I was watching a movie with my son on the HBO family channel when I look at the clock and it's 3:30. Hmm, I wondered if there is any squirrel activity out there as there usually is around this time or every late afternoon in my back yard. I was curious if there were any squirrels left after I had taken so many in the last couple of months. I look out the window and I see a squirrel up in the tree hopping from branch to branch and going towards the neighbor's house. A welcomed site. I then thought I saw some movement and notice something greyish on a rock behind a lot of branches at the top of the hill directly behind my house almost to the edge of my property ~35yds out. It was pretty fuzzy and with grey/black clouds overhead the image blended it. I looked elsewhere, refocused my vision again and I still see something grey and some slight movement that looked like a tail. I grab my 12X spotting binaculars and walla! A squirrel sitting on a rock behind 2 large branches (from the tree below) forming a "V" and lots of smaller branches blocking my shot but there seemed to be a small opening. I could not see his head at all or his arms, but it looked like he was munching on something. II left the room with my son still watching TV and went and got my lady, the Diana 350 .22. Went to the bathroom and opened the window. Looked again and I all I could see was his body with the binaculars.
I have no scope so I rested my arm on the window sill and tried to focus on him with the naked eye. Loaded a Crow Magnum 18.2gr in my 350 .22 and put the iron sight right between the V the branches made. I could not even see the smaller branches in between the V with the naked eye. I figured I would definitely miss and scare him enought to have him move to a better spot where I can see him better. I aimed towards the left branch of the "V" which was his chest and closer to his head. On the right branch of the "V" was his butt which I could see clearly with the binaculars. I take a deep breath, hold the 8.6lb 350 still and pull the trigger. I hear what sounded like branch breaking sounds but also what seemed to be a "thump" at the same time. I see no movement but can make out some grey with the naked eye. I figure either I missed badly or could it be I got him? I grab the binaculars and see the squirrel laying on his side exactly where he was a sec. ago, doing the death dance for a couple of secs and no movement! I was in amazement that I was able to make that shot through the branches (or hitting branches) without a scope at ~35yds! I grab the camera and run outside because the clouds are getting darker by the minute.
I could not make it all the way up the hill as there was ice everywhere on a 45deg. angle. Very slick and dangerous. I made it to about within 2yds away from the squirrel and rested my back on a tree to take a couple of pics right where he fell. I could not see where he was hit at first as you can see from the first pic, but saw a good amount of blood on the large rock coming from under him (his right side). I found a 2yd branch and managed to get him down. You can see the entry point on his left side just under the shoulder on his chest and the exit wound the Crow Magnum made on the other side of his chest. Lots of damage upon exiting.. This was my first squirrel with a Crow Magnum I believe. This is an adult squirrel. He is about 10-20% smaller than usual and his teeth were pretty small in comparison to other tree rats I 've taken. His teeth were tiny which indicates he was pretty young. The last one I took a couple of days before Christmas had about 4X times longer teeth, and a very sizeable head.
The 350 still has not let me down. I contribute my luck mostly to my 14.5yd indoor range that I have setup in the house downstairs. I can hit same bullzeyes or same hole shots about 70% of the time and usually <1/2" CTC. It's all about the mastering the hold and being consistent. Enjoy the pics. BTW, the squirrel's spirit got me back. After I took the last pic with the rifle on the tree, the gun fell to the ground and broke the ice. Under the ice were a couple of rocks so now I have scratches all along the forearm of the stock, but I think the ice made most of the damage. I paid the price of not looking away today and exercising self control :) Any tips on on will power and keeping me from shooting this critters are appreciated? What do you guys do? Take a cold shower? :-)
Happy Hunting!
