I started off today following the trail near the corn field. As I got about 1/3 of the way down the path when I spooked 8 deer, and a red squirrel. The deer took off into the field, while the squirrel bolted off toward the river. I decided to continue up the trail, in the hope of spotting some doves, but no luck, as the crunch of the leaves spooked them too. I took a break at the clearing the deer were resting in for about ten minuets, then carried on around the U turn in the trail, running the length of the river. At this point, I notice a rather large Red Squirrel, (about where the one I spooked earlier would have been) barely up the foot of a tree, and I knelt to take a shot. Problem was, the brush was to tall in front of me, and moving would have alerted him to my presence, so I took a shot standing.
Naturally, I missed the bulls eye by a bit, instead hitting him in the left hind leg. Of course, He fell off the tree after that, and as I reloaded, to my surprise, he scrambled off. I pursued him, until he ran about eight feet up a tree, and I closed to ten yards and set my sights.
As I positioned myself for a shot, he shimmied around the tree as I circled after him! Crafty bushy-tail! But, this trick didn’t work long, as I charged the tree, took a peek to the right, and then darted to the left, instantly taking a point blank shot. This went straight into his right shoulder, knocking him from the tree. He hit the ground running, and as I reloaded, he darted into some brush, and started up another tree!
But this time, my pellet caught up with him. I tagged him in the left shoulder, and he fell off, from about two feet onto his back, still all the while trying to roll over and crawl away. I cleared my way through the brush as he got to his feet. I then shouldered my rifle to put him out of his misery, and fired for the headshot.
After I got back to camp with my quarry, I set it down, and moved out to the field, after some crows I heard. I saw about 6 of them flying in a loose formation across the field. I decided to take a long shot, and aimed above and in front of one of the larger crows. Amazingly, I hit him! He spun away from me, and flopped over on his back, then continued the spin full circle, and recovered lower in the formation. They all flew across the field, and over the river, out of site.
My first squirrel was a bitter sweet affair. Due to all those wounds, and my lack of skill cleaning him, there wasn’t much left of the Bushy-tail that wasn‘t mangled, or terribly bruised, so we cut off his tail, and buried him. Shame though, I still look forward to eating my first squirrel.
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/IGF_Randino/Firsthunt003.jpg http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/IGF_Randino/Firsthunt002.jpg http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/IGF_Randino/Firsthunt004.jpg http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/IGF_Randino/Firsthunt005.jpgNow, do I need to do anything special with the tail?
