GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : daveshoot June 22, 2008, 04:19:52 PM
-
There is a Russian special this evening, followed by a Spanish dessert... if you make it through the main course.
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/photos/show-album.asp?albumid=67&photoid=1322 (http://../photos/show-album.asp?albumid=67&photoid=1322)
I built some parapet stands to replace the piles of reclaimed stones on which I had been wobbling.
In a field rich with ground squirrels, the one commanding my attention lived right under my shooting fence, with a couple holes the size of 5 gallon bucket openings. I had played hide and seek with this smart felonbefore (convicted cucumber killer, makes your stomach turn to see his "work"), and needed enough height to clear one corner, and shoot down-fence to the other. There is no way to lean a whole rifle outside a fence, and shoot down its length to the other outside corner, without alerting a GS as street-smart as this one. He was accustomed to not only raiding yards,but living full timeunder the noses of people and dogs.
One-handing the pistola over the side wasn't getting it, either. He knew me and I was so made, you could hear "five-oh" before my sunburned head cleared the top of the fence.
So I made a pair of these attractive stands for each corner, with obvious Zen and Mission influence.
And now ya can just peek down the ridgeline of the fence with a little lean, with your AOpreset for range,and maybe get a GS who maybe knew a lot, but not everything. And maybe he will just poke a head and a neck out, looking for the Man, and maybe that will be just enough....
I showed up for the funeral. No betterplace to finger associates of the recently departed. They showed, too... you could pick 'em out of a crowd like rats in a cathedral, thinking there was no justice, and no tomorrow. They were half right.
Six total buried, 3 probables down the holes (I fished one of these out of his living room). I didn't have the B26 properly zeroed, so the MP513 gets the kills as usual. Shoots like a car crash but it sure brings them down. One coup-de-gras administered via Cometa in the field. A blazingly hot weekend in Fresno (110 on Saturday) but I think the garden will get a little respect now.
-
Very impressive shooting. You finally outsmarted those bushy-tailed rodents....
And yes it was hot....I was in Hesperia CA last Thursday....at Pomona Air Guns to order an Air Arms S410 repeater air rifle.....and the temperature was 104F. I know Hesperia is more east of Fresno.....but I don't know how far they're from each other.
-
Hesperia is probably 7 hours south of Fresno. Might only be 6. I don't remember.
That's some nice shooting and a nice picture too! Does that little pistol have the power to kill tree rats?
-
Great shootin and pic Dave, nothing like taken out Garden varment's, they can be very destructive. Thank's for sharing that fine story and pic. Ed
-
I have never taken one down with it. Instead it is used for last rites in the field. I don't want to walk out there with the big rifle, but I can grab a body bag and stick this under my shirt before going out.
At close range, it has been 100% lethal in head shots. It has only been necessary a couple of times, but is the least obtrusive means of finishing the job. I try to track down every one of the varmints.
Cometa Indian, or RWS9N, is my best shooting springer pistol and I am more accurate with it than the P5. I don't have my chrony data but it was shooting in the 470 range, I believe. I thought it might be a strategy for this guy, since I was trying to catch him just over the fence at about 10 feet (where it would have about 3.7 fpe). It will work for birds.
-
Great shootin Dave and a great pic. You sure showed them squirrels who the boss is :)
Jeff
-
Man- Ground Squirrels get that big out there????? That's unbelieveable! That cannot be the same as our Ground Squirrels (A.K.A. Chipmunks). They're about 3" long minus the tail with strips along their bodies running its length. I would hate to see your tree squirrels!!!
-
Back in Michigan we had jillions of chipmunks, and a distinctly different and less ubiquitous thing known as a ground squirrel, darker with lateral stripes, as distinguished from your annoying little red, the black, and the highly edible fox and the grey squirrel (who was a form of fox, I think).
The California Ground Squirrel or Spermophilis beecheyi is a distinctly different species from all of the eastern squirrels. They aren't that big, but bigger than chipmunks, also nastier, smarter, and one of the best-adapted mammals to the central valley and lower foothills. They are probably closer to prairie dogs, really numerous once established, and live in elaborate burrow systems. Hence the problem, and of course the opportunity.
There are a few of the orange-brown traditional fox squirrels in town, but they are practically pets... wards of the state, if you will. In the Sierras you got yer tufted tree squirrels, but it would take two of 'em to make a decent Michigan fox squirrel.
The CGS and his relative up north, the Belding, are among the few things that even California wants a lot fewer of. While of course they admonish about shooting, they don't rule it out, either. They enthusiastically support gassing, baiting, poisoning with a form of blood agent, and other methods that do make sense in an area where ag is your livelihood, but seem a mite harsh to townsfolk. Still, when the People's Republic of CA puts out the equivalent of a year-round hit on ya, yer just not very cuddly.