Jalapeño Live Hunt Day 8- On him!

6:47 just spotted him.  He’s 800 yds below me. 

10:30. Beded 200 yds below in thick!?!?!? Waiting…

2:30 pm, update

I caught him in the 15X Vortex binos working his way up a dry creek bed just after first light.  I stayed put until I knew where he was headed.  About 8:00, he settled in a heavy patch of maples and I soon lost him.  I glassed until around 11:00, only moving about 100 yards in 4 hours and never saw him but I never saw him leave either.  Several small herds of deer came and went, but not him or his partner.  The thermals really picked up and I figured he stay in the cover until dusk then feed out about where I saw him Monday night.  I wanted to be there waiting if he did.  Over the next hour and half, I crept closer and was about 120 yards from his last known locale.  I was wondering how much farther to go.  Like yesterday, I’m walking on loose rock and dry vegetation, so it’s not quiet.  Suddenly I heard deer moving in the cover below, maybe 60 yards out.  They were moving away.  Thirty seconds later, Jalapeno and his partner appeared in the dry creek bed below.  They’d heard me again.  Seems they were very close to where I was hoping they’d come out tonight.  They didn’t blow out too bad and never saw or smelled me.  I watched them head in another brush-choked draw and never come out in an hour.  

I’m back at camp and will head out around 4:30.  If the wind is right, there is an ambush point at the bottom of the draw where I’ll wait.  

Slow day, so let’s talk optics strategy.  You may have noticed I was packing a big Swaro the first few days.  It’s an ATS 80 HD w/ 25-50x eyepiece.  If you’ve followed my previous hunts, you’ll know I’m a big fan of the Swaro CT 30x -75mm Extendable.  A great optic and is why I’ve used it so long.  This ATS 80 HD is as bright at my CT (the 65 mm are not) up to about 40X plus I get the extra 20X over the CT.  I’ve never owned an angled body scope like this ATS.  Now that I’m used to it, I find it more comfortable on the neck and it adds several inches of needed height to my compact Leopold tripod. 

Big, clear, and beatiful I call her.  Swaro sent me a killer carbon tripod with head, but it’s a little big for the pack in, so here the big 80 HD is shown paired with my Leupold compact tripod sporting a manfrotto head:

Once I got a good look at Jalapeno and learned some of his hideouts, I’ve started packing the Vortex 15×56 Vultures (the ones you can win).  They’re great for glassing big country and are what I’ve used theses last two mornings to find Jalapeno.  I’m continually impressed at their brightness.  They are finicky about focus, but once you get them set, they’re good. 

If I could only have one optic up here, it would be the Swaro 8×42 EL Range binos swinging around my neck.  They are a great piece of glass for this type of hunting and the few times I’ve been on Jalapeno, I’ve known exactly how far he is (and the shoot-to distance is steep terraing).  They are my brightest optic up here and the first thing I start glassing with in the morning.

Here’s some video I shot a few days ago on mid-day glassing to keep things interesting: