GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : Furseeker March 29, 2010, 11:32:20 AM
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I only had to go to work today long enough to attend 3 meetings and was out by 2:30 to do a little air gun hunting. I saw one squirrel run across the equipment yard as soon as I pulled up, but he ducked into his hole and wouldn’t come out again. But while I was do some glassing I saw this Eurasian Collared Dove on the ground under a big Russian Olive tree about 35 yards away. I used a metal gate as a solid rest and touched off the shot. When the pellet struck home the bird simply spun around and flapped his wings a few times before lying still.
I walked around the dairy and spotted a few more squirrels but they were on high alert and ran for their holes before I could get off a few shots. I finally spotted one lurking around the tire pile about 50 yards out. I tried to play the wind and made some corrections by aiming just to the side of the squirrel. I saw dust kick up just to the side of my intended target, so I must have used too much adjustment. On the way back to the truck I saw a flock of about 15 pigeons go down in pen across the street. A short walk later I was scanning the flock trying to find a bird to my liking. The all looked the same so I picked one that was only about 30 yards away and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot sent all the birds into the air but I noticed one with the landing gear still down and running out of power fast. He did a controlled crash landing that brought the rest of the flock down too. I was attempting to locate the wounded bird among all the other birds but couldn’t tell which one was hit. Not wanting to loose another wounded animal I kept looking, finally the birds got nervous and they all took flight. But I noticed one left on the ground, he was unable to fly and wasn’t even walking but he had his head up a looked alert so I went ahead and put second pellet in him. I guess if I wasn’t so intent on finding the first one I hit I probably could have had two pigeons tonight but in the end I felt good about recovering the first bird I shot.
I have the rest of the week off so I should be able to get a few more birds on the ground and maybe even a squirrel or two.
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Nice job !
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Great shooting and nice pics !! That collared dove looks almost as big as the pigeon.... I wasn't aware they were that big. Very nice...
Jeff
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Nice pair you got there furseeker.
Dove wrapped in bacon, grilled over mesquite wood. Man, my mouth is watering.(http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif)
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Thanks Jeff. Those collared doves get pretty big. I'd say the one in the photo is smaller then most I've been shooting. There were quite a few out tonight. Two more tomorrow will give me enough for a nice dinner.
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Lots of time off and a nice RWS high-powered AR. I'm envious. You should be able to boost your totals for the year.
You may want to try neck-shooting pigeons. WadeS and I have found them to be pretty tough. Many times a .22 body shot from close range won't bring them down immediately. Once we started aiming for the top of the chest/neck area they drop immediately.
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great shooting!
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Great shooting and pic's and what a way to shed the stress from a work day, hunting. :) Ed
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Nice shooting.
Yeah that Dove sure looks big to me too. The Doves here are only the size of Blue Jays, except for when they fluff up during very cold weather.
Paul.
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Great shots at the pigeon and dove with your Pro Compact.