GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter December 29, 2007, 12:51:38 AM
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Got home from work yesterday a little after 3 pm and while I was feeding the cats I looked out the rear sliding glass door just in time to see a tree rat hopping from branch to branch in a large oak in the back yard. I haven't been hunting or shooting for the past week or so due to a stomach flu I picked up at work, but I was finally feeling better and the urge to hunt overtook me....
Ran down to the basement workshop and grabbed the .22 cal QB57, loaded her with a RWS SHP and snuck out into the backyard.. The squirrel saw me instantly and took off racing throught he trees. I kept tracking him as he raced from branch to branch until he finally stopped on a large limb, curling up into a ball right where the limb and the main trunk met.
Distance was 15 yards. Put the crosshairs of the Golden Antler on his head and squeezed off the shot. At the shot the pellet hit with a "thwack". The squirrel literally leapt off the limb and flung himself into mid air, he didn't even aim for another branch, just leapt into free space. I watched him glide away from the tree for about a second,,, until gravity took over,,, then he plummeted straight down and hit the ground with a big "thump". That was that !! :)
Picked up my dinner and headed for the large log that I use as a cleaning station. The pellet hit him at the base of the head and almost passed all the way through, coming to rest just under the skin on the opposite side of the head. I didn't take any pics because I'm having computer problems right now and can't post pics, but since this is the first time in a while I've been able to hunt, even though it was a back yard hunt, I was anxious to make the post.....
Jeff
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Seems you and Mr. QB-57 have made good friends Jeff...:) That QB sure makes for quick back yard shots...:) We will let you slide this time on the pics...:) But get that puter fixed real soon buddy.. Good to see you are feeling better again.
Thanks for sharing.
Gene
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Great to see your post Jeff,
Been wandering about you and Ed, and was hoping that all was well with you and Ed. I'm glad that you are feeling better, and the old hunting instincts have returned. :-)
Great shooting with your QB57, it's turning out to be a great game getter !
Thanks for sharing you adventure with us all !
Bill
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Nice shooting Jeff!
Heheh, sounds like your tree rats behave the same as mine. They see a large man with a gun and run for cover!
As soon as they spot me (if they do), they run frantically jumping from tree to tree trying to make it out of my property. They 've watched me take 15 of their buddies in just a few months and their instinct tells them to get away from me. They sometimes take huge leaps 10-15ft through the air and look like a flying bat. So what I do sometimes is when I see they 're getting close to the edge of my property, or they stop 45-50yds out where I can barely see them without a scope, I shoot a pellet at the tree in front of them or very close to them, which sometimes makes them run back the other way closer to me because by that time I have moved and they don't know where I am or shooting from. Then the hide and seek game starts. They 'll stay put for 10min. hiding and then move to another tree, hide for a few, and on the move again trying to make it slowly out of my property, but by that time when the hiding game starts, it's pretty much over. When they stop running, they 're as good as meat on a frying pan :)
It's funny how they know.. before I started hunting them a few months ago, they would walk right by me or come up to me or stay put in the middle of my lawn while I walked 10ft past them. The 2nd day after I got the 350, I was in the backyard sighting in the scope and a squirrel walked up to me 6ft away and stood there on my driveway trying to figure out what the noise was all about. I spared him but I probably would have missed him since the scope was a 4X and couldnt' see the iron sights. Now if I 'm within 35ds of them, they go crazy to leave the area. Why did they stop coming up to me to greet me I wonder? :-)
Hope you 're feeling better and back to normal very soon!
Harry
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Thanks guys,,,, felt good to have a rifle up to my shoulder again :)
The tree rat was just a bonus
Jeff
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You and your QB-57 Stories are killing me Jeff.
Nice shooting.
Glad you hear you are shooting again.
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Great to see your still hunting em down buddy, fine shot and story Jeff. Ed
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I've been hunting the squirrels in my yard with my HW80/.177. Funny, I've killed 3 with it this year, and haven't gotten a single one with my .22 pellet guns. I bought the .22s just for hunting, and here I am taking them with boiler room shots with .177 CPHPs. I can't wait for my scope rings to come in. I want to take my B50 hunting.
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Good one Jeff, Don't ya wish ya had a DVD camera recording shots like that.