VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

A Great Fall Day In The Woods - And As A Bonus - I Scored A Squirrel

Game tank I started my hunt from.

Have you ever had a day afield, where you were less focused on hunting, and more just about enjoying a nice stroll in the woods?  Well, that's the kind of day I had on my last trip out.

I grabbed my Forest Service map of the area, and picked a road I had never been down before, to explore.  One of the things that interested me, was the fact that there were two game tanks in the area, that were about 600 to 700 yards apart.  They can be fun to hunt around, because where there's water, many times, there is a variety of critter activity.

The area I was headed to, was a little over four miles from the pavement. The drive in was beautiful.  The Gambel Oaks have changed color, and are dropping their leaves in bunches, while most of the Aspen have already shed theirs.

When I got to the area, I was going to spend the day in, I drove past the first game tank, and headed for the second one.  I really liked the area. It was fairly flat with a large park/meadow in the center of it, surrounded by some nice old growth Ponderosa Pines.

I drove past the second game tank a few hundred yards, and pulled into the forest just off the road.  This area is where I would spend the next four or five hours hunting a little, and hanging around a lot.

The first thing I did was to get out my folding canvas chair, sit awhile, and eat a half a sandwich.  Something about fresh mountain air, sunshine, and bouncing down a 4x4 track that makes me hungry.

As I was munching on my Subway foot long, I could hear a woodpecker hard at work on a nearby tree.  I decided, that after I finished my half a sandwich, that I would check it out and see what this guy was about.

As I was eating my sandwich, I was also regularly visited by big yellow hornets.  They look a lot like yellow jackets, only about two and a half times bigger.  Aggressive suckers too.  I think they were after the meat in my foot long sub.

Well, little did I know at the time, but about twenty yards behind me, and about thirty feet up in a tree, was their hive.

Hornets nest.  This thing was about the size of a volley ball with lots of hornets coming and going. 

First off, it took a tremendous amount of self control, to not give in to my inner twelve year old, and stick a few pellets into that thing, just to see, "WHAT WOULD HAPPEN."  One of the advantages of growing older, with some of lifes experiences under your belt is, I already knew, "WHAT WOULD HAPPEN" and it ain't pretty.

Secondly, I made an executive decision to move my operation on down the road another hundred yards or so.  I didn't want one of their young dummies to get some other young dummies together, and go, hey guys, what say about a thousand of us jump this guys butt and see, "WHAT HAPPENS."

Before I left though, I decided to check out what this super industrious woodpecker was up to.  I headed over toward the sound, and found an old dead snag that this guy was using for his food storage locker.

Snag used for storing acorns in. 

I'm looking at this and thinking, "dude, use more of the existing holes, save yourself a bunch of work."  It's like he only gets paid for making new holes, not filling up old ones.

I went back to my vehicle and moved on down the road aways.  I got all of my hunting gear out, and strapped it on, hung it on, and/or clipped it onto my torso, and headed over to the game tank.

My intention was to hunt in a big circle, around both tanks, and back to my vehicle. Roughly 1800 yards or so.  Makes for a nice walk in the woods.  As I'm approaching the tank, I can see that someone has mounted a tree stand next to it. This is the second time, while I've been hunting, that I have seen this at a game tank .  You could tell it had been there a long time, and the Forest Service considers this to be abandoned property.  I'm surprised someone hasn't cut it down, and claimed it as their own.

Tree stand at the game tank.

After looking the tree stand over, and taking a couple of pictures, I headed into the woods to see if I could find any Abert's tree squirrels. To be honest, I wasn't super intent on the hunting part.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and I was just enjoying being out there in the serenity and solitude.

Once again, I was hunting with my .22 cal FX Whisper.  Nice and light, very accurate, and just a great gun to be carrying on a day like this.  It wasn't too long before I saw a squirrel making tracks through the tree tops.  I gave a half hearted chase, for about forty yards, and gave it up. To much like work today.

I was almost down to the first game tank, and while I was glassing a cluster of old pines for squirrels, something caught my eye on an old Gambel Oak tree trunk.  It was in the deep shade, and a little hard to make out.  My laser r/f said it was 77 yards away.  While I'm studying it through my binoculars, I realize that it is a squirrel, partially exposed, and resting in a cutout in the side of the tree.

Oak where I originally spotted the squirrel 

His head, and about two thirds of his body, were sticking out of this hole in the side of the tree. Using some other trees for cover, I was able to close the distance to right at 50 yards.  The oaks have pretty much all dropped their leaves, and the wind has scattered them all over the forest floor, so there was no way my stalk was in any way particularly quiet.

When I got to the last tree, that I was using for cover, I didn't really expect the squirrel to still be there, and I wasn't wrong.  I snuck a quick peek, around the side of the tree, and sure enough the hole in the side of the oak is now empty.  Well crap, I hate it when that happens.  So, let's take a few minutes and glass the area, you just never know.

I almost immediately see that he has left that hole, and climbed up the trunk a bit higher.  He's sitting on an old broken limb, facing to the right, but the way he is positioned, I do not have a clear head shot.  I much prefer head shots, but will take what I can get.  I set up for a heart lung shot, knowing that there is a real good chance that he is going to bolt at pellet impact.  If I can catch one, or both shoulders, it's much less likely.

In the picture below, he was sitting on the broken branch, facing to the right, just below that round knob. His head was partially hidden by that dead stub of a branch that is sticking up. 

I'm sighted in at 40 yards, so hold just a bit high over his shoulder, and launch the pellet. At impact, he's off to the races.  I obviously missed the shoulders.  He leaps from the oak into a pine that is right next to it.  I rack the bolt, to chamber another pellet, and follow his path through my scope.  Using a couple of branches, he crosses over that pine and jumps onto a limb from another pine tree next to the first one. About this time the wheels start to come off.

As he's making his way along that limb, he starts to wobble, and then his back feet slip off of the branch, leaving him hanging by his front feet only. I'm just about to send another pellet on its way, when he lets go and falls to the ground DRT.  When I get over to him, I can see that the pellet caught him just behind the right shoulder, coming out at almost the same location behind the left shoulder.  Turns out to be a nice young male.

Oak tree with notch cut in it, and squirrel laying about where I originally saw him, except his back legs and tail weren't exposed.

I think what had happened with this old oak was, decades ago, when they were logging this area, they intended to harvest this oak, but when they made the cut that would cause the tree to drop where they wanted it to, they discovered that the tree was rotten inside, and not good for lumber. Over the years, the oak tried to heal the cut, but wasn't able to close the opening, and this squirrel, along with others before him I'm sure, found it a good place to build a nest.

I dropped him into my game bag, and made the turn to start hunting my way back to my vehicle.  It's interesting to me, that in life, there's almost always the one percent that don't get the word.  Wildflower season has been over here for weeks now, but as I'm hunting along, I spot this little beauty squeezing out one last bloom before surrendering to winter.

It was a fantastic day, roaming around in a high elevation mountain forest, and getting the squirrel was icing on the cake.  You never know what you might find, or see, and that's a big part of the fun of being out there.

Here's an image from a couple of weeks ago.  One of the things I love about hunting with many small bore airguns, is the lack of a muzzle blast, that puts every critter in the area on notice that you are there.

I had taken a tree squirrel, with my FX Whisper, about fifteen minutes before slipping up on these young ladies at about 35 yards.  I was down wind, and they didn't have a clue that I was even there.  Airgun hunting doesn't get much better than this.   

 

 

 

  

First Abert's Tassel Eared Tree Squirrel Hunt Of 2012 - This Year - I'm taking A Different Approach

Abert's tree squirrel season opened here on the 5th of October.  It was the 9th before I had a chance to get out after them.  I headed for the base of that mountain that is sticking up on the horizon in the above picture.

During the summer, while scouting for ground squirrel hunting areas, I would also make a mental note, of areas that had good tree squirrel sign. There were a few areas at the base of that mountain, that looked pretty good, with a fair amount of that type of sign.

Below are a couple of pictures that show what sign I'm looking for when scouting areas for tree squirrels.  A bed of field stripped pine cones, and pine cone debris under the trees, as well as stripped stems from pine needle clusters.

Pine cone debris underneath a Ponderosa Pine tree.

Clipped needle clusters, and stripped stems.

Abert's tree squirrels do eat other things, but their primary food sources come from the Ponderosa Pine trees.  That is also where they build their nests.  Another interesting fact about them is, they do not hibernate, so they are out feeding on pine cones, and the under bark from needle cluster stems, all winter long.

To give myself a leg up when hunting these guys, I scout for areas that show a lot of the above types of sign.  That's exactly what I saw in several areas at the base of the mountain I was headed for.

Ponderosa Pine trees are self pruning.  Meaning, that as they grow and mature, the lower limbs die and fall off, or are knocked off in stormy weather. Also, there is very little undergrowth on the forest floor.  That means, that in a typical Ponderosa Pine forest, you can see a long way. An example of that is shown in the photo below.

However, that is a double edged sword.  Not only can I see critters a long way off, but they can also see me.   If I see a squirrel on the forest floor, I'll try and get it to head up a nearby tree.  As often as not though, if they do tree, they head straight for the canopy 90 to 100+ feet up, and get lost in the foliage.  Or, instead of treeing, they will just haul buns for parts unknown, never to be seen by me again.

I've only been hunting these guys for about four years, and I've come to notice something interesting about them.  If they are already in a tree, and have not been chased there by me, they are easier to get a shot at. But, once they've been put on the run, the adrenaline is flowing, making them much more alert and hinky, and making it much more difficult to get a shot.

This year, I'm taking a different approach.  I'll make an attempt on any squirrel I see on the ground, but my main focus is going to be to hunt the ones that are already in the trees.  This can be easier said than done. They are masters at concealment, but if they haven't already been startled, so there isn't any adrenaline pumping, and they are just following the normal daily routine, their natural curiosity may just get the better of them, and while they are sneaking a peek at me, I just might locate them with my binoculars, and be able to get a shot.

Ponderosa Pines do not start producing pine cones until they are between 45 and 60 years old.  There are thousands of trees out there, and I need to focus only on the ones bearing cones. Also, by the time they are that old, the bark on many of their trunks has started to turn a cinnamon, or copper color, giving them the nickname of, "yellow belly." When hunting Abert's tree squirrels, those are the trees that I will focus the majority of my attention on.

Example of an old "yellow belly" Ponderosa Pine tree on the left.

I slowly made my way up the 4x4 track, that would take me into my hunt area.  Pulling into a wide spot in the road, I parked and prepared for an afternoon hunt.  Going through my usual gearing up ritual, after about fifteen minutes, I was ready to hit the woods.

Initially, I was going to hunt with my FX Monsoon, but after a bit of thought, I decided to use my FX Whisper again.  I have been shooting this rifle exceptionally well on ground squirrels.  Making head shots on nickel sized kill zones at 60 yards, in the wind, with ease.  Why change a good thing.

Slipping into the woods, I headed for the area that I had seen goodly amounts of tree squirrel sign during the summer.   Hunting in this manner, meant that I would be spending a lot of time in my binoculars, checking individual trees for squirrels.  Much like when hunting ground squirrels.  Only now I would be looking up into the trees, instead of down low on logs and stumps.

I'm slowly hunting along, checking old yellow bellies for any sign of squirrel activity, and not really seeing anything, when on the third one I'm checking out, as though it was scripted, I see a squirrel head peeking at me from behind the trunk, about halfway up the tree.  I heard myself say under my breath, "I'll be damned, this is actually going to work."

The squirrel is dead calm.  No warning barks, no nervous action at all. It's just staring, secure in the fact, that if it just holds very still it won't be seen. My laser r/f gives me a range of 43 yards. Since it's about 60 feet up in this particular tree, I hold a little low, to allow for the steep up angle, and launch the pellet.The sound of the pellet impacting the squirrel's head was LOUD.  It instantly launched off of the branch it was sitting on, and hit the ground, 60 feet below, with a soft thud, DRT.

I love it when a plan works.  When I got over to it, I could see that the pellet had entered just under the right ear, and came out the top of its head.  After spending the summer making head shots on ground squirrels, that are one fifth the size of these big guys, it looked to be about the size of a house cat in my scope.  How can you miss a target that size.

First Abert's tree squirrel of the 2012 season.

I took a couple pictures, put the squirrel in my game pouch and continued on my hunt. I had gone another five hundred yards or so, glassing every appropriate looking tree along the way, when I spot another squirrel, sitting in the shade, on the fat part of a limb attached to the trunk of an old Ponderosa yellow belly.

Again, this guy is showing zero concern.  It's sitting motionless, in the shade, but in plain sight facing me.  Without the use of my binoculars, I never would have seen this one, or the last one.  It makes me wonder how many I have walked right by in the past. The laser r/f says 39 yards. This one is about 75 feet up a 90 foot pine.  Holding center, high on the chest, I took up the trigger pressure and the pellet hit him right in the throat.  This one tumbled backwards off of the limb, and hit the ground with a soft thud.  Again DRT.

Second Abert's squirrel of the 2012 season.

To say that I'm tickled is an understatement.  I think I may have just cracked the code to hunting these guys.  They are well dispersed, and hunting them based on watching the forest floor for movement, and then treeing them, which is what guys with years of experience told me to do, hasn't been a very productive approach for me.  Based on this first hunt, I'm pretty sold on my new method.  As a side note, on this hunt, I didn't see a single squirrel on the forest floor.  Using that method, again, I would have been skunked.

A picture of the pair. 

Here's a picture that clearly shows why they are known as "tassel eared" tree squirrels.

On the left side, you can see the long hairs that they grow on the tip of each ear, giving them the name "tassel eared" tree squirrel.  On the right ear of this one, the hairs are matted with blood.

I added the second one to my game pouch, and started to slowly hunt back toward my vehicle.  I didn't spot another squirrel on my way back, and the shadows were getting long, so I decided to call it a day.

I'm pretty happy with the results from hunting, using my new approach, and hope to get out later this week for another try.  We need a couple more to make a meal. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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. 

 

 

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!

 

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. 

 

 

 

Scouting The High Country - For Ground Squirrel Habitat - Took The .22 Disco Along

High country park/meadow that I passed by while scouting.  This is at about 8500 foot elevation.

I mentioned awhile back, that it has been too darned warm and humid to get out and do much ground squirrel hunting.  At least for me.  But rather than waste the days, I've been scouting the forest, in my air conditioned 4x4, for new ground squirrel habitat.

I've got about 4,000,000 acres of forest to hunt in, but only a small percentage of that holds ground squirrels.  It takes some time and effort, to get out into the woods, and locate those areas that hold pockets of squirrels.

I really enjoy the exploring part of the hunt.  It gets me into areas of the forest that I've never seen, and that's always an adventure.

This time, I headed about 35 miles east of town, and took an old logging road that headed up the side of one of the mountains.  No way to tell much about anything from looking at maps.  You really have to get out there and put some rubber on the road.

As I headed up the 4x4 track, the immediate countryside looked great for deer and elk, but not much happening as far as ground squirrels were concerned.  We have a very large deer and elk population around these parts, and I see a lot of both while prowling these back country roads.

The ground squirrels, on the other hand, have a very specific type of terrain that they prefer.  It can't be to densely forested, and there needs to be a population of young, mature, and medium aged pine trees.  They can't be to close together, and there needs to be a goodly number of 80 to 100 year old rotting stumps for them to build their dens under. A scattering of old blowdowns and piles of deadfall won't hurt either. The terrain doesn't need to be real flat, some slope is okay, but overly steep doesn't seem to work for these guys at all.

I was about three miles from the pavement, still climbing, and hadn't really seen any country that looked promising at all.  At this point, my mind starts playing the usual games like, "well this is going to turn out to be a bust, let's turn around and try another spot."  

Well, I've been doing this long enough to know, to just shine that kind of thinking.  You never know what will be around the next bend, or over the next rise.  Once again, ignoring my party pooper brain paid off.

A short time later, I came over a small rise, and off to my left was a nice area, with all of the attributes that I was looking for.  It was fairly open, and ran about 500/600 yards long by about 200/300 yards wide.

I put my binoculars on the forest, and immediately saw these two sitting on a stump, in the shade, watching me.

A different 4x4 track took off from the one that I was on, and headed west down the middle of the area I was looking at. I hung a left, and decided to see what I might see. Man was that ever a good decision. There were squirrels sitting on every third stump.  Below are some pictures I took while slowly driving and glassing the area.

When I stopped for this picture, there was a squirrel sitting on each of the three stumps.  By the time I got the camera up, the one in the middle had bailed.

One each on the left, and right stumps.

Went another 50 yards, and this loner was out sunning himself.

Another 75 yards, and I spot this guy working on his tan.

This is looking really, really good.  Another 50 yards and I spot the pair below. One on the stump at the left, and another on the stump on the right.  All of these squirrels were within 40/50 yards of the road. I could also see others, that were 80 to 100+ plus yards away.

WOW! This was way above my expectations.  This is the best ground squirrel area that I have found so far.  By now, it was getting close to mid day, so I pulled in under a nice big Ponderosa Pine, for shade, and decided to break for lunch.  I got out my folding canvas chair, broke out the $5 footlong I picked up on my way out of town, and started enjoying a good sandwich. 

It was very warm and humid.  Humid, like around 80 percent.  Not the kind of weather that makes me want to hunt, but I still enjoy looking around me to see what might be happening squirrel wise.  In addition to the sandwich, I also got out my binos, range finder, and .22 Discovery. One never knows what one might see.

I finished the sandwich, and grabbing my binoculars, gave the area a quick once over. It never freakin' fails.  There was a big old pile of deadfall, that I had been looking at while eating, and when I put it in the glass, I see a ground squirrel sitting back in the shadows watching me.  I did not see it with my naked eye, but with the binos it really stood out. 

I zapped it with the range finder, and it gives me a range of 46 yards.  I picked up my Disco, chambered a 16 grain JSB, held a little high on the squirrels head, squeezed off the round, and what you see below was the result.  This little rifle is one deadly rig.

Needless to say, as soon as we get a break in the weather, I will be back up there putting the sneak on these guys.

Stay tuned.

 

Airgun Hunting Small Game and Varmints - For Me - Is About Accuracy First - Power Second

FWB 300S .177, 5 shots at 35 yards, with 8.4 grain JSB Exact, generating about 6fpe at the muzzle.

I talk to guys all of the time, that are coming over to airgunning from a lifetime of shooting powder burners, and the one thing they are almost always focused on is pellet velocity.     

Show them an airgun, and the first question is, "how fast does this thing shoot a pellet?"  That's usually where the education about the differences between hunting with small bore airguns, and small bore powder burners begins, with the emphasis on accuracy, not power.

Small bore powder burning cartridges, like the .17HMR, .22 Mag, .223, .22-250, and .220 swift, are high velocity death on small vermin like ground squirrels, and prairie dogs.  Highly explosive projectiles, such as the Hornady V-Max, and Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets, when driven at high velocity, literally detonate small rodents on impact.

At impact, a tremendous amount of energy is released by the polymer tipped bullets rapid expansion. I have hit ground squirrels with a 50 grain V-Max bullet, fired from a .22-250, doing over 3500 fps at the muzzle, (1360 fpe) where there was literally nothing left of the squirrel but red mist and hair blowing in the wind.  Impressive power to say the least. You're not going to get that with an airgun pellet.  Hunting with small bore airguns is about accuracy, and very precise pellet placement, not high power.    

When shooting powder burner varmint rifles, supreme accuracy was always a pursuit of mine, but for a slightly different reason than when shooting my airguns.  Supreme accuracy, lets met reach out farther with my powder burners, 400 yards and beyond was common.  I wasn't so much concerned with placing a Ballistic tip bullet on a precise spot, like the earhole of a ground squirrel, as I was mostly interested in putting it center of mass, on the squirrel or prairie dog at long range, and the highly explosive bullet would take care of the rest.

With my airguns, I also pursue high levels of accuracy, but with these guns, it's because I need to place a pellet precisely where I want it to go. Airguns do not blow things up, they kill by putting a pellet through one or more vital organs of the critter being hunted.  That means a high level of accuracy is required, to consistently put a pellet precisely where it is wanted, on demand.     

The guns I hunt with, all have one thing in common.  They are very, very accurate.  The power levels vary from about 6 fpe on the low end, to 46 fpe on the high end. Not enough power to vaporize rodents that's for sure, but still enough power to kill cleanly, within each guns accuracy capabilities and power limitations.

For example, the above photo of a target, shows a five shot group at 35 yards, fired from one of my FWB 300S, .177 cal, recoilless springers. This gun  generates about 6 fpe at the muzzle.  The orange dot is half inch. This rifle is death on ground squirrels, with head shots out to 45 yards.

A typical adult California Ground Squirrel, or adult Gunnison's Prairie Dog's head, is a target that measures roughly 2 inches wide by  2 inches high, and about 2.5 inches front to back.  Inside of that, you have about a 1.5 inch kill zone.  Include the neck, and upper chest, heart lung area, and we now have a kill zone that runs about 1.5/2 inches wide by about 4 inches tall. 

Not an impossible target, all the way to 100 yards, but it takes a very accurate airgun to stay inside that 1.5/2 inch wide kill zone at that distance.  Especially when shooting in the wind.

Depending upon where and what I'll be hunting, I use various guns that all have excellent accuracy, but cover a wide range of power levels.

If I want to reach out a bit farther than my 6 fpe FWB 300S allows, but want to hunt a gun that's short and light, I'll grab my Marauder pistol/carbine.

Below target, Marauder .22 pistol/carbine, 5 shots at 40 yards, with 12.8 grain Sn-2 tin pellets, generating 13 fpe at the muzzle.

I'm very comfortable using my Marauder pistol/carbine, for heart lung, or head shots on ground squirrels out to 65 yards.  The accuracy and power, at 13 fpe, is more than enough for California Ground Squirrels at that range.  Last year, I used it exclusively for hunting ground squirrels, and the performance was simply amazing.

If I'm looking for a bit more power, and reach, in a nice light rifle, I'll hunt with my Benjamin Discovery.  

Discovery .22, 5 shots at 30 yards, with 16 grain JSB Exacts, generating approximately 23 fpe at the muzzle. 

My Discovery has been a ton of fun to hunt with.  The accuracy and power, let me take ground squirrels out to 75/80 yards, and the light weight of the gun makes it a dream to carry all day long.

Below are other sight-in targets from some of my other hunting PCP's. The power may vary from gun to gun a bit, but the common denominator through out all of these PCP's, is their excellent accuracy.

There is also a wide range of gun prices represented in this blog story, but accurate, is accurate, whether the gun cost $250, or $1600. That doesn't matter to me, because I'm mostly interested in what a given gun can do down range with a pellet.  That's where the real work gets done with any gun, and my less expensive PCP's shoot right along with some of their higher priced cousins.

I've used all of the following guns to take ground squirrels, and prairie dogs out to around 100 yards.  The targets show the performance, of each gun, when sighted in with its tested pellet of choice.

RWS Rapier .22, 5 shots at 50 yards, with 18 grain JSB Jumbo Heavy's, generating 30 fpe at the muzzle.

AA 410ERBSL .22, 5 shots at 50 yards, with 18 grain JSB Jumbo Heavy's, generating 30 fpe at the muzzle. 

Benjamin Marauder .22, 5 shots at 50 yards, with 14.5 grain DYNAMIC PCP-2 tin pellets, generating 27 fpe at the muzzle. Half inch orange dot.

AA 510 TC .22, 5 shots at 50 yards, with 18 grain JSB Jumbo Heavy's, generating 29 fpe at the muzzle. 

Benjamin Marauder .25, 5 shots at 65 yards, with 30.8 grain Beeman Kodiaks, generating 46 fpe at the muzzle. 

FX 2000 .22, 5 shots at 100 yards, with 21 grain Beeman Kodiaks, generating 31 fpe at the muzzle. Red dot is one inch.

With the exception of the .22 cal Marauder, none of these guns are driving their pellets over 900 fps, and a couple, the Marauder pistol/carbine, and FWB 300S, are under 700, and 600 fps respectively. Not tons of power (13 fpe and 6 fpe) for sure.  Yet both guns are very efficient killers of California Ground Squirrels.

Anyone who has followed this blog, the past several years, has seen stories, and videos of these guns being used to hunt with, and when used within each guns capabilities, and power limitations, they have all performed the task at hand very, very well indeed.  

All of these guns are superbly accurate, and that's the focus when it comes to hunting with small bore airguns.  We need enough power, along with the accuracy, to deliver a pellet cleanly to the vital organs of our chosen prey.  We will never have the kind of velocities and power, that the powder burner varmint cartridges generate, but we don't need them either.

Hunting with small bore airguns, isn't about high velocity and loads of muzzle energy, it's really about accuracy, and precise shot placement, and for me, that's what makes it so challenging and fun.  

 

   

Category - "Hunting Video Library" - Updated

Marauder .25 cal, with camera and Abert's tree squirrel.

I've finally had a chance to add the new videos I shot on hunts this past spring and summer, to the "Hunting Video Library" category of the blog.  For those who don't know, the "Hunting Video Library" is where I post all of the videos I shoot during hunts.  They are posted without the associated stories that would normally go with them.  It now includes most of the videos from various hunts over the past two and a half years.

This way, folks who just want to watch the hunting videos, have them all located in one place.

There are video clips located in the Library, that I shot while hunting with the following guns.  AA 510TC .22......Marauder .25......Marauder pistol .22......AA 410 ERBSL .22......AA 410 CRBSL .22......FX 2000 .22......Discovery .177......FX Whisper .22......and my RWS Rapier .22.

To find the "Hunting Video Library" just scroll down the side bar, on the left of the main blog page here, to the "Categories" section. Scroll down it until you come to the "Hunting Video Library" heading, and click on it. That will take you to the Library section.

If you click on the "Hunting Videos" category, and not the "Hunting Video Library" category, it will take you to a section of the blog that has the hunting stories with their associated videos embedded.

The "Hunting Video Library" is made up of individual videos only. Scroll through the offerings, until you see something you would like to view, click on the arrow, and after loading, the video will play.  I hope you enjoy watching the clips.

RWS Rapier .22 cal, with video camera mounted.

 

Clown or Dinner? Depends.

We have five huntable species of tree squirrels here in Arizona. They're well scattered around the State. The one that hangs around my neck of the woods, is called the Abert's Tassel Eared Tree Squirrel. It grows long hairs on the ends of each ear, and that's where the "tassel eared" comes in. These guys are a ton of fun to hunt, and are very challenging. We are surrounded by 4.5 million acres of Ponderosa Pine trees, and each and every tree is a food source for these squirrels. Because of that, they don't generally congregate in large numbers in any given area. I put a lot of miles on my boots in the course of hunting these guys.

We have lots of them here in town, and that's when they go from potentially being dinner, to just being the neighborhood clowns. I came down stairs this morning and spotted our three cats shoulder to shoulder at the back window, intently watching something in the back yard. When I snuck a peek, I saw this guy in one of our pine trees. I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics of him doing his thing. He thoroughly searched each and every limb for pine cones. None in this tree, just a bit too young to produce cones yet. When he hit the tip top of the tree, he just sat there for awhile, soaking up the sun, working on his tan, and taking in his domain. He eventually worked his way back down the tree, and sat on a stump next to it for a bit. If you look closely, you can see the long hairs on the tip of each ear. 

When I'm hunting them, they love to get into the crown of a 90 foot pine and disappear. I know they're there, and they know I'm looking for them. I'll put my back against a nearby tree and start slowly glassing every inch of the tree that I can see. I'll change position several times to get a better view of different parts of the tree. The vast majority of the time, I will never spot them. They will stay hidden and let me starve to death before they will move so much as a muscle. They are true masters at concealment. Makes for a very challenging hunt. I hate to admit it, but I get outsmarted by these rodents on a regular basis. 

Anyway, some folks have never seen these squirrels, so I thought I would share the pics. I'll be hunting his brethren in the forest tomorrow, only It'll be with my .25 Marauder, not my camera. The male adults can run 2.5 pounds. These guys are big. The limit is five, and it's a challenge to get that many on any given hunt.

A Daisy Red Ryder - Mountain Cactus - Rock Squirrel - and Wind

 
The forecast called for sunny and wind. When they say wind around here, they aren't talking about the 5 to 10 mile per hour variety. When it makes the forecast, they mean 20/25 mph to 30/40+ mph type of winds. 

I decided to get out into the forest anyway, and shoot some photos for a book project that I'm working on. I wanted to get some pictures of my Red Ryder, since that was the first airgun I ever owned. Got it new in 1953. Not the one in this picture, but one pretty much just like it. I don't remember when I got this one, but it was many, many, years ago. 

When I finished up, I decided to take a hike around to see what I could see. With the wind velocity being so high, I didn't take an airgun along.  I just took my camera. As I was exploring the area, a spot of bright red, off in the distance caught my eye. When I got over to it, I was surprised to find a cactus plant in full bloom. My altimeter said 8200 feet. I'm in the middle of a Ponderosa Pine forest, and the last thing I am expecting to see at 8200 foot elevation is a cactus. It was out there all by its lonesome, and definitely beautiful. I love Mother Nature and her unexpected treats.

  
To give some perspective, here's a longer shot of the cactus, and the area I was in. 

  
I took a couple of pics, and resumed my hike. I came to an area that dropped off into a jumble of large broken rocks and boulders. When I looked over the side, I saw this guy out sunning himself. It's called a Rock Squirrel, and it's now obvious why. LOL.  These guys appear to be very closely related to the California Ground Squirrels.

  
The wind had really picked up. When I got back to my rig, I broke out my wind meter and tried to get a reading. Sorry for the blurry picture but at 31 mph, there was no way I could hold the thing still. It was gusting to just over 40 mph.

  
All in all, it was a fun day in the wind and sun, shooting some airgun related photos for my book project. Having the Daisy along sure brought back a bunch of fond memories from decades ago.