I was away all week on business and couldn't wait to get back and do some target shooting and hunting.
I filled up the Condor's tank and took 25-30 shots at my 30yd targets, re-confirming its accuracy but this time I also used some Crow Magnums mixed in with Kodiaks. Went out with the family for a while and returned in the afternoon for some squirrel hunting in the back yard. I had seen 1 or 2 in the morning crossing the driveway and hanging out too close to the house before I had my shooting session. I set up the blind on a window and spent the next 2hrs watching a pair of squirrels running back & forth to their nest in the oak tree gathering nuts. I had a couple of shot opportunities where they actually stopped on a branch but all I could see was a tail and could not tell which way the body was behind the leaves. Finally around 6-6:15pm as it was beginning to get dark, I see a branch full of leaves moving frantically 25-30yds out.
That's what I was looking for. Finally a squirrel that was stationary, not shadows running back & forth 50yds without pausing. I could see his tail now & then in the thick of leaves as he is on some thin branches trying to cut some nuts off them. These branches are bouncing a good foot or more but it was like a ghost was moving them. The nutter was very well concealed. About 2-3min. later I can finally make out some white which had to be his underside. I can't see his head or the tail. But it looked like he was facing towards me at least 45ft up. I had forgotten the scope was set at 6X and I was so busy trying to locate him, I did not zoom in further to try and make out his head or more of him. It looked like he was standing up because now the white outline went up. I caught a glimse of an arm behind the many layers of leaves for a split second, so I had a pretty good idea where his chest was. Now I was ready. I concentrated on that white spot next to where I had seen an arm and adjusted the A/O which seemed to be somewhere between 27-28yds. I squeezed the trigger and immediately the squirrel fell to the ground with a loud thump. He rolled down the hill a couple of feet and stopped without any movement.
The 21gr Kodiak had left the Condor's barrel at 900-925fps, traveling upwards and found the young squirrel's chest damaging vitals & causing internal bleeding for a very quick kill. He was probably dead before he hit the ground as there was a pool of blood in front of his nose when I found him. A light drizzle had started and I was heading back in but decided to snap a couple of quick pics of the lounge nutter for the fellow GTA members risking my gun getting wet :) I ran back in and wiped it down for several minutes while the wife was watching and said "if only you wiped the dishes that well"!! :-)
