VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

Finally - Let The Games Begin - Tree Squirrel Season Just Opened Here - And Today - This Guy Shows Up In Our Backyard

Abert's tree squirrel teasing me today. He's safe here in town.

This is always a fun time of year here in Northern Arizona.  Tree squirrel season is now open until the end of December.  This means, that in addition to a couple of types of ground squirrels, I can now add two types of tree squirrels, that reside here in the local mountains, to my "legal to take" list.

But the reality is, in addition to the local ground squirrels, I only hunt the Abert's tree squirrels this time of year.  They actually have enough meat on them (2 pound squirrel) to make them worth hunting.  The small Pine Squirrels, (about 6 to 9 ounces) who also reside here, aren't worth bothering with, and since they count toward my 5 squirrel daily limit, I give them a pass.  

I'm hoping to get out for a hunt on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  I haven't been seeing many Abert's squirrels, during my ground squirrel adventures, but that may have to do with the warm temperatures we've been having around here.  Now that the temps are dropping down to near freezing at night, and the daytime temps are in the low seventies, the Abert's squirrels may start to become more active.

I looked out back this morning, and saw the guy in the picture up above, running up and down a big Ponderosa Pine in our back yard.  Hopefully, that's a good omen for the hunts ahead.

First time out, my gun of choice is going to be my .22 cal FX Monsoon, shooting the 16 grain JSB Exacts.  They are super accurate in this gun. Head shots to 60/70 yards are no problem.

FX Monsoon in .22.

Below, are a couple of big Abert's that I took, a couple of years ago, while hunting with my Benjamin Discovery in .22.The Abert's are very challenging to hunt.  They are well dispersed, and you have to get out and dig them out of their preferred habitat.  It's a challenge that I really enjoy. For the next few weeks, it will be both ground squirrels and tree squirrels on the hunt list. The ground squirrels will go into hibernation in a few weeks, and then it's going to be tree squirrels only.

I can hardly wait to get out there and see what I can find.  I'm going to head out to a couple of places where I saw a lot of tree squirrel sign, even though I didn't see any Abert's squirrels at the time.

Yesterday, I was out hunting ground squirrels again, and had a very successful hunt. I'll get that story posted as soon as I have a chance.

More to come.

 

Marauder .22 - Plays Mind Games - With A Few Ground Squirrels.

Area hunted yesterday.

When I left the house yesterday, I headed back to the valley area that I had so much success in last week.  When I got there, some bow hunters had their elk camp set up near where I would have launched my hunt from.  Rather than get in the middle of their hunt area, I headed for a different spot, five miles away, that I had pre-scouted for ground squirrels during the summer.  It's a small valley maybe 300 yards long, by 150 yards wide.

This spot is at a higher elevation, and has several different species of trees.  Ponderosa Pines being the most dominant, but the area also has quite a few Blue Spruce and Gambel Oaks, with a few Aspen thrown in for good measure.  The probability of seeing a variety of different squirrel species is probably a pretty good bet.

My gun of choice for the day, would be my .22 caliber Benjamin Marauder.  I've had this rifle since they were first introduced about three years ago.  It's very accurate, and I have it set up specifically for hunting prairie dogs.  I haven't had a chance, this year, to hunt prairie dogs, so I thought I would take her out for a ground squirrel hunt.

I keep a 3x5 card on file, for each of my guns, that shows important info like, what pellet it's sighted in with, the sight-in distance, fill pressure, number of shots, etc.  The card for this gun shows that I have it shooting the 21 grain Beeman Kodiaks three quarters of an inch high at 55 yards.

The first thing I did when I got to the hunt area, was to put my portable target frame out, and check my zero.  The below target shows the result. The green dot is three quarters of an inch in diameter, and I was holding at six o'clock.  Three shots almost touching works for me.

Three Beeman 21 grain Kodiaks, almost touching at 55 yards, fired from my .22 cal Marauder. 

Time to hunt.  I was parked at one end of the valley, so my plan was to hunt down one side, cross over at the far end, and hunt my way back up the opposite side.

As I always do, before leaving my vehicle, I glassed the area to see if any squirrels were showing themselves.  There were no squirrels showing, but there was a chipmunk sitting on the tip of an old deadfall branch, like the flame on the tip of a tall candle.  

I see tons of chipmunks, and give the vast majority of them a pass, but this shot opportunity was too good not to take.  The chipper lasered at 63 yards, and I couldn't resist knocking it off of that tall perch.

The sound of the 21 grain pellet connecting with the furball, was louder than the gun going off.  The pellet literally blew the chipper three feet into the air.  The accuracy of my .22 Marauder never ceases to amaze me.

Chipmunk dropped at 63 yards.

I took a quick picture, and then continued hunting along the edge of the small valley.  I spotted a Rock Squirrel, which is similar to a California Ground Squirrel, at a little over 100 yards, but didn't get a shot at it.  I think mainly, because of a loudmouth Pine Squirrel, that suddenly decided to start mouthing off.  As soon as that thing started with its loud scolding chatter, the Rock Squirrel bailed for parts unknown. 

The Pine Squirrel is a tree squirrel, and that season is not open yet.  I can't imagine anyone actually hunting them for meat.  They are very small, about six ounces, but what they give up in size, they make up for in lung power.  This isn't a very good picture, he was forty feet up in a spruce tree, in the shadows, and my camera doesn't have enough zoom to really reach in there and pick him out.  He was one loud, sassy sucker though.

Pine Squirrel.

Ignoring the loudmouth, I continued to hunt.  Much to my surprise, now sitting on the same log, that the Rock Squirrel had just abandoned, I spot a Golden Mantle ground squirrel.  Maybe the ruckus got his attention, and he had to come out to see what was going on.

The laser indicated 54 yards.  He was facing directly at me, so I held center chest, and launched the pellet.  It caught him just under the chin, and he disappeared off of the back side of the log.  I could still hear the Pine Squirrel running its mouth, 50 yards behind me.

After taking a picture, I crossed over to the other side of the small valley, and hunted it back to my vehicle. Along the way, I got a couple more ground squirrels with nice clean head shots.  Both were just over 50 yards away.  

I've mentioned before, that to consistently make head shots on these small ground squirrels, you need a rifle that will keep its shots inside a nickel at 50 yards.  Not a problem for my .22 cal Marauder.  It will keep them inside a dime at that distance.

Two squirrels dropped with head shots at just over 50 yards.

It was a fun day.  Not tons of ground squirrels in this area, but still enough to make for a fun hunt.  The Marauder did what she always does, puts a pellet where I want it, when I want it, on demand.  A truly mind blowing experience for the ground squirrels.

Tomorrow, I'm going to head back to the other valley.  I've got my fingers crossed that the bow hunters may have moved on, and I'll be able to hunt the other side of squirrel valley.

     

     

 

 

Google Maps and My Spotting Scope Helped Find This Spot - Hunting Squirrel Valley - With My FX Whisper

Natural Tank.  AKA, pond.

Yesterday, I headed back to that narrow valley that I started hunting one day last week. I had originally used my spotting scope to do a bit of long distance recon of a part of it, and then used Google Maps to confirm the size of it.  

I hunted a part of it last week, with good success, and planned to hunt the rest of it yesterday.  However, as I was studying my Forest Service Map of the area, I saw a location nearby, that was labeled as a "natural tank."  In other words, a pond.  Since it was only a few hundred yards from the area that I would launch my hunt from, I decided to check it out.

I went ahead and got all of my hunting gear out, since I would be leaving from the pond area, and hiking directly to the valley that I would spend the day hunting in.  I also took time to liberally coat myself with insect repellent.  

This is our rainy season, and along with that comes lots of standing water.  Along with the standing water comes mosquitos, lots and lots of mosquitos.  When I got over to the tank, I could see swarms of the bloodsuckers hovering over the surface of the pond.  They were on me like white on rice.  Or they thought they were.  Nothing like a nice shower in Johnson's "OFF" to level the playing field.  None of them could hold their noses long enough to score a hit, but man do they work hard trying.

After satisfying my curiosity, I took a picture of the tank, and decided to get on with my hunt.  As usual, I gave the area a quick once over for ground squirrels.  Off to my left, sitting on a rock pile at exactly 50 yards, is none other than brer furball.  The first one of the day.

No wind .... sighted in dead on at 40 yards .... no problem .... hold a bit high .... launch the 16 grain JSB from the FX Whisper .... pellet enters just under the squirrel's chin .... with the usual result.  See picture below. A good start to what turned out to be an amazing day.

I headed on out of that area, and on toward the narrow valley that I would spend the day hunting in.  

Looking back toward my 4Runner, as I hike on over to hunt the valley again. Wildflowers are blooming everywhere.

I got over to the head of the valley, and as I slipped into the tree line, I immediately spot a couple of squirrels.  They were a little over a hundred yards away and chasing each other around some stumps and an old blowdown log.  Using some trees for cover, I closed the distance.

When I stopped to sneak a peek, they were nowhere to be seen. Knowing how these guys operate, I decided to get set up and wait.  I was tucked back in the shadows of a cluster of pine trees, so I got my rifle rested on my bipod, and gave the area a quick once over with my binos.  Still nothing showing, so I took the opportunity to shoot a range to the stumps and log.  The stumps came back at 53 yards, and the log at 49.

Now it became a waiting game.  Ten or fifteen minutes went by with no activity.  I was just about ready to move on when I look up, and a ground squirrel is now sitting on the log.  I held a little high and launched the pellet.  It impacted the squirrels head with a loud THWAAACK.

It drops out of sight behind the log, and at the same time, a squirrel appears on the top of one of the stumps.  The sound of the pellet impact got its attention, and it had hopped up on the stump to see where the sound had come from.  I quickly racked the bolt, and since I already knew the range, just held a bit high and launched another round. Like the first pellet, this one connected, and knocked the squirrel off of the stump.

I picked up both squirrels for a quick photo-op, and then continued to slowly and quietly hunt the edge of the valley.

I had gone another 80 to 100 yards, when I spot two more sitting on a rock outcropping.   Because of the way the rocks are positioned, I don't believe the squirrels can see each other. When I hit the one on the right, the one on the left, who had been stretched out in the sun, sits up and looks around, wondering what that sound was.  Two seconds later, a pellet rolls him off of his stone perch, DRT.

Two taken from rock outcropping.

This is how things went for the next couple of hours.  I saw a lot of squirrels, put the sneak on many of them, and got shots at most. The Whisper is incredibly accurate with the 16 grain JSB Jumbo's.  If I got the crosshairs on a squirrel, it usually went down.  

I mostly hunted inside the tree line, up to where the incline from the valley floor crested over onto a plateau.  I did try hunting out onto the plateau for awhile, but there was no squirrel activity to be found out there.

A view across the plateau.

All of the squirrel action was to be found, from the edge of the plateau, down the slope toward the valley floor.

Looking down into the valley from about 50 yards inside the southern tree line.

I had a lot of shots at individual squirrels, but I think I set a record for taking at least two squirrels from the same firing point.  I didn't bother to take pictures of each and every kill, but I went through 30 pellets, and only missed twice.

Another pair taken within seconds of each other.

My original plan was to hunt down the south side of this valley, crossover to the north side, and hunt my way back to my vehicle.  It didn't turn out that way.  I spent the entire time hunting the south side. By the time I got to the end, the shadows were getting long, it was getting late, and I still had a thirty minute drive down a rough 4x4 track back to the pavement, and another forty minute drive home.

I decided to call it a day, and make tracks for my vehicle.  That's okay, because I'll just come back next week and hunt the north side.

To top off the day though, I got three squirrels from the same firing point, at ranges from 44 yards out to 64 yards.  A great way to end a great day hunting with a favorite airgun.

Any coyote that went through that area last night, found a large number of four legged, furry protein bars to stuff its gut with.

The last three squirrels of the day.

The end of the valley.

This area turned out to be fantastic for hunting ground squirrels.  The day was just about perfect.  No wind, temps in the mid seventies, with beautiful billowy clouds in the sky, a rifle that rarely misses, and lots of squirrel activity to keep things interesting.  In my book, it just doesn't get much better than that.

I'll be heading back next week to hunt the north side.

   

 

The Search For Ground Squirrel Habitat Continues - Using My Spotting Scope - and Google Maps - Was A Huge Help

Game tank, and high mountain meadow at 8500 foot elevation.

If you caught my last blog story, you know that the last time out, I went to a new area to search for ground squirrel habitat.  I had some success there, and decided to go back again this time, and hunt a different spot.

Last time, on my way out of the area, I saw a small valley that looked kind of interesting. I could only see across a part of it, and not down the length.  I couldn't tell if it went 300 yards or a mile.

When I got home, I jumped on Google Maps, and located the valley I was interested in. It turns out that it actually runs about 1500 yards in length, and varies from about 250 to 300 yards in width.  That is the area I headed for yesterday.

On my way into the spot I wanted to hunt, I passed these guys along the way.  Always a good sign.

When I got to the spot that I would likely start my hunt from, I did some long range recon work with my spotting scope.

I used it to look back into the tree line, on the far side of the valley, that I was thinking of hunting along the length of.  While scoping out the area, I spotted a small pile of rocks, tucked back in the shadows, and sitting on top was a nice fat ground squirrel.  I shot the rocks with my laser range finder, and got a reading of 412 yards. Since these ground squirrels don't live in a vacuum, I knew that where there is one, there will be others.  I put the spotting scope away, and got ready to spend a few hours hunting in the tree line along the edges of that narrow valley.

My gun of choice this time, would be my FX Whisper in .22 cal.  It's the perfect gun for this type of hunting.  Light weight, easy to carry for several hours, yet it has plenty of power, and gives me 36 shots before I need to refill the airtube.  I have yet to get anywhere near that many shots when hunting these Golden Mantle ground squirrels. They tend to be well dispersed, and you have to cover a fair amount of  ground to get many shot opportunities.

I headed out across the valley floor, and into the tree line on the far side, where the rock pile I had spotted earlier was located.  That squirrel was long gone, but it wasn't long before I spotted another one, sitting on an old burned out stump, a lasered 120 yards away.  Putting some trees between myself and the furball, I started closing the distance.  

These guys are pretty small, and I like to get the range down to around 65 yards or less if I can.  At the point that I was about as close as I could get, I shot a range to the squirrel and got 57 yards.  There was a light breeze, but it was in my face, so I just put the hash mark between the first and second mildots, on the squirrels head, and touched off the shot.

It tumbled off of the stump and out of sight.  When I got over to the location, there was a lot of blood on the ground, but no squirrel.  After close examination, I could see just the tip of a squirrel tail sticking out from under a nearby rock.  Recovering the squirrel, I took a few minutes to get a couple of pictures, and then moved on.

What I found when I got over to the stump.

Squirrel recovered from under the rock at twelve o'clock in the above photo. 

Over the next couple of hours, I saw quite a few more squirrels, and got shots at many of them.  Along the way, I would occasionally stop and gather up a squirrel or three for a photo-op.

Below are some examples.

This new area turned out to be well worth checking out, and Google Maps, along with my spotting scope, were a big help.  I'm going to head back to the same spot next week. I only hunted about a third of the valley area, and want to explore and hunt the rest of it.

The Whisper is a tack driver.  When I got the crosshairs on a squirrel, it went down.  The long shots of the day were just over 60 yards.  

The forest is in full bloom, and a great place to spend a few hours hunting ground squirrels.  I'm looking forward to heading back out there again next week and continuing the adventure.  

 

 

 

Late Summer Ground Squirrel Hunting - In Northern Arizona - A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

A field of wildflowers.  Looking northwest, with the San Francisco Peaks, 30 miles away on the horizon.

Got out yesterday for some exploring and ground squirrel hunting.  This is our rainy season, and the forest has exploded with its annual display of late summer wildflowers.   I think I'll keep the words to a minimum, and just let the pictures speak for themselves.

I headed into a new area, and almost immediately knew I was on the right track. How? Lots of furry hints, as seen below.

After twenty minutes of driving along, with my mouth hanging open, as much from the shear beauty of the forest, as the number of ground squirrels I was seeing, I decided I needed to get my gear out, and do a bit of hunting.  The gun of choice, once again, was my RWS Rapier in .22.

On my way in, I saw a Red Tail hawk working the area, looking for squirrel mcnuggets for breakfast. I was going to suggest he just follow me.  I've got an excellent way of collecting them, that mainly uses small amounts of lead and air.

Near the first area that I stopped to hunt.

Below are some pictures from the morning hunt.

Moving to another area nearby, I pulled into this spot for a quick lunch break.

In the afternoon, I continued to explore the general area by vehicle, but did make a quick hunt, around a good looking spot, and dropped this guy at 58 yards.

Now, for the weird happening of the day.  As I'm hunting the area, that I dropped the above squirrel in, I see something strange in my binos. About 70 yards away, I see a stump that has a blob of something on the top of it.  From a distance, and in the prevailing light, it kind of looks like a ground squirrel that has been turned inside out by something like a .220 Swift, shooting 55 grain ballistic tips.  I should know, I've been there done that.

The problem is, there is also what looks like, an arrow sticking out of the stump.  I don't bow hunt, but I know it's highly unlikely that an arrow did that.  Of course, I've got to go over and see this mess, up close and personal.

When I got over to it, it took me a bit to figure out what I was looking at. It turns out, that someone had gone to a lot of  trouble, to slather the top of the stump with a mixture of blue berries and raspberries.  I guess, in the hopes of baiting a squirrel into bow range.  He evidently got a shot, or maybe he just took his frustration out on the stump, because he didn't get a shot, who knows.  Funny thing to see out in the middle of the boonies though.

Record, Pope and Young Ponderosa Pine stump.  Non-typical. 

It was a fun day, and I didn't even scratch the surface of the area that I was playing in. Weather permitting, I'm going to head back to the same territory next week, and I'm feeling the urge to hunt the Whisper again.

To be continued. 

 

 

Celestron Ultima 100 Spotting Scope, Used To scout Potential Ground Squirrel Hunting Area - The Rest Of The Story

Celestron Ultima 100 spotting scope.

If you haven't read my last blog story, about the whys and wherefores that lead me to once again add a spotting scope to my hunting kit,  you might want to go to the sidebar and give that story a quick read.

As an initial test of the resolving power of this spotting scope, I put a target out at 300 yards that had .177, and .22 caliber pellet holes in it, and discovered that in decent conditions, the scope would indeed resolve .177, and .22 caliber pellet holes at that range.  Great, then I should have no difficulty at all seeing much larger items like stumps and ground squirrels at 400 to 500 yards. 

After I finished with that experiment, I headed a couple of miles away, to an area that I had seen on an earlier scouting trip.  It was an area that I wanted to check out from a distance, for ground squirrel habitat and squirrel sign.

This is the area that I was focused on.  The far tree line is 400+ yards away.

Once I had the scope set up, and started looking back into the trees, it wasn't long before I was seeing the all important old stumps.  There were also a lot of old blowdowns back in there.

I'm mostly interested in the area from the meadow's edge, back into the woods about 100 yards.  For some reason, that I haven't figured out yet, if ground squirrels are there, the greatest number will typically be found around the edge of the meadow, and back into the woods about a hundred yards or so.

I've got the spotting scope set at about 35 power, and I'm liking what I see.  As I'm slowly working the scope across the area, I spot a stump back in there, with a bright pile of debris sitting on the top of it.  I know from experience, that the debris is from the remains of seeds and pine cones that have been field stripped by a ground squirrel.

Stump spotted in scope, at about 400 yards, with pile of debris on it.

This is good stuff, and it's decision time.  This is our rainy season, and there are a bunch of thunderheads building in the distance.  I know that it won't be long before I will be getting rain, with thunder and lightening all around.  In looking at their size, speed, color, and direction of travel, I figure I've got an hour or so before I need to start getting to concerned.

Let's do it.  I've got my RWS, .22 cal Rapier along, with its new 4-12x40mm Hawke Panorama EV scope on it, and I'm anxious to drop some squirrels with the combo.  I get the Rapier out, along with my binos, range finder, pellets, pellet pouch, and bipod, get geared up and head out across the park, to the far tree line.

As I slip into the tree line, it definitely looks like ground squirrel paradise back in there.  I locate the stump with the debris on it, and go over to check it out and take a picture.  When I'm finished with that, I start looking the area over with my binos, and about 40 yards away, I spot another stump with debris on it also.

Second stump with squirrel debris.

Man, this is looking really good, but I have yet to see a squirrel.  About that time, out of the corner of my left eye, I see a flash of movement.  I put my binos on the area, and sure enough, a furball has jumped up onto the back of a stump, in the shadows, and is looking directly at me.  I zap it with my ranger finder, and get 46 yards.  I've got the rifle sighted in dead on at 40, so I just hold a little high on his head, and squeeze off the shot.

I'm shooting the 18 grain JSB's out of the Rapier, and the combo is just stupid accurate. This might just be the most accurate PCP I own.  For sure, it's a close tossup between this rifle and my FX 2000. Anyway, the pellet hit exactly where expected, and the squirrel was DRT.

First squirrel taken at 46 yards, with RWS Rapier, and new 4-12x40mm Hawke Panorama EV scope.

As I'm heading over to get a picture of the squirrel, with the rifle and new scope, I hear a loud clap of thunder, and see a bright flash of lightening off in the distance.  Hmm, go, stay, go, stay, I decide to stay for just a little while longer, and I decide to hunt in a way, that will take me back in the general direction of my vehicle.

It is absolutely beautiful back in there, and I'm really glad I decided to try the spotting scope method of scouting some of these kinds of areas. I'm very diligently using my binoculars as I hunt along.  Lot's of stumps and blowdowns to check out, and with their coloration, these guys can be hard to see with the naked eye, especially when they are sitting back in the shadows.

There's another loud clap of thunder, accompanied with a flash of lightening, and a few rain drops start to fall.  Nothing major, just a drop here and there, but an indication of what is on the way.

As I'm glassing the area ahead of me, I see a squirrel sitting on an old blowdown log. The R/F says 106 yards.  I want to close the range some, so using the pine trees, that are between myself and the squirrel, I start putting the sneak on him.

I finally reach the point where I've run out of trees to use for cover.  I very carefully stick my head around the side of the tree I'm behind, and shoot a range to the furball. It comes back as 61 yards.  This'll do.  Very slowly, I move my bipod into position, and while resting my rifle on it, I put my right shoulder against the tree and line up the shot.

At 61 yards, I know I'm going to need to show some daylight between the horizontal crosshair and the top of the squirrels head.  I decide to use the hash mark between the first and second mildots on the Hawke scope. Considering the thunder and lightening going on, there really isn't any wind.  One of those, "calm before the storm" scenarios.

I held on the spot between the eye and earhole, and launched the pellet. Because of the angle of lighting in the area, I was able to watch the pellet in flight, as it reached the apex of its flight path, and dropped, like a heat seeking missile, down onto the squirrels head.  Always amazing to see.

The furball dropped down onto the log for a few seconds, and then rolled off of it out of sight.  This is what I initially saw when I got up to the log.

Looking down, I found the squirrel on the ground, DRT.

By now, the thunder is getting louder, and the lightening flashes are getting closer, so I decided to get a quick picture of the squirrel and rifle, and get the heck out of there. 

I took a somewhat circuitous route getting back.  I Stayed tucked back in the trees, and followed the tree line back to the road I drove in on.  I then stayed inside the trees along the road, and hiked back to my vehicle.  No way did I want to walk 400 yards, in the open, across that meadow, with lightening strikes hitting all around the area.  On the way back, I saw several more squirrels, but not wanting to get caught in the deluge that I knew was coming, I gave them all a pass, but I will be back.  

The hunt was a lot of fun, even if it was cut short.  It's the first time I've used the spotting scope to locate ground squirrel habitat at relatively long distance, and it was the first hunt with the new Hawke scope on my Rapier.  Next time, I'm going to get out there a lot earlier in the day, before the thunder heads have a chance to build, and spend a few relaxing hours hunting more furballs.

Here's that last squirrel I dropped off of the log at 61 yards.

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these park/meadow areas in the forest. Some large, and some small.  I've humped across many of them, only to find nothing, squirrel wise, in the forest on the other side. With others, I've hit the jackpot. I figured there had to be a more efficient way to check them out.  I think I have found it.  All in all, I'm very happy with the concept of using a spotting scope to optically recon some of these areas for squirrel habitat, and I'm sure she will earn her keep in no time at all. 

  

 

 

 

 

After About 10 Years Without One - I've Added A Spotting Scope - To My Hunting Kit Again

Up until about a decade ago, I had a spotting scope that I used when hunting rock chucks, at long range, in Montana and Wyoming.  A buddy and I, would stop on our way to hunt prairie dogs in eastern Wyoming, or South Dakota, and shoot rock chucks at 500/600 yards in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains.  My spotting scope was an indispensable tool.

The model that I had at the time, was the Leica Televid 77, and as you would expect, coming from Leica, the optics were beyond excellent.   For a variety of reasons, we stopped making those trips, and about ten years ago, I sold off the spotting scope.

Fast forward to today, and now, living in Northern Arizona, I have found several reasons to need another spotting scope.  There is a lot of wildlife here available to view, but I mainly want to use it to optically recon potential ground squirrel hunting sites.

If you've been following my blog, you know that the ground squirrels that we have up here live in the surrounding Ponderosa Pine forest, and have a very specific set of habitat requirements for them to populate an area.

I've covered those requirements before, so won't go over all of it again, but will say, that the number one need, is a goodly number of 80 to 100 year old rotting stumps, left from when the area was logged, many decades ago.

The attraction to those old stumps, is the fact that they have started to rot in the centers, and around the edges, leaving openings that lead down into the ground under the stumps. That gives the ground squirrels the perfect place to build their underground dens. They climb up through the holes in the stumps, sit on the top viewing their territory, and/or eating seeds and nuts.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

The holes at nine o'clock, and eleven o'clock, drop straight down into chambers beneath the stump. The holes make great escape hatches for when danger is near. The ground squirrel that inhabits this particular stump, has been feeding on the readily available pine cones, and that pile of debris, is one of the things I'm looking for when glassing areas for squirrels.

I'm always searching for new squirrel habitat.  Because these guys do not populate any given area of the forest in great numbers, I prefer not to hunt the same spot more than twice in any given year.

Finding new spots involves covering a lot of ground.  Sometimes I drive right into an area that has ground squirrels.  Other times I see an area three or four hundred plus yards away, across a park/meadow, that looks like it might have potential, but my eight power binoculars just don't give me enough detail to really tell much.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

That far tree line is a good 400+ yards away.  There is no vehicle access to that area, and it is highly illegal to drive across that park.  The only option is to hike into the area, and check it out.  Not a big deal, unless it's the sixth hike that day, and when my squirrel habitat success rate is about one in every six hikes, then it gets old real quick. My solution to the issue, is to get a spotting scope, and where possible, recon the areas optically, from a distance.

The Leica scopes are first rate, but the reality is, I don't need a $3000 spotting scope to do what I want to do.  After spending some time researching spotting scopes, and talking to a few guys here locally, I settled on the Celestron Ultima 100 with the 45 degree viewing angle.  I picked it up from Amazon for $280 bucks.  I know, I know, it's made in China, so how good can this thing be for that kind of money.

Well, the guys that I talked to about them, were real happy with the performance, so I figured I would give one a shot.  First impression, it's big, well made, and heavy.  That 100mm objective lens, also helps to give nice bright images, and my aging eyes like bright images.

As I said, it's a big heavy scope.  It does need to be mounted on a good sturdy tripod.  I already have one of those, with ball head, for my DSLR camera. The Ultima 100 comes with a zoom eyepiece, that goes from 22 up to 66 power. For my application, I'm finding that from about 35 power to 40 power is the most useful.  At that power range I can readily see back into the trees, and it's easy to spot the types of stumps, and squirrel sign that I'm looking for, if it's there.  

Scope mounted on my tripod.

A closer view.

Sometimes, because of the high magnification, it can be a challenge to find, in the scope, what you want to look at.  This model has a clever fix for that problem.  There is a peep sight tube, moulded into the left side of the housing.  You look through that tube, move the scope until you locate your subject in it, and when you then look through the scope itself, you will be very close to being on.

Close up of peep sight tube.

Okay, so is this thing going to work for my application or not?  Well, for starters, on my way out to the area where I wanted to test it, I could see a large herd of three or four hundred elk, feeding in a very large open area.  They were a good 1000 yards away, so I decided to stop and check them out with the new scope.

A portion of the elk herd.  Photo taken with small point and shoot camera, at max zoom.

With the Ultima 100, set at 35 power, it was very easy to pick out the big bulls, small yearling bulls, and the cows with calves.  Geez, I would hope so.  Some of the big bulls are the size of a small car.  It was a fun stop, but didn't really tell me much about how the scope would work for my needs.

Next, I headed into the forest, so that I could set up my target frame, and view a target that had .177, and .22 caliber pellet holes in it.  I was curious if I would be able to see those holes at 300 yards.  I figured that If I could see those, I would be able to clearly see ground squirrels, and stumps at much, much greater ranges.

The target that was placed at 300 yards.

Truthfully, I didn't expect much, but when the air was calm, and the heat waves were quiet, I could see the .177 pellet holes.  The half inch orange dots were easy, and of course the Shoot-N-C targets looked huge in comparison.  

I'm very satisfied with the purchase.  If you want a scope where you can tell the 12 different shades of blue and grey, on a mountain bluebird, at 500 yards, I think you would be better served with the Leica, but for my purpose, this scope is going to work out great.

So how does it perform for my application?  Well, I took it back to that park/meadow area that I posted a picture of earlier, and used it to check out that spot.  So how did it work out?  It was great, that picture of the stump up above, with the squirrel cuttings on it, was one of the things I saw when I scoped the area back in the trees.

That's all I needed to know.  I got out my RWS Rapier, the rest of my hunting gear, and hiked on over there for a short hunt.  How did that go? Well, that's a different blog story, but below is a hint.

So, is the Ultima 100 the equivalent of, or even close to the current Leica Televid 82, or even the older Televid 77?  Well, no.  I was a Leica sporting optics dealer for ten years, and the tight tolerances held, materials used, and processes those folks apply in the manufacture of their optics are second to none, and are borderline fanatical.  All of that definitely shows up in their finished products.   

However, having said that, for my application, the Celestron Ultima 100, is going to work out great. Now, I'm going to head back out into the forest, and check out some of the likely looking areas that I originally let pass, because it was either to hot and humid, or I just didn't have the energy to get out and cover the ground, to see what those areas might have to offer.

Stay tuned, Lots more to come.

 

 

 

 

 

Mixing Hobbies - Airgun Hunting - Still Photography - Videography - and Acoustic Guitar

A photo from some years ago. 

I have several hobbies, and it's fun to mix them all together.  Hunting with airguns is probably number one, but I also like to dabble some in photography, as well as shoot video of most of my hunts.  Another of my hobbies is playing acoustic guitar.  

I play mainly for the amusement of myself and my wife. Most of what I play is known today as "Classic Country,"  but for me, it's just the country music that I heard while growing up back in the 40's, and 50's. Tunes by folks like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, and many more.

A lot of times, at the end of a day of hunting, I'll put my airgun and other hunting gear away, break out a cold drink, my acoustic guitar, and just sit and pick some tunes for awhile. It makes for a nice relaxing end to another fun day of hunting with my airguns.

It's not unusual, while picking some tunes, to have tree squirrels, ground squirrels, and chipmunks make an appearance, to see what the heck that sound is.  A few years ago though, I was surprised to get a visit from a mule deer doe, and her twin fawns.

I had been playing for maybe 15 minutes, and had just started to play an old Hank Williams tune called, "You Win Again," when I looked up, and maybe 40 yards away is this doe and her two fawns.  One on each side of her.  They had come out of the forest, and all three were just standing there facing me, in total wonderment.  Looking like, "what are you, and what is that sound?"

I finished the song, and sat there watching them, watching me.  Next, I started playing a Patsy Cline tune, and about that time, mom flicked her tail a few times, turned around, and leading her twins back into the woods, gave me a look that said, "actually, I prefer Taylor Swift."  The encounter with her and her spotted fawns was priceless, and I will remember it for the rest of my life.

These four hobbies work well together, and I enjoy them all.  Here's the tune I was picking when the lady came out of the forest to check things out.

 

Download You Win Again 8-NORM_02-9-1 

I've got my fingers crossed, that mountain lions and bears don't like the sound of acoustic guitar music.  LOL!

 

Went Out To Sight In My FX Whisper - And Found A Nice Ground Squirrel Area As A Bonus

FX Whisper, sporting her new Hawke 4-12x50mm, Panorama EV Scope. 

The local temps finally dropped about ten degrees, and the humidity dropped by about thirty percent, so I thought I would take the opportunity to get out and get my Whisper sighted in with her new scope.

I only had about three hours to spend, so I decided to hit an area not to far away, and one that I had driven by many times.   The Forest Service map showed a 4x4 road that paralleled the county road for about three miles.  I had never taken it before, because with that easy access, I figured it would probably get a lot of traffic from the local hikers and bikers.  Nothing wrong with hikers and bikers, but my past experience had shown that a lot of those folks aren't real compatible with hunters. Especially this hunter.

I found the turn off, and headed down the 4x4 track.  It went in about a half mile before it turned and started paralleling the county road.  It was a pretty drive through the pine trees, but I was looking for a place that I could pull out and set up my target frame at 40 yards.

I was down the road about a mile, and hadn't found a place flat enough for my purpose, but as I was slowly driving along, I saw a small canyon opening up off to my right.  The mouth of it is pretty well blocked by young, ten foot tall Gambel's Oaks, and Ponderosa Pine trees.

Because of the density of the trees, I couldn't really see back into the area, but as I drove along, I suddenly came to a spot where a game trail exited the canyon, and there was a path through the trees.  I used my binos to sneak a peek back in there, and liked what I saw. Piles of deadfall, stumps, and blowdowns, with plenty of open area.  I decided that after I got the Whisper sighted in, I would come back and check it out. Anyone hiking, or biking down the road, wouldn't even know I was there. Another advantage to hunting with a quiet airgun, which my Whisper is, is no muzzle report to startle the tree huggers.

About 200 yards further down the road, I found the ideal spot to sight in the Whisper. It took all of five shots.  The first shot at 40 yards hit about two inches high, and one inch left.  I made a scope adjustment and fired another shot.  Almost there.  One more fine adjustment, and fire for effect. The next three shots were touching, right where I wanted on the target. Great, now lets go check out that canyon.

I hiked back down the road, and picking up the game trail, I headed into the canyon.  As soon as I was clear of the young trees, I started glassing the area.  It was great looking ground squirrel country, and within seconds I spotted squirrels out and about.

The first one I have a shot at is sitting on an old blowdown log at 52 yards.  It's dead calm back in there, so I just hold a little high for the 52 yard distance, center him with the vertical crosshair, and squeeze off the shot.  The pellet knocked him off of the log and out of sight.  

When I got over to him, I could see that the pellet had taken him through both shoulders.  I stopped for a photo-op, and then continued to hunt.  A little further into the canyon, I spotted three squirrels at distances of 43, 48, and 57 yards.  I started with the 57 yarder first, the 48 yarder second, and the one at 43 yards last.   I dropped them all with four shots.  I missed the first one, a bit high at 57 yards, but he didn't spook, and I got him with the second pellet.  The other two were one shot kills. Three squirrels in about 40 seconds, not bad.

The three taken at 43, 48, and 57 yards.

About this time, a pair of Red Tail hawks came screeching through the area, and that was the end of seeing any squirrels for about twenty minutes.

Things finally quieted down, and the squirrels started to appear again.  I hunted for another thirty minutes or so, and got three more ground squirrels.  The area turned out to be worth checking out, and I'll be back when I have more time to spend.

A couple more pictures from the hunt. 

 

The Whisper, Hawke Panorama EV scope combination is working out great.  I think I finally have this rifle set up just the way I want.  It's been a long time coming.

 

 

Part Two Of My Last Hunt...The Search For High Country...Ground Squirrel Habitat Continues...My Disco Strikes Again.

Game tank with tree stand.

If you haven't read the first part of this story, you may want to go over to the sidebar, and click on, "Scouting The High Country For Ground Squirrel Habitat, Took The .22 Disco Along."

After finishing lunch, and putting things away, I headed back to the main 4x4 track, that I was following up the side of the mountain.

According to my Forest Service Map, the 4x4 track that I was on, dead ended at a game tank that's about seven miles from the paved county road. Since I was already about four miles in, I decided to go to the end, to see what I might find along the way.

I went another couple of miles without seeing any likely ground squirrel country.  At this point, I was at about 9000 foot elevation.  The road made a large lazy uphill "S" turn.  When I hit the top of the "S" I came out into a nice small valley that was about 300 yards long, by maybe 100/150 yards wide.

Naked eye, I could see ground squirrels on stumps and deadfall.  I grabbed my FS map, and marked an "S" on it, for squirrels at that spot, and just kept on going.  I wanted to see the game tank at the end of the road, and the country around it.  Those can be some good areas for hunting tree squirrels in the fall.

When I got to the end of the road, there was the tank, and I was surprised to see a tree stand mounted nearby. It was obvious that it had been there for many, many years. The locked chain, that was holding it to the tree, had started to embed itself into the bark.

Since this was the end of the road, I decided to get out my canvas chair, sit in the shade, have a gatorade, and take in the sights and sounds of the forest.  While sitting there, a couple of Abert's tree squirrels came out of the woods, and headed for the game tank.  Once over the berm I lost sight of them, but it sure made me think about coming back in the fall, and using that tree stand to my advantage.

Also, while sitting there, I spotted what looked to me like a ground squirrel sitting on a stump, to the left rear of the tank.  My binos confirmed that the bump on the stump, was in fact a ground squirrel.

I slipped over to my vehicle to retrieve my Disco, range finder, and bipod.  The squirrel ranged right at 52 yards.  The wind was almost zero. I rested my right shoulder against a tree, and  settled the Disco onto my bipod.  Since I'm sighted in dead on at 40 yards, I let a little daylight show between the horizontal crosshair and the top of the squirrels head. When the crosshairs were nice and steady, I launched the pellet.  

The 16 grain JSB center punched the furballs skull, and it dropped out of sight.  When I got over to it, it was DRT behind the stump.  Below is a picture of the squirrel, with a quarter laying on it, to give perspective to the size of these squirrels heads.

To consistently make head shots on these guys, at these ranges, you need a gun that will group its shots well inside that quarter, more like inside a nickel, at 50/60 yards, and my .22 Disco does that with ease.

Below is a pic, looking back toward my vehicle. The tree to the left rear, by my 4Runner, is the one I made the shot from.  This little rifle just never lets me down.

I hung around for a little while longer, and while I was sitting there, another Abert's squirrel came out of the forest and headed over to the game tank.  For sure, I will be back to this spot when tree squirrel season opens in October.

On my way out, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of some of the ground squirrels, that I saw sitting on stumps and blowdowns, in that small valley that I passed through on my way in.

These guys hibernate in late October to early November, and this one wasn't wasting any time filling up his underground larder.  He looked like he had a marble in each cheek pouch.

This next one has a great view of the area.  He needs to be careful though, because Redtail Hawks love to pick them off when they're sitting out like that, and so do I.

This last guy looks like he's enjoying the serenity and solitude. 

Exploring this area was a fun adventure, and well worthwhile.  When the high temps and humidity drop, I will be back.