First I hope everyone had a great and safe NYE and all have a blessed 2022.
Today was the first clear day we have really had in a while, and I THOUGHT would be a low wind day, WRONG!!!! However, I knew it was the coldest day for the next week, but no wind would be a blessing so I planned at a hunt at my permissions after I helped my dad out.
When I left my dad's the "normal" temp was 9 F and with the wind chill it was was -13 F. (-25 C), smart or not I was determined to have a good day at my permission. Wind 10 ,mph average to 17 mph. (16 to 25 kph). Fleece lined pants double socks, thermal sole for my manure kicker rubber boots, and as practically bundled as I could be. Problem with the rubber boots was when I changed into them they were frozen, feet not happy, but work needed to be done.
Setup for Glimmer: Prophet Performance Compact set at 110ish bar, JSB 177 Hades at 885 fps which amounts to 18ish fpe. Altitude 4200 ft above sea level. Estimating shot count total can be 70-80 with current tune.
I arrived at the small stockyard where I had success two days ago and the pigeons seemed to wise up on me walking around, so they were less apt to stay on the ground for a clean shot. Also, because of the wind being like a cold knife I decided to do the "drive by" approach and shoot from the warm truck, and this proved successful. I got a total of 4 birds in around 30 minutes average shot in wind 35-40 yards. (yes we have had a lot of snow this past week.) Also, i will say, I have taken 14 pigeons off the stockyard, so there is a visible drop in the number.
As I am learning the Prophet I have to say I am impressed with the CZ barrel, and some of the shots I can take especially being in 177, though I know I am really stretching the 177s capability considering the conditions I have been shooting in this week. The Hades perform very well in the gun. Today I realized if I dead aim at 30 to 35 yards then I am dead on target for a pigeon sized. For example, the white pigeon I got was in a pool of blood with a shot through the chest, I went icky because the hades passed clean through.
After about 40 minutes at the stockyard I went to the main dairy and did the stalk. Upon arrival I decided to check out the barn, I saw one pigeon at distance of 25 yards. The sparrows were ver shy, so no luck there and the damn starlings kept inside the paddocks among the cattle, so a no go for me anyways.
As I walked around the dairy, my pup buddy showed up, the golden lab of the owner, who loves playing in the snow. No idea what the real name of the dog is, I just call him Buddy. He is pretty well trained too, he grabbed a pigeon from my hand, I told him to drop it, he did and there on he didn't try to grab them.
I did my circle of the dairy and had some great shots. The photo of the pigeon was taken at ranged 53 yards, by this time the wind died down to 5 MPH (9 kph) so I had a better chance to be successful on longer shots. The pigeon was struck by the hades, flew off then tumbled to the ground, dripping blood when I got there.
I took another 50ish yard shot on a pigeon and it tumbled but needed a follow up shot, same with a dove. Two doves I was not able to recover because they were stock on roofs. However, before I left I wanted to try out the Mako slugs in Glimmer.
First, the Makos have never been used before in Glimmer, my RTI Prophet Compact, no was I really sighted in, yet, I did a chrony number and using the settings for hades, the slug was traveling at 856 fps making 17.1 fpe for a 10.5 grain slug. The slugs have to be hand/single loaded, the slug's OD is too small for the Prophet's magazine. I might be one of Orion's slug / single shot loaders, but I will see. Around when I decided to try out the slugs the collared doves showed back up for afternoon feeding, they wanted their share. I decided to try my luck, and get a dove. After 3 attempts I was successful at a shot range of 35 yards, and the performance of the slug was impressive. The exit showed massive damage, more than the hades, and again in the icky category. They show promise and more on inbound from the UK to try out.
The some total of the day was 10 birds recovered, two not, and 3 fly offs, for a total time of 3 hours. I used approximately 60 bar for 45-50 shots.
After I finished and packed up I took off my rubber boots and put my cold toes into the frozen hiking boots, LOL out of the frying pan into the fire.
Then I arrived at my sister's house for a family dinner and here is how the day ended with family and great food.
Today was the first clear day we have really had in a while, and I THOUGHT would be a low wind day, WRONG!!!! However, I knew it was the coldest day for the next week, but no wind would be a blessing so I planned at a hunt at my permissions after I helped my dad out.
When I left my dad's the "normal" temp was 9 F and with the wind chill it was was -13 F. (-25 C), smart or not I was determined to have a good day at my permission. Wind 10 ,mph average to 17 mph. (16 to 25 kph). Fleece lined pants double socks, thermal sole for my manure kicker rubber boots, and as practically bundled as I could be. Problem with the rubber boots was when I changed into them they were frozen, feet not happy, but work needed to be done.
Setup for Glimmer: Prophet Performance Compact set at 110ish bar, JSB 177 Hades at 885 fps which amounts to 18ish fpe. Altitude 4200 ft above sea level. Estimating shot count total can be 70-80 with current tune.
I arrived at the small stockyard where I had success two days ago and the pigeons seemed to wise up on me walking around, so they were less apt to stay on the ground for a clean shot. Also, because of the wind being like a cold knife I decided to do the "drive by" approach and shoot from the warm truck, and this proved successful. I got a total of 4 birds in around 30 minutes average shot in wind 35-40 yards. (yes we have had a lot of snow this past week.) Also, i will say, I have taken 14 pigeons off the stockyard, so there is a visible drop in the number.
As I am learning the Prophet I have to say I am impressed with the CZ barrel, and some of the shots I can take especially being in 177, though I know I am really stretching the 177s capability considering the conditions I have been shooting in this week. The Hades perform very well in the gun. Today I realized if I dead aim at 30 to 35 yards then I am dead on target for a pigeon sized. For example, the white pigeon I got was in a pool of blood with a shot through the chest, I went icky because the hades passed clean through.
After about 40 minutes at the stockyard I went to the main dairy and did the stalk. Upon arrival I decided to check out the barn, I saw one pigeon at distance of 25 yards. The sparrows were ver shy, so no luck there and the damn starlings kept inside the paddocks among the cattle, so a no go for me anyways.
As I walked around the dairy, my pup buddy showed up, the golden lab of the owner, who loves playing in the snow. No idea what the real name of the dog is, I just call him Buddy. He is pretty well trained too, he grabbed a pigeon from my hand, I told him to drop it, he did and there on he didn't try to grab them.
I did my circle of the dairy and had some great shots. The photo of the pigeon was taken at ranged 53 yards, by this time the wind died down to 5 MPH (9 kph) so I had a better chance to be successful on longer shots. The pigeon was struck by the hades, flew off then tumbled to the ground, dripping blood when I got there.
I took another 50ish yard shot on a pigeon and it tumbled but needed a follow up shot, same with a dove. Two doves I was not able to recover because they were stock on roofs. However, before I left I wanted to try out the Mako slugs in Glimmer.
First, the Makos have never been used before in Glimmer, my RTI Prophet Compact, no was I really sighted in, yet, I did a chrony number and using the settings for hades, the slug was traveling at 856 fps making 17.1 fpe for a 10.5 grain slug. The slugs have to be hand/single loaded, the slug's OD is too small for the Prophet's magazine. I might be one of Orion's slug / single shot loaders, but I will see. Around when I decided to try out the slugs the collared doves showed back up for afternoon feeding, they wanted their share. I decided to try my luck, and get a dove. After 3 attempts I was successful at a shot range of 35 yards, and the performance of the slug was impressive. The exit showed massive damage, more than the hades, and again in the icky category. They show promise and more on inbound from the UK to try out.
The some total of the day was 10 birds recovered, two not, and 3 fly offs, for a total time of 3 hours. I used approximately 60 bar for 45-50 shots.
After I finished and packed up I took off my rubber boots and put my cold toes into the frozen hiking boots, LOL out of the frying pan into the fire.
Then I arrived at my sister's house for a family dinner and here is how the day ended with family and great food.
we make sure to get the event saved in glorious HD and slow motion.
