GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter June 26, 2007, 04:16:56 PM
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Got up early this morning so I could spend some time down in my workshop working on my airguns before I headed off to work. As I was making my coffee I glanced out at the bird feeders in the backyard and saw 5 squirrels busily emptying out all the bird seed so they could pick out their favorite seeds. Well, this behavior was just plain unacceptable.
I headed down into the basement and grabbed B-3 #3 (the one I'm still trying find time to camo) which was sitting on my workbench in the gun vise. Right next to it was a pellet pouch partially filled with the GAMO Magnum pellets that the gun loves so much.
Opened the bilco doors ever so quietly and snuck out into the backyard hugging the side of the house for cover as I stealthily made for a good shooting position. Got to the corner of the house and took a peek around the corner,,,,, they still hadn't spotted me. The distance was 15 yards. I picked out the nearest bandit, put the crosshairs on his noggin and gently applied pressure to the trigger. The gun went "thunk", the pellet went "thwack" and the squirrel went dead, right on the spot. A perfect shot, hit em right between the ears. He didn't even twitch, just fell over and layed there belly up. The other squirrels took off for parts unknown so I gathered up my quarry and was heading back into the basement when a starling landed in the yard 25 yards away and began picking in the grass with its beak. Loaded another GAMO Magnum, pulled the trigger and heard the pellet slam home. One dead starling layin on the lawn.
I posed my two dead trophys on the woodpile with the mighty B-3 and took a picture. Figuring the shooting was over for the day I put the B-3 back in its gun vise cradle and cleaned the squirrel for the frying pan.
When I went back upstairs to put the squirrel in the refrigerator I looked out at the feeders again and couldn't believe it,,,, not only did the 4 who escaped the mighty B-3 return,,, they brought a friend with them to replace the one I just culled out of the herd. Well, we have a cure for that :)
Back into the basement, B-3 gets loaded again, out the bilco doors once more and a quick stealthy approach back to my shooting position. Picked out the bigger of the tree rats, pulled the trigger and heard the same "thwack" as before. Squirrel #2 was down for the count. Hit him dead center in the side of the head. The remaining tree rats again ran off so I grabbed my kill and set up a second digital pic on the woodpile.
I don't have a clue where all these squirrels are coming from, but they keep coming. Me and the B-3 are gonna have to keep an eye on things for the next few days and keep the little buggers in their place. :)
Hope you enjoy the pics.
Jeff
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Hey Jeff,
Great account of your morning hunt, and two great photos of your trophies, better than a frog. lol
Just wondering, did you ever get to work ? ;^)
Great shooting there !!! as usual.
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Nice shootin buddy and it sound's like you got this years breeding result's with all dem squirrels. Once the word is out about a place to eat, the whole family comes to dinner. I'm sure the word will get around about you and your (B) baby and WANTED posters with your face on them will start showing up on the tree's around you LOL. Yup that B-3 need's some camo hehe, great story, pic's and shot placement buddy. Ed
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Those squirrels are getting a steady diet of lead from you Jeff..:) Bet they miss the acorns n stuff they normally digest.. hehe
Gene
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Thanks guys. I just woke up and looked out into the yard and they are back again !! Stupid squirrels.......
Yeah Bill, I did finally make it to work, although once I was there I wish I had called in sick !! Seemed like every nut case in the county was standing in the lobby waiting for me to get there so they could complain about someone somewhere who did something to them that just wasn't right. Life is just so much simpler when you're just holdin an air rifle waiting to squeeze the trigger on some varmint :)
As for the killer frog you nailed,,,,,,, that looked like one mean fish killer. Great shot on a challenging target,,,good job.....
Jeff
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Jeff, is that a .22, and how fast is it traveling? Thanks. Nice shooting by the way.
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Maybe one of them will complain about all the squirrels in his yard and you can help him out. LOL. Just doing your duty.
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The B-3 is a .177 I tuned and the FPS is around 680. That gun absolutely loves those GAMO Magnum pellets,,, it'll stack em one on top of the other forever,,, provided I do my part :)
As for the squirrels, one of the secretary's at work yesterday overheard me telling one of the other guys about my squirrel hunt, and the reason for it, and she started telling me she's got the same problem and may have to do something about it soon as the little buggers are starting to chew their way into her attic.
I'm gonna talk to her again this afternoon when I get to work and offer my services. All I want in return is the squirrel meat,,,, I'm hopin she's goes for it.
Also, one of the guys who works for me has an "in" with a couple of the local golf courses. He was telling me his buddies who run the courses are complaining about all the rabbits, chipmunks, and especially the woodchucks that are doing damage to the courses. He's gonna talk to his buddies for me and see if he can get me permission to do pest control for em. I hope he succeeds,, that would really be great.
Jeff
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"He was telling me his buddies who run the courses are complaining about all the rabbits, chipmunks, and especially the woodchucks"
You lucky dog. Ok, I am officially jealous. Jeff, going by those numbers, an R7 in .20 should be adequate for taking cottontails and birds to 25 yards? Thanks.
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I've taken many a squirrel with that B-3 out to 30 yards. As long as my shot placement is good the critter goes down :)
Jeff
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Hey Jeff,
Don't go giving it away, the people around here pay real good money for pest control ! One fellow I know paid $85.00 to get one squirrel out of his attic. When I told him that I had removed 6 from mine, he responded thatmust have cost you a fortune ! I told him, about $0.75 cents, and how I shot them ! He said he couldn't have them harmed. That was over 10 years ago, prices must have gone up !
Do them a favor, half price, exterminating is expensive !
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Hey Bill,
I wouldn't refuse payment if they offered it, but I'd be perfectly happy just having permission to pest hunt. If it was a paying arrangement I would kinda feel obligated to peform the services on a regular basis or whenever they called due to a problem animal. If there's no money involved I'd be free to go only when it was convienent for me, which is the way I'd prefer to do it considering my busy schedule with work and workers compensation doctor visits and such.
I haven't gotten permission yet,,,, but I'm hoping it work out. It would really be a home run for sure :)
Jeff
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Nice shooting bud I like how you've done the makeup on them using their own blood Ain't nothing more satisfying than a well placed shot to the head so well done M8.
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Need a hand clearing that golfcoarse buddy, between the two of us we could get it cleaned up in no time hehe. Ed
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Hey Ed,
I wish you and I did live close enough to hunt together, we could have a blast for sure,,, and we'd have a whole bunch of critter meat to put on the grill :)
Jeff
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longislandhunter - 6/27/2007 12:54 PM
Also, one of the guys who works for me has an "in" with a couple of the local golf courses. He was telling me his buddies who run the courses are complaining about all the rabbits, chipmunks, and especially the woodchucks that are doing damage to the courses. He's gonna talk to his buddies for me and see if he can get me permission to do pest control for em. I hope he succeeds,, that would really be great.
Jeff
Ok I'm also jealous! I would love to do pest control on a golf course, talk about the dream varmint hunt, ha.
Great story again, thank you for the entertaining read.