It was a beautiful sunny day here today with temps in the high 50's so I decided to make another hunt at the duck farm. This time I brought the .22 Condor and an ample supply of Kodiaks and 18.1 gr. JSB's. My goal was to do some long range pigeon hunting.
As soon as I got to the farm I loaded a Kodiak into the Condor and set off with my backpack folding stool and my shooting stick. For some reason the pigeons were scarce today. There was only 1 flock at the farm, consisting of 6 birds, but they would do just fine. Well, those 6 birds proved to be very elusive and hard to get within 100 yards of. I even set up a sniping position from inside an old storage building that was in a great spot, but never did get a shot from my hide. Finally I decided to just skulk around the farm and see if I could stalk within range for a shot. After about an hour I finally got with range. The 6 birds were pecking on grain at a feeder that was 88 yards away as per my laser range finder. There was a howling right to left wind whipping down the length of the farm through the duck pen so I compensated by moving the crosshairs 2 mildots to the right and pulled the trigger. The gun went "Pfft" and I saw the kodiak strike the dirt about an inch to the left of the bird I aimed at. At the shot all 6 birds lifted off the ground, circled the feeder twice and then set down again and started feeding. I loaded another kodiak and prepared to take another shot. The second shot was away and this time the kodiak slammed into the dirt directly underneath the bird between it's legs. The birds took off again but this time they circled the farm for a good 5 minutes before setting back down near the same feeder. I loaded another kodiak and resting the condor on my shooting stick I sighted a bird then moved the scope 3 mildots to the right, 1 dot up and fired. The pellet slammed home and I saw feathers fly. The bird I hit managed to get airborne along with the other 5 birds but you could see he was hurt bad as his left wing didn't seem to be working well and he flew very erratic. The bird was trying hard to stay in the air but he started to lose altitude and went into a death glide. I stood there and watched helplessly as his death glided too him deep into the middle of a wet swamp at the back of a lake that borders the farm. There was no way for me to get to him without wading through the back of the lake, which is about 5 feet deep, so while I was thrilled that I had nailed him at 88 yards I was really disappointed that I lost my prize :0 The 5 remaining birds kept winging their way away from the duck farm and they never returned so I didn't get any more shots at pigeons.
The day was not a total loss though
On my way back to the truck I got 2 shots at yellow beaks and nailed both of em clean
The first was an offhand shot at a yellow beak that was perched high in the top of a large cherry tree. The bird didn't seem to notice me and I even had time to whip out the range finder prior to the shot.... distance was 45 yards. Fired the condor and the 21 grain kodiak hit home with a really loud "SMACK". Bird fell like a rock
After picking up my prize I kept walking towards the truck. 1/2 way back to the truck I spotted 2 yellow beaks at the very top of an old, dead pine tree near some feeders. Put the range finder on the tree and saw it was 60 yards. I picked out the larger of the 2 birds, held the cross hairs on the birds neck, compensated 1 mildot to the left for the wind and fired. A second later heard another "SMACK" as the kodiak hit home. Bird fell straight down and hit the ground hard. I picked up my trophy and continued on the truck. Before leaving the farm I posed the 2 yellow beaks with the condor for a couple of photos. Also took a couple of pics during the hunt to document it for my fellow GTA hunters. Hope ya likem em.
the wife told me she's spending tomorrow visiting her mom so I think I'll be headed back to the duck farm for another hunt.
Jeff
