Just when I thought I had their timing figured out, they surprised me again. This time of year, they have been waiting until the day warms up a bit, maybe 9 or 10 AM, before coming out. But this guy was out feeding at dawn, and it's a COLD day here.
I didn't realize it when I saw him in person, but he had a stumpy tail; probably lost the end of it in spirited negotiations with another nutter.
I went down to the breezeway, slid the door open as quietly as possible, and this guy took off around behind the tree. I got the camera ready, unlocked the rifle and checked that a round was chambered. When I was ready, I looked up to see him sitting on a branch about 8' up, just watching me. He eventually regained his courage and went down the back side of the tree and made his way over to browse under the feeder.
When he came up to chew, I homed in on the middle of the brain, between the eye and ear, and released the 9.6 gr. Baracuda Hunter. A too-quiet report followed and too long passed between the report and impact, but I could hear the full "POK!" of the impact, which was nice. A nice little breakdance followed, but he went off camera before he launched into his biggest jump; sorry about that. While that was playing out, I checked my power setting: yep, I had left it on low power for some reason. The pellet was only moving out at ~12.5 FPE and 766 fps instead of the more usual 17 FPE and 890 fps when I have it set to medium power. For a brain shot, that's more than enough at 10 yards.
Examining the body, the pellet went in right where I intended; between the eye and ear. It exited the eye from the other side, as you might guess by the squirt.
If you don't want to watch the disclaimer and the minute of feeding footage leading up to the shot, skip ahead to about 1:22 for the impact and breakdance. Skip to 3:47 for the slo-mo impact.
I retrieved the squirrel, an adolescent male, and made a few photos, which are attached to the end of the clip.
Like the savage men we're descended from, I brought home the meat, and proudly plopped him into the sink next to the bowl of blueberries. To my dismay, I she did not even compliment my hunting prowess. She is one of those who prefers to buy the meat where it is manufactured, at the grocery store. That's weird, because her upbringing was on a rural family farm in China, where it was commonplace to slaughter pigs and chickens, and where they bought their fish alive at the local market to slaughter at home. Did you know that in those days in China, they had public executions by firing squad, some of which she attended?
I had half a mind to fry him up right then and there, but Ivy was using the cast iron skillet to cook some homemade rolls. Also, I would've been late to work.
Without further ado, here's the video.
I didn't realize it when I saw him in person, but he had a stumpy tail; probably lost the end of it in spirited negotiations with another nutter.
I went down to the breezeway, slid the door open as quietly as possible, and this guy took off around behind the tree. I got the camera ready, unlocked the rifle and checked that a round was chambered. When I was ready, I looked up to see him sitting on a branch about 8' up, just watching me. He eventually regained his courage and went down the back side of the tree and made his way over to browse under the feeder.
When he came up to chew, I homed in on the middle of the brain, between the eye and ear, and released the 9.6 gr. Baracuda Hunter. A too-quiet report followed and too long passed between the report and impact, but I could hear the full "POK!" of the impact, which was nice. A nice little breakdance followed, but he went off camera before he launched into his biggest jump; sorry about that. While that was playing out, I checked my power setting: yep, I had left it on low power for some reason. The pellet was only moving out at ~12.5 FPE and 766 fps instead of the more usual 17 FPE and 890 fps when I have it set to medium power. For a brain shot, that's more than enough at 10 yards.
Examining the body, the pellet went in right where I intended; between the eye and ear. It exited the eye from the other side, as you might guess by the squirt.
If you don't want to watch the disclaimer and the minute of feeding footage leading up to the shot, skip ahead to about 1:22 for the impact and breakdance. Skip to 3:47 for the slo-mo impact.
I retrieved the squirrel, an adolescent male, and made a few photos, which are attached to the end of the clip.
Like the savage men we're descended from, I brought home the meat, and proudly plopped him into the sink next to the bowl of blueberries. To my dismay, I she did not even compliment my hunting prowess. She is one of those who prefers to buy the meat where it is manufactured, at the grocery store. That's weird, because her upbringing was on a rural family farm in China, where it was commonplace to slaughter pigs and chickens, and where they bought their fish alive at the local market to slaughter at home. Did you know that in those days in China, they had public executions by firing squad, some of which she attended?
I had half a mind to fry him up right then and there, but Ivy was using the cast iron skillet to cook some homemade rolls. Also, I would've been late to work.
Without further ado, here's the video.