Last Saturday I was visiting a friend on a farm and we heard a group calling in the distance.
My buddy ran inside and seconds later he came outside with weapons, thermal, a go bag with small supplies, and said everyone grab a 4 wheeler, it’s go time…
I’m the back of the pack with the Benelli M2 filled with OO buck shot, leader is running us to an active spot what seemed to be a few miles deeper… way too far to walk from the fire pit.
Lights out for the last leg, engines cut off and tightly grouped together between the 3 four wheelers in complete darkness, hunkered down a corner, thermal activated, red lights on standby, calling machine blowing… you can see 10 million stars above and no moon. I’m using the thermal to identify my surroundings, create mental landmarks, and identify distance since I’m using the shotgun… never been here before so it was speedy to recon.
Minutes into calling a large owl flew silent over head and lands on the speaker in the field just 40’yards in front of us. I’ve got a young 13yr old boy to my left ready with a red light and I’m covering our back end with thick brush and 2 trails, the other two are on literally inches from my back covering a field with a single AR covering the call with thermal and a red light on hand… we sit in silence while the call is blowing several different screams. Thermal is being passed between to check any activity. We must have been in this position for about 45 minutes trying to bait them in. I’m feeling pumped as all of my senses are in overdrive anticipating something jumping out at any moment.
After a little while we call it quits because the pack moved on. I can hear them in the distance but active calling was faint. Better luck next time!
I later find out that the pack surrounded my buddy and his two sons just a few nights before in the exact spot. He said it was pretty spooky having the dogs in pitch black running 20-30 yards around him and his two sons on the ground. Eventually he fired off towards a cluster and they tore out. There were some lessons learned that evening with him and his two young sons…
Looking forward to getting the call to head on over to the farm another evening soon, this time I know my surroundings!
My buddy ran inside and seconds later he came outside with weapons, thermal, a go bag with small supplies, and said everyone grab a 4 wheeler, it’s go time…
I’m the back of the pack with the Benelli M2 filled with OO buck shot, leader is running us to an active spot what seemed to be a few miles deeper… way too far to walk from the fire pit.
Lights out for the last leg, engines cut off and tightly grouped together between the 3 four wheelers in complete darkness, hunkered down a corner, thermal activated, red lights on standby, calling machine blowing… you can see 10 million stars above and no moon. I’m using the thermal to identify my surroundings, create mental landmarks, and identify distance since I’m using the shotgun… never been here before so it was speedy to recon.
Minutes into calling a large owl flew silent over head and lands on the speaker in the field just 40’yards in front of us. I’ve got a young 13yr old boy to my left ready with a red light and I’m covering our back end with thick brush and 2 trails, the other two are on literally inches from my back covering a field with a single AR covering the call with thermal and a red light on hand… we sit in silence while the call is blowing several different screams. Thermal is being passed between to check any activity. We must have been in this position for about 45 minutes trying to bait them in. I’m feeling pumped as all of my senses are in overdrive anticipating something jumping out at any moment.
After a little while we call it quits because the pack moved on. I can hear them in the distance but active calling was faint. Better luck next time!
I later find out that the pack surrounded my buddy and his two sons just a few nights before in the exact spot. He said it was pretty spooky having the dogs in pitch black running 20-30 yards around him and his two sons on the ground. Eventually he fired off towards a cluster and they tore out. There were some lessons learned that evening with him and his two young sons…
Looking forward to getting the call to head on over to the farm another evening soon, this time I know my surroundings!
