KUDOS TO TACTICAL NIGHT VISION COMPANY

That build works simply perfect for what I do, took allot of time and experience to learn what it was that I needed and happy to have it all together now.

That hog last night was definitely a 7.62mm hog but was tired of lugging that big heavy .308 around as we were hiking quite a ways into the woods on foot with the FLIR M-24 helmet mount before we came up on the nice boar hog.

The HK/FLIR/ACOG/ATPIAL is a great working combo and easy to carry and shoot offhand.

Thanks!
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I had been after that big boy boar for about a month and a half until our rendezvous the other night ended up with him getting a sizzling slug in the ear!



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He thought he was some hot stuff to all the other sows around, but now he be chillin'.....



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Sky Pup,

I have a question for you relating to snakes, something I get chills about.

Up here in MD, especially when we have some flooding, we get copperheads climbing vegetation. In hardwood undergrowth they tend to climb to the first branching of the bush, which, depending on where you are, can be do dad level to eye level. In the marsh they tend to climb reeds until they are about do dad level.

Do moccasins or rattlers ever climb like that? And how often do you encounter either at night while you are hunting - driving or stalking? And do you have copperheads? If so do they behave like ours and climb?

Do you wear snake proof boots or leggings?

Also, do they show up on thermal gear? I wouldn't think so but I'm curious. NV?

Thanks,

JPK
 
I always wear snake boots, we are covered with mocassins and rattlers (Canebreak, Pygmy, Diamondbacks).


Danger with mocassins, besides being aggressive ALL THE TIME for absolutely no reason at all is that they do climb trees and brush and hang out on the branches and drop down when they pick up a target, so yes, very dangerous indeed and vicious as all get out.

Thermal picks up snakes, not good at all times during the day, but pretty good at night, also gators as well...


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Here is a rattler in the grass:


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I have had only two encounters with moccasins, we are, thankfully, a bit north of their range. One encounter was when I was a youngster and our group was doing a trash pick up along a stream. I saw what I thought was plastic trash on the opposite bank of the small creek and tried to scrape it toward me with a stick. It uncoiled and came straight for me mouth open... I was FAST in those long gone days!

Do you have copperheads? They are unaggressive but they are quiet and hard to spot. They tend to stay in place in litter or brush and the risk is reaching to them or stepping on them while they remain unseen. Wood piles are a place to be on guard.

I've only had one encounter with a rattler, and it was an Eastern Diamond back, in the mountains in Shenandoah National Park. I was October and cool and the snake wasn't aggressive or moving very fast. My dogs walked within a few feet of it as they went down a trail. No rattle.

Friends in Fla tell me gators are getting to be troublesome.

JPK
 
LOL!!! Another reason to have a thermal unit for scanning!!
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A few years back a bass fisherman was bitten by a cotton mouth, in Eastern Mass....We all thought we were to far north for cotton mouths also!!
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When I was a kid I spent a ton of time in the swamps trapping, good thing I never ran into one!!
 
I HATE snakes and we have (I think) the most venomous snake in north America due to its neurotoxin and (12th in the world) here in the southern California deserts called the Mohave Green I care not to ever come across again!
 
Originally Posted By: BAYSTATE YOTELOL!!! Another reason to have a thermal unit for scanning!!
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A few years back a bass fisherman was bitten by a cotton mouth, in Eastern Mass....We all thought we were to far north for cotton mouths also!!
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When I was a kid I spent a ton of time in the swamps trapping, good thing I never ran into one!!

If you Google the water moccasin's range you will see various maps which indicate that it's northern range is somewhere in southern VA, but we find them on the Potomac River which is the MD/VA line most of it's length, and we find them in the coastal plains and piedmont areas in MD. Seems there are fewer encounters now compared to when I was younger, but that might not be the case. Never very common though, thankfully.

I hadn't heard of the Mass incident. That is FAR north of where they aren't supposed to be!

Victor, there used to be a TV show called, iirc, Venom ER which showed real, actual snake bites or scorpion or spider bites, whatever, and there treatment from around the country. The most traumatic bites leading to the most damage and the only ones that lead to death on the show were from California, iirc from the Mohave and pigmy rattlesnakes. My kids used to love that show, it just gave me the willies.

Baystate, while suffering from Pre Traumatic Distress Syndrome, as Sky Pup so accurately pointed out, I am finding and listing reason's get off the pot and buy a good thermal sight or clip on...

[I might even go with one of those second rate thingies made by some firm called FLIR...
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JPK
 
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Originally Posted By: JPKSky Pup,

I have a question for you relating to snakes, something I get chills about.

Up here in MD, especially when we have some flooding, we get copperheads climbing vegetation. In hardwood undergrowth they tend to climb to the first branching of the bush, which, depending on where you are, can be do dad level to eye level. In the marsh they tend to climb reeds until they are about do dad level.

Do moccasins or rattlers ever climb like that? And how often do you encounter either at night while you are hunting - driving or stalking? And do you have copperheads? If so do they behave like ours and climb?

Do you wear snake proof boots or leggings?

Also, do they show up on thermal gear? I wouldn't think so but I'm curious. NV?

Thanks,

JPK


I run into these in the dark too many times.

It is rather unnerving when you go to step over a log and it stands up, hiss's at you, and opens it mouth up two feet wide at night!

There are numerous ponds we give wide berth to as there are 10-12 foot long bull gators in them that we DO NOT wish to come in contact with in the dark.....



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If I started to step over a log and it started to move I would need to pack spare undies.

Do they always hang around ponds, or do they get away from ponds looking for prey?

I get chills thinking of being food.

Think I might have my bud from La send me some gator cheeks to cook up. I will be "comfort food," so I can pretend we are always at the top of the food chain.

JPK
 
I've lived in Florida on and off for over 40 years and other than sunning on a bank I can probably count on both hands the times I've seen gators more than 50 feet from a water body.

When the ponds in the forest are drying up due to a drought they will sometimes desert one that's drying up to go find one that isn't.

Although I've heard of them hunting on land, I think it's rare.

Once I saw a gator lying on an earthen berm next to a creek and he had his head at the top of the berm. As I got closer in my canoe he jumped over the berm and landed in the middle of a sounder with a bunch of piglets in it and after all the squealing and thrashing about he came up empty but he dang sure made a great effort and I never would have believed gators were that agile if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.... They're very fearsome predators and although they prefer to find all their prey in the water, they're certainly capable dry land predators if they so choose...

If one get's after you on land, your best bet is to either climb a tree or play hide and seek around the tree trunks. If he comes after you in the water your best bet is a good life insurance policy for the family.

All that being said it's pretty rare that one kills or seriously injures a human. Usually it's some dingbat swimming in gator infested waters at night. It seems they like to strike at a swimming human above them like a bass strikes at a top water lure.

We also get stories about them grabbing dogs as people walk them along the water's edge. Fido doesn't have much of a chance of getting away from a gator with some idiot holding him on a leash.

I'm a lot more worried about cotton mouth's than anything else in the Florida swamps, rivers, and lakes. They seem to have an attitude and are quite often prone to want to act like you're invading their space and attack rather than the quiet retreat that gators usually show.

The lake I live near has a bunch of 12-14ft gators in it and they're prone to quietly disappear when approached but don't count on it during mating season.

$bob$
 
It must be Spring time for sure now, my gators in the backyard have started their grunting tonight, here is what it sounds like:


 
Any coon, possum, pig, deer, etc. coming down to the water's edge for a sip of water is toast.

Gators do NOT get that big eating just frogs and fish!
 
Gators are predators boys and girls...
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And for those of you that think gators can't climb....


I thought I'd find more videos of gators hunting wild hogs... It's fairly common and before days of iPhones I witnessed it several times myself and couldn't document it.

$bob$
 
Originally Posted By: Gman757
A 50 year old gator was found to have 6 dog tags in his belly.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/aug/29/dogs-tracked-down-electronic-tracking-collars/


After we took this gator out of a farm pond in a 90 acre hay field the hog population went up substantially. No doubt he was feeding on them.

13'2" 702 lbs

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Wow. Now THATS a predator.

You have to at least recognize and somewhat admire the natural evolution of the monster. From a nature/evolution standpoint, I can't help but be impressed with what is an almost perfect, mother nature designed, killing machine. And that photo is an example of quite a specimen. Impressive creature. One which clearly requires and demands a self preserving respect from us.

Regards,

G.
 
Great pic of you and your Dad and that Bull Gator, no telling what went down his hatch over the last 50 years, but I bet it was considerable!
 
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