Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[greybeard]

Just took a shot at a coyote 3/4 of the way down my back pasture border with my AR. I missed the danged thing! my eyesight aint what it usedtawas. I've been meaning to swap out the red/green dot for a 3x9 scope and re-sight but haven't gotten around to it. Shoulda used my .22. It's accurate to an inch at 50 yards. The shot would have been about 75. It was almost pure gray and at first I didn't even see it there it blended in so well. So I also went ahead and trimmed up the lower bradford pear tree limbs that were obstructing my view from my recliner. Doubt he'll be back anytime soon, but I'll be looking for him. Mean time... I need to get a scope and get sighted in post haste. I won't miss next time.

It's why I prefer a forward mounted scope....Scout rifle style. You see more than just what is in the optics.
He/She will be back. He didn't show up there for no reason..

 

[Latestarter]

OK, so I figured it was time to get it right. I broke out my laser range finder to find out real distances. The coyote was at 137 yards from shooting position. The back/woods edge of my back pasture is 209 yards from shooting position. My .22 plinking targets are 50 yards from shooting position. My pistol/handgun shooting back board is 37 yards. I will be setting up new shooting target back boards to properly sight in and get back in practice. I'll be doing 100 yards and the existing 200 yards. The .22 I know is dead on at 50 yards. It was on @ 1" groups when I last sighted it in at 100 yds. I think I'll get my .243 sighted right away as that one was, and is scoped and very flat shooting. Haven't shot it in years. It has a 2.5-7x scope which will be more than adequate for a coyote sized target. I used it for groundhogs/ground squirrels (prairie dogs).

The coyote was in the same place as the other one I shot at. The previous one took off and ran across to the other side of the pasture, back right corner. This one did a 180 and went back the way it had come into the pasture on the left side. It was behind the clump of privet where the wild grape vines are @Devonviolet <---has been there so knows where I'm speaking of... Just beyond where we cut the yaupon. It was staring out into the back of the back pasture where I had dumped a 50lb bag of deer corn. There have been deer at the pile but weren't at that time. The other coyote I saw a month or so ago was 1/2 way down the right side of the pasture and left before I could get inside and get armed.

 

[Baymule]

Hope you get the coyote. They are pests. We have swarms of them around here. I have one yaupon bush on our place. One! I have made yaupon tea before, it ain't bad. I call yaupon the renewable resource. On the property we had in Livingston, we had huge bushes of it, the horses ate it like candy. When I ran out of hay, I'd cut off limbs of it and the horses would eat it, even the twigs.

 

[Latestarter]

Yeah, the goats love the yaupon as well as the chinese privet... pretty much everything with green leaves I've given them up to this point... go figure. Their favorite though is the gum tree leaves. Those are candy that they'll fight each other for. There are a couple of trees here that they aren't real fond of. They eat but aren't crazy about the pig nut tree leaves, and the (whatever kind of) maple out front isn't a big hit with them at all. I have found 2 choke cherry trees, one is very young, basically a bush at this point, but the other is a 30' tree. They are both in the pasture I've been working on fencing, so I'm going to need to eliminate them before the goats roam free. Don't want to kill them.

@Mini Horses I don't typically drink my tea that "white"... Kinda slipped while adding the creamer and the tea wasn't as dark as my normal black pekoe tea. It was actually more a reddish color.

 

[Bruce]

I think I'll get my .243 sighted right away as that one was, and is scoped and very flat shooting.

Sounds like that is the one you want so you don't have to guess at the drop if the beast is 120 or 180 yards. I expect that takes a fair bit of practice with any particular gun.

 

[Latestarter]

Actually at such short range it's really not an issue unless a really small caliber or very large (heavy bullet/slug). If sighted in at 200 yards, bullet rise at 100 yards is like 1/2" and drop at 300 yards is like 2". So unless you're shooting at a chicken egg sized target, you're gonna kill it. The more difficult shot is trying to hit a running target to gauge lead as well as hold over/under based on range (increasing/decreasing).

 

[Bruce]

Well then it does seem that you would have a hard time missing something the size of a coyote. Tell it to stand still

 

[Latestarter]

Not sure what I did but I slept pretty good last night. Woke up ~8:00 and didn't feel the compulsion to roll over and try to go back to sleep. Not feeling as wrung out today (so far) either. Maybe the cold I'm finally getting over caused more havoc than I thought. Now that I think about it, I got it from my DD when she came for Thanksgiving so it's been almost 3 weeks... No wonder I've been run down. Anyway, the fire in the wood stove was down to coals, same as every morning, and I'm letting it burn out. Inside temp is ~68, outside temp today is supposed to be mid 70s. It's 42 right now. Think I'll even open the house and air it out a bit. Didn't get below freezing last night, no ice in the goat's water tub this morning. Did have a light frost though. Not supposed to be below freezing again the rest of this week.

Gotta do some running around today... go pay the water bill, do a little grocery shopping. My son asked me to pick up a couple of rib roasts for him since they're about 1/2 the price he has to pay for them out in Vegas. On sale here right now for $5.99/lb. I'm down to my last container of frozen Spaghetti sauce so asked him if they'd like me to make up a huge batch while they're here so they can take some home with them, like I did last time they were here. Of course he said yes, so I'll get the makins for that as well. Maybe I'll make it beforehand and get it frozen in advance. They won't be here as long this time so rather not waste multiple days cooking while they're here.

Hope everyone had a great/productive/relaxing/enjoyable weekend. I did

 

[Bruce]

They won't be here as long this time so rather not waste multiple days cooking while they're here.

Right, you need him to help fence

 

[Latestarter]

Got the water bill paid and while at the ATM to get cash, discovered a card already in the machine. Too bad they didn't leave their PIN for me as well So I returned it to the bank cashier at the drive through window before I left. Coming back from there I passed the vehicle inspection station and it dawned on me that I need to get that done and pay for a new year on the truck and trailer so swung in and paid my $7.00 to have them make sure my lights and wipers worked (what a joke!). Then I recalled that I've needed an oil/filter/lube for the better part of 4 months and don't feel like crawling under to do it so said to heck with it and had them do that as well.

So the secondary reason I went out was to get a couple rib roasts. When I first got there, the biggest they had was about 7 pounds and only one. The cutter was in a meeting. So I went and did other shopping, got the truck done, had lunch, and went back later, only to find that the cutter was done for the day & they were doing clean up So, looks like I'll be making another trip out there earlier tomorrow to once again try to get a couple of rib roasts. Guess I'll pay the truck registration and some property taxes on that trip and get that done. Every month there's something else to bleed my money away...

Have had the house opened up all day and it's been beautiful. Temp got to around 77 and there's been a nice breeze. Have the house partially shut back down now but the window beside me here is opened, ceiling light/fan combo is on and I'm sitting here in shorts and slippers. So I guess I'll go watch my team on Monday night football.