GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Hunting Gate => Topic started by: longislandhunter on November 18, 2010, 09:42:37 PM
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Around 3 pm I had nothing to do so I grabbed the .22 Disco, some FTS pellets and headed down the street to see if I could harvest a nutter or two. I spent the first hour slowly working my way down the main trail of the woods and while I did see a nice sized nutter he saw me first and high tailed it to a tree with a large hole in it and disappeared. I tried waiting the nutter out, hoping he'd pop back out again but he never did. After giving up on the holed up nutter I only had about 45 minutes of good shooting light left so I decided to head straight to one of my favorite sections of the woods, take a seat and just sit tight until sunset.
It only took me a couple of minutes to reach my secret spot and finding a comfortable tree stump to sit on I began my wait. At 4:30 I suddenly saw movement about 40 yards in front of me. It was a nice sized nutter who was on the ground and working his way towards me. As I sat there intently watching the nutter, hoping he would come a bit closer and provide a shot, I heard something digging in the forest leaf litter to my left. I turned my head just in time to see another nutter jump up onto a small log lying on the forest floor. He was 40 yards away but he was just sitting on the log giving me a perfect side profile shot so I decided to take the shot.
I shouldered the disco, put the crosshairs on target and fired. A second after the shot I heard that lovely sound that told me that the FTS had found it's mark and I watched the nutter fall off the log and hit the forest floor. The first squirrel I had seen had disappeared from sight so I decided to head straight over to the downed nutter and collect him. I paced off the distance as I went to retrieve him and sure enough my estimate was right on the money,, 40 yards even.
The FTS had struck the nutter in his left shoulder, passed completely through his body and exited out his right shoulder. The little disco had earned her keep once again :)
It was getting dark so I set the rifle and nutter on a log to take some pics and then I headed home to have squirrel for dinner :)
As a side note,, tomorrow morning I'm headed down to the same section of woods but I'll be packing a 12 gauge shotgun. I met a guy down there yesterday who was hunting rabbits with his beagles and he asked me a ton of questions about air guns and hunting with them. We seemed to hit it off and he asked if I wanted to do some rabbit hunting with him next time he takes the dogs out and I told him sure. Well, he called me this afternoon and tomorrow morning we're meeting up at 8 am and we're gonna chase rabbits with his beagles. I know absolutely nothing about hunting rabbits with beagles so I'm really looking forward to the hunt. I haven't hunted with any of my shotguns in a long time so if I do get to shoot I'll be surprised if I hit anything, but to be honest I really don't care if I get to shoot or not, I'm just really looking forward to watching the dogs work and learning as much as I can from Frank about the art of hunting rabbits with dogs :) I'll let you guys know how we make out.
Anyway, here's the pics from today.
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/longislandhunter/November182010002.jpg)
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/longislandhunter/November182010001.jpg)
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/longislandhunter/November182010003.jpg)
Jeff
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Nice shooting Jeff ! The Disco will get 'er done! Good hunting on the hoppers!
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Thanks Dave. Every time I take the disco out hunting I re-discover what a pleasure that rifle is to hunt with :) Light, comfortable and deadly accurate. Great little guns for sure :)
Jeff
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Jeff, that is a chunky looking squirrel. He will surely make a great meal for you. How are you going to cook him?
I just finished up my Dad's squirrel and dumplings and he kept asking me why I was taking pictures of the meal. I finally told him I had some friends I wanted to show them to online. As soon as he goes to bed this evening, I am going to upload the pics and write the story. You'll be able to smell them.
I like the way that Disco looks next to the squirrel, kind of natural, you know? I'm looking forward to hearing about your rabbit hunting trip. If the dogs are good, those rabbits will come back around for your shot; don't forget your camera!!!
blessings, joe
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Just don't shoot the dogs tomorrow!!! :o ;D Good luck and have fun. Nice nutter.
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Thanks Joe, thanks Jason.
Joe, I actually had today nutter for dinner tonight, along with one that I had taken out of the freezer yesterday. I did them real simple.. gave em a hefty coating of cajun spices and friend em till they were golden brown. I even made sure I added some bacon grease (which I save and freeze every time I make bacon) to the oil so they'd have a hint of bacon flavor. I feasted like a king, best dinner I've had in a long time :)
I'm looking forward to your squirrel and dumpling post.. I'd like to try that if it's not to complex to make.
I'll be sure to let you guys know how the rabbit hunt goes tomorrow. Should be interesting :)
Jeff
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man nice shooting
but ya ruined all the meat
gotta hit em in the brain unless you like the brain lol
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I actually was aiming at the head but wound up shooting a little low. It's ok though, the pellet passed completely through, making only a small hole going in and going out and really didn't mess up that much meat :)
Jeff
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sweet
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nice shooting
good pics!
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Great shooting with the Disco buddy! I 'm looking forward to hearing about your experience hunting rabbits with the Beagles!
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Good one Jeff.
I'm also waiting to hear .... how'd the rabbit hunting go ?
Paul.
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Great shooting and patience on the hunt! I have a tendency to move too much so I'm sure I'm missing opportunities. Moving worked okay early in the year, but now without the leaves, it isn't.
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More great shooting and pic's brother and I was out this morning and spotted three but they deep in the tangle of limbs and branch's with no shot. :( Ed