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Guest
Guest
I walked out of my basement door, was talking to the wife. Saw a squirrel and went and got my Concept Lite that's a tack-driver with 14.3gr CPDs. Walked around the brush pile and never saw it. I had recently cut down two hickory trees full of nuts. 3rd squirrel I've taken in the past few days. Walked around front and waiting by the shed. Saw it come down the tree on the trunk, took a shot posted up to the shed and missed right. Over compensated for the wind, and wasn't stable, dang.
Went prone and waited another 10 minutes, down the tree it came, got a nut, and up the tree. Didn't have a shot, I was waiting for it to not move. Oh well.
Up the tree it goes, fluffing it's tail every now and then. 7 minutes later I'm still prone and it's flapping the tail up on a branch and chattering/calling away. It's body is behind a leaf cluster, I can only see the tail. Approximate my shot based on the earlier scope observations on length.
Pull the trigger, hear the sound of the leaves, muted thud, then something big hits the ground. Dang, hope I didn't miss. Hope the wind didn't blow the pellet. I thought my shot was spot on but maybe a leaf deflected it. Wonder what the thud was.
3 seconds go by after the thud, SWOOP, in comes a Cooper's Hawk. It's looking at something behind the tree. Interesting, wonder if the saw the squirrel and it's waiting to pounce on it. I see no movement in the tree. Hawk walks closer to the back of the tree, it's wings go out, and it snatches the squirrel. Then it drops the squirrel and sits on a fence post. I go put up the Concept Lite. Walk out the basement door. Squirrel is on the ground, dang it's big. No wonder it fell out of the tree instantly. PERFECT shot, likely the best I've made, right behind the shoulder. Lung -> Heart -> Lung; lights out for the squirrel. It was dead before it hit the ground. And the hawk gets fresh meat.
Don't want to eat the squirrel, looks like maybe the hawk didn't want it either unless it plans to come back. Big 'ol botfly on this one.
Went prone and waited another 10 minutes, down the tree it came, got a nut, and up the tree. Didn't have a shot, I was waiting for it to not move. Oh well.
Up the tree it goes, fluffing it's tail every now and then. 7 minutes later I'm still prone and it's flapping the tail up on a branch and chattering/calling away. It's body is behind a leaf cluster, I can only see the tail. Approximate my shot based on the earlier scope observations on length.
Pull the trigger, hear the sound of the leaves, muted thud, then something big hits the ground. Dang, hope I didn't miss. Hope the wind didn't blow the pellet. I thought my shot was spot on but maybe a leaf deflected it. Wonder what the thud was.
3 seconds go by after the thud, SWOOP, in comes a Cooper's Hawk. It's looking at something behind the tree. Interesting, wonder if the saw the squirrel and it's waiting to pounce on it. I see no movement in the tree. Hawk walks closer to the back of the tree, it's wings go out, and it snatches the squirrel. Then it drops the squirrel and sits on a fence post. I go put up the Concept Lite. Walk out the basement door. Squirrel is on the ground, dang it's big. No wonder it fell out of the tree instantly. PERFECT shot, likely the best I've made, right behind the shoulder. Lung -> Heart -> Lung; lights out for the squirrel. It was dead before it hit the ground. And the hawk gets fresh meat.
Don't want to eat the squirrel, looks like maybe the hawk didn't want it either unless it plans to come back. Big 'ol botfly on this one.
...or maybe the squirrel is too big for it to carry off, that’s a big nutter.