First tree rat in 3 months!!!

[qball]

It has been about 3 months since I last saw a squirrel in my yard and I don’t really look up at my tree anymore. Yesterday my son pointed out there is a squirrel in our tree but it’s was quick to make a getaway. Knowing they are creatures of habit I’m hoping it will be back again today and it did. After feeding the kids breakfast I walked around the house to check out the tree, while I didn’t see anything ut heard the rustling up in the canopy. Turned around and grab my DTC with 177 hades loaded and poked it around the corner of the house, had to wait a couple of minutes but down it came to the main trunk of the oak tree. I got so excited and pulled the first shot. Doh! Steadied myself and took a deep breath, put the center dot right under the armpit and pop! To my surprise at only 600FPS I got a complete pass through! Guess I’ll have to turn the gun down another 30-40FPS. The pellet did hit exactly where the center dot was and it tried to climb up but only made about 1/2 a foot before dropping to the ground, ran for about 15 feet and went to sleep. 

she is a healthy adult female and will make a good meal for my pet skunk Pepe Le Pew that comes to my yard just about every night. 




Edit: 10pm almost on the dot Pepe Le Pew came and grabbed his dinner. 

 

[sleebus.jones]

Nicely done. A coon came and picked up the adult buck I dropped the other day at around 2am. Squirrel was heading down the tree trunk when he stopped and I hit him right on the top of the dome. Night crew at work here.

 

[Blackpaw]

@qball good work on the squirrel and you sounded like Christmas came when that squirrel showed up. So no issues with the skunk?

@sleebus.jones nice video. One thing, it seemed that the raccoon noticed the camera and went, “damn I bust grab the goods and run.”

 

[Flintsack]

Nice report. The squirrels here seem to have a sixth sense that says…RUN. 

it sounds like you may have some members of the same tribe.


mike

 

[qball]

@qball good work on the squirrel and you sounded like Christmas came when that squirrel showed up.

So no issues with the skunk?

Yeah, was way too excited after 3 months of not seeing one. The squirrel fever is real!



I live in suburbia so no chickens which means skunks are just present and they really don’t bother anyone. They are use to people and very docile because I accidentally got to about 15ft of it and it just slowly walked away. It hasn’t even eaten my tomatos in the garden, it’s my night crew that does clean up but sadly I wasn’t able to provide it with feast like yesterday for a long while. If 2 males get into squirt gun battle during mating season then I might take one out. 

 

[qball]

Nice report. The squirrels here seem to have a sixth sense that says…RUN. 

it sounds like you may have some members of the same tribe.


mike

when I first started well over 30 squirrels and a year ago they were not afraid of anything. My theory is that these are squirrels exploring new territory so they are naturally more cautious. 

 

[Bobbylee]

57 in the last 3 weeks with my 22 Flaspup and FX Dreamtac .25. They have been coming after my pecans, For 10 yrs i have not had a pecan. This year I will!

 

[sleebus.jones]

57 in the last 3 weeks with my 22 Flaspup and FX Dreamtac .25. They have been coming after my pecans, For 10 yrs i have not had a pecan. This year I will!

Man, this right here! We didn't have any squirrels when we moved in about 10 years ago. They've been multiplying over the past years and really started impacting the pecans. Now that I've taken a lot of them out, I've got trees than never had pecans before with nuts on them. Dang tree rats were cutting off the green (!) pecans so they never matured.

 

[jland48]

I love both shooting and eating squirrels. When I moved to my present location about 21 years ago, I hunted them almost to extinction, but I have since wised up. Around my house I have good woods in which I set up a feeder. Now, while I do shoot them here, I only take them occasionally, saving most of my hunting to open hunting lands that are nearby. In short I consider my situation to be squirrel farming. I provide the feed and the squirrels do the rest with me cultivating the herd with my airguns.

 

[Ranchibi]

Great shot! Your son has great vision.

 

[L.Leon]

Three months is a long, long time... Good shooting on your squirrel though, maybe you'll get some more squirrels in December at the present rate. If you shoot all the squirrels that come into your yard the intervals are bound to get longer. You have to leave some seed stock if you want more of them to shoot. 

 

[L.Leon]

Double post

 

[qball]

Three months is a long, long time... Good shooting on your squirrel though, maybe you'll get some more squirrels in December at the present rate. If you shoot all the squirrels that come into your yard the intervals are bound to get longer. You have to leave some seed stock if you want more of them to shoot.

I know what you are saying but as much as I’m sad about their absence it is my goal because I have Spanish/wavy tiles and they love getting under them and on top of that I have solar panels so I do need to enforce no trespass policy. The good news is the invasive fox squirrels have 2 litter a year so I get a bunch of them in the spring and a smaller bunch in late fall after their young get kicked out and looking for new homes for surrounding areas. When I drive by houses 1/2 to a mile away they are thick so I have no doubt they will make their way over but wait between the breeding seasons is very very long.