Hello all. Here's the latest installment in one man's attempt to save his and his neighbor's lawns from the "Nut Menace".
As you all know, fall is quickly approaching the change to winter and as should be expected the squirrels are now in overdrive to store enough food for the winter and to fatten up.
Considering the very edge of Bruceland has a huge acorn tree, they have been doing their best to "Hide da nutz!" within a 50 yard radius of said tree. They have also been sending squirrel mail to one another letting everyone know that there is a big ol' nut tree over here. I have seen more squirrels in my yard in the last 2 weeks than ALL of the rest of the year. Every time I pick out a special candidate and remove him, two more take his place. It's amazing.
Anywho, here's my latest efforts.
1. This fella must have shown up before the emails. He wasn't aware of the danger of sitting in a tree right off my deck not 10 yards out. I watched him burying nuts in my lawn for a good portion of the early morning but was too busy to do anything about it. 'Round 10am he decided to take a break in the tree. Bad idea. Out came the 34, in went the Crosman Dome and with a bit of patience, out went the squirrel....like a lightbulb. Shot entered just above his left front leg (he was facing away from me) and came out his neck...as you can see. He was dead before he hit the ground. HUGE blood loss.
2. This dude was working the yard HARD in the morning. Again, I was too busy to stop him but he came back in the afternoon when things had slowed down. Using an idea I got from one of the Texas shoot/meet pictures I rigged up my chrono tripod and a shooting bag and was able to shoot from inside the house. Increased distance but...it works. He took it in the head just above the eye and did the "electric dance" for a couple seconds and lay still.
3. This bugger was planting acorns in the wife's garden!! That goes beyond the "No, no!" concept. Again I utilized the tripod/bag and while my youngest gabbled in my ear and patted me on the head a tried to get him. I had to stop 3 times because she was soooo interested in what Daddy was doing. The whole time this squirrel was sitting up nice and pretty eating a nut for a change. He sat there for at least a full minute and that is unusual. Once I diverted the small one's attention elsewhere I found him again in my scope and he hadn't moved. Put the crosshairs on his head, squeezed and flop. A VERY short "electric dance" and he was done. When I went to retrieve him I was amazed at my shot. I'd love to claim I was aiming there but I can't. I was aiming at his head............but got him right in the eye anyway!! Shot came out the other side above the other eye. He got his lights punched out...hard!
If you look closely you can see the eye is gone.
So there you have it. Busy, busy, busy.
