The 22 cal. Hatsan Vortex Edge scores a nice Gray.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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:

[35 shooter]

Congrats on the grey with your edge rifle.
Bbbbrrrrrrr, that was a cold day you were out on!

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[Danny]

That's quite the shot offhand.  Congrats.

[dk1677]

Nice shooting Tom!

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

Nice shooting Tom!

Thank's Dave...maybe someday I'll catch up to the likes of you ! 


Vest Wishes - Tom

[ranchibi]

Tommy, excellent hunt, stalk and offhand shot! Brrr....that looked cold out there! Beautiful photos of the terrain.

[Lt. Dan]

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

[wolverine]

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.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[Blowpipe Sam]

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.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[Bicycleman]

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.

[Xraycer]

Nice write up and pictures, Tommy!

Excellent of-hand shooting on that very high perch!

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

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

[only1harry]

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