Dead Pest of the Day

[Back_Roads]

 Nick and I did a Chipmunk Safari,  the Chasers were the guns of the day, Nick still has the pistol barrel on his, but we still stacked up a handful of chipper corpses on  a log next to a hawks nest where they have just fledged.
 On another note Convoy and the Missus, have a nest full og hatchlings, I may name them Target 1 2 3 some day

[martrage]

 Had a good day ( evening ) at the rat barn till 10:30 pm yesterday . I stopped by in the morning to check & move a conibear trap for a g-hog . I took a peek through the shooting window and caught a rat peering out of the wall . I slipped outside to the Toyota & pulled out the MROD FT, set up the shooting bag on the window ledge , eased on the 1lb. trigger and made a nice head shot . My queen was a little behind on office work ,so she had to pull an evening shift. I did the same at the barn. I got in around 9:00 , sat outside in the car for awhile to no avail. Decided to check the shed trap again & try the ground floor feed area as the cows are moved & lots of leftover feed is still piled up . Upon opening the door I saw the trap relocation paid off , a nice mature g-hog had met his demise !
 I removed the deceased & reset the trap ( and getting snapped on the right thumb in the process  ). Peeking through the window I spied a rat sampling the goods and again the ATN equipped MROD spitting Hades pellets answered the call . After a brief stand nothing more appeared so I went back outside to the car.
 After only 10 min.s or so I saw shining eyes under the far stall feed trough. I took a shot at one pair and hit the trough , shooting high ! I decided  to move into the main floor w/ the bipod to move around a bit. All told I connected on 9 rats in about an hour .

[Blowpipe Sam]

Got two cotton mouths yesterday with the 2200.  Blew one off of Danny’s dock with a 14.3gr Piranha doing about 630 fps out of my customized Crosman 2200.  Got him right through the old think melon so grave yard dead but not instantly.  Second one was sunning on mom’s seawall.  Piranhas are not the 2200’s favorite fodder but the range was about 15 yards.  I hit it just behind the head and it reared up,  gaped it’s mouth wide, and fell into the river.   It thrashed around for a bit so I pumped a couple more pellets into its head from close range.

I’m something of a reptile enthusiast but I have no mercy for cotton mouths.

[avator]

Kill em all and let Medusa sort em out.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

Good work Carter & James.

As for me, I have been clearing the yard of a couple of chipmunks every day or two.


Best Wishes - Tom

[Novagun]

Was out walking with Mac in the paddocks  He disturbed a hare and was off after it  Didn't do too badly for a 9 month old pup . The hare went through a fence with a clang of wire and Mac had to slow down to find a gap. All over but he did get through the fence and have a good look .
The best part is that I whistled him and he came back. No quarry for me this day.

[Back_Roads]

 Hugh have you ever seen rabbit hunting with Beagles, I had the opportunity, the dogs go ahead of the hunters and drive the rabbits back, the rabbits get to where the hunters are and freeze deciding whether to face the hunters or the dogs, who hold back just far enough to get a safe shot.

[jimbo]

We do a lot of cotton tail hunting and have never used a dog. But what we do is have one guy swing wide and get way up ahead of us and block. Same thing a lot of times the little buggers will freeze and not know which way to go. You'd be surprised how many times people are amazed at how many bunnies we get and with out a dog.

[avator]

I remember my dad and oldest brother using Beagles for rabbit hunting but I was to young to go. I was allowed to go when they were just running the dogs.

[Back_Roads]

We do a lot of cotton tail hunting and have never used a dog. But what we do is have one guy swing wide and get way up ahead of us and block. Same thing a lot of times the little buggers will freeze and not know which way to go. You'd be surprised how many times people are amazed at how many bunnies we get and with out a dog.

My first MIL had to play the Beagle LOL

[Blowpipe Sam]

My Feist, Polly, was too eager for rabbit hunting.  She caught some shot on a couple of occasions. But then all bird dogs eventually do.  Flash is too eager for rabbits but Flytrap would stalk them.  Sadly she’s too old to hunt now.  Belle is my up and coming hunting dog.  This will be her first squirrel season.

[only1harry]

That's how we hunted cottontail rabbits too in the woods around a lake/reservoir about 250 yards from the house I grew up in.  My friend 3 houses down who was almost a year older than me came from a family of hunters and taught me a few things about hunting, including his father who took me on my first deer hunt when I turned 18 and bought my Marlin 30-30 in 1983.  He allowed me to hunt Ghogs at their property upstate with my Marlin .22 and even loaned me his .222 bolt action for long range shots.  Anyway 1 of us would walk ahead on the trail and as soon as we spotted or spooked a rabbit we would try to walk it back to the other.  It worked really well and most rabbits froze when they realized they had one of us behind and in front of them.  I guess they took their time deciding to make a left or a right, because they always had a way out   Got a few dozen of them that way, first with our Crosman pumpers in high school and then with our Rimfire rifles (Marlin 60's of course w/open sights).  The funny thing is in the beginning I was using Federal Hyper-velocity HP 32gr rounds (1350+fps) and it was tearing up the rabbits and destroying much of the meat.  Sometimes it was like someone took a knife and cut the rabbit's entire side open.  So I switched to Win Super-X RN and more head shots too, and all was good.  With the pumpers and pointed pellets I had to get within 10-12 yards most of the time to make a head shot and clean kill.  That was a lot of fun hunting rabbits in thick brush.   "Do you see him? where is he?" and the other screaming" right there!!"  We did that a lot with so much thick cover, and had to be careful of copperheads too that were everywhere.  This brought back good memories.

[HunterWhite]

Guys, I just love reading these stories!
It was only fishing 🎣 in my family.


Hunter

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

I usually get a couple of Cottontails during winter months.
I don't see them around much during spring, summer and fall.
They are more active after dark and I am not setting up waiting for them.



Best Wishes - Tom

[avator]

None yet but Betty Lou relocated a bird feeder to the porch because there was a squirrel raiding it where it was on a pole. Yesterday I saw 2 of them scavenging the droppings on the ground and one of them was eyeing the feeder but couldn't get to it. But today we saw it make an amazing leap from a tree about 8' away and landed on it.
Believe me, there will soon be a couple dead pests of the day. I've been watching them and I've narrowed down their routine visits to twice a day in a one hour window each.

[HunterWhite]

The squirrels in my yard always came out about a half hour to 1 hour after sunup, and again in the evening, an hour or two before sundown.


Hunter

[avator]

The squirrels in my yard always came out about a half hour to 1 hour after sunup, and again in the evening, an hour or two before sundown.


Hunter

Pretty much the same routine here.

[Back_Roads]

 Sitting in a deer blind one gets to know all the other critters habits, I have watched possum retreat to a deer carcass that he claimed as a home with room and board, neighborhood cats doing their routes, and the occasional racoons, skunk, and fox, and coyote.

[avator]

One of those squirrels visited right on time at around 6:45 this morning. I saw it on the camera. I crept out the back door and around the house with the Hatsan Stryker 1ks chopper in the Webley VMX stock atv gun that happened to be near the door. The varmint and I saw each other at the same time and it made that leap of life to the tree and around to the back of it. Next time I saw it was 30 yds up in the branches and heading for cover. I took one shot to help it along the way. I didn't hear the familiar pop so I'm sure I didn't hit him.
I think I'm going to need to make some sort of bait set up so I can get a better shot at potential customers.
Pretty sure this guy could win a gold metal in the Olympics in acrobats.

[2A Georgia]

One of those squirrels visited right on time at around 6:45 this morning. I saw it on the camera. I crept out the back door and around the house with the Hatsan Stryker 1ks chopper in the Webley VMX stock atv gun that happened to be near the door. The varmint and I saw each other at the same time and it made that leap of life to the tree and around to the back of it. Next time I saw it was 30 yds up in the branches and heading for cover. I took one shot to help it along the way. I didn't hear the familiar pop so I'm sure I didn't hit him.
I think I'm going to need to make some sort of bait set up so I can get a better shot at potential customers.
Pretty sure this guy could win a gold metal in the Olympics in acrobats.

If your state allows hunting over bait I'd build one of those nut dispensers, several youtube videos out there....