I've been eyeing a wood pile at @ 200 yards for a while from my deck. There's a colony of squirrels in the creek bed and I've taken a couple from various spots up and down this 20-30 yard section of burrows, root systems and deadfalls. However, I've been stymied by the rats that perch on top of a log pile that the creek pushed up in a bend. It's the furthest point of this particular squirrel patch, however it's the easiest to see and the little buggers LOVE to sit on top of it and sun themselves. When they're on the ground, they may be a bit closer but they seem to constantly be moving and it's hard to pull the trigger when they're never still.
This morning while outfitting my new work truck with accessories and I spotted a big one on top of that logjam and I decided to give him a go. I got the MKII, dropped the bipod on the deck railing, hit the range finder (211 yards) and took my best guess on the scope dope. The first shot went low about 1.5' and the wind (about 10 mph) pushed it about 8" right. The rat dropped out of sight, but they are ridiculously curious and within a minute he was back up and poking around for a new sunning spot. Using what I learned from the previous shot, I sent another one and this one clipped the log an inch or two below him. Once again, he scurried down and out of sight.
I took the opportunity to pick out a small rock to the right of the logjam but at the same distance. I used it as a target and took three or four shots at it and perfected the holdover and windage. Sure enough, the squirrel popped back up again. I had a chance for over a minute for just a head shot, but at that range I wanted to have a bit more meat for the slug to find purchase. The rat got more confident and stood on top of the log on his back legs trying to get a view of what was happening. Mistake. Looking through the Hawke Sidewinder FFP scope, I was down into the boxes (don't know the technical term) on the bottom of the vertical reticle and holding @ 8" to the left in the left-to-right crosswind. I sent the NSA 26.8 slug downrange and heard the unmistakable 'plop!' as the hollowpoint found its home. The squirrel fell and through the scope I could see the telltale helicopter tail in the underbrush.
I'm used to not recovering squirrels as they are amazingly tough and always seem to make it to a burrow (running, staggering, crawling...doesn't matter) I'm very confident that those hits are 100% fatal even though recovery isn't an option, which is fine since this is pesting and not harvesting food. However, I actually found this guy. Even with a head shot, he still managed to crawl 4' after flopping around and made it far enough into a burrow that only a couple of inches of tail were sticking out.
On the way back, two Euro doves landing right in front of me and I was fortunate enough to harvest one before they flew. I took a couple of gore pics of the would channel that the NSA 26.8's make. It's pretty darn substantial.
This morning while outfitting my new work truck with accessories and I spotted a big one on top of that logjam and I decided to give him a go. I got the MKII, dropped the bipod on the deck railing, hit the range finder (211 yards) and took my best guess on the scope dope. The first shot went low about 1.5' and the wind (about 10 mph) pushed it about 8" right. The rat dropped out of sight, but they are ridiculously curious and within a minute he was back up and poking around for a new sunning spot. Using what I learned from the previous shot, I sent another one and this one clipped the log an inch or two below him. Once again, he scurried down and out of sight.
I took the opportunity to pick out a small rock to the right of the logjam but at the same distance. I used it as a target and took three or four shots at it and perfected the holdover and windage. Sure enough, the squirrel popped back up again. I had a chance for over a minute for just a head shot, but at that range I wanted to have a bit more meat for the slug to find purchase. The rat got more confident and stood on top of the log on his back legs trying to get a view of what was happening. Mistake. Looking through the Hawke Sidewinder FFP scope, I was down into the boxes (don't know the technical term) on the bottom of the vertical reticle and holding @ 8" to the left in the left-to-right crosswind. I sent the NSA 26.8 slug downrange and heard the unmistakable 'plop!' as the hollowpoint found its home. The squirrel fell and through the scope I could see the telltale helicopter tail in the underbrush.
I'm used to not recovering squirrels as they are amazingly tough and always seem to make it to a burrow (running, staggering, crawling...doesn't matter) I'm very confident that those hits are 100% fatal even though recovery isn't an option, which is fine since this is pesting and not harvesting food. However, I actually found this guy. Even with a head shot, he still managed to crawl 4' after flopping around and made it far enough into a burrow that only a couple of inches of tail were sticking out.
On the way back, two Euro doves landing right in front of me and I was fortunate enough to harvest one before they flew. I took a couple of gore pics of the would channel that the NSA 26.8's make. It's pretty darn substantial.
