January Squirrel Hunt

Dave and his Big Bad Daystate Air Wolf  shows me how he made  his 65 yard squirrel head shot. We couldn't believe the weather- January 8th in Michigan. 38*, Sunny and light wind.  He actually missed his first shot.  Dave carries a range finder, so he knew the exact range.  He did however, fail to give any allowance for the cross wind.  The squirrel who had it's head sticking out of a hole in the tree, pulled back into the tree, but shortly after, stuck his head out of the tree once again.  This time Dave held for the wind, perfect hit right behind the ear.  Popped the squirrel right out of the hole.

Slim Jim borrows Dave's Air Wolf for a shot

I was close behind with a 62 yard one shot using my FX Royale 400 .22cal, and at that range I actually saw the squirrel roll off the limb a fraction of a second later I heard the loud audible "whoap" of a well placed head shot.  I also used my Rapid MKII .25cal set up at 35 ft/lbs with JSB's.  made a 54 yard head shot on a Big Grey, Amazing, hit right where I was aiming, right behind the eye, fell just like a field target at a competition.  Just rolled out of the tree, he never knew what hit him. Most shots were taken between 40 - 55 yards.  These are awesome squirrel woods, first time we hunted them.  Sure pays to know your aim points at longer ranges.

Early January and we Limited out

Squirrel Hunting with an Air Rifle
doesn't get any better than this!  

Sure beats shoveling snow in January

 

Team Theoben Takes to the Woods

 Awesome Autumn Sunday in Michigan. My good buddy Rickey B and I took to the woods early Sunday morning.  The day did not disappoint. I dropped five squirrels with seven shots using my trusty Theoben Rapid MKII .22cal.  It was shooting right at 30 ft/lbs with JSB 18g.  All five of the squirrels were perfect one shot, one kill. All head shots, just the way I like it. Ah Ha, Ah Ha!  

It was up close and personal with the longest shot being an off hand approximatly 28 yards. The closest one, I kid you not was 10 feet.  Yes, that's correct 10 feet.  I spotted the grey squirrel coming down the treeline at me, got the gun up and on my knee, tried whisling, chirping, trying to get this sucker to stop before he ran right over me.  Finally at about 10 feet away, he stopped, realized something didn't seem quite right.  This close you have to aim high.  I've had my fair share of extreem close misses, but not this time!  When in doubt I always have my scope set at low power, 3-4X and 10 yard paralax.  This allows you to make the close unexpected shots.  My theory is you usually have time to adjust for the longer shots, as they are futher away which provides time and cover to make the necessary adjustments.  

Most of my action took place in  a section of butternut trees.  I bagged the last four in a 30 yard radius of each other.  One I missed with the first shot,  as the pellet deflected off a small twig a few feet in front of the barrel. Perhaps because of my state of the art camo application the evening before, (lol) or the quietness of the Rapid, Mr Squirrel made the mistake of presenting me with a second shot, and the Rapid lived up to it's name.  Squirrel number five was an off hand shot almost straight up. I hate these shots, who practices shooting off hand almost straight up?  Took a little more time on the second shot, and dropped him with a clean head shot.  

Jim's Rapid (top rifle)
Rickey B's Camo Wrapped MFR (bottom rifle)

As you can see in the picture above, Rickey B's Theoben MFR .22cal wins the best dressed award.  After the season ends, I plan on treating a couple of my air rifles to this camo system.  

Since I bagged my limit, I radioed Rickey, and we met in the trail. He pointed out his second squirrel of the day.  Still hanging out of the hole in the tree where he had shot it.  This could have been a Kodak moment,  had I carried the camera into the woods with me.  Something else I need to pack with me from now on.  I teased Rickey..."We can't count it as a bagged squirrel, unless it's actually in your bag"  As luck would have it, we found a long, skinny dead tree that had to be 16'-18' long, with Rick extended on his toes, he was just able to nudge it out of the tree. He had to quickly side step the plummeting squirrel as it almost smacked him on the top of his head.

Turning in the drive back at my place, we saw a HUGH woodchuck head into the culvert that runs under my driveway.  I use to give these a free pass, but not with all of the destruction they have been causing.  We staked it out, being in was a nice sunny day, we figured he would come out sooner than later.  And it was sooner, not even 5 minutes passed before he came out.  From a supported position, it was easy to hold the cross hairs steady on the side of his head, actually right on his ear.  Bam he was down.  This is as big as an animal that I would normally shoot with an airgun.  But 30 ft/lb of Theoben Power made a clean kill on this chuck.  Shot placement, not power, wins again.  I'm not sure how large woodchucks can get, but this one measures 27" and close to 11lbs. 

I love hunting with an airgun, you can't beat it!

Airgunners Dream Weekend-Part 1 Squirrel Hunt

Saturday afternoon after the shop closed it was time for my second hunt of the season.  Considering I was only able to make three outings last season, two outings in two days, I was in my glory. With 70 degrees it makes for a perfect day.  The rifle that I chose for this hunt was my Royale 400 .22cal.  Didn't even bother with a mag. just strapped on a pellet pouch full of 18g JSB's.  I've got an old-probably 26 years old Leupold 2-7 compact, light weight, parallax non-adjustable preset @ 30 yards from the factory.  Back in the day, this was one of the few scopes that would hold up to the heavy recoiling springer and gas ram airguns.  This combo makes for a light weight, easy to handle hunter.  

The new section of woods that I have access to has a long line of mature hickory trees.  Normally these trees are squirrel magnets, however last year none of the trees had any nuts  on them, apparently trees go through some type of cycle or whatever, but this year, they are LOADED with nuts and squirrels.  Still having a lot of leaves on the trees, made it hard to spot the squirrels but the steady rain of cuttings falling from the tops of the trees was encouraging and exciting! 

  After a little patience I off handed a couple of  squirrels from the tree line.  Slowly worked my way further into the woods along a ridge which has even more mature nut trees and hardwoods.  The ridge is bordered by a nice little flowing creek.  Really made me feel like I was in the mountains of Kentucky or West Virginia.  Man, I love being in the woods this time of year.  Last squirrel of the day was a challenge. He was high in a hickory tree doing his thing, moving, cutting and dropping nuts.  I was in the seated position, resting against a smaller tree trunk, he had no idea I was there, and although I was getting anxious to make the shot, I knew that patience was part of the game.  As luck would have it, the first time he paused for a break, he was almost directly on top of a limb about a 1 1/2" in diameter.  Having a very stable rest and only about 30 yards away, I toyed with the idea of trying to shoot along the edge of the branch and catch the right edge of his head.  Patience Jim, Patience, there are better shots coming.  What's the hurry, this is hunting.  After this short break he started moving again, but paused long enough with his head cleanly exposed to make the perfect shot. Mr Squirell bounced off a few branches landing on the other side of the creek.  Time to go home with my 5th kill.  I kid you not, on my way out of the woods, I saw four more squirrels gathering their nuts for the winter.  This property will be on my list for future hunts.