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.
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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!
