GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Hunting Gate => Topic started by: A.K.A. Tommy Boy on January 29, 2020, 02:54:39 PM
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Hi All !
I was out hunting yesterday in the woods in my area. At around 9 am. I managed to harvest a very nice Gray Squirrel.
Since my last hunting post, I have harvested around a dozen more squirrels, that I have not posted about, with my dedicated hunting rifles.
I was hunting with the Hatsan 22 cal. Vortex Edge. This rifle is absolutely deadly, short, highly maneuverable, and it has a good trigger.
This rifle makes a great heavy cover brush gun. At around 7 lbs W/scope mounted, it is fairly light weight in comparison to some of my other rifles.
I was shooting 22 cal. Crosman 14.3 gr. Destroyers.
These hunting pellets shoot very accurately in this rifle and are devastating on small game.
The temp was around + 3 F, the wind was calm, the sky was cloudy.
There was around 17 inches of crusty snow on the ground. Moving thru it quietly, on snowshoes. was difficult at best.
I spotted the squirrel, feeding on the ground, at about 80 yards away and began my approach as quietly as I could under the conditions that I was hunting in.
I moved from tree to tree, very slowly, trying too use any cover or concealment that the forest offered.
Once that I got to a close enough range that I figured that I could reasonably make a killing shot I slowly stepped out into the open and shouldered the rifle.
The squirrel spotted me right away and scampered high up into the closest oak tree.
He paused just long enough during his escape for me to get a shot off.
I shot the squirrel out of the oak tree at about 75 ft off of the ground. He had perched on a large branch and was looking straight at me.
The pellet hit the squirrel just below the shoulder and the shot was a pass thru.
The squirrel hung in the tree for about 3 minutes then dropped to the ground quite dead and bled out.
The range was around 30 yards out and around 75 feet up. The shot was taken off-hand as I had nowhere to rest the rifle.
I had began this hunt about 1/2 hour before sunrise. and hunted up until 11 am.
The temp was too cold for a sit-down hunt so I was moving slowly thru the forest in still hunting fashion.
After shooting the squirrel I cashed him in a snow bank and continued to hunt, retrieving the squirrel on may way back.
I saw many squirrels later on, but was unable to get close enough for an accurate shot, mainly because of the noise that I was making crunching thru the crusty snow.
For snow camo, I have an old white sheet that I use as an over garment. There is a hole cutout in the middle of it for my head and I wear it poncho style and gathered in at the waist with a belt.
For warm winter foot wear I use a pair of Steiger Moosehide Mukluks that have a 18 inch snow gauntlets that come up to just below my knees. They are very warm, flexible and extremely light weight.
I also wear a pair of down gloves, a balaclava, a thin light weight thinsulate jacket under a warm Gortex uninsulated camo bomber jacket with a large hood, a pair of wool hunting trousers, a pair of unlined snow pants to go over the wool pants, a fleece vest with snow collar over the thinsulate jacket and a nice long-sleeved polly propylene under shirt with a zip collar that covers my upper neck.
I have found that white, black and dark gray make good colors, in winter months, for the hunting that I do.
These items constitute my winter hunting garments and serve me well.
All in all it was a nice day hunting in the North Woods.
Best Wishes - Tom
Click the pictures if you wish to enlarge the image:
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Congrats on the grey with your edge rifle.
Bbbbrrrrrrr, that was a cold day you were out on!
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Congrats on the grey with your edge rifle.
Bbbbrrrrrrr, that was a cold day you were out on!
Buddy ...thank you for the kind words and your reply.
As far as the cold goes, there was no wind so to speak of and the temperature was not too bad for this time of year so I was quite warm.
Sometimes in January the temps can dip down to -20 f or colder with a strong NW wind, so I actually considered myself fortunate that morning.
Here are some more pictures of the woods that I was hunting.
The first picture is the tree that I shot the squirrel out of.
The middle picture is one of the forest and the bottom picture is one of the sunrise that morning.
The squirrels feed up to around 11 Am then they don't forage much after that.
Best Wishes - Tom
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That's quite the shot offhand. Congrats.
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Nice shooting Tom!
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That's quite the shot offhand. Congrats.
Thank you Dan for the complement & reply.
This rifle works well for an off-hand type of shot and these pellets shoot well in this particular rifle.
Most of my hunting shots are either off-hand or are taken standing and bracing the rifles I have on a tree trunk.
I always will opt for a supported shot if I can do it but at times that is not possible.
When practicing my shooting in my backyard I will either shoot off-hand or will rest the rifle in my out stretched hand braced on an upright door frame.
I don't practice or do bench shooting at all. I practice the type of shots that I would get out in the forest.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Nice shooting Tom!
Thank's Dave...maybe someday I'll catch up to the likes of you ! ;)
Vest Wishes - Tom
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Tommy, excellent hunt, stalk and offhand shot! Brrr....that looked cold out there! Beautiful photos of the terrain.
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Tom I always enjoy read you adventures in the woods. I can almost visualize your hunt. Great off hand shooting. To me the Edge is a great platform for offhand shooting.
Dan
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Great shooting and great write up!
I don't know how you hunt in that kind of cold. My fingers ache anytime the temps drops below freezing.
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Tommy, excellent hunt, stalk and offhand shot! Brrr....that looked cold out there! Beautiful photos of the terrain.
Randall...thank you for your reply and complements.
Actually it was not too cold or windy for a comfortable hunt.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Tom I always enjoy read you adventures in the woods. I can almost visualize your hunt. Great off hand shooting. To me the Edge is a great platform for offhand shooting.
Dan
Hi Dan !
Thank you for your reply & complement.
I am happy that you enjoyed my hunting post.
Each and every hunt is unique and an adventure all in it's own.
I concur with you about the Edge being a great off hand shooting platform.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Great shooting and great write up!
I don't know how you hunt in that kind of cold. My fingers ache anytime the temps drops below freezing.
Hi Carl..thank you for your reply and complement.
As for the cold...I am acclimated to the cold and I was dressed properly for it too.
I was very warm during the hunt because I kept slowly moving thru the forest.
Had I tried to sit down and hunt for a long time I would have felt colder.
If the wind had been blowing hard... it would have been much colder.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Man that was a great post. The only times I've ever hunted in snow was in the Georgia mountains. We might get snow for a week or two each year. We did have Ice storms however. I loved hunting after an ice storm. It gets all the wildlife moving. There was a railroad siding not far from my house that had propane burners to keep the points clear of ice. The burners were lit when ice was detected. It created a little oasis of warmth about fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long. Everything that lived in the woods was attracted there. There were always plenty of birds and squirrels and I have seen fox and bobcat there though not at the same time. I would love the opportunity to hunt in truly cold weather. I've been reading about it all my life and it sounds really cool (no pun intended). But if you want to hunt where it's warm come on down to Tate's Heck! It's warm as heck this year.
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Man that was a great post. The only times I've ever hunted in snow was in the Georgia mountains. We might get snow for a week or two each year. We did have Ice storms however. I loved hunting after an ice storm. It gets all the wildlife moving. There was a railroad siding not far from my house that had propane burners to keep the points clear of ice. The burners were lit when ice was detected. It created a little oasis of warmth about fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long. Everything that lived in the woods was attracted there. There were always plenty of birds and squirrels and I have seen fox and bobcat there though not at the same time. I would love the opportunity to hunt in truly cold weather. I've been reading about it all my life and it sounds really cool (no pun intended). But if you want to hunt where it's warm come on down to Tate's Heck! It's warm as heck this year.
Hi Carter !
Thank you for your reply sir. I'm glad that you liked my hunting post.
I hope that someday you can realize your desire to do a winter hunt, if that is your wish.
With a fresh layer of snow on the ground, judging small game activity in any particular area becomes very easy.
And with big game hunting, snow on the ground makes hauling (dragging) your big game harvest out of the woods a lot easier too.
My biggest concern while out hunting in winter is ...The Wind. A strong wind can chill you down fast and give you frostbite very quickly if you are not prepared for it.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Tom, according to my trusted little calculator, that shot was approximately 40 yards at an angle of almost 45º. Very nice off-hand shooting. I was wondering if you had been hunting (not seeing any posts lately.) It is good to hear that you were out and productive too.
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Nice write up and pictures, Tommy!
Excellent of-hand shooting on that very high perch!
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Tom, according to my trusted little calculator, that shot was approximately 40 yards at an angle of almost 45º. Very nice off-hand shooting. I was wondering if you had been hunting (not seeing any posts lately.) It is good to hear that you were out and productive too.
Hi Mike !
Thank for your reply and complement.
Originally the squirrel was foraging on the ground at about 30 to 35 yards. From that point it raced to the tree.
I would have liked to have been closer for the shot, but the squirrel had spotted me and was in the process of escaping. (you know how that goes)
I try to keep my shots somewhere between 20 and 30 yards if I can.
I don't have a range finder so the distances I stated were approximations.
I paced off the distance to the oak tree and I know the measurement of my paces.
(3 Ft from the back of my reward heel to the tip of my forward toe)
The hight was a judgement call... but I was pretty close.
Mike I have been around....I just read more than I post.
I usually check in every couple of days or so.. but I may not be posting (because of time constraints) when I do.
I don't post many of my hunts (again time constraints) and I am not always successful in my hunts.
I am generally out-and-about every day, doing something, but I may not be hunting.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Nice write up and pictures, Tommy!
Excellent of-hand shooting on that very high perch!
Hi Dinh !
Thank you for your reply and complement.
I am glad that you enjoyed my post. All things considered....I got lucky with that shot.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Good shooting and nice pics Tom! In 3 deg. weather and 17" of snow on the ground no less! Nice job.
You are GTA's extreme weather hunter :)
Harry
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Good shooting and nice pics Tom! In 3 deg. weather and 17" of snow on the ground no less! Nice job.
You are GTA's extreme weather hunter :)
Harry
Hi Harry !
Thank you for the kind reply and complements.
All in all...it was not too bad out there for this time of year. The winds were calm and that makes a big difference.
The weather "is what it is" around my place and I can not change it. I am climatized to Winter but I like Fall hunting the best.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Well after running around this morning getting my second shingles shot and a trip to the chiropractors office for my wife, I managed to get out again hunting this afternoon. I also managed to harvest another nice Gray with the 22 cal. Hatsan Vortex Edge.
It was around 2 pm and the temp was a down right balmy 25 F. There was a slight 7 mph NW wind and the sky was cloudy.
Again I was shooting 22 cal Crosman 14.3 gr. Destroyer Hunting Pellets in the Edge.
We had received a light snowfall this morning and I had about 1 inch of fresh tracking snow today.
I was following one of my hunting trails when I spotted 3 squirrels foraging on the ground under some white oak trees.
There was a gray and a black that were smaller and a third gray that was the largest of the three.
As I approached the squirrels they spotted me and scampered up the nearest oak tree.
I lost track of the smaller two as I was following the movements of the largest squirrel.
I approached the tree they had gone up and got to within about 18 to 20 yards of it.. I took up a standing position next a smaller ash tree.
After about 10 minutes of waiting and watching I noticed movement on a large branch close to a squirrel drey.
I think this was possibly the larger squirrel but I had also lost sight of that one too as I was looking around for a good spot to take up a position at. Anyway the squirrel was around 35 ft. to 40 ft. up on this branch, close to the drey and I was around 18 yards from this oak.
I braced my forestock hand on the trunk of the ash tree and rested the rifle in the v formed between my thumb and fingers and took a carefully aimed shot at his head. The pellet hit the squirrel in the forehead and it immediately dropped to the ground, expiring on the way down. This was a one shot and done squirrel harvest and there was no looking around in the woods for this squirrel. I was dead where it fell. I had more errands to run at 3:30 pm so I gathered up my harvest and headed home.
It was another nice day of hunting in the North Woods today....the squirrel was just an added bonus.
Best Wishes - Tom
Click the picture to enlarge the image:
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Nice shooting Tom! Glad your getting time to get out hunting with that edge rifle!
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Some people might say you are on a "roll"!
I am one of them. Way to get it done.
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Nice shooting Tom! Glad your getting time to get out hunting with that edge rifle!
Hi Buddy !
I was really glad to get out too.
Thank You for your reply and complement.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Some people might say you are on a "roll"!
I am one of them. Way to get it done.
Hi Mike !
Well I was just lucky enough to manage this shot is all.
The squirrels have been moving around all day lately.
Usually the foraging comes to a halt at around 11 am. this time of year.
The milder temps must be bringing them out longer.
Thank You for your reply and complement.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Great shot placement Tom! You 're having great success on every outing. Keep it going.
Harry
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Great shot placement Tom! You 're having great success on every outing. Keep it going.
Harry
Hi Harry !
Thank you for your reply and generous complement.
Well... ..lets just say that ......I am doing OK on the outings that get posted ;D
Yup I agree, the placement on that shot was pretty good. I lucked out and was able to place a good hit on the forehead.
It is not often that I get them sitting still at a reasonably close range, lined up like this one was & looking straight at me.
I miss my fair share of shots, just like everyone else (that hunts in the woods) and have come home empty handed many times.
That's OK too. I still enjoy getting out on a nice day.
Best Wishes - Tom
Here is a better picture of the branch where the drey was. I circled it in red.
Click the picture to enlarge the image.
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Great shooting on that gray Tom !!!
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Great shooting on that gray Tom !!!
Hi Wayne !
Thank you for your reply and complement.
For quite some time the squirrels were not moving around much.
Also their numbers seem to be down the year as compared to years past.
The last couple of days the temps have warmed up and I am seeing more of them.
It is right at 31 F today and the sun is out....finally.
It has been cloudy around here for the last two or three weeks.
Best Wishes - Tom
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Good to see stories about working man guns. Mike