respond to any thing we threw at her. On the next stand we made an extra long stand, but nothing came in. Or at least we didn't think so. As soon as we stood up, there was a dog right behind us. He busted us and took off without any chance of a shot. On the next stand we had a whole group of them yipping, yapping, and howling. But yet again they wouldn't come in. At this time, some really thick fog rolled in. So we used it to our advantage, and drove to where we heard the large group. We parked the truck and walked a 1/4 mile out and sat on the side of a hill. I faced up, and my buddy sat facing down. We couldn't see more than 50 to 60 yards, with brief moments of clarity up to about 100 yards. At the 15 minute mark, I saw a dark shape bounding through the fog. It stopped at roughly 100 yards. I could barely make it out. I kept my gun on it, and waited until I got a clear enough window to shoot. Whack!!! Dead right there
. A nice little female. Sorry for the windicator in this first post. I was excited, and forgot to take it out for the picture. Haha.
After that we headed to a few more spots with little luck. We decided to go back and see if we could call the dog that busted us earlier. We sat down in a huge open area, and sat down. Now normally I'd bring a shot gun to a stand with me, but this area was so open I figured the closest shot I would get would be over 100 yards easily. After just 5 minutes, a dog pops up right in front of me at 25-30 yards. How the heck he got there, I do not know. Anyways I put my scope on him and saw nothing but hair (still had the scope on 10x). I squeezed the trigger and he dropped like a sack of potatoes and disappeared behind the bush he was standing behind. We continued to call the flat for another 5 minutes, when my buddy whispers to me, "double". He aims shoots, and whack! The dog does the little death spin, drops, gets back up, and runs off. We decided to look for my dog first, and go over to where I hit him and nothing was there but a front leg. We followed the blood and the tracks, and they went to where my buddy shot at what we thought was another dog. We followed the dog for close to 2 miles, before giving up. Unfortunately we injured that dog, and were not able to retrieve it. We were feeling pretty down about the whole thing, but went on with low spirits. At the next stand I bring my shotgun only, and my friend brings his 243. We set up and a perfect looking opening. We had the wind right, and the perfect hiding spot. 5 minutes into the stand I see a cat poke his head up about 300 yards away. Just as I'm trying to get my buddies attention, a dog comes from straight behind us (down wind too) at 15-20 yards. Boom. My buddy hit it with his 243. It's still spinning, so I put a round of 00 Buck int it's head. Dead dog. He hit it straight through the heart, so I can't take credit for the kill. Lol. I just shot to shoot. Haha. This ended up being our big dog, and the big dog of the tournament.
Feeling pretty pumped up we continued on. We went dry for a few stands, and then spotted a bunch of cattle sleeping out in a big field. We were kinda lazy on this stand and only went 100 yards from the truck (we could still see the top of the cab from the stand Lol). Within 4 minutes I look up, and at about 1000 yards I see 2 dots coming in at 100 mph. I squeak at my friend to get his attention, and whispered "double". At 300 yards they literally almost ran over a cow sleeping in the grass which spooked the dogs, and they stopped. They looked for a second, and seen the whirly bird and the big male decided it was worth coming a little further. The female stayed out at 300 yards, and the male came in to 50 yards. Learning from my earlier mistake, I aimed 3 inches higher than normal, and waxed him. Dead dog. The female took off like she had a rocket pack on her back, and we never got a shot on her.
We made a few more stands, and got skunked. We decided we needed to start heading towards the weigh in. On the way, my buddy slams on the brakes and says "I have a good feeling about this canyon". So we walk over to the edge and setup. 2 minutes into the stand, a dog comes up my side of the canyon, and I waxed him. Dead dog. Heck yeah. We both couldn't believe how well the day is going. This ended up being our little dog and the small dog of the tournament
.
At this time we still have 4 hours to get back to the weigh in on time (7 pm), but think we should start heading that way just to be safe. We figured we had about a 2.5 hour drive. Well we ended up getting lost as crap. Haha. We back tracked and finally figured out where we made the wrong turn and got heading the right direction. Our 2.5 hour trip ended up taking us 3 hours and 45 minutes
. So we rolled up to the weigh in with like 20 minutes to spare. First place ahead of us had 5 dogs, and a fox. If we would have been better shots, 1st could have been ours. But that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Haha. No matter though, I had a great day calling dogs with my buddy. We didn't get skunked, we didn't get hurt, and we didn't damage the truck or any of our gear. It was a great day.
Just in case anyone is interested, we loaded our own 243 rounds. They are 55 gr Nosler Varmint Bullets, 45.5 gr Varget, WRL primers, set to 2.610" COAL. Were getting roughly 3850 fps with these rounds. They are not fur friendly. All of the pictures were taken hiding the damage. I hit all 3 of my dogs in the chest, and they exited out the guts. It was not a pretty sight. Boy are they flat and accurate though. 100 to 300 yards, you just put the cross hairs on them and squeeze. Any who, thanks for taking the time to read. Hope to have many more pictures to share this year.
After that we headed to a few more spots with little luck. We decided to go back and see if we could call the dog that busted us earlier. We sat down in a huge open area, and sat down. Now normally I'd bring a shot gun to a stand with me, but this area was so open I figured the closest shot I would get would be over 100 yards easily. After just 5 minutes, a dog pops up right in front of me at 25-30 yards. How the heck he got there, I do not know. Anyways I put my scope on him and saw nothing but hair (still had the scope on 10x). I squeezed the trigger and he dropped like a sack of potatoes and disappeared behind the bush he was standing behind. We continued to call the flat for another 5 minutes, when my buddy whispers to me, "double". He aims shoots, and whack! The dog does the little death spin, drops, gets back up, and runs off. We decided to look for my dog first, and go over to where I hit him and nothing was there but a front leg. We followed the blood and the tracks, and they went to where my buddy shot at what we thought was another dog. We followed the dog for close to 2 miles, before giving up. Unfortunately we injured that dog, and were not able to retrieve it. We were feeling pretty down about the whole thing, but went on with low spirits. At the next stand I bring my shotgun only, and my friend brings his 243. We set up and a perfect looking opening. We had the wind right, and the perfect hiding spot. 5 minutes into the stand I see a cat poke his head up about 300 yards away. Just as I'm trying to get my buddies attention, a dog comes from straight behind us (down wind too) at 15-20 yards. Boom. My buddy hit it with his 243. It's still spinning, so I put a round of 00 Buck int it's head. Dead dog. He hit it straight through the heart, so I can't take credit for the kill. Lol. I just shot to shoot. Haha. This ended up being our big dog, and the big dog of the tournament.
Feeling pretty pumped up we continued on. We went dry for a few stands, and then spotted a bunch of cattle sleeping out in a big field. We were kinda lazy on this stand and only went 100 yards from the truck (we could still see the top of the cab from the stand Lol). Within 4 minutes I look up, and at about 1000 yards I see 2 dots coming in at 100 mph. I squeak at my friend to get his attention, and whispered "double". At 300 yards they literally almost ran over a cow sleeping in the grass which spooked the dogs, and they stopped. They looked for a second, and seen the whirly bird and the big male decided it was worth coming a little further. The female stayed out at 300 yards, and the male came in to 50 yards. Learning from my earlier mistake, I aimed 3 inches higher than normal, and waxed him. Dead dog. The female took off like she had a rocket pack on her back, and we never got a shot on her.
We made a few more stands, and got skunked. We decided we needed to start heading towards the weigh in. On the way, my buddy slams on the brakes and says "I have a good feeling about this canyon". So we walk over to the edge and setup. 2 minutes into the stand, a dog comes up my side of the canyon, and I waxed him. Dead dog. Heck yeah. We both couldn't believe how well the day is going. This ended up being our little dog and the small dog of the tournament
At this time we still have 4 hours to get back to the weigh in on time (7 pm), but think we should start heading that way just to be safe. We figured we had about a 2.5 hour drive. Well we ended up getting lost as crap. Haha. We back tracked and finally figured out where we made the wrong turn and got heading the right direction. Our 2.5 hour trip ended up taking us 3 hours and 45 minutes
Just in case anyone is interested, we loaded our own 243 rounds. They are 55 gr Nosler Varmint Bullets, 45.5 gr Varget, WRL primers, set to 2.610" COAL. Were getting roughly 3850 fps with these rounds. They are not fur friendly. All of the pictures were taken hiding the damage. I hit all 3 of my dogs in the chest, and they exited out the guts. It was not a pretty sight. Boy are they flat and accurate though. 100 to 300 yards, you just put the cross hairs on them and squeeze. Any who, thanks for taking the time to read. Hope to have many more pictures to share this year.
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