Got out just after dawn and trekked about 15 minutes into the woods. I made my way into a dry creek bed surrounded by pines, mature oaks, sweet gum, and another type of tree that I haven’t identified. The forest floor is covered in leaves but they were damp which made it easier for me to move undetected.
Here’s a view from the top of the western embankment leading down into the creek.
I prepared my hiding and shooting place amidst trees growing in between two branches of the creek and waited. 12-18 minutes in I hear activity in an older oak and I began glassing the trees. When I see movement and a tail with the naked eye I find it difficult to pick up the animal through the scope. Once I was able to see it through my scope I began tracking it as it descended the oak. When it stopped on the trunk I aimed for the body and missed. The squirrel paused and ran back up into a low crotch. I move around some in my shooting position to try to line up a headshot up. After seeing the eye I steadied myself and missed again! The gray ran down the trunk and hit the leaves. I tracked the tail for a little while and it disappeared over the embankment (I was positioned at a lower level in the creek bed).
Minutes later I see more movement from the same tree. I assume this is a different animal. It was mid-trunk and I watched this one a little longer. It paused on the trunk for some odd reason which was good enough for me, I took aim at its neck and squeezed. Another miss! Then it bolted down and jumped on a root before hopping onto a low branch of an adjacent plant. From there it situated itself briefly and looked in my direction. I aimed for the head again and squeezed. This time it fell over, hung on by a foot and dropped to its side. I continued to watch and it just laid there with its white belly towards me and feet in the air (small red circle in pic below). I thought “yesss!! Stoned him!” Wrong. I’ll finish the story once I leave the woods….
Once I determine that this squirrel was dead I retreated back into a more hidden location behind vines and branches. I glassed the embankment a little, but spent more time scanning the terrain with the naked eye while listening for movement. I got the notion to check on the downed squirrel so I peeked over and didn’t see it. I hadn’t heard any animals come by that could’ve taken the carcass and this caused some concern because that meant the squirrel either rolled down the embankment or was still alive. When I looked through my scope I noticed that it’s back was now facing me and it had moved slightly uphill. At that point I came out of hiding and crossed the creek. When I walked over to the squirrel she was slightly curled up and I could hear her squeaking faintly which sucks because she was suffering. Next I put a pellet through the back of her head to ease her pain. Then I tied her up with cord and hauled her to my next location. I figured I’d burned that one with all of the movement. I couldn’t stand the idea of an animal in agony. That’s not what hunting is about.
[Both below are the exact same photo. I circled the downed squirrel for context and for perspective of distance from my vantage point]
View of shooting position taken between a pair of trees growing closely together at the second location (below). I moved here after retrieving and hanging the first carcass in a safe and concealed place. I may move again. There hasn’t been any noticeable activity since I began composing this post.
Just as I typed that, I got another one. More to come….
The next squirrel was young juvenile female who I heard bounding through the fallen foliage. By the time I got her in my sights and adjusted the parallax down to 10 yards she was hopping towards me. I guess she didn’t see me. When she paused between hops I aimed for the head and she spun halfway around. With her still in my sights I saw her move and took no chances, I hit her with a quick follow up shot. She was probably 8-10 yards away, possibly a little further.
I sat in this spot about 20 minutes longer and decided to cut the hunt short. I had work to do so it was time to get to it. Saw a couple of deer on the way out which kinda spooked me because deer season is on now and I don’t fancy getting shot. I was happy to put some distance between us.
Came back with two. The larger one was hit high on the right shoulder. After cleaning the carcass it appears that the pellet may have passed through the same shoulder and exited without hitting anything else or it may have entered the neck then head. I’m inclined to believe it was the former. Maybe she was still for so long due to shock. The younger one took a shot in front of the shoulder that broke the leg, went into the rib age and hit a lung. The other shot was a hind leg shot, which was the follow up. I remember leaning against one of the trees and bending around some vines to take a clear shot and all I could see was its backside. It probably wasn’t a necessary shot, but after the first squirrel I didn’t want to take any chances.
I obviously need to check my zero, practice shooting this gun more, and probably buy a small rangefinder to take with me. Trying to range distance using the parallax knob doesn’t seem to be working so well. Every time I go out I seem to learn something new. I am still a work in progress. Yesterday was absolutely horrible. I missed every shot, but that’s another story.
Here’s a view from the top of the western embankment leading down into the creek.
I prepared my hiding and shooting place amidst trees growing in between two branches of the creek and waited. 12-18 minutes in I hear activity in an older oak and I began glassing the trees. When I see movement and a tail with the naked eye I find it difficult to pick up the animal through the scope. Once I was able to see it through my scope I began tracking it as it descended the oak. When it stopped on the trunk I aimed for the body and missed. The squirrel paused and ran back up into a low crotch. I move around some in my shooting position to try to line up a headshot up. After seeing the eye I steadied myself and missed again! The gray ran down the trunk and hit the leaves. I tracked the tail for a little while and it disappeared over the embankment (I was positioned at a lower level in the creek bed).
Minutes later I see more movement from the same tree. I assume this is a different animal. It was mid-trunk and I watched this one a little longer. It paused on the trunk for some odd reason which was good enough for me, I took aim at its neck and squeezed. Another miss! Then it bolted down and jumped on a root before hopping onto a low branch of an adjacent plant. From there it situated itself briefly and looked in my direction. I aimed for the head again and squeezed. This time it fell over, hung on by a foot and dropped to its side. I continued to watch and it just laid there with its white belly towards me and feet in the air (small red circle in pic below). I thought “yesss!! Stoned him!” Wrong. I’ll finish the story once I leave the woods….
Once I determine that this squirrel was dead I retreated back into a more hidden location behind vines and branches. I glassed the embankment a little, but spent more time scanning the terrain with the naked eye while listening for movement. I got the notion to check on the downed squirrel so I peeked over and didn’t see it. I hadn’t heard any animals come by that could’ve taken the carcass and this caused some concern because that meant the squirrel either rolled down the embankment or was still alive. When I looked through my scope I noticed that it’s back was now facing me and it had moved slightly uphill. At that point I came out of hiding and crossed the creek. When I walked over to the squirrel she was slightly curled up and I could hear her squeaking faintly which sucks because she was suffering. Next I put a pellet through the back of her head to ease her pain. Then I tied her up with cord and hauled her to my next location. I figured I’d burned that one with all of the movement. I couldn’t stand the idea of an animal in agony. That’s not what hunting is about.
[Both below are the exact same photo. I circled the downed squirrel for context and for perspective of distance from my vantage point]
View of shooting position taken between a pair of trees growing closely together at the second location (below). I moved here after retrieving and hanging the first carcass in a safe and concealed place. I may move again. There hasn’t been any noticeable activity since I began composing this post.
Just as I typed that, I got another one. More to come….
The next squirrel was young juvenile female who I heard bounding through the fallen foliage. By the time I got her in my sights and adjusted the parallax down to 10 yards she was hopping towards me. I guess she didn’t see me. When she paused between hops I aimed for the head and she spun halfway around. With her still in my sights I saw her move and took no chances, I hit her with a quick follow up shot. She was probably 8-10 yards away, possibly a little further.
I sat in this spot about 20 minutes longer and decided to cut the hunt short. I had work to do so it was time to get to it. Saw a couple of deer on the way out which kinda spooked me because deer season is on now and I don’t fancy getting shot. I was happy to put some distance between us.
Came back with two. The larger one was hit high on the right shoulder. After cleaning the carcass it appears that the pellet may have passed through the same shoulder and exited without hitting anything else or it may have entered the neck then head. I’m inclined to believe it was the former. Maybe she was still for so long due to shock. The younger one took a shot in front of the shoulder that broke the leg, went into the rib age and hit a lung. The other shot was a hind leg shot, which was the follow up. I remember leaning against one of the trees and bending around some vines to take a clear shot and all I could see was its backside. It probably wasn’t a necessary shot, but after the first squirrel I didn’t want to take any chances.
I obviously need to check my zero, practice shooting this gun more, and probably buy a small rangefinder to take with me. Trying to range distance using the parallax knob doesn’t seem to be working so well. Every time I go out I seem to learn something new. I am still a work in progress. Yesterday was absolutely horrible. I missed every shot, but that’s another story.
