Glad you got out and got one Mike!
January 1, 2023 - Sunday morning - HAPPY NEW YEAR!Well, I am finally feeling human again after fighting a head cold since mid-December. Yesterday afternoon, the clouds parted and the sun peeked through with almost calm winds. I figured that was the only chance for the next several days. I started hunting about 1:30 p.m. and stopped about 15-minutes before sundown. I hunted with the Stormrider .22 with JSB 18.13 gr pellets. Most of the squirrels were moving in the trees; and that is where I killed the one that came home with me. The temperature? Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it was 61ºF. After our -1ºF during the cold spell, this was great. [I was so excited to be out in the woods, I forgot to take a picture until after I had dressed out the Gray.]
Mike! Happy New Year 🎈! Glad you are feeling better and you were able to get out in some fine weather...great shot!
January 4. 2023 - Wednesday morningThe rains came last night and I had doubts about going hunting this morning. But Meg, the weather lady, assured me that the skies would clear and the temperature would be in the low 60s. She was right!The squirrels must have wanted to get out and dry off; because they were moving all around. I saw five or six before I was able to get a shot at one. It was gnawing on a nut when I hit it with a pass through, shoulder to shoulder shot. It dropped on the spot. The second one was about 20 yards from the first and died about 15 minutes later. This one was on the side of a tree trunk and took the JSB 18.13 gr in the neck. The Stormrider was doing its job today. That was the last one I was able to shoot at. I did see several more but I think they all saw me too.About a month ago, I decided to declare a closed season on the Eastern Fox Squirrels in that woods to allow their numbers to rebound. Today, I spotted three - one on the ground coming towards me. It jumped up on a vine about 20 yards away and froze when it saw me looking at its big, white nose. We did the stare down for about 3 - 4 minutes before I moved behind a tree so it could not see me. Well, it didn't like that - and moved up into another tree where it could continue watching me. And, that not all. There was another Fox Squirrel about 25 yards away, high up in a tree, watching us both! When I left that area, I was directly under the tree it was in - and it didn't move until I had gone past the tree. I did see one more after that in the Goat Woods. It was already changing ZIP Codes when I spotted it. But it was a good hunt anyway!
Nice shooting Mike!
Mike, nice hunt and shooting on those 2! Glad the weather cleared for you. Nice pics.
The red in the top photo looks a bit older, with a really nice pelt. I got a young female this morning, about a mile from my house as the crow flies. the first shot was a miss, but the red gave me another chance pretty quickly. She was about 50' up a big spruce tree quartering towards me on a branch. I was aiming a bit high thinking since the shot was so high up I would hit low. It was nice being able to see the tracks in fresh snow. Saw a lot of snowshoe hare tracks which got me pretty excited. Need to learn more about how to hunt them with a rifle.