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An Ice Castle morning

By The Armorer on January 12, 2010 | | Comments (13)
We woke up this morning to fog and heavy frost... with the destriers of Argghhh! out munching on the remnants of the big round bale.


It was really quite lovely.



With every thing limned in delicate icy filigree



Just plain purty.  Waitaminnit.  Whazzat?



There, in the distance, at the end of the road.



I missed, dammit.

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13 Comments

By David M on January 12, 2010 11:43 AM
You missed and by the looks of it...it brought a friend along this time.
 
By Robin from Anchorage on January 12, 2010 11:54 AM
Great photo of the little varmints.  When I lived in Oklahoma we had ten fenced acres and I was raising a fine flock of Toulouse geese and Indian Runner ducks.  Since they were raised from hatchlings they were very affectionate and would follow me around like their mother when I fed them, accepted pets and cuddles just like the dogs.  One night my favorite escape from his fenced field and knocked on the front door.  I picked him up and carried him back to his yard, tossing him over the fence.  When I went out the next morning I discovered what he had been trying to tell me.  The coyotes had gotten into the flock and decimated it.   My Paul Revere goose was one of the few survivors.  As much as I love dogs, coyotes have been on my black list since then.
 
By olga on January 12, 2010 12:32 PM
beautiful pictures!
 
By KCSteve on January 12, 2010 12:35 PM
Range cards and calibrated scopes - even if your natural tendencies might run more to indirect fire. ;)
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 12, 2010 1:31 PM
300 yards, open sights.  I botched the shot, it went low.  Things happen.
 
By Barb on January 12, 2010 1:52 PM
Good job seeing them 300 yards away.  Then again, movement would have been the reason for the second look.  I'm sure the little buggers will present more chances, although not often do you get one in daylight!
 
By KCSteve on January 12, 2010 3:13 PM
I figured it was open sights.  I'm sure if it had been a fixed target you would have put the rest of the group where it counted.

For that range I wouldn't feel comfortable not using a scope on an animal*.  When I hunt (and I consider pest elimination still in the 'hunting' category) I want everything but the target unbothered and the target dropped as quickly and cleanly as possible.

*Targets and adversaries take their chances.
 
By H H on January 12, 2010 5:23 PM
I assume it is against the law to set up a bait station with a couple of claymores lined up on it.  An infrared spot light to illuminate it at night and a long control wire to set off the claymores as appropriate.  It you really want to kill them, overkill them!
Lower tech, an old fashioned bouncing betty hooked to a fresh piece of meat.
Just have to keep your own animals away from the kill zone.
I may have been Air Force, but I had two brothers in the Marines and two in the Army.  They sort of rubbed off on me.
 
By Pogue on January 12, 2010 5:37 PM
A friend of mine is simi famous for his "naked coyote shot".  Of course it was summer in northern Arizona and the range wasn't as great...
 
By Carol Kirk on January 12, 2010 8:53 PM
We get coyotes here in Tennessee as well.  In the winter especially they would sit up on our hill and howl at the moon.  It used to drive my wolfhounds crazy.  They knew there were wolves out there and they were supposed to do something violent about it.
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 12, 2010 9:09 PM
Actually, HH, the state wildlife people will come out and show you how to leg-trap them so you can kill them at your leisure.

I admit, until the predation gets unbearably expensive, I'll stick with giving 'em a sporting chance.

I'm weak that way.
 
By skip on January 12, 2010 9:09 PM
Leopold on a .308 works for me. Just hafta watch the backstop.
The neighbors would like that.
 
By Justthisguy on January 13, 2010 10:12 PM
Sporting chance, or education?  I betcha if you shoot one, and another sees what happened, he'll feel all scaredy and leery if he hears a bullet go by at a later time. Coyotes are pretty smart.  If the cost-benefit ratio is wrong, they'll go somewhere else.