First Strike

[shadow]

After being on Night Patrol the last few nights with the temps dropping and the critters getting wiser, their doing a dine and dash and not presenting a shot I headed out for a predawn raid on Squirrel City. I arrived just before sunrise with the chilly temp sitting at 32 degrees but knowing that it was going to be a nice sunny day. The resident wasn't up yet so I loaded a different baby with a CPHP  so the BEEMAN GS950.22 was ready to hunt. I usually hunt nutters with a .177 so I know this gal would hit em hard and with that headed for the sticks. I was already in the wood's before the sun rose up over the landscape and it was just a matter of time before the squirrels awoke and found a limb to sun themselves to warm up before their never ending search for food. 8:00am and from my brushy hide I spot the first harvest of the morning as he made his way from his nest and found a sunny limb to layout on so with him relaxed and stretched out at about 30yrds I ever so slowly lowered her down and placed the crosshairs on a perfect side profile and sent him breakfast. The morning silence was broken by the sound of the CPHP slamming hard into his skull and with one complete flip in the air he dropped to the earth without a quiver. Slowly I slide back into my hide and reloaded and all the while scanning for more and wouldn't you know here comes another one down from a branch and stretching out on the trunk of a tree so again I pop up out of my hide and without being noticed set the crosshairs on the top of his skull but just then he turned his head to the side so without haste I sent him one too. The impact of these .22 sure break the morning silence as they hit critters hehehe, he dropped right off the trunk of the tree and retired at the base of it. Well by now I'm thinking that the whole forest was up so I slide back into my hide and reloaded again and just waited it out awhile. After about a half a hour I needed to stretch and stood up to do so and what's this lol. This smaller fella had been watching me from another limb while doing his morning cleaning and didn't seem alarmed at my presence. Ok then now just stay where you are with that nice side profile and I'll just help you off that limb. He continued to clean himself as the crosshairs locked onto his head and a second later some lead found its mark. He tumbled off the limb and did a little death dance but that didn't last long so being satisfied with the morning hunt I clmibed out of my hide and retrieved my harvest for the day. The first two nutter's were dropped just under 30yrds and the last little fella rested at 15yrds, not a bad day for the BEEMAN and after seeing those stuffed nutters  here these fella's will get the same recipe.:) I will be taking another baby out for my next hunt, want to spread the love hehehe. Ed

awesome Ed, you are a mad man...lol

[shadow]

Thanks Craig just doing my part to keep the fridge stocked, the price of food is killing us all hehehe. Ed

[gamo2hammerli]

U R such a gentleman....I see U even lay one of them out to get more sun.  heh heh   Excellent story, hunt, shooting and photo Ed.  I`m such a wimp now....it`s only 3 degrees C in the morning here....and I don`t want to get out of the house......and your hunting spot is at 0 C.   My hats off to ya.....

[glyconny]

Ed, is it just me, or are the squirrels you've been bagging lately extremely large.  The average grey is right around 2lbs, those look to be pushing 3lbs.  Very nice!

[shadow]

Thanks Stanley and E Sio the squirrels in my hunt pic are Fox Squirrels, they have those pointed fox ears.:) There are some grays around here but I've only seen a few but the Fox Squirrels that I've taken lately are big ones, this Gentleman's land that I'm hunting on has seen no hunting pressure so the nutters were free to grow big off his bird seed for years.......until now hehehe. Also from what I understand the Fox Squirrel is the largest tree squirrel in North America, weighing up 2.2 pounds or more if their eating real good. Ed

[JOHNNY QUEST]

If it was shot by Ed ,,, its definatly dead...  great shootin bro..  I;m peering out the window starting in about 15 minutes.....

[longislandhunter]

Those are some fine lookin nutters Ed,,,, fantastic hunt and fantastic pic.  

My squirrel season opens in 9 days and I'm counting each one of dem days  :)

On November 1st me and Joe Cuz are gonna put a hurtin on the local tree rat population   :)

I'm really lookin forward to Joe posting his first hunting post  !!  :)

Jeff

[Black Mamba]

Nicely done Ed.

Excellent placement too!@

[only1harry]

Wow 3 kills!  Good shooting Ed!  How long did it take you to bag all 3?  
Nice pic and good job with that Beeman .22.

[shadow]

Thanks Randall,Jeff, Harry and Greg.:)Randall get after dem RAT'S buddy and Jeff I'm stoked about you and Joe getting out on a hunt, that's gonna be a GREAT! post. Harry I was out for about two and a half hours and as I made my way out of the woods I took a glance back and noticed several other nutters making their way through the tree's but I had my harvest for the day, they'll be there waiting hehe. Ed

[JOHNNY QUEST]

Ed I have lightning off in the distance and i could swear I saw the gleem from one of those toothy creatures teeth..
 It had a stained yellow tint, from the bird feed and not brushing.. lol  As the light fiashes i see even further, its gunna be an interesting night..  Im dedicated tho.. Gene's, [ now mine]   AA S410C showed up today.. its got about `12 shots left in her, till I get  TANK.....  INSERT BIG SMILE....

[TCups]

Ed:

Good shooting!  Always a pleasure to read your hunting posts.  Wish I had your gift of patience and stealth.  I fear I am not much of a hunter when it comes to sitting still for long periods in any kind of cold weather.

I haven't noticed any fox squirrels in the mountains of WNC -- only gray Squirrels, but then I am not an avid squirrel hunter, and they may be out there.  But I have seen, on one or two occasions within the last several years, a rare critter peculiar to this region (my mountain place is about 6 miles E by SE from Brevard, just across the state line in NC).   A white squirrel!  If I ever get a shot at one, I don't think that I will take it, though, except maybe with a camera.  The local white squirrels are not albinos, as I understand, but a variation on the coloration of the eastern gray squirrel.  Daughter Laura says they live in Davidson, NC, too -- where she went to college.

http://www.whitesquirrelinstitute.com/

PS:  is that a Maccari sticker on the side of your air rifle?

Cheers/tec

[Schmidty25]

Nice shootin...  all head shots.

[tjk]

Good luck with the stuffing Ed. I'd recommend bacon or smoked ham instead of sausage like I used. But it was getting old and was available at the time. Few years ago, I was in the Toledo area for my G'ma's funeral. Late February and plenty of the evil white stuff laying around. A cousin and I went driving in the country, and I see this big black critter walking in a field. I swear it was as big as a cat!!!! Chet said it was a black BT! Ever shot one of them? Do the fox BT's change fur colors with the seasons like other northern critters?!? Nice Shooting, tjk