Is there any other way to deal with heavy mirage besides using a variable power scope and shooting at shorter ranges?
(I know, shoot in the early morning but sometimes the only time I can get away is afternoons.)

[ 05-28-2003, 01:45: Message edited by: Fjold ]

Fjold: My experiences with mirage have been in the Colony Varmint fields Hunting Prairie Dogs, Rock Chucks and on some occassions Ground Squirrels. Mirage can be frustrating at the longer ranges but a good spotter can help obtain hits even in the worst of mirage conditions. As well as low recoiling heavy Varmint Rifles where you can spot your own hits. Either way one just corrects for any mirage induced "target movement". I still fire through the mirage with my scopes on their highest powers.
I learned this lesson many years ago though. Always verify your mirage blurred target with binoculars or your scope on lower power before the shot. I came within a hair breadth of shooting a Burrowing Owl once. The Owl was the size, color and shape of a Prairie Dog (through my scope anyway)in the mirage. My "Prairie Dog" was walking around on a Prairie Dog mound and was in the middle of a Prairie Dog town in the middle of a warm Prairie Dog summer day and I had no idea that Burrowing Owls frequented that area! I was taking up the tension on the trigger when the lucky little Owl fluttered its wings. I was able to see this wing fluttering through the mirage easily but could not discern the Owl from a Prairie Dog! I grabbed the binoculars and was then able to identify the creature!
The sun came up here today in SW Montana at 0539 hours. My suggestion to you if you want to avoid mirage in your Varmint fields is to be on location at sunrise and not in town at a restaurant or driving around looking for Chuck holes but on your shooting mat aiming and shooting in the lesser mirage conditions. A lot of the places I Varmint Hunt also has much less mirage in the last hour of daylight. If there is moving air (wind) this last hour even on hot days on the high plains can be easy pickings for the Varminter (me) willing to sacrifice the normal dinner time!
I find the higher scope powers still provide higher success rates over turning the scope power down enough to erase the apparent mirage.
Good luck out there.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

[ 05-28-2003, 19:49: Message edited by: VarmintGuy ]

thanks, I'm in the semi-desert area of southern California and sometimes our mirage is so heavy you cannot see the ground at 300 yards.

I have no magic formula for you. Working with the wind and mirage is just hard to do some times.

As with most hunting situations experience is the best teacher. Keep at it and you will be able to read the mirage to some degree.

I agree, those high powered scopes I love are just a problem when the mirage is bad. However, turn them down a little and work with it.

And only being able to get away in the afternoons beats the hell out of not being able to get away at all!

R F

Yep, I'm just going to put up with it I guess, it'll be a good learning experience. It's 103 (39.4 C) degrees here today and the mirage is fierce. But, I have access to 1800 acres of ground squirrels 15 minutes from my house so I don't complain about much. ;-)

Edit: It actually hit 107 F today (41.7 C)

[ 05-29-2003, 18:48: Message edited by: Fjold ]