Good stuff.Way to go.
Wind is a very tricky thing.Its easy to think its 'easy'.Then it grabs you and teaches you a lesson.I've fought wind reality all my life and only the last few years get it right,more than wrong.I have to keep reminding myself 'it is what it is'.By that I mean the laws of physics and flight don't lie,its my mind that does.
If I dope it right,the wind chart on my rifle is valid no matter how much i wish otherwise.Here's my weekend wind drift story.
I'd cleaned my rifles and quit for the year-then i went and got my hair cut friday.I get it cut by a nearby ranchers wife and when I arrived she had someone in the chair and said,'it'll be a few minutes,my husbands remodeling the basement and would like to talk to you'.He's a great guy who lets me hunt his land so I headed downstairs.As soon as i got there he announced coyotes had just killed 2 calves right behind the house and he wanted me to get them.I told him I'd shot 2 this past winter on his north pastures but never had hunted behind the house.He explained a hired hand had dragged the remains onto a slough/lake back there and they were howling mornings and evenings back there.A hired hand had tried to get em without luck.When done with the cut,I drove around and glassed as best I could and then walked in from a distant road the next day in the dark.(Saturday was windy if you are from around here and recall)Set up thinking I was OK but as it got light I could see the few remains were about 325-350 yds down with a strong crosswind which I doped out at 25mph or so.The hunter in me said 'move up bozo'but with age and senility I've gotten good at rationalizing so that work/effort can be avoided-and stayed where i was.About a half hour goes by and nothing.I decide next time i should come in across the lake and try that so I'm glassing away trying to memorize a route to get to a point of trees over there.When I look up,there are 5(yes,FIVE)coyotes milling around the remains.Avoiding a heart attack and finally getting my breath back i get on the gun-sitting position.I quickly realize I'm still not real steady even with the bipod so slide into a prone position creating a 'bench rest'composed of bipod,cowpies and gloves.Solid.Check my wind chart(8 inches at 300),line up on a broadside yote giving just a tad 'daylight'with the vertical crosshair just off his chest on the upwind side and touch her off.Spinner!The others run,then stop and watch the spinner.Line up just the same again on another broadside and touch off.Bang,flop then up and going with what was clearly a busted rear leg.I shoot at 'leg'again as he enters some cattails,then miss a runner going across the lake,then miss the 'spinner'as he continues his spinning.As I frantically reload he crawls into the cattails.I hustle down there and after breaking through the ice in the cattails repeatedly(filling one boot),I recover the spinner but not the 'leg'.
The spinner is hit in the rear quarters.Clearly the 'leg'had been hit too far back as well-then it hit me-a rookie move(in all my years never had 5 standing in range before).The 8 inches is for a 10mph wind-and I hadn't doubled it.
(243,55gr BTs,4050fps,BC of.276=8 inches at 300 with 10mph=Double at least at 25mph)It is,what it is.
There's another message here though I think-particularly for you younger guys:Hunt now,work later.The 'golden years'is just propaganda to keep you working when you should be hunting.Don't wait,senility and sharpshooting don't go together.
