I was watching several different types of woodpeckers this morning. They were across the street from the house, working a section of trees that border a small creek, and a hill side. I saw several downy's, a red bellied, and even a pilliated a bit further up on the hill. Good thing I was watching, as while I was, I spotted the familiar 'steak' of fur as a chipmunk used a downed tree limb to traverse the hillside.
I grabbed the FX BC, and took up position at @55 yards, and watched for any sign of movement again. Within just a few minutes, there he was, bopping around in the leaves in front of a few rocks protruding from the hillside. I beaded up on him, and waited for a shot to present itself. At first, there was several small tree limbs breaking up the sight picture, so I just kept following him as he made his way across the face of the hillside. I was using a typical kneeling position to support the gun. He finally jumped up onto a few tree roots growing over a rock, and presented a perfect broadside - so I let the shot go. THWOP! He just rolled down the bank, and came to rest at what looked like just behind the lip of a rather large rock that had been sliding it's way down the hill for the last couple of years, I came in, put the gun up, and grabbed the camera - this is what I found when I climbed the hill to where I thought he was. He had rolled @ 8 feet down the hillside from where he had originally been struck by the 44gr JSB (you are looking at the exit side) and there was a BUNCH of blood splashed all along the distance he had rolled...
I really do enjoy that sound of a pellet hitting fur - there is just something about it that I find both rewarding, and satisfying ;-)
I grabbed the FX BC, and took up position at @55 yards, and watched for any sign of movement again. Within just a few minutes, there he was, bopping around in the leaves in front of a few rocks protruding from the hillside. I beaded up on him, and waited for a shot to present itself. At first, there was several small tree limbs breaking up the sight picture, so I just kept following him as he made his way across the face of the hillside. I was using a typical kneeling position to support the gun. He finally jumped up onto a few tree roots growing over a rock, and presented a perfect broadside - so I let the shot go. THWOP! He just rolled down the bank, and came to rest at what looked like just behind the lip of a rather large rock that had been sliding it's way down the hill for the last couple of years, I came in, put the gun up, and grabbed the camera - this is what I found when I climbed the hill to where I thought he was. He had rolled @ 8 feet down the hillside from where he had originally been struck by the 44gr JSB (you are looking at the exit side) and there was a BUNCH of blood splashed all along the distance he had rolled...
I really do enjoy that sound of a pellet hitting fur - there is just something about it that I find both rewarding, and satisfying ;-)
