Pesting the shadows on a BRIGHT sunlit day

A ball cap with a green underbill helps, and you can try the athletes under eye black patch. Every little bit helps.

Click to expand...

I have a wide brimmed (Indiana Jones style) hat that helps, but gets in the way once I go the the rifle/scope and taking it off often spooks the pests (especially at close range).

A ball cap might be better, but would still need adjusting before going to the rifle/scope because the bill would be hitting the scope. If I wear it with the bill high enough not to hit the scope, it doesn't do much for seeing into the shadows.

Maybe I am getting old? (shrug-grin)

Thanks for the suggestion!

Something I have done in past years is to wear a full face ski mask like worn during the winter. I have a black one with only a small slit for the eyes. That blocks much of the sun and then use my scope or binoculars. As stated any little thing helps!! Might get a bit warm on those hot 95 plus degree days....

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! However, I sweat enough already! More than the average person and 10 times that if I have any caffeine! LOL!

However, I'll keep that in mind in the upcoming cooler/colder months. Unfortunately, the chippers will be long gone into their torpor for most of that time.

In any case, thanks again for a suggestion I had not thought of. (smile)

Shoot out of a small portable hunting blind

Click to expand...

Well, I thought about that, but the set up time would not be worth it. I am pesting in my backyard and don't like the idea of leaving something like that set up all the time. Most of the time my shots come spontaneously. Although I do spend a lot of time *stalking* the pests. Also, many of my shots are taken from inside my house. Even then, the bright reflections from the window sill, out buildings, etc, can make it hard to see into the shadows. Sometimes it even affects my view through the scope.

So far, it looks like making a fist and looking through it is the best solution. It does actually work well and is always within reach. (chuckle)

Thanks for the reply in any case! (smile)

BTW what scope are you using a UTG ?

Click to expand...

For now, on the .177 Benjamin Fortitude Gen2, I am using Aim Sports Alpha 6 4.5-27x50. Not too bad, but it has "delayed turrets" as I call them, so clicking for range is not a good idea with this scope. I only do holdover and most of my shots are within my PBR anyway, so no problem for me once the scope "settles" in. Otherwise, the scope has "decent" glass. Probably better than most UTG scopes.

Oh, and most of the time I have the zoom/mag maxed out at 27x unless lighting conditions make me pull it back in a little. 

Aim small, miss small. (smile)

Sunlight is a killer for me. I much prefer cloudy days. Not only are cloudy days easier to see for me, game seems to be moving more & all day long. A very light rain I like even better. When I am hunting on bright day i wear a big bill hunting cap & I even put side panels out of carboard on the bill & on the sides of my glasses when i am wearing them.

Click to expand...

Although wearing a cap gets in the way of my scope, I totally agree and understand what you are saying. That is one reason why I usually do my pest "stalking" in the early hours of the day, before the light gets to be so bothersome. Then, I usually just check my "sniper window" (more or less faces West) from time to time until the afternoon/evening when the sun gets down low enough that once again, I have problems.

Maybe you could attach a couple of empty toilet paper rolls to a cap, like binoculars....

Matthias

Click to expand...

I actually tried the cardboard toilet paper rolls. They are too large to block enough light without doing something else to them. I'll just keep using my fist. (smile)

...

Many times on a bright sunlit day, I have to make a fist and look through that to get my pupils to close OPEN enough to see into the shadows. Blocking out ALL unnecessary light is essential.
...

Click to expand...

That is a good tip and I have never heard it before. I've been hunting since I was 6. I am now 70. You are a pretty smart feller!

I guess that is the same sort of thing the Eskimos do up north (well did before plastics) by slitting a birch bark head band for eye slits to protect them from snow blindness? Anyway thanks.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I don't know how smart I am, but I have had to "make do" with what I already have for so long, I rarely buy something new if I can "make do". (grin)

Interesting fact about the Eskimos. I did not know that!

haha my brain immediately jumped to the old school Eskimo sunglasses.

My eyes though only used for 55 years sure as hell are not what they used to be, when i worked on some ferries and was lookout the officers named me hawkeye as i was telling them about ships they dident even see on radar. Though i do think that was BECUZ they had the radar set to only look at a reasonable distance, and i was also just kidding, no need to notify about a ship that is crossing your path 1 - 2 hours of sailing ahead of you.

Now i need glasses to read a damn book.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean! I have reading glasses stationed all over the house! I use 2.0 power just to use this computer and I take 4.0 reading glasses to the grocery store because of the very tiny print on product labels! (ARGH!!!)

Now, get out just past my arms reach and I can see better than many people half my age and at distance I can see better than most people in general. I just can't focus iron sights AND the target at the same time. But I can still hit sporting clays at 25 yards with my SD carry gun. Not thrown, of course. (chuckle)

Lenses in the eyes get hard with age and simply can't focus up close anymore. Started with me in my mid 40s, but I stayed in denial until my early-mid 50s before I started actually buying and carrying reading glasses.

As Bette Davis said "Getting old ain't for sissies!". (chuckle)

Try those glasses with the tiny holes in them, my dad wore those shooting as he got older and it helped him see his iron sights and target better by blocking a lot of the incoming bright light.

Click to expand...

Those are interesting. I guess I have never seen them before. I might play around with some thick paper and glasses frames and make something like that to test. (grin)