The weather has come around up here with seasonable temps and kind of mild with not much wind. I had high hopes that I might see a squirrel today. It has been a long while since I 've seen one and 5 weeks since I 've shot any - Nov.20.
I had just pulled into the driveway from a post office run (sent MO's out for new/used airgun & scuba stuff, what else is new?) around 11am when I noticed a nutter in the back of the house up in the trees about 35yds from the driveway. I sat in the car watching him for a few minutes. He seemed to be playful enjoying his newly found territory. He was running up & down with no apparent pattern, hanging upside down and doing crazy squirrely things.. He would revisit the same trees and branches as if he were trying to make himself visible to others and find out if another resident squirrel would come out to claim the area he was occupying.. but nothing. He was all by himself having a ball. Little did he know they were all in squirrel heaven.. After about 5min. I went inside, made some coffee and was contemplating whether I should look out the window to see if he 's still there. A few more minutes went by and I was drawn to the open window facing the back yard by unexplained forces beyond my control. Looked around and could only see a few red caped wood*_*_*_*_*_*s and a couple of bluejays making the usual noise. But then I see a bushy tail all the way near the neighbor's back yard to my right about 35+yds out. He 's down low now and he made his way to the ground even though there are still a few inches of snow left. He starts hopping back towards my direction never stopping or pausing much at all. He had been back & forth the trees of the 40yd long hill in the back a couple of times already. He maintained a jogging-like pace and approaching fast.
He had overstayed his welcome and now it's time to break the 5-week dry spell. I grabbed the Condor and loaded a 28.4gr EunJin. I then thought maybe the Diana 36 springer would have been better since I haven't used it since Sept-Oct. but it was too late. The nutter was on the move and was going to be out of sight soon to my left where the added extension/Florida-room blocked my view to the rest of the back yard. The squirrel had now past directly in front of me 25yds out and keeps moving without stopping. I zoomed all the way down as far as I could go to 6X and tried to follow him through the scope. He seemed to have spotted me because I forgot to wear my camo or hang the camo netting on the window! He hid behind a couple of trees on & off but always came out and kept on hopping on the ground. There are about 8-9ft left now and in a couple of secs he 'll be out of sight so I decide to take a shot while he 's hopping around. He 's turned away from me at an angle towards the top of the cliff always making sure he 's behind some twigs or fallen limbs to make it harder on me. I put the crosshairs on the top of his shoulder and take the shot while he 's moving forward. I hear a loud "THWAK" but the squirrel picks up speed, runs about 7-8 feet almost out of my field of view and I was like what the hey? He stops abruptly, tail goes up in the air, and then slides down the hill on the snow a few feet, does only one spastic death dance move and that was it. My first shot on a running tree rat!
Distance was about 28yds. The pellet had entered his lower back and exited the chest under the front right arm traveling at least half the length of its body. The spine was not touched but it made a mess of his vital organs including lungs and caused a lot of internal & external bleeding. He was a decent size nutter. I did not take pics of the gun in the snow but I did of the squirrel where he fell and then brought him under the shed to take pics with the Condor. You can see the hole in the center of his back in the snow shot. I got lucky because he was jumping forward while I was squeezing the trigger and instead of the neck area I got the back like 6-7" down. I really wanted to use the Predators but it seems I was in "raccoon mode" mode
I have gotten unaccustomed to shooting squirrels after 5 weeks of shooting big night critters.. hehehe
