Call it a Draw

[longislandhunter]

Spent most of the day tackling the leaves in the back yard but left the last 2 hours of daylight for me, the .22 CFX and a little squirrel hunting.    Was in the woods by 3 pm, pellet loaded and ready to go.  Slowly crept along the fire trails for about an hour before I finally saw a squirrel, but he saw me first.   He did a zig zag pattern to the nearest dead tree and disappeared into a small hole in the trunk on the opposite side.  I figured I'd wait him out so I sat down at the base of a large oak tree 25 yards away and waited.  

Well, I sat there relaxing, enjoying the peace of the woods and waiting for the tree rat to emerge, for about 30 minutes but no rat.  I decided to take another look at that hole in the tree so I cranked the scope to 9x and took a peek.  At first I didn't see anything but something just didn't look right.  I adjusted the AO to get the view crystal clear and there it was,,,,,, an eye looking back at me.  The little bugger pushed  his eye far enough up to the edge of the hole just enough to keep me in full sight.  I sat there for another 20 minutes but it was a Mexican stand off.  He kept peering at me from his safe haven and I just sat there.  

I finally conceded, told the rat I'd be back another day, and took a nice slow walk out of the woods, reaching my truck just about dark.  No fresh squirrel for dinner tonight, but had a great time in a beautiful setting and got to match wits with a pretty smart little tree rat.  

Jeff

[Big_Bill]

Great account Jeff,

You had me hanging on every word, waiting for the shot ! But at least you had 2 hours with Mother Nature, the best time you can have.. :)

Bill

[shadow]

Well you know were he live's buddy and you will catch him off guard soon hehe. Great account , the two of you waiting and watching to see what the other will do and as alway's it's just good to be out in MA NATURE. Were all part of something bigger and it's nice just to sit back sometimes and injoy the connection that we have with everything around us. It's just a matter of time though and you'll put him in the icebox. :) Ed

[Gene_SC]

I sure can relate to that Jeff... Since I have moved to South Carolina, I have spent many hours looking and listening to all the beauty of the natural surroundings and big and little sounds that all the birds and land critters make. It is very peacefully and relaxing. You can see and hear things that many people would never notice or experience in a lifetime. Although hunting is not my forte, I can easily get in tune with nature..:) Thanks again for sharing your experiences. Gene

[tat2dman]

Can`t winnem all Jeff!but it could always be worse,I can`t even get out right now!My fav. time of the year,but like Ed said"you`ll getem"

[only1harry]

Good story as usual Jeff.  
That has happened to me a couple of times.  Sometimes they don't need to be in a hole, they just know how to find that right spot on the tree and sit in a crevice or where 2 brances meet and curl up their body so that you can only see their tail sticking out a little, or their nose, etc.  

It happened to me yesterday afternoon but I came out victorious at the end after waiting for over 30min behind an upstairs window for him to come out in the open.  I spotted his tail with my Bushnell 6-12X field binaculars (I 'm on open sights for the moment).  That's all I could see.  I actually had observed him a couple of times before and knew the tree he hangs out at.  He seems to take naps up there and stay for long periods of time whether he feels threatened or not.  He uses a tree in my back yard that is at the foot of a hill and normally uses the branches on the opposite side of the tree high enough beyond the top of the small hill where the only backstop is a roof of a new house that was built recently.

Well after about 35min. he started his descent down the tree to look for a snack as he normally does.  He came around my side of the tree out in the clear and stopped on a lower branch when he heard me open the window from 25yds away.  I pulled the trigger and he dropped as the 21gr Kodiak went right through his chest.  His spine was also hit.  I normally don't go for a head shot on iron sights beyond 15 or 20yds..  I did not know I had loaded a Kodiak until I saw another squirrel immediately after he dropped come out of nowhere and waiving his tail and calling the other with loud sounds.  I turned to grab another pellet from the tin and noticed the pellets looked too big.  It was not the Beeman FTS tin I had grabbed but the Kodiak one.  Oh well, I reloaded and waited for an opportunity on the other squirrel.  To make a long story short about 10-15min. later I got the 2nd one right through the upper chest at ~32yds away after I missed the 1st shot when I tried to shoot his head that was the only thing visible at around 29-30yds a few min. before.  

I frantically looked for the digital camera but my wife had taken off with it in the car where she normally keeps it.  I found the regular camera but there was no film!  I was *_*_*_*_*_*ed.  She was still out shopping and an hour later I had to prepare dinner for my son so I stashed both rats under some leaves (the wife doesn't like the sight of dead animals or me shooting them) near where they fell.  She finally shows up a couple of hours and hundreds of $ later with 2 large bags.  It was now dark out and had been for a while.  I check her car.  It's locked.  She caught me going through her purse looking for the car keys.  By that time my son had told her I was doing some shooting and she suspected I wanted the camera to take picutres.  Now I have to sit down and have a serious talk with my 13yd old, about "us" and "them"...  I have decided to get my own digital camera but I think I have wiped out the squirrel population in my neighborhood as I have gotten 8 of them in the last 2 months.

[longislandhunter]

Those Kodiaks certainly did the job....  Nice shooting.  I doubt if you've cleaned out the neighborhood of tree rats,,, I'll bet ya some more show up, they always seem to around here.    To bad you couldn't post any pics, but I got a thrill just reading the account.   Nice shootin.....

Jeff

[only1harry]

Oh yeah, 21gr, 1/3" of an inch, and 17ft-lbs of fury (@ 25yds) - they dropped and didn't move.  Well actually one flapped a couple of times like a fish for 2secs max when it hit the ground and that was it.  The other just fell and there was no movement on the ground at all.  I thought at first that maybe he ran or was hiding behind a tree or it fell because the pellet struck so close it scared him and make him lose his balance.  I just couldn't see it.  It had sunk right into a bed of yellow maple leaves on the ground and never moved.  The ground is covered with them.  That was the first time I had (accidentally) used Kodiaks on squirrel.  I used CP's on all the others and FTS on one occasion.  I hope I can use the Kodiak again on the large racoon that's been coming around at night.  It went through the garbage bag my wife left out the other night so now it's personal :-)  

I hope you 're right and I didn't exterminate the squirrel population.  It's just too much fun playing hide & seek with them.  I know the groundhogs are finally gone (after I took 14 of them in 3yrs) but now I have to deal with a possom (or possoms) that has moved right into their burrow.  That's ok.  Life would be boring without having these critters around and our guns would get dusty  :-)