Sunday morning hunt (pics)

[only1harry]

Well the crows woke me up early again this morning.  I really wanted to get 8hrs of sleep.  I was twisting and turning and couldn't sleep with all the noise they were making like they were right outside my window.  All of a sudden it occured to me my wife and son slept over my in-laws last night!  I jump out of bed, grab the 350 .22 and load a Crow Magnum pellet in her.  The crows are again on my big willow tree and on the trees along my back yard.  The large Willow (4ft trunk diameter) is about 45yds away and figure the crows are another 20-30yds up.  If I had a scope maybe..  I go to the back window and see them not more than 30yds out on the closest oak tree.  Roll the wooden window up ever so slowly.  None of them flew away! Don't think they spotted me.  I wait a couple of min.  Now the metal storm window.  One little metal-metal screech and they were all gone.  

Oh well, 1 for the crows again, but WAIT, what 's this?  2 squirrels running around and playing in my back yard right at the edge of the tree line!  Could it be the goddess of hunting Diana heard my prayers about bringing the squirrel population back?  I then see the big ol' lonely squirrel that I 've been seeing for the last couple of days come out of the other big oak tree about 40-45yds out.  This oak tree is right at the border with my neighbor's property in the back.  Half the tree belongs to him and the other half to me.  The 3.5' wide trunk crosses both our properties.  I never shoot anything on that tree because I don't know where the animal is going to land.  So here he comes defending his property.  It seems that some squirrels are now invading the dead ones' territory.  There are re-orgs going on, coup-de-tat's and all kinds of anarchy in my back yard.  With the absense of 15-16 squirrels, it would be expected  :)

Well finally after 10-15min. of chasing them around, the new couple has given in and has now moved within my range of ~30yds.  The old squirrel ran back to his oak tree which he defended so valiantly and stood there watching their every move.  He was clearly bigger than them and more experienced.  Now these 2 are about within 25yds of me oblivious to my presence at the 2nd floor bedroom window.  They ran and ran around trees playfully exploring new territories.  They were making me dizzy watching them.  Finally one of them stopped on a branch about ~26-27yds away.  He 's kind of crowled up facing away from me.  The other stops too but he 's up higher and there are too many little branches and limbs in the way so I aim for the spine of the one facing away from me.  He was only about 11-12ft off the ground and I was slightly aiming down on him.  I hasitated for a moment and thought maybe I should give them a couple of days to get used to my back yard and bring their friends, but then I decided that if that if I take this one, there are at least 2 more that can maybe reproduce next spring.  I even decided to decrease my odds and stood up and decided to shoot off-hand.  I aimed at the back hump the squirrels make when they are sitting or squatting and squeezed the trigger before I got tired holding the magum springer.  Immediately after I heard a loud THUMP.  No other sounds.  The tree rat fell straight down and hit the leaf covered ground hard.  There was no movement, no death dance.  Now the other squirrel immediately comes down and is upside down at the base of the tree 3ft off the ground calling his buddy.  I had a clear shot at him but didn't take it.  I showed immense restraint.  I started sweating.  Tried to control my hands that wanted to cock the gun again but I didn't do it.  Went and made some toast, coffee and had some breakfast.  Look out the window again 15min. later and the other squirrel is still hanging around.  He 's on a branch closer to the house about 22-23yds out presenting me with a very clear shot.  Again I decide not to act.  I grab the camera and the unloaded 350 and go out for some pics.  The squirrel is now about 15yds above me on an adjacent tree as I 'm taking the pics.  I try not to look at him so I don't get the urge to load another pellet.  He slowly made his way to the edge of my property 45-50yds from his fallen buddy hopping from tree to tree and then made a left and ran straight through my front lawn accross the street and disappeared.  Clearly not a local resident.  I look up at the old oak on the other side of my property 40+yds out and the big ol' tree rat is still there 25+yds up probably watching the events unfold and probably thinking: "see I told you to get the hek out of here.." :-)  

Upon examining my harvest, I saw that the CrowMagnum shattered his spine but there was no exit wound!  I think this is the first time I have shot something and the pellet did not exit but then again it's only the 2nd or 3d animal I have taken with a Crow Magnum.  My choice of preference is CP's with Kodiak second and they have gone through groundhogs at 40yds.  My guess is this pellet entered the back of the squirrel, broke his spine and then traveled up his body towards his head because of the way he was positioned.  I was directly behind the squirrel so I was not shooting at him from an angle.  It's possible that this was not only a spine shot, but a lung/heart shot as well, which explains why the squirrel did not move.  He was probably dead before he hit the ground.  
       

[longislandhunter]

Excellent hunt and pics Harry.   Great shooting as usual.   That 350 sure looks pretty lying there next to her kill......    :)

Jeff

[Phil_B]

Great shot. LOVE THAT 350.Just wait till ya get that scope on it. Then that old rat even at 40 50 60  yards don't matter he's done for.

[only1harry]

Thanks Phil,

How is that Leapers holding up on your 350?  How many shot do you have through your gun now?  My 350 came with an RWS (300) 4x32 A/O scope but it was pretty pathetic.  Besides the scope being below avg., the C-Mount rings kept coming loose and would change zero every 15 shots until the adj. screws were stripped from me tightening them too much. Finally the gimballs broke and the scope was just dangling there with lots of movement.  I finally ripped it out with my hands cause I couldn't get those tiny little screws loose :)  So now I 'm stuck with the RWS mount which also has stripped screws.  Will get that off next week once the BKL 260 D7 mount comes in and put a Tasco Golden Antler 3-9x32 that arrived a few days ago.  Once I shoot a few hundred pellets through it and I 'm comfortable that the 350 doesn't like eating scopes anymore or creeping them, now that it smoothed out, I 'll opt for a higher magn. scope.  Believe it or not I was able to dispatch 4 groundhogs with that RWS scope in between re-adjusting and tightening!  Too bad I didn't known about this forum then so I didn't take any pics.  A couple of them were massive but the CP's went through their skull like it was butter.  The G-Hogs are all gone now (got 14 of them the last couple of years with .22LR) so I 'm setting for the tree rats.  

I 'd love to see a pic of your 350 with the Leapers scope, and maybe some of her harvest pics.  You can also e-mail me at vtecharry@yahoo.com.  I just did some chrony testing on my 350 too.  Seems to be right on with 1,100 shots through her.  Averaged mid-high 850's (1st shot, cold, was 870!) with CP's, 860's with FTS, high 840's with Superdomes, and it likes JSB Exact 15.8gr which I just got in the mail: 798 - 802fps! very consistent with the JSB's.  Still learning to use the Beta Chrony and not messing up the readings or mixing different pellets in the same group :)  Will probably post on the airgun Gate once I get all the groups straightened out and learn how to use it better.  It's not very user friendly.

[Phil_B]

Harry    Man you can type here and over at the Dianawerk Collective.  As for the leapers its doing great I say this with my fingers crossed:) I tired to get a good pic of the 350 but they were just ok,and the wife deleted them so Ill have to try some more then try to post them Id like the pics to be outside but it is snowing again .I really don't hunt I mostly got the 350 for pest control mainly rabbits eating my flowers,the tree rats are annoying but haven't gotten me that mad yet and I sad yet we only have grays here I saw my first black this summer at the NYC Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, and my father is having problems with reds at his house just north of Lake George NY so for Christmas I got him his first gun it was a crosman G1extreeme which of coarse I had to set up for him ha ha at first my wife thought it was for me. CPs are my favorite and just ordered some JSBs so Ill try them to. I want to get a crony and see if our guns are comparable and which pellet does best in my gun . I really like CPs for their accuracy I hang used 12 gram powerlets in a tree at about 40-45 yards and can hit them about 75% of the time I hung one at 55-60 yards and hit that one 30-40%  of the time

[shadow]

Great shot Harry and a fine story too, your sweetheart look's proud laying next to her harvest and the pic layout is fantastic!. Ed

[only1harry]

Yeah I type pretty fast Phil.  I was the fastest typist in high school (68 wpm I think).  Don't know why.. all the girls in the typing class hated me :)
That's ok, when you have some time and take a couple of pics of the 350 w/scope, don't forget to post them.  It's easy to post at the Dianawerk forum too.  Just copy/paste the link (URL) to your photobucket pics.

It's funny you mentioned the rabbits messing with your flowers & garden.  I first got "mad" at squirrels (not sure I am anymore, it's 2nd nature to shoot them now) and started shooting them a couple of years ago when 1 of them entered my house through the chimney and was locked in the family room.  When I opened the door to see what the noises were, he got out and went upstairs.  He ran around the house like crazy for almost 1hr before he found the door (and windows) I had opened for him and got out.  Somehow the thin steal mesh on top of the chimeny was partially ripped out and had like a 2"+ opening and he got through.  I don't know if they chewed it with their teeth or pushed it away or the snow/weather damaged it, but it was kind of flimsy to begin with and not a very good one. I replaced it since.  Then later that night I figured out what the noises in the attic were.  It was a squirrel!  He was able to go in and out through a vent that was near the roof so the hot air can escape in the summer time.  A couple of the screws had fallen off over the years and a small opening was created big enough for them to fit through.  The vent was actually ready to fall down.  So they were invading my home!  That's how I started.  
And the groundhogs would make large holes all over my lawn and my son got pretty hurt one day and sprained his ankle while walking when his foot got caught in a new hole that wasn't there before.  They also ried to get under my foundation..  

So I never thought of it until now.  These creatures did something to me which caused me to start hunting them down.  Thanks Phil!  You 're the best shrink I ever had!  :-)  You, you, you..  (guess what movie? heheh)

[only1harry]

That means a lot coming from you.  I always admired your photography.  It's like art..  I 'm learning from the best on the hunting forum :)  

I actually had more time today being that the wife was away (!) and waited to get better lighting, repositioned a couple of times, took my time, etc.  It helps when you 're not hiding from the wife half the time :)  

[shadow]

Look's real good Harry, I just try to setup a pic so that veiwer feel's like thier right here on the hunt with me.:) Ed

[Phil_B]

I have seen the movie ,maybe it was Anilize this or that,but I have seen it.Befor I got the 350 I used to get a ground hog  in my backyard which is fenced in and that is were my two dogs go to play,a yellow and a black lab so I knew if they spotted him they would try to play with it .So with out hesitation I shot him in the head with my gamo viper very close to 30 feet away but that sob rolled around for a few seconds just long enough for me to load another pellet put the gun to my shoulder and saw his backside going out threw the fence man I was angry, and I was upset because I did not want to just hurt him and let him suffer I wanted to kill him humanely. So I then decided to get a better gun with more knockdown power. But the ground hog has not been back. The other problem animal around here is a 400-500 pound black bear that took out all my bird feeders and broke a couple branches wile doing so. He is a big one wile walking on all four I can see his back over a 4 foot fence. And I know that even a RWS 350 mag 22 will only make him mad .The tree rats are only eating the bird seed but as soon as they do damage there done for.

[tat2dman]

Well Harry,I`d say you don`t need no stinkin scope from what I`ve seen.

[only1harry]

Don't feel too bad Phil, I made the mistake of shooting my 4th groundhog with the 350 at 42yds with the RWS scope & mount that had lost its zero, plus there were intermittent gusts of wind (beginning of Oct.).  I had gotten too overconfident having shot 3 groundhogs in the head and neck with the 350 which incapacitated and killed them within 5 seconds or less.  They were between 22 & 35yds out.  With the 4th one, the CP hit him right behind the upper shoulder, a little too hight for the vitals, about 3" to the left of the ear where I was aiming.  He rolled over a few times frantically trying to bite the POI for a couple of secs and while I was searching for him again with the crosshairs after having reloaded, he ran back down the hole 20ft away.  I was disappointed to say the least.  A day or 2 later there was a bad smell around my shed where his burrow was so I knew he was dead.  I also knew he was the last one because his body did not surface.  Other groundhogs did this a couple of years ago when I got one with a quartering shot with a .22LR rimfire but he managed to get down the hole which was only 2ft away.  The others pushed his body up to the surface and on the lawn during the night.  They despise rotting meat.  So after 14 groundhogs taken in 3yrs, they 've been wiped out for good.  I 'll really miss them.  They were a real challenge and made a nice hunting trophy at 10-16lbs, compared to the tree rats.

I would definitely keep a firearm or two in the house (nothing big, like a Win. or Marlin 30-30 lever action) if you don't have 1 already, in case that 400lb bear comes knocking on your door or window one day to have a taste of your wife's cooking! :)   If anything, it's just peace of mind that you have something to defend your family against such a big animal.