Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

I finally got out with my friend today and helped him get his 6.5 prc browning in the 1" bullseye at 200 off the bipods. It was way easier than I expected it to be knowing he's pretty new to shooting and was in about a 4-5" circle to start. I had him pulling the rifle hard into his shoulder with his off hand repeatedly till he found the spot where the crosshairs never left the target while not touching the rifle with his trigger hand and keeping the bipods slightly pulled back ( opposite of loading forward) also,these were really crappy bipods. Then only his trigger finger making contact and an easy straight pull. It worked! He was zapping the 1" bullseye @ 200 every shot. He's heading to Montana end of month and going to try the mile and I think he's got a pretty good chance. Felt pretty good helping him. It's not a huge amount of recoil but it's a pretty light gun and 153's at 3000 so it was enough to make it tough off bipods and a bench
 
I was learning right along side him. I really think I might have something with these bipods off a bench with some good amount of recoil. I watched a lot of guys struggling With them at the last 600 match and seen a lot of different approaches. But still could be someone come along and make it look easy a different way but I'm all ears
 
I am watching the national weather and once again the moisture is building to the east of N.M. . I sure hope we don't have to get a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico to push moisture into New Mexico . That's what we used to get our fall rains here from causing upslope winds and thus the moisture to drop out of the clouds as they tried to pass over the Rockies . The ocean currents and temperatures will let us know when the drought breaks . Back in the 60's and early 70's the military was playing with the weather in southeast Asia trying to get heavy rains to close road systems from the north to the south . Tons of dry ice and silver nitrates in fine particles were dumped above the clouds . Every day at 2:00 P.M. it would start to rain sometimes so hard you couldn't see your hand in front of your face but that was just the monsoon season for you . I still keep a coat and change of clothes in my truck we get cold rains here at our altitude nothing like a cold shower to get you stirred and heading to the truck and make you keep an eye to the sky . I was out after some pups that were half grown in the rocky rough draws of the pine ridges one day got about 2 miles from the truck on foot when a thunder storm blew in fast dumped so much rain in a few minutes we had a flash flood situation . So I'm setting under a rock out crop still getting wet and hoping not to get struck by all the lightening popping around me then ended up waiting for the water to slow down in the draws so I can get back to my truck all because the chopper got the adults but the pups scattered on them and I got the call to clean them up so they would stop killing lambs . Yes I loved the challenge of it . Even shivering in the rain and seeing the lightening hitting close nearly deafening you was a good adventure that you would have to be there to believe and one you will never forget . Then as fast as it clouded up and dumped on you it blows over and the sun comes out the animals start moving the birds singing you slip and slid in the mud with the gumbo building on your boots , but the sun feels so good and the world smells so fresh and new the birds songs have a new meaning to them , how could you not admire and love it , if you weren't doing what you do you would never get to have that kind of experience and if not told of it by someone that got to experience it you wouldn't know that it had happened . By the next afternoon the only sign of it happening is the washed draws piles of grass , weeds and tree limbs piled at the high water marks . Those are the times that made it all worth it for me to be there doing control work plus the countless other experiences that I would have missed out on had I not been there doing what I loved so much because of those types of experiences .
 
We have a slight chance of rain afternoon today, but then it goes back to hot, dry, and windy.
This part of the world gets most of its rainfall in the latter summer when the monsoons pass through, but gets occasional rains throughout the year.
Unfortunately, those occasions have been few and far between the last few years.

Having grown up in Alaska where the rain is never warm, my brain still has difficulty accepting what my body is telling it when exposed to the rain down here.
I automatically anticipate cold rain and am pleasantly surprised when it's like a lukewarm shower. 😁
Hypothermia is still sometimes a danger, but nothing like being up there.

Ed
 
You never really know what and how much you know until you start teaching others and helping them solve problems.

If you're not learning, you're dying.

Ed
I definitely have a lot to learn. I really think it's helping to compete. Last match had a lot of mirage . It was moving from left to right and my groups hit to the left!! I was just shooting for groups since I hadn't really finished tuning the load but the week before I was letting a buddy shoot it while I was working with my brothers rifle and he was basically hitting clay pigeon size targets at 545 yards. So ya, lots to learn
 
74Honker ,

That is one LARGE , Impressive , electric motor .
Am I correct in presuming that the water pump is the large gray unit in the left rear area of the photo ?
At 70,000 gallons per minute , that equates to 4.2 Million gallons per hour . That is a RIVER !!!

The Big Springs of Island Park , Idaho , that is the headwaters of the Henry's Fork River flows at a rate of 5 million gallons per hour - 120 million gallons per day .
Your pump is essentially matching that river's flow . WOW !!!!!

Pardon my ignorance for my questions , but , are you draining river overflow / floodwaters from low-lying agricultural areas ?
Is the pump station privately owned , or is it a Public Utility Facility ?

I am both fascinated , and overwhelmed at the size and capacity of these mechanical parts , and the volume of water that it is capable of moving .


DMP25-06
DMP 25-06,
DSheetz is correct, I pump mainly rain runoff and when the river is high the water table/level is also so it has to be pumped out to keep the land "inside" the levee from flooding. I pump water from roughly 15-18k acres about 10k of which are actually in the floodplain and the rest in the hills but are part of our watershed. The only way for any of this water to get into the IL river is through my station. I have about 26 miles of canals that all lead to this station. My full run capacity is a little over 8 million gals/hr. There are many stations just like mine all over the country. Think New Orleans, same stuff here just not as big as them and less people. But the same outcome when too much rain hits or a levee breaches and or if a pump goes down at the wrong time. My station and district is probably considered private but, think township, is funded by the landowners of my district in the form of a tax. The Army Corp of Engineers inspects and accredites us and we keep to their standards for levee maintanence and upkeep.
 
DMP25-06 , 74Honker must be busy . yes that is the pump in the background . If I recall correctly he is keeping flat farm ground from flooding caused by rains and run off .
Thanks for filling in for me and you are correct, both of them lol. I've been crazy busy. Between pumping, it finally dried out enough this week to get some farming done and we running wide open to make up for lost time. Alot of years we are done planting this time of year but are just getting a good start now. I worked on the farm all last couple of days and now pumping at night and farming in the daylight lol.
 
Every opossum must die.

They are the primary carriers of the protozoa that causes Equine Protozoal Myeloncephalitis (EPM). This is a fatal disease for any equine that becomes infected. All a horse has to do is ingest the cysts that are expelled in the 'possum's fecal matter. They cysts are viable for quite some time outside of the 'possum.
Opossum crosses your pasture and takes a dump on the grass and you have a landmine that will kill your horses.

Without a doubt, the most horrible way for a horse to die. I know, I lost a horse to EPM.

Ed

P.S., I've heard all the tales about how many ticks that opossums eat and the study that is quoted is so flawed it is scientifically useless. There is no evidence that opossums contribute to the demise of any significant number of ticks.

They are another of Nature's garbage-men, but their risks in horse country far outweigh any benefit they may have.
Opossums are vile creatures. Oversize rats. So nasty that coyotes wont even eat a dead one. I too know the heartbreak of EPM. One of my daughters show horses died from it years ago. Sad. Sure wish I could send some moisture your way.
 
I finally got out with my friend today and helped him get his 6.5 prc browning in the 1" bullseye at 200 off the bipods. It was way easier than I expected it to be knowing he's pretty new to shooting and was in about a 4-5" circle to start. I had him pulling the rifle hard into his shoulder with his off hand repeatedly till he found the spot where the crosshairs never left the target while not touching the rifle with his trigger hand and keeping the bipods slightly pulled back ( opposite of loading forward) also,these were really crappy bipods. Then only his trigger finger making contact and an easy straight pull. It worked! He was zapping the 1" bullseye @ 200 every shot. He's heading to Montana end of month and going to try the mile and I think he's got a pretty good chance. Felt pretty good helping him. It's not a huge amount of recoil but it's a pretty light gun and 153's at 3000 so it was enough to make it tough off bipods and a bench
Good on you for helping your buddy! I'll have to try that trick with my new bipod whenever I get time to have some fun lol.
 
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