I had just finished having a late lunch, fried squirrel of course, and I looked out the sliding glass door into the backyard. As I scanned the trees I saw 3 pigeons perched high in the trees. I ran down stairs, grabbed the QB-57 .22 , loaded up with a RWS SHP and quietly exited the basement bilco doors.
I crept over to the corner of the house and quickly took a peek. Yup, they're still there. I picked out a bird that gave me a clear shot, put the scope on his chest and pulled the trigger. The instant the gun fired I knew I missed since I felt myself jerk the trigger. I haven't shot the QB in a while so I guess my finger was "out of tune" with the trigger. The funny thing is the birds just sat there. I could tell they were spooked when the gun fired and the pellet crashed through the leafy canopy but they just sat there.
I loaded another SHP and took aim again, fired and another clean miss. Can't explain that miss, I thought it was a good shot, but a miss is a miss no matter what the reason. I was still amazed that the birds, clearly very nervous now, still did not fly away. They hopped onto other branches but wouldn't fly. Thanking the air gun gods for this 3rd opportunity I loaded yet another pellet and took aim at the same bird. Took a nice deep breath, gently pulled the trigger to the point where I knew it was gonna break and then evenly applied the last bit of finger pressure necessary to release the spring. The gun fired and I heard a loud "POP" and saw a puff of feathers. The next thing I saw was the bird falling to the ground, landing with a "thump".
To my amazement the other 2 birds still remained perched in the tree. I was getting ready to load another pellet when I suddenly saw something large take flight from high in one of the trees,,,,, it was a huge hawk. I suddenly realized why the pigeons wouldn't fly away during my shooting,,,, that hawk was just waiting for them to take flight so he could snatch some lunch. I guess I was so fixated on the pigeons that I just never noticed the hawk sitting up there on top of the tree.
As soon as the hawk had taken flight the remaining pigeons took off, staying low to the tree tops, and headed back in the direction of the highway bridge they call home. There has been a lot of activity at my bird feeders lately and I guess the hawk noticed it as well. I'm hoping I get to see him again, would love to get a better look at him.
Anyway,,, the QB-57 .22 did it's job and scored again. After retrieving my bird I spent about 20 minutes shooting metal spinner targets and had a blast. I did notice that the 2 piece scope mounts that came with the Golden Antler scope has started to "creep" a little bit, so I think I'm going to swap them for a 1 piece accushot mount. The .177 QB57 has a 2 piece accushot mount sitting on it and that scope hasn't moved one bit, but I think I'll go with the 1 piece on the .22.
After posting this I went back down to my workshop and remounted the golden antler again using the same mounts it came with,,,, this time I really cranked down on the bolts and applied blue loc-tite first. Will let it set for 24 hours and try another target session to see if it moves. I'll give the rings one more try before swapping them out for accushots.......
Jeff
