Condor's first official kill of the season

[only1harry]

Since small-game season started on the 1st, I have only seen a handful of squirrels but could not get an angle or shot at them.  They would disappear or hide in the leaves and the darkness all those trees provide along the 40yd stretch of hill behind my house.  

Today was no exception.  I saw a couple of black sillhouettes quickly moving with the corner of my eye and then nothing.  I 'd scan the branches with the scope or binoculars and couldn't come up with anything.  The tree line on the small hill is at least 10yds deep and most of their branches intertwine and mingle with each other so there 's very thick vegetation and perfect for the squirrels to go back and forth unnoticed.  

Around 7pm it was getting dark and I was getting ready to pack it in, when all of a sudden I saw another black shadow leap across 2 branches up in the trees 25-30yds out.  I scanned and looked but this mediocre BSA Contender scope I 'm using temporarily on the Condor, could not spot it as it does not let enough light through.  7:05pm and I 'm thinking this squirrel has probably slipped away and gone to the oak tree or he 's just sitting there laughing at me when I hear a noise like a nut falling from a tree.  I turn to look and scan the branches with the scope again and finally I spot part of his tail hanging down on another branch 12+ft away from where I thought he was.  I clear up the picture with the A/O (about 26yds) and can now see part of his body through myriads of leaves.  Looks like his left side.. can see part of a leg and torsoe but no head.  I also managed to make out part of the left shoulder.  Head & neck are completely concealed but it looks like his front legs are on the brach and he 's definitely not standing up or eating.  He could 've spotted me and is trying to hide but he 's actually facing away from me a little at an angle.  I rest on the window sill and realized I had put my trusty pillow away!  Oh well I rest my hand on the metal window frame and aim as far up the body as I can see, to what seemed to be the shoulder in order to get a good upper chest shot, as the thin metal frame was sinking into my hand under the weight of the Condor.  I squeeze the trigger and dont' hear the impact of the 21gr Kodiak but the squirrel immediately drops about 30ft to the ground like a log making a loud thump and doesn't move.  He actually wasn't moving or twitching through the long drop either.  I watched him through the scope on the ground for 45sec-1min. to make sure he wasn't playing dead and then decided to go check it out and take some pics.
 
The Kodiak had entered a few milimeters behind his upper arm/shoulder into the chest and exited the other side through the front right chest.  It had to be straight through the heart which explains why no death dance like you see when they get hit in the head or bleed to death from a chest shot, vitals, etc.    
I was a little disappointed I was deprived of the death-dance show, but really happy I got my 1st kill of the season, and the 1st squirrel in a long time.  Since it was the first official kill of the season I went a little crazy with the pics but 1 of them shows how dark it was.  No doubt he was the last one passing through and all that waiting and searching paid off.

*edit* spelling errors & punctuation

[Phil_B]

NICE!!!

[shadow]

Congrat's on her first official harvest Harry.:) I think the nutter was making one last munchy run before bedtime, the last supper so to speak.:) Great account of the hunt and fantastic pic's. More to follow I'm sure, thank's for taking us along buddy. Ed

[only1harry]

thanks guys.  

BTW, I had taken at least 45-50 shots with the Condor before I shot this squirrel.  I had put her through the Chrony this morning and felt it was still shooting pretty strong.  It was still in the high 860's (from 990-1,000fps) w/Kodiaks so I didn't refill.  I just went up on the elevation 3-4 clicks because the POI had started to drop.  Notice how the elevation turret cap is missing in the pics.  It's gotta be around here somewhere :-)

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

Im trying to reply to Ya Harry,, just kinda hard right now,, I,m LMFAO  SOOOOOO hard!! ::::::: Window sill?? Favorite pillow??  I swear you & I MUST be related somehow!!LOL!!  TOO FUNNY!!  Funny thing,, the wife follows my posts pretty closely,, (She has no choice,, I make herLOL!!) So,, she says to me recently,, "Dad",,,,,  your Friends seem to acually go INTO THE WOODS to hunt???  Man that hit home. Well,, during the Summer Ya just get into the habit of shooting from the porch ect. Honestly,, once "Cool" weather gets here,, I CANT WAIT to get back into the "Woods" with full camo!!He He He!! Course,, one of our other Hunting Buddys nearly admitted to huntin out the Cabin window wearing "Nighties"?? LOL!! LOVE that Condor of yours Harry!! Shure LOVE that Brl. shroud on er too!! UHHHHHH,,,, seems I gots me a Brl. shroud for my Tallon now!! :::--- This is MOST IRONIC,, just took a "potty break" & what do I see?? another Coon getting into my garbage!! HONEST!! Must be carma!!  Great shooting Harry!! I gotta go take some pics. now!!!!!!!!!! Tim.

[longislandhunter]

Outstanding Harry  !!!    Great shot and BTW,,, you can NEVER have to many hunting pics  !!!  

Man that rifle looks good perched next to it's kill,,,   congrats  buddy  :)

Jeff

[Progun]

Way to go Harry! Quartering away through the chest and not a twitch.Yep, theres a lot of vulnerable plumbing in that chest cavity as you've proved.Especially with the power and accuracy of your rig to punch a hole through vital vessels.You are definitly deadly.Geez Harry, you might like sniping so much with that Condor that your old reliables might get neglected.Congratulations on what I predict is just the first of many to come with your Condor.

[gamo2hammerli]

Excellent shot on that little critter from such a long distance in semi-darkness!!! Your patience paid off. I think I mentioned I like the look of your wicked airgun a few times. heh heh

[only1harry]

Thanks guys, and yes I know most of you like my new "toy".  Much appreciated.  BTW, I 'm calling a priest to bless it just in case it gets jinxed from all the compliments :-)  

Well, if the season is anything like last year you 'll be seeing a lot more.  Hopefully I didn't put a huge dent in the neighborhood squirrel population last year.  Only got 21 of them but I started late in November because I couldn't make it to the town clerk's office to renew my license until then.  Some of you may not have been around last year when I was using my 350 .22 without a scope on squirrels.  I was having a blast. Most of them were quartering shots with some spine shots out to 30yds and it always took 1 shot from that big Springer.  I really liked using the 18.2gr Crow Magnums on them too but they 're a little too light for the Condor.  Made a very nice .30+cal. exit hole :)

[only1harry]

Tim:
That's funny.. well I only have 3 windows I can shoot from in the back of the house.  1 of them is a little akward because the night table gets in the way, so I 'm really down to 2 :-)  I have an enclosed porch with 3 windows facing the back too but that's more of an extension of the house out towards the back so it's closer to the trees and I can be detected easier.  This porch has its good and bad points.  The bad is that I cannot see half the trees in the back because the large porch blocks my view when I use the regular windows on the other side.  The good thing is, the squirrels don't see me when they are over on that side making their way towards me, so I keep my eye where the porch ends on those trees and usually spot them as soon as they clear the porch before they see me.  
I think windows is a great way to spot squirrels without being spotted because you can sit further back and look up at the trees.  In the winter time I 'll start wearing my camo so when I approach the window to shoot I don't stick out like a sore thumb.  I may try using this tall bipod I got last year to shoot them from well within the room.  

I have not done any hunting or shooting in my robe yet but I have been barefoot or wore slippers in the past though :-)  I try to wear shoes ready to run out in case the critter decides to crawl out of sight somewhere if it's got some life or strength left in it.  I have lots of poison ivy and poison oak in the back so I even wear jeans in the summer time inside the house (where it's cool) when I 'm looking to shoot things out the window.  I got a bad case of poison ivy 1 summer a couple of years ago when I went to retrieve a G-hog that had crawled just beyond the lawn.  My legs were covered..  Never again will I let that happen.  The doctor said it was the worse case he had seen in his entire career!  Had to get on Prednizone (cortico-steroids - this stuff can kill you) a week later when it wasn't getting any better to finally get some relief.
Looking forward to some cool weather too buddy so I can get out there and stretch my legs a little :-)  Love being in the woods in 40-50deg. weather.  I have to find a new piece of state land to hunt on though.  Gotta call the DEC office because they closed down the small piece of state land I was scouting in the spring.  They made it into hiking and camping grounds.. They have some nerve :-)