Here in the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern PA, we’ve been having sub-zero temperatures, high winds and snowy conditions.

The Allegheny Mountains near my home have thousands of acres for coyotes and foxes to roam. However, few hunters hike these icy ridge tops in severe weather conditions like this. It was minus 20 degrees this morning.

I have my rifle ready to go, it’s a .223 Smith & Wesson AR and I have my Riton RT-S Mod-5 Gen-2 scope mounted on it. The 6-24×50 scope is, “Riton @200 yards”. So I’m ready for a nice coyote or fox to show up in my crosshair.

For hunting on stand, I pack a small 3-legged stool so I can sit motionless while calling. I use a lightweight tripod for a solid shooting platform for taking shots at 100-yards or more.

We’ve been seeing a few foxes and coyotes in the mountains near my hunting area and their tracks are easy to see in the snow.

We’ve had foxes cross the edge of this big corn field during the daytime. The mice and moles are really thick in this area and that food supply draws in the predators.

We’re using my new FoxPro electronic Caller and it’s made right here in PA. The Patriot model is compact, lightweight and very sturdy. The sounds loaded into the unit are really nice and they contain a good selection, plus you can add up to 300 more sounds.

The controller has a lighted keypad and with these large buttons, it’s easy to use even when wearing gloves.

We’ve done some calling along the oak ridges and in some brushy river bottoms. And so far, our daylight predator calling has not been productive for us.

But, I have high hopes we will do better and I’ll finally get to do some shooting when we start calling and hunting after sundown.

This type of hunting calls for a powerful light to spot our quarry. We picked a “Night Snipe” light with a red LED and a rechargeable Lithium battery. Experts claim its focusing beam can spot animals at more than 400 yards. It attaches easily to the scope and I can’t wait to try it out.

We hope to have a video of a successful night-time coyote or fox hunt as soon as the weather cooperates. Minus -30 below zero is a little too cold for me. My trigger finger just doesn’t work properly until temperatures reach the 40 degree range.

We recently had a few coyotes and red foxes appear on our trail cameras so now is a great time to plan a late season predator hunt. 

This red fox ran by my trail camera at 8:30 am.

Then I got 2 photos of this coyote near the same spot at night.

This camera shoots color in daylight but only B&W photos at night. Too bad this coyote wasn’t centered in the camera better.

To start off our “Winter Night Time Hunts”, I mounted my RT-S Mod-5 Gen-2 scope on our new Smith & Wesson AR-15.

We mounted the scope with Riton medium high 30mm rings, but it was too low to operate the charging bar easily. So, we bought two extra pic spacers to get the scope higher above the pic rail. That solved the problem.

At 100 yards we got a few 4 shot groups from 1 inch to 1 ½ inches with factory cal. 223 ammo. I think that’s pretty good for an AR rifle.

I carried the rifle around our property just to get used to holding it. It’s really a different feel when aiming this AR compared with my bolt-action type rifles.

This special scope has a very fine cross hair grid for windage and elevation indicators. The very center of the cross hair can be illuminated with a red light by turning the battery turret on. This feature will be a big help in getting on target during a night-time predator hunt.

The scope has the Push/Pull Locking Zero Reset Turrets and it’s made of Aircraft Grade Aluminum. Plus, it’s 100% Waterproof, Fog proof and Shockproof. The ¼” MOA Fingertip Windage and Elevation turrets are great for getting back to zero when your changing bullet weights or shooting at extreme long range.

OK coyotes and foxes, “Look out, I’m ready to hunt!”