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All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General > Hunting Gate

Red Menace #3 down, no pics.

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timegoat:
Boy oh boy, was red squirrel #3 a problem!  :-\ Very quick, very sneaky, & tried my patience. On and off all day I'd see it, get it in the crosshairs and just not have the shot. Either it would move too quickly or hide its kill zone behind a branch. Finally, about a half hour ago it gave me a clear target just behind the front leg and I squeezed off a shot. I don't know if the pellet was a flier or if my follow through was terrible, hit it somewhere in the hind quarters or belly, and only wounded it. It scrambled along the branch and took a position behind some hemlock branches. Normally, I'd never take a shot through branches, but since I knew I only wounded it I took the second shot to put it out of its misery. That shot either missed completely or also was just a wounding. Either way, it then moved to a branch directly behind a tree (or so I thought) and all I could see was its tail twitching. I loaded up a third pellet and watched. After a few minutes I realized I could see it's head through the branches. I paused, breathed, gathered my patience, and fired a third time. After that I couldn't see its tail moving anymore.

Grabbed my binoculars and went out to see if I could find it to confirm a kill. I have no idea where it is. I never heard or saw it fall and I have circled the stand of trees many times. Looked up into it with the binocs and nuthin. Walked further away at different angles and same thing... nuthin. Checked every angle available and I can't see a thing. Of course, hemlock isn't the easiest tree to see through, but I'm gonna call it a kill because there's no way it will survive for very long after that first shot.

The moral of this story? Don't take the shot when patience has worn thin. There will be another chance.

While I was looking for #3, I could hear #4 chattering in the woods a couple hundred feet away. These things are like drug lords! Take one down and another is just waiting to take its place. I'm not happy with only wounding it with that first shot, but I guess these things are going to happen. So be it.

- Mark

dk1677:
It happens, Id give ya that one  ;)

timegoat:
Well, I found it yesterday and it was alive but not well. I must have severed it's spine cause it's back legs were useless but it was very actively dragging itself along the branches. Tough tough little guys. I put him out of his misery. No pics... I put it through enough already.

Lesson learned in the most awful way. Never take the shot unless yer sure. They may be destructive little pests, but I'm not looking to make them suffer.

- Mark

Jman:
same thing happened to me once. dropped the squirrel, I turned away not thinking, I turned back, GONE. It came back into the yard in really bad shape an hour later and I finished it off

Atchman2:
Don't beat yourself up too much.  It has happened to us all.  You hit it, it goes down, you start looking for the next target and all of the sudden it gets up and starts moving again!  Possums are especially bad about this! 

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