wind wins the day

[rifleshooter]

Well had a run out at the weekend for another go at geting those shots out at range, and give the Exbal another go,now i dont have a anemometer and the wind was fair blowing so this made things a diferent ball game and gave me a real kick up the arse on the long range shots anything over around 170 and the wind saved those rabbits big style and a couple of the black varmints so a dissapointing day was had,there are two sides to this area both sides provide fair long shots but one side also has a few roe which i intended to have a go at before dark so i didnt disturb this side typicaly the wind droped just as i was going to have a bit of a stalk walking to the area a doe was as startled as i was when i walked round the corner and off it went(good start) spying with the bins i saw a couple more a fair way out the grass was a good length so stalking was easy but when in shooting range they were does, another four were out feeding further on but they to were does so no venison for t ,decided to wait till dark and have a bit of a lamp,the night was very warm and very quiet compared to the daytime,where i expected to see fox's there was nothing heading back to the vehicle the familiar site of those spotlight eyes shone,a bit of action at last got steady on a wall and waited for it to show and present a clear shot,it wasnt botherd by the lamp so no rush shot was needed when it showed again it was that close i would have thought it would feel the heat of the lamp,never knew what hit it, so a bit of a dissapointing day in all half a dozen rabbits and one fox,need to get myself a anemometer and a bit of experience at shooting in the wind ,different ball game all together as i found out the hard way
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8534/picture051fo8.jpg

 

[royinidaho]

Yep, things go that way at times......

Why not do some practice shooting in those conditions. The wind meter will tell you only what the wind is doing at your location. I'm not familiar with your neck of the woods at all, but suspect wind would not be consistent or similar for vary large distances. Getting a good feel for what's going on down range would be quite valuable.

Here in the sage brush desert the wind can be uniform for long periods of time on over long distances. I find I have to go to the mountains to untrain from from the desert and learn to read the trees/grass etc as usually there is a several hundred foot deep valley between the shooting spot and the target/game. This consistutes a longer than 2 hour hike to get from one point to the other.

I sure do like the suppressor idea.........

 

[grit]

Had the same kind of afternoon today. Wind blowing from 3-12 mph. Switching from quartering left to quartering right every few seconds. + High temp had the mv up some. I thought I was shooting a shotgun. Scattered shots a bit high, right, low, and left. Very difficult shooting. A patient mans afternoon. I tried picking a condition and waiting for it, holding off for the switchy wind, and waiting for a stall. Kind of shooting you need a sharp partner for.

Like Shawn says, "There's thousand yard conditions, and there's not". It was tough and interesting. Made the hits a bit dramatic. I was getting more consistent towards the end of the day. I would certainly hesitate to hunt in those conditions. At least you got to make some "gut piles".