GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : only1harry September 30, 2008, 10:00:33 AM
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Today it was nice and dry in the 60's with a nice breeze. A refreshing change from the rainy grey weekend we had. I decided to walk around the property during my 'lunch hour', mainly along the hill in the back with the Condor in hand wearing my camo jacket & hat. Didn't make much difference since I was moving.. but hey I looked good and it was comfortable :) for a while anyway..
A few min. later I noticed a squirrel climbing down from my oak tree near the street and crossing the lawn all the way back to where the hill starts. He climbed a tree and seemed to make his way towards me. He was a good 30-35ft up and at least 30yds out when I lost sight of him as I was getting ready to locate him through the scope. I figured he had seen me by now and is being cautious. After about 10min. of hiding behind a tree and listening to the squirrel cracking nuts open, I started getting hot. I still couldn't locate him, and I didn't want to get too close to spook him. Besides he was still kind of close to the neighbor's driveway so I went back inside and took the camo jacket off re-thinking my strategy. I decided to stay by my favorite 2nd floor window for a little while to see if he thinks the danger is gone and give him a chance to make his way along the hill towards my position, as they usually do.
Sure enough not more than 3-4min. went by when I see him jump to another tree closer, and walking quickly and straight to a thin branch almost all the way out to the end to get some fruit or nuts. There were a lot of leaves at the end of that branch but I was able to spot his head through an opening but nothing else. That's good enough for me. His head was facing me diagonally at an angle and it was down as he was munching on something. I could take either a broadside headshot or a (semi-) frontal one since it was a weird angle. I went for the latter since his head was down and I had a decent view of at least 3/4 of the front of his head. A/O cleared things up real nice just a hair over 30, or around 31yds. Put the crosshairs on his skull close to his left eye and let the Kodiak do its thing. Big "crack" like sound and the squirrel falls and does a small death dance for no more than 2secs.
The 21gr lead projectile had traveled through its head and out the right shoulder again like one other time a couple of wks ago. The sheer power of the Condor enables the Kodiak to smash through everything and always exit its prey.
Of course there was another one near by which I spotted as I came out to collect this one, but he ran very high up a tree and I lost him. My neck started bothering me after a coule of min. looking up so I gave up on him although I would have liked to bring 2 squirrels to my neighbor so we can both have enough to eat for once. I had to go back to work but not before dropping the squirrel off at the neighbor's, since the wife doesn't allow critters dead or alive in the house. I can't wait to taste him tomorrow. I 'm hoping I 'll get another one and we can maybe have 2. Gotta go get some beer tonight :)
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Nice shootin Harry.
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That sure is a little squirrel for that much gun bro...lol I bet that hurt...
Nice shootin.
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Great shooting. You better watch out you won't have anything to shoot at if you keep this up. lol
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Thanks guys.
Johnny: I doubt the squirrel felt much because it was a brain shot & he did the short death dance involuntarily while unconcious or dead. It's caused by its nervous system and they 're already really gone by then. The first squirrel I got with my 350 .22 (23fpe) was only at 15yds. The 14.3gr CP with 850fps MV went right through its brain and also took out 1 eye upon exiting. There was some brain matter hanging out of the eye socket but still the squirrel did a ~4sec dead dance! They are not in a concious state when they do that. They are knocked out from the shock of the impact to the head before they begin doing that.
Yeah the Condor is a little too much gun for them but I love the Condor's accuracy. It only takes about 4fpe on impact to kill a squirrel so most people use too much airgun on them :-)
I actually rarely hunt with it on a full fill. I usually target practice the first 25-30 ("power") pellets (at the lowest PW setting) after each fill, and don't use it for hunting until the power is down to 900fps which is after ~30 shots. This time I had taken at least 40-45 shots before I got this squirrel. It was shooting around the mid 800's (down from 1,000fps). I feel it's more "backyard friendly" at that power level. It's still 33-34fpe, which is more like a mainstream PCP or closer to a Talon w/18" barrel. It is extremely accurate between 800-900fps with Kodiaks and I feel that 's a good velocity for hunting and still maintain a less "loopy" trajectory.
I also like to shoot several pellets before the hunt or fresh fill, because the gun gets more quiet once the power comes down a notch.
Don't worry I 'll be using a Springer for the next couple of hunts if that makes you feel better :) hehe
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That black baby is a killer Harry, GREAT SHOT , STORY and love the pics.:) Ed
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Ed thanks. That "baby" is 45" long! hehe But I don't tell it that.. I treat it like a baby, pamper it and feed it only the best :-) Don't ask how much those English 32gr Eley slugs cost per tin.. Only the best for my baby :) I 'm saving those for some bigger furry creatures.. They made 74fpe on power setting 6 which is half way to setting 12! Don't want to use those on a squirrel.. don't feel like searching for its head :-)
Jim thanks, you are not kidding. I have to be careful because this happened to me with the g-hogs this summer. After 17 g-hogs, I ran out! and it was only the beginning of August. Believe it or not I started missing them :) If I keep up this pace, by Nov-Dec. time frame I don't think I 'll have any squirrels left either.
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Good shot on the nutter Harry!!! I enjoyed your hunt story. seems the squirrels are out in full force this time of year:)
I have been eyeing a used condor... where did you get the shroud for your condor?
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Thanks Chris.
Wow, you are shopping for another gun? When do you get the time so shoot all those guns? I hope I didn't influence you too much with the Condor, hehe.
I have the Airhog shroud which you can only get if you buy your Air Force gun from Airhog directly. They don't sell them seperately, probably because of legal reasons. Selling the gun with the shroud together is probably legal, at least for us since we are buying it new like that. I got mine used too. TalonTunes also makes an excellent shroud for $200. Keep in mind that the Condor without a shroud is about twice as loud as a .22LR rimmie so you 're on the right track..
Is there enough room on this forum for 2 Condors though? :-) I have enjoyed the exclusivity so far, hehe
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Another great hunt story from you and your Condor Harry.
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Good shot.
Gumbo, YUM!
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Nice story. That is a lot of gun. How fast are the Kodiak's traveling do you think?
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Harry, that's a nice shot on that squirrel. That's a killer of a rifle!
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Thanks guys,
DW: I always keep the power whell all the way down at the lowest setting. With a 2700psi fill the Kodiaks start @ 990-1,010fps (46-47fpe) muzzle velocity.
I have put it through the chrony for the first 40shots. After 30 shots the power is down to 900-910fps MV. 40 shots they 're at 870-880. I had taken about 45 shots before I shot this squirrel, so the Kodiak was traveling around 850-860fps. I just hold over about 1/3" at 30yds and it's usually on the mark as when it shoots 950-1,000fps.