This afternoon was a beautiful day, sunny, clear and not much wind. I couldn't decide if I should head down to the marina and take my boat out and go fishing or spend the afternoon at the duck farm huntin critters. Well, needless to say I'm making this post so you all know what I chose. :)
All the posts about Bills new Goldfinger got me thinking that it's been a while since one of my Goldfingers went huntin so in honor of Bill and his new rifle I pulled the .177 Goldfinger out of the gun safe, grabbed a container of JSB Exact Express and a container of CPH's and headed for the farm. The gun shoots both pellets exactly the same and while I usually use the Exacts or CPL's on birds I just wanted to see how the CPL's would perform.
Got to the farm and saw huge flocks of starlings all over the place. While the flocks were spread out over the entire farm the area that seemed to be attracting the most birds was the huge mullberry tree at the south end of the farm. This is the same mullberry tree that my last couple of posts mentioned. The tree is truly HUGE and each branch is literally covered with berries. This tree draws in all kinds of wild life from the woods around the farm, furry and feathered.
I was walking towards the tree, hugging the thick underbrush and reeds near the stream like I always do, when I suddenly saw movement on the ground directly underneath the mullberry tree. I froze where I stood and put the scope up to my eye,,,, it was a small woodchuck. He was picking through the berries on the ground and gulping them down greedily. He hadn't seen me so I planned my stalk.
I stayed as close to the underbrush as I could and slowly made my way closer to the little G-hog. When I first saw him I was 75 yards out so I had to close the gap to 40 yards before I'd shoot. Little by little I worked my way closer. The little G-hog was more wary than I thought he'd be at such a young age,,, he kept looking up and surveying the landscape every 30 or 40 seconds. He certainly was a nervous little hog.
I finally got into a shooting position 35 yards away and started to step out from the bushes to shoot. Just like the large G-hog I shot there the other day this shot would be almost the same,,,, I'd have to step out into the open and shoot quickly. As I stepped out from behind the bushes the little G-hog saw me immediately. While feeding he had worked his way about 15 yards from the bushes that gave him safe cover and upon seeing me he immediately started running for the bushes. I kept the scope on him as he scurried towards safety but unless he stopped I wouldn't shoot. About 10 feet from the bushes he suddenly put the brakes on and stopped dead in his tracks to give me one more good look before plunging head first into the thick underbrush. That split second was all I was waiting for. I already had the crosshairs on his head so I just pulled the trigger the second he came to a halt. I heard the CPH slam home with a loud "POP" and the little G-hog rolled over on his back, quivered for a few seconds, and died. I walked up and retrieved my future dinner. He was probably the smallest G-hog I've taken at the farm, but he proved himself to be an admirable quarry.
I decided to stay at the mullberry tree and set up another ground blind and see if I could nail some starlings. After I was in my blind for about 15 minutes the birds started showing up in force again. They have a tendency of landing on the very top of the tree which makes getting a clear shot very hard due to all the foliage, but I did manage to get some good shooting opportunities. I nailed 3 starlings from the mullberry tree and missed about a dozen more trying to shoot through tiny openings in the canopy, but was having a great time. Directly behind my blind at a distance of 35-40 yards was a large dead tree situated on a small strip of dry land in the middle of the stream running the length of the farm.
From where I was seated in my ground blind I had a perfect clear shot at the top branches of this dead tree. Every few minutes a flock of starlings would land in the dead limbs offering me a shot. I picked off about a dozen birds from those limbs. Every time I'd hit one I'd hear the "smack" of the pellet hitting the bird and then 2 or 3 seconds later I'd hear the "smack" as the dead starling hit the water in the stream and floated away. I would've liked to have retrieved them for pics but they fell directly into the stream and floated away in seconds. Oh well,,, at least the snapping turtles will be eating good. :)
Wanting to get home in time to have dinner with the family I crawled out of my ground blind, packed my gear and headed back to the truck. As I was walking through a small field enroute to my truck i saw the blades of the tall grass moving funny about 10 yards in front of me. I stopped, dropped my dead G-hog and put the rifle up to my shoulder. Just as I got the scope up to my eye another small G-hog, the same size as the dead one at my feet, sat up on his hind legs, his head barely clearing the grass. I put the crosshairs right on his noggin and fired,,,,, a clean miss... The little G-hog scampered off into the grass and disappeared. I should've aimed just a little lower,,, oh well, at least I know where he hangs out now. :)
Got home and took a couple of pics. Hope ya like em.
