Some time ago I made way into the mountains with my dog Marley to spend two days primitive camping and to hunt for Ground Squirrels. This location is a familiar one but the weather can sometimes be hit or miss considering the higher altitude. This property is extremely remote but offers some of the best habitat found for the California Ground Squirrels.
We had just received a good amount of rain that left the ground damp and the dust to a minimum with some lingering overcast cloud cover, not always the best conditions for hunting Ground Squirrels. We set up in one of my usual campsites that's nestled deep into a canyon where we had some shade and shelter from the vigorous wind that comes through from the South.
After unloading the Jeep Marley and I headed away from camp to scout the area where I was soon able to spot several Ground Squirrels moving about on the many rock outcroppings.
I was able to take down our first kill of the trip at 98 yards using the RAW HM1000x in .25 caliber. This is the newer Airforce version that's equipped with the LRT laminate camo stock and puts out just about 60 fpe using the NSA 34gr slugs.
This to be honest isn't my most ideal gun for field use but definitely offers no nonsense accuracy. I had mounted an inexpensive Hawke 3-12x44 SF scope that works fairly well for hunting purposes but has much to be desired compared to some of my more high quality glass. Marley and I continued on a cattle trail that ran parallel with a small creek that was still fresh with water from the recent storm.
The grass was green and the beautiful yellow flowers made this place simply fantastic to hike around in, really nice spot to get to hunt. As we took a break in the grass I was able to spot an adult size Ground Squirrel sunning himself high up in the rocks at 132 yards.
......and he dropped like a rock, nothing quite more satisfying than the catchers mit THWAAAACK!
Moving on just a few yards behind us was another area of rocks where I spotted two adults moving about with one barely visible, they really do blend in perfectly in this environment.
This one was at just over 55 yards and I hit a bit low still throwing him into a spin and down to the ground where Marley recovered.
By this time it was late afternoon and with some nasty looking clouds coming our way I decided to head back towards the camp. When we come out on these adventures it's not uncommon for us to hike up to 10+ miles in a day, it can get tiring carrying a full pack, rifle and camera equipment. My legs were sore but it really was a beautiful location to explore with our total kill count for the day to about 15.
Back at camp I spent some time collecting firewood and preparing my dinner for the night that I expected would be down into the 30's with slight chance of rain and snow.
After cooking a nice steak along with some potatoes I settled in for the night with the hopes that the following day would bring plenty of sunshine.
The next morning Marley and I got up around 7:30am to meet the sun and to prepare my pack for another venture from camp.
The first thing I do while I'm waiting for my coffee to brew is to set my tank and rifle out into the sun to let it warm up a bit, sometimes when my tank is low I can bring the pressure up a few hundred psi just by doing this.
I loaded up the magazines with the 34gr NSA's, topped off the gun and proceeded to enjoy my morning brew before heading out on the trail again.
Thankfully we had much more sun than the day before that gave me hope that the Ground Squirrels would be much more active, I could hear them barking in the distance from the nearby rocks. I had scouted a few areas to hit the day before so was quite familiar with my plan of action as far as the hot spots of the area. Marley and I proceeded down the cattle trail and managed to make it just about a mile before setting up to make a few shots.
As you can see we had some pretty good action right off the bat with shot from 40 yards all the way out to 120+ with a few that were getting fairly acrobatic.
This was a spectacular location to hunt but unfortunately after lunch the weather turned bad ultimately forcing me to pack up the Jeep and head down to the lower elevations. The total for this trip was easily over 50 and I think if it had been a bit warmer I could have easily doubled that number. Marley and I both had a great time getting out for some good hiking and are so fortunate to be able to do these trips. The RAW worked very well for us, my only real complaint is the moderator that I have found to be completely worthless and the stock that to me seems far to delicate to heavily use in the field. Enclosed is this trip that I have documented in video form that I hope some may enjoy as much as we did to making it. Hope to share more when the time allows, Cheers!
https://youtu.be/WKO8jsGPf1I
We had just received a good amount of rain that left the ground damp and the dust to a minimum with some lingering overcast cloud cover, not always the best conditions for hunting Ground Squirrels. We set up in one of my usual campsites that's nestled deep into a canyon where we had some shade and shelter from the vigorous wind that comes through from the South.
After unloading the Jeep Marley and I headed away from camp to scout the area where I was soon able to spot several Ground Squirrels moving about on the many rock outcroppings.
I was able to take down our first kill of the trip at 98 yards using the RAW HM1000x in .25 caliber. This is the newer Airforce version that's equipped with the LRT laminate camo stock and puts out just about 60 fpe using the NSA 34gr slugs.
This to be honest isn't my most ideal gun for field use but definitely offers no nonsense accuracy. I had mounted an inexpensive Hawke 3-12x44 SF scope that works fairly well for hunting purposes but has much to be desired compared to some of my more high quality glass. Marley and I continued on a cattle trail that ran parallel with a small creek that was still fresh with water from the recent storm.
The grass was green and the beautiful yellow flowers made this place simply fantastic to hike around in, really nice spot to get to hunt. As we took a break in the grass I was able to spot an adult size Ground Squirrel sunning himself high up in the rocks at 132 yards.
......and he dropped like a rock, nothing quite more satisfying than the catchers mit THWAAAACK!
Moving on just a few yards behind us was another area of rocks where I spotted two adults moving about with one barely visible, they really do blend in perfectly in this environment.
This one was at just over 55 yards and I hit a bit low still throwing him into a spin and down to the ground where Marley recovered.
By this time it was late afternoon and with some nasty looking clouds coming our way I decided to head back towards the camp. When we come out on these adventures it's not uncommon for us to hike up to 10+ miles in a day, it can get tiring carrying a full pack, rifle and camera equipment. My legs were sore but it really was a beautiful location to explore with our total kill count for the day to about 15.
Back at camp I spent some time collecting firewood and preparing my dinner for the night that I expected would be down into the 30's with slight chance of rain and snow.
After cooking a nice steak along with some potatoes I settled in for the night with the hopes that the following day would bring plenty of sunshine.
The next morning Marley and I got up around 7:30am to meet the sun and to prepare my pack for another venture from camp.
The first thing I do while I'm waiting for my coffee to brew is to set my tank and rifle out into the sun to let it warm up a bit, sometimes when my tank is low I can bring the pressure up a few hundred psi just by doing this.
I loaded up the magazines with the 34gr NSA's, topped off the gun and proceeded to enjoy my morning brew before heading out on the trail again.
Thankfully we had much more sun than the day before that gave me hope that the Ground Squirrels would be much more active, I could hear them barking in the distance from the nearby rocks. I had scouted a few areas to hit the day before so was quite familiar with my plan of action as far as the hot spots of the area. Marley and I proceeded down the cattle trail and managed to make it just about a mile before setting up to make a few shots.
As you can see we had some pretty good action right off the bat with shot from 40 yards all the way out to 120+ with a few that were getting fairly acrobatic.
This was a spectacular location to hunt but unfortunately after lunch the weather turned bad ultimately forcing me to pack up the Jeep and head down to the lower elevations. The total for this trip was easily over 50 and I think if it had been a bit warmer I could have easily doubled that number. Marley and I both had a great time getting out for some good hiking and are so fortunate to be able to do these trips. The RAW worked very well for us, my only real complaint is the moderator that I have found to be completely worthless and the stock that to me seems far to delicate to heavily use in the field. Enclosed is this trip that I have documented in video form that I hope some may enjoy as much as we did to making it. Hope to share more when the time allows, Cheers!
https://youtu.be/WKO8jsGPf1I
