Around 12 noon I decided to take a ride to the duck farm and hunt the large section of woods on the other side of the freshwater stream running through the farm. I brought along my .22 caliber Gamo Black Shadow and a tin of RWS SHP's. The first 1/3 of the woods is swampy with a large number of oaks, maples and pine trees growing, as well as thick brushy areas. The remaining 2/3 of the woods is a regular hardwood forest. I planned on hunting the swampy section of the woods as this is the area that the squirrels forage in 99% of the time.
I parked at my usual spot on the farm then walked down to the stream. I quickly found a shallow area to cross and waded across into the thick brush on the other side of the stream. I had to watch my footing as the ground is very spongy and there are some pockets of soft mud knee deep that you have to watch out for, but in few minutes I found myself in an area that was surrounded by at least half a dozen squirrel nests in the tops of the trees. I found a good spot, sat down and waited.
Didn't have to wait long,,, within 5 minutes I had 4 squirrels foraging on the ground, 2 about 20 yards in front of me and 2 off to my right. They hadn't spotted me and went about their foraging without a second thought. After watching them for about 10 minutes I finally had a shot present itself on one of the squirrels in front of me. I put the scope on his noggin and squeezed. The gun fired, the pellet flew towards it's target and then proceeded to slam into a small stick directly in front of the nutters head. I hadn't even seen that stick but it was big enough to deflect the pellet.
I hunted for another 2 hours in that spot and had squirrels all around me most of the time but due to the thick brush on the ground where they were foraging I simply couldn't get any other shots. At one point I even tried to scare a couple of em up into the trees, but they wouldn't tree. They simply scurried off on the ground deeper into the thick brush. Very frustrating to say the least !!
After much consideration I figured out a way to hunt this spot and get some shots, but I decided to come back again another day early in the morning when the nutters will be out looking for breakfast. Basically I'm going to hunt the same way but from the other side, the stream side. As I watched the nutters feed I realized that as they foraged they all foraged in the same direction,,, towards the stream. The nest trees are on the far edge of the band of thick brush and If I set up near the stream and let them feed towards me I should get some good shots as the underbrush thins out considerably near the stream. Anyway, that's my plan, may give it a try tomorrow.
I crossed back over the stream and walked straight to a thick patch of briars on the other side of the farm that I know holds some rabbits. I only walked about 10 yards into the briar patch when a cottontail darted out from under my feet. I watched him scamper through the briars and saw him stop about 15 yards away. I knew I didn't have long so I just threw the rifle up, took aim and fired. The pellet struck him in the neck and he fell over at impact. The briars were so thick it took me about 10 minutes, and quite a few deep scratches, but I finally squeezed in close enough to retrieve my future dinner. The Black Shadow had come through again. Had my daughter take some pics when I got home so I could post em.
Jeff
