Lately I have decided to embrace my redneckness a little more. I've been doing a lot of hiking and hunting in an effort to relieve stress and lose some weight. Plus it's just fun to shoot stuff.
About a month ago my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin came down for a couple days from Colorado. My cousin Cory and I took an night and went coyote hunting. We brought my 19 million candle power spotlight with us. So the first spot we setup we didn't call in anything. After a little over an hour we split and went to a spot where I have seen coyotes before. As I was putting down my backpack I could hear the coyotes yipping on the other side of the wash. So we quickly setup and started calling. It was a little over 50% moon that night and we didn't know if we were seeing the coyotes running up out of the wash or if it was our mind playing tricks on us. Eventually we decided to just turn on the light and we saw a pack of coyotes on the other side of the wash about 200 yards away. Cory unloaded first then we kept switching between who holds the light and who shoots.
After a couple minutes one of the coyotes was still there and limping so it was obvious he had been hit. There's big debate on who hit him but I'm convinced it was me since I'm the one that had a shotgun with 00 buck shot. Cory's 30 06 would have destroyed the coyote. We tried to track down the coyote but couldn't find the trail so its the coyote that got away. We didn't get to bring back a pelt and skull but it was still a lot of fun. We went again at another spot in Black Canyon and weren't able to call in coyotes but we did see a couple wild burros. I got to learn some tracking tips from my redneck cousin.
So after Cory left I decided to put coyote hunting on hold for a while and start shooting stuff I can eat. So one afternoon I decided to go rabbit hunting. I went around the same spot we shot that coyote a few days earlier. I got a rabbit after a few minutes and was heading back when a couple guys went flying by on dirt bikes. They had stirred up a flock of quail so I decided to take a shot at quail. I only had my .22 LR with me, no shotgun, so it had to be a headshot to not ruin the breast. So I start trying to get close enough to the quail to get a shot and they kept running away. I was about to give up after a couple minutes because I needed to get my rabbit home but then I thought I can't be beat by quail. So I went after one that I may or may not have hit, I forgot to check, and then another came running out. I shot that one right in the neck. I found it, smashed it's head, and went home. I put it in the frying pan and Natalie and Adri were skeptical it would taste good. Well turns out quail is better than chicken.
So the next day I went back with my 420 shotgun I inherited from my Grandpa a few years back. It's an old Stevens side by side. I made a bad decision to bring a backup shotgun and a heavy ice chest with me thinking I was going to bring home a dozen quail. So I came up on the same spot as the day before and there were the quail. I went to take off the backpack but one of the rings for the pins was stuck in my shirt. Once I got the pack off I chased down the quail and had three of them within a few inches of each other in my sights. I pulled the trigger and nothing. Tried again and nothing. Well turns out there is a safety with a big S on the gun but fire is when the button is pushed towards the S and safety is when it is pushed away. Seems backwards to me. So once I figured that out I got a quail. I put it in the ice chest and not even 2 minutes later got another. Then I went across the wash and learned the range on a 420 isn't as good as a 12 gauge. I think I clipped another because it jumped off the bush and ran off but I never did find it.
After that I hiked another 5 miles with a 50+ pound backpack on and got nothing. After 3 shots from a shotgun they were all gone. They had moved over by the houses where I couldn't shoot them. So I scored two quail that evening and a mystery swollen rib. Somehow a rib that has been sticking out a little on my left side for a decade swelled up to the size of a potato. Had an ultrasound and MRI and they have no clue what it is. But the quail were again, delicious. I'm probably gonna get in another hunt next week. This time I'll leave the ice chest in the car, go light, and try to just get in, get a few kills, and get out.
My 19 million candle power light.
Adri used to like Salsa at this age too. But a year or two later she decided she doesn't like spicy food.
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