GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : davee1 September 11, 2007, 04:02:40 PM
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You know, when I first moved into my place 10 years ago, I was a live and let live kinda guy. I had no quarrel with the millions of ground squirrels that were living in the 200 acres of open space behind me. I used to look at them and think..."damn, thats a lotta squirrels", but they didn't do nothin to me so I left em alone. But I had to have my turtleponds. That means water. And so begins the saga....
It was a grand site to look at...3 ponds...300gal, 400gal, and a 600gallon. With turtles galore that I bought in the petstores and online. They had the run of the backyard. I turtleproofed it so they couldnt dig under the fences and escape. I used chicken wire, wood, rocks, and even pored a little concrete in some areas to keep them turtles in. While a pond turtle wont dig too much, a squirrel will. All of sudden I had holes along the fenceline. Squirrels were comin in and out, to drink the water and feast on the lush grasses that grew in the yard. The dogs were constantly barking, and killing squirrels every now and then. I'd backfill their holes, and the next day theyd be back again. Now, these holes was big enough fer my turtles to git out, and I was missin a few. It was then that I decided to wage a private war against the enemy squirrels.
At first, I just concentrated on the ones that were digging under the fence. I bought myself a Gamo Shadow .177 at the local wallymart, and went to war. I won most of the time, it was too easy...10~15 yard shots. Pretty hard to miss a ground squirrel at that range. Bodies were buried and I got tired of burying em so I just threw em over the fence and the next day they would be gone cause the coyotes would take them. All the time I'm lookin up on the hill and them squirrels was havin babies!!! Well...since I was unemployed at the time, I could spend all day poppin those little critters, and I did. So they were multiplying out of range, and then when I got tired of sittin out there all day, then they'd show up again...leavin another hole behind.
Well...I figured that I'd get me a high powered airgun, and start sniping them right off of the hill...50~100 yards out. Enter the legendary Diana 350M .177, and later a .22 version of the same, for those ultra long range shots. Now, I just put a heavy dent in their population, the burrowing owls moved in when the squirrels died, and things were gettin better. No more holes under the fence. Winter came, and they go kinda inactive for a while, but I was hooked on airguns!!! I had nuthin to shoot!!! By now I had picked up a Hammerli Storm .22, for close range skunk shooting. Put a BSA red dot on top and went nite huntin. That was a whole lotta fun let me tell you. The thrill of poppin a skunk without getting sprayed, and barely able to see them besides. 5 bit the dust within a few weeks.
Lets fast forward to now, because I could go on for hours, plus I'm gettin kinda tired of typin. Summertime, only a few ground squirrels are ever seen waaaay up on the hill, cause I blew them all away. It was gettin a little too easy...I had a .22 350M with a 6-24X50 Leapers scope mounted on it, and if I couldn't hit the squirrel with the first shot...well I would just walk those pellets right up to them, because they were *dummer than a stump* and standin up to see what was going on!!! And they would just stay there until I put a 14.3gr CP pellet in them. But there were some that I just couldn't hit, and I began to refer to these little critters as "squirrels with a miracle". The pellets would dance all around them, but they would just stand there, and not get hit. Now these little lucky critters became my personal vendetta. Enter the B21 .22, the beast from the east. I call her "chigger" for chinese trigger? Anyway...it was time to take the miracles away. I spent hours setting up the open sights on chigger...poppin pellets into the squirrel dirt mounds that were 50~60 yards away, and it was good. Chigger is quite the miracle herself it turns out. The challenge is...using chigger and her open sights, take the hill...reclaim it...wipe out all squirrelly vermin within range.
Now these sharpeyed squirrels had gotten so that all I had to do was walk out in the backyard a bit, and they would be standin up lookin for me!!! They looked like "miniature fur soldiers" far out there. So...I picked up chigger and loaded up a pellet in the house, then went out back with her, and did my walk around thing. I looked up...sure enough there was two standin there about 50 yards out. I walked over near a bush and to them I just disappeared. But really I had ducked out of their sightline and sneaked along the solid wooden fenceline, until I got to the chainlink fence with the green vinyl slats that faces out into the open space. Got me a nice spot and set up chigger. You see, chainlink fence makes a great riflerest, especially when its vinylcoated stuff like mine is. I know that yer not supposed to rest the barrel on stuff, but during time of war, you do what needs to be done. So, I put chigger's barrel right in a "V" and sighted in on one of them fur soldiers that were still standin there. Bam!!! (no pun intended, chinese rifle hehe) one squirrel ran off, but one was still standin there, looking even more intently than before...I'm thinkin he was a couple of inches taller!!! Quick loadup, put chiggers barrel back in my favorite V, sight up on dummy, and BAM!!! Down goes dummy. No more miracle. At that range, with 49 year old eyes, open sights, and a penchant for vengeance....I'm thinkin thats pretty good. And besides...BRYAN wanted me to tell the story.
There's still one squirrel with a miracle left though. But I'm thinkin "Chigger?" is gonna take care of that.
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Great story! Thanks for the laughs!
Ron
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davee1 - 9/12/2007 12:02 AM
....I'm thinkin thats pretty good. And besides...BRYAN wanted me to tell the story. There's still one squirrel with a miracle left though. But I'm thinkin "Chigger?" is gonna take care of that.
Yer dang right I wanted to hear it, Dave, and I'm probably not the only one ;~D. You don't just throw out a phrase like "miracle squirrel" without a good explanation-- and that was a pretty good explanation. LOL!--
Hopefully "Chigger" can keep your turtles safe from any miracle squirrel offspring that happen to survive.
Bryan
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hehe...sure was fun writin it...its all true...scouts honor!!!
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Everyday, a search is done, and Chigger is brought in if any dummies stand tall.
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Great story. Thanks for the laughs.
Sure would be nice to see some pictures, my imagination is getting bad in my old age.
Between your "miracle squirrels" and my "ninja squirrels" were all in trouble. Lets hope
they never start breeding otherwise we will all need something bigger than a .22 cal. airguns.
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I'm workin on some pics as we speak...soon to be posted.
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There are no vermin at this time to exterminate. I have completely blown it. I didn't leave any parents for multiplying. Oh well...I don't bother the other side of the hill, and there is some furries there, so they eventually wander over on my side.
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Dave,
You have a veritable shooting gallery there!
I bet that is a lot of fun.
Ron
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Dave are you sure your shooting squirrels? I would have to think with a grassy hill side for a shooting galery you would be shooting gophers not squirrels.
Either way I wish I had that kind of shooting galery for a backyard.
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Ron, let me tell ya. This saves me from boredom, as I am only working part time. This hill is scoured many,manytimes a day with my 10x50 binocs, and anything that is squirrel like in nature is subject to scrutiny. The shot is verified thru the Leapers scope to make sure its a squirrel. There are also Burrowing Owls that when viewed from afar, can be easily mistaken for a squirrel, and I would never ever harm an owl knowingly. Thru the Leapers scope, on x18, I can easily tell if its a squirrel or not. Most of my shots are done at x18 at about 50~60 yards. The "one shot one kill" shots are the most thrilling. There are some 100 yard kills, but generally it takes a few shots to get to the target, due to variations in wind and temperature.
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Oh, I have my fun with mice, rats, and gophers, but the squirrels are California Ground Squirrels, they are out there, they live in and onthe ground not in the trees. And one of these days I'll retrieve a kill for you to show you. Usually I just leave em out there for the vultures and coyotes. If the neighbors see me pokin around out there with a dead squirrel in my hand...
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Great shootin Dave , dug the story hehe. It sound's like you got a little war zone out there. Keep em coming. :) Ed
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This first pic illistrates what a squirrel looks like at long range, but it turns out that its just a small bush. To my unaided eye, it definately looked like a squirrel.
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Next we see a closeup of the bush and to the right you can see a burrow. These burrows make great sight/range setups because where the pellet lands, you can see a dirt puff. I have sighted in on that mound many times and taken a few squirrels out right there. Thats about 100yrds out.
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Thanx Ed...so much fun...so little time. I been gettin up at sunup just ta get the jump on the little critters. Nice chair, cup a coffee, couple a dogs at my feet...its a nice way to wake up, and figure out where they are "this time".
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The first pic is me standing in my backyard looking out at thecircled area, the general area where the little fleabags show up. That hill thereis what I call "the hill". The "mound" is a different thing and i'll get to that shortly. The center of that circled area is about 50 yards out from the fenceline, with the left being closer and the right being farther away. I'm probably at least 65~70 yards away from the center of that circled area from my vantage point. If I go up to my fenceline there, then that puts me about 50 yards away from the center of that circled area. The extreme right of the circled area is approx 75~80yards and increases as you go further right. This pic was taken from a high vantage point in my backyard where I sometimes take offhand shots after the targets havebeen verified as vermin.
The second pic is taken at myfencelinelooking out at the lower rightmost area of the first pic, which is not included in the first pic because it was blocked by the neighbors trees, which I cropped out, so thatarea is not seen in the first pic. I'm still in my backyard looking out at the hill which contains a false alarm bush to the left and a squirrel "mound" to the right. The mound is a burrow, with excavated dirt around it, resembling a burm of sorts.The ground squirrels live in the ground and not in the trees at all. They make those burrows and although you cant see them the hill is pock marked with them. Cattle ranchers hate these squirrels because the cattle can easily break their ankles in the burrows. That mound is definately at least a 100yrd shot. But I have to go to the left on my fenceline in order to get a shot at it, because the right corner is not at the proper angle to get at the mound.
The third pic is just simply a closeup of the second, showing you a better view of the false alarm bush and squirrel mound/burrow/hole whatever...
I just realized that I live here and you guys don't so it's kinda hard to understand what is going on here. Basically, from my backyard, I can see a huge hill that has areas where the squirrels frequent, until they are promtly sniped, and then new ones come around from the other side of the hill in a day or two.
This is what typical grassland looks like in California after about ~May...dry, brown, dusty, and thirsty little critters everywhere. And although there are no Oaks in the pic, typically the grassland is scattered sparselywith Oak trees. In fact in pic 2 you can see the Oaks way way out in the hills on the horizon.
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Time for a DAQ 308 to take them long shots.
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Funny story - I really enjoyed reading it. Give those varmints H-E double toothpicks.
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This is what these little critters do all the time. they get next to a bush that kinda looks like them, and then I have to figure out which is which. *But*...I am able to differentiate even though this pic may not do it justice.
just in case heres a higher rez link
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y2/davee1/vermin.jpg (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y2/davee1/vermin.jpg)
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Unlessstalking or ina tree stand, the spotter set at about 30x on a panning tripodis a rather useful tool . . . (http://www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/images/smiles/borgsmile.gif)
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Thats exactly what I was thinking of getting...a spotting scope. But then I thought about all the other airguns I want to get, and the look on Wendy's face, and then I declined the purchase. In the meantime, the Leapers 6-24x50mm scopeworks really well as the spotter. If I was to get...say a60X spotter, I'm afraid I might look into the nostril of a squirrel, and see a "vermin booger". Its bad enough lookin at the ears on top of the heads, makes em look kinda like little devil beasts.
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Inexpensive Bushnell 15x60x80mm objective was$59 if memory serves, and the tripod was $19 in the camera Dept. at WallysWurld. Not to bad for less than a c`note, and though the optics are kinda 'grey' above 45x, setat 40x is good enough to see .308 hits at 100m on a clear day.
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I wish I had that problematic back yard too!
I'd do the same as you except the coffee would have to wait until I was done.
Almost looks like you live in the County rather than City limits.
I would definitely have to discipline myself to leave some reproducers.
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I know....it looks like I'm in the country but that's only because of the backdrop and the hills in the distance. I'm in the city, the limits are about a mile away in one direction, which is up and over the top of that hill that you see. The hill that you see is part of a ~200 acre open area that was oneday supposed to be a park. Ummm...I'm thinkin that aint gonna happen...the city has no money....and its been untouched the way you see it for the last 10 years. The only thing they do is plow up some firebreaks. Also, the 200 acre open area adjoins into more open area for miles to the left of my hill. I can, and have walked to the left for miles, but there is always houses backed up to all this open area, so one has to be respectful of the folks privacy. It seems that the neighbors don't mind me shooting from the backyard into the hill. Skunk hunts are done only at night after it is black dark.
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for reasons that will not be discussed, some of the pics are no longer available.
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PoPo
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