Around 3 pm yesterday I decided to grab an air rifle and head for the duck farm, but what rifle to take. The temperature was 78 degrees according to the dashboard of my truck so I thought I'd go C02 :) I opened up the gun safe and grabbed the Flying Dragon tuned QB-78D .177 and a container of CPL's. I figured I'd do a bird hunt this trip and let the G-hogs rest for awhile.
I got to the farm and saw plenty of starlings and pigeons,,,, just had to find a good spot. While I was walking past one of the barns I saw a white pigeon roosted up on the barn roof. Distance was 25 yards. Pulled the trigger and immediately saw a puff of white feathers and heard the "POP" of pellet striking feathers. First bird of the day down :)
I roamed around the farm for about an hour but just couldn't seem to find a good sniping location with enough birds to make the shooting consistent. There were plenty of birds but they wouldn't stay at any single grain feeder for more than a few minutes, for some reason they kept moving from one feeder to another... Finally I just decided to head straight for the huge mullberry tree at the south end of the farm, set up a shooting position concealed in the bushes and wait em out.
I set up my folding backpack seat in the high grass and bushes and with the camo I was wearing I was not easy to spot. I picked off 2 starlings from the tree when I suddenly saw a flock of pigeons land at a grain feeder that was 45 yards away. The flock had about 30 birds in it and there were a couple of nice sized birds. I know the distance to that feeder is 45 yards, having paced it before, and I figured I'd take a shot one of the fatter pigeons if I got a shot. I only had one shooting window through the bushes to that feeder so I had to wait for a bird to walk into just the right spot. I leaned the rifle on a conveniently placed tree branch and waited. Finally a nice dark colored bird stepped into view in the scope. I put the crosshairs on him, raised the rifle up and placed the 3rd mildot on his chest and fired. At the shot the entire flock took flight,,,, all except one bird that is :) the bird I shot at was lying on the ground flopping around. I loaded another pellet, left my blind and headed for the bird. By the I got there it was all over,,,, so I picked up my trophy and headed back to the blind. I wound up getting 3 more starlings from my blind but then the birds stopped showing up so I decided to slowly hunt my way back to the truck and look for targets of opportunity.
As I was slowly hunting my way back to the truck I saw a medium sized G-hog feeding in high grass near the woods that border the farm. He hadn't seen me so I figured I'd try a stalk on him and see how close I could get. Well,,, I didn't get very close as he spotted me and headed for the safety of his burrow. I walked up to where he had disappeared into the bushes so I could find his burrow for a future hunt. As I was standing there looking in the bushes for his burrow I suddenly spotted another G-hog about 50 yards ahead of me. He was a medium sized hog and was standing in thick grass munching away happily. He didn't know I was there so I decided to try another stalk. I decided that if I could get close, really close, I'd take a shot on him with the QB,, but it would have to be close.
I started my stalk. When the G-hog was facing towards me I'd freeze right where I was. Every time he turned away I'd take another step or two closer to him. I also took advantage of the cover provided by a cluster of tree limbs that were hanging down and almost touching the ground. I kept these limbs between me and the G-hog at all times as I moved. If I could reach the limbs and the G-hog stayed where he was then I'd be about 10 yards from him. I figured this was too good to hope for but I'd try. Well, after 30 minutes of taking a step at a time I finally reached those low limbs but just as I did the G-hog went down on all fours and I could no longer see him. I figured for sure he must've sensed my presence and was retreating, but to do that he would have to run to the woods and I would see him run by, but that didn't happen. I stood there for about 5 minutes assessing the situation when off in the distance I heard a car horn blow. At the sound the G-hog stands up again in the tall grass,,,, he hadn't run off he just moved about 10 feet to his right. Distance from him to me was 10 yards. As he was looking in the direction of the car horn I put the crosshairs on the back of his head, in between his ears, and pulled the trigger. Heard the "POP" and the G-hog flopped forward. When I got to him he was laying there with a steady stream of blood pouring from his nose.
I picked up my C02 trophy and headed back to the truck. Took some pics when I got home, hope ya like em.......
Jeff
