Bike and Blast

[Bicycleman]

It was such a beautiful morning here - 56F degrees, calm, clear, and no biting insects.  I had ridden my bicycle out to the woods near home for my first 2013 Squirrel Hunt.  I stepped into the woods and almost at once squirrels were moving (7:00 a.m.)  About ten minutes later, my phone vibrated and I saw my son's ID; I whispered to him for a little while and then we decided we would talk after the hunt.  About five minutes after that, I shot at my first squirrel; MISSED IT clean.  Before I was able to reload, it disappeared. 

Moved on to the Hickory Grove and saw more movement.  I was offered a clear shot at a little male and dropped him with a killing head shot.  (I probably could have shot four others so far if I would be willing to settle for body shots.)   

After I stashed him in my bag, I moved about 25 feet before I saw another one moving about feeding high in a Hickory.  I never could get a clear shot and she disappeared.  So I walked up about five steps and she started coming along a branch toward me and fussing because I was in her space.  Another head shot put her in my bag. 

As soon as I picked up that one, I saw movement in a couple different places and I heard one barking in the other direction.  They all played around in the tree tops and finally vanished.  Then at about 9:45 the wind picked up a little and all the movement stopped.  I lost count of how many squirrels I saw, but all were Fox Squirrels.  And the little female came through the Hickory tree but had an acorn in her mouth when she died.  

Well, it had been fun and the new Discovery now has two notches.  Back to the bicycle to head for home.  Thank you, Big Boy, for such a fine day.

Sorry not pictures.  If you want to say "It never happened", He and I know better.  Squirrels in brown gravy - yummy!

[Motorhead]

Just being out in the "Woods" is a good thing on a nice fall day.  Getting to bag a few for the effort is just icing on the whole experience 

[BenjiHunter]

Well, you got out and had a nice time.
If I want to go to the woods, it's a 90 minute drive.

[ARW]

Sounds like you had a real good first hunt and are off to a very good start.

Good luck on your future hunts and keep us updated.

Alan

[dk1677]

Great day Mike!

[Bicycleman]

Dave, I got the idea that the Discovery .22 was more powerful than reality.  When I cleaned the little male and skinned part of the skull, the pellet fell on the cleaning surface.  I am not complaining because this add an element of safety.  Think about it like a trap that keeps the pellets from going beyond the target.  That never happened with .22 LR rounds.  Oh, I like this rifle.

[UCChris]

Dave, I got the idea that the Discovery .22 was more powerful than reality.  When I cleaned the little male and skinned part of the skull, the pellet fell on the cleaning surface.  I am not complaining because this add an element of safety.  Think about it like a trap that keeps the pellets from going beyond the target.  That never happened with .22 LR rounds.  Oh, I like this rifle.

Keep in mind you can mod it to squeeze out more power. But it is at the sacrifice of shot count. But how many shots does one really take while hunting? 5-10 max? Unless it is an awesome pesting session.

[Bicycleman]

Chris

NO mod! ---> "I am not complaining because this add an element of safety.  Think about it like a trap that keeps the pellets from going beyond the target.  That never happened with .22 LR rounds.  Oh, I like this rifle."  NO mod!

[UCChris]

Chris

NO mod! ---> "I am not complaining because this add an element of safety.  Think about it like a trap that keeps the pellets from going beyond the target.  That never happened with .22 LR rounds.  Oh, I like this rifle."  NO mod!

Oh. Sorry about that.

[lurch420gam]

I'm curious as to how you ride a bicycle with an air rifle? I'm a bicycle commuter myself, but I wouldn't dare pedal around with my guns around here.

[Bicycleman]

At first, I wasn't sure as to the meaning of your question until I read the second part.  My first thought was that I sling my rifle for bicycle riding.  But after reading the second part, I realized you meant something about public perception of carrying a gun while going down the street.  So here is the answer to the second part:  I ride on a rural road for about 200 yards.  There are no houses within 1/4 mile and there are sugar cane fields between where I am and the houses.  There is almost no automobile traffic in that area either.  The rest of my bicycling is off road on the head land in the cane fields.  And finally, if someone should see me, most know me as that weird old guy that rides a bicycle everywhere.

On a side note, good for you and the environment - bicycle commuters are real human beings.  Many times I wished it had been practical for me during my working years.  Often I run (errands to the post office, grocery store, hardware store, etc.) using one of the bicycles and a backpack.

Good question and thanks for asking.  It had not occurred to me.

[Bicycleman]

I did another Bike and Blast this morning.  The squirrels were not moving as much as last time but I did get two again.   Both were head shot, but the second one went around the tree and dropped about five seconds later.  She never moved when she hit the ground.  .22 caliber pellets ROCK!  I was out of the woods by 9:00 a.m.

[Bicycleman]

Some time has passed since my last post in this thread.  I have done several more "bicycle to and from the woods" hunts.  The woods are still full of leaves but that should start changing soon.  We had 33 F degree weather this morning.  Leaves will be falling now.

This afternoon, I made a 1 hour and 45 minute hunt and killed one of the three squirrels I saw.  The squirrel I killed was about twenty feet up and about 35 yards away. (just my estimate.)  It dropped out of the tree with a hole in its head.  It didn't move when it hit the ground.  I was home at dark-thirty and had my little treasure brining in a short time.  It turned out to be a young male born in the summer.  Bon mange (Good eats.)

[Bicycleman]

Here is the latest edition of "Bike and Blast."  In the Back Room, I posted a little story about my recent trip to West Virginia (http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=57958.0).  So it has been a long while since I hunted around home.

Today I had a few thing to do around the place, like putting out some Christmas yard decorations and I had plants that had a couple weeks of neglect.  So they got some water and now are soaking up some sunshine.

I bet you are saying, "Will he ever get to the good part?"  Well, here it comes.  I bicycled out to the woods, way in the back along the river.  The time was now 10:15 a.m. and there were no squirrels moving at all.  I figured I would hunt there for about an hour and a half and then go to my favorite place.  About 11:45, I started moving out of the woods to go to the other place when I saw movement along the edge of the woods near the sugar cane field.  I slowed my pace and crept closer, closer, and still closer.  Then, the surprise, there were two and they were doing the chase routine.  While waiting for a clear shot, I heard another in a different tree but could not see it.  Back to the two - finally got a clear shot and dropped a little female Fox Squirrel.  Her mate followed her down to the ground.  Several minutes later, he popped up in a naked tree closer to me, but I missed.  He moved a little higher in the same tree and started barking at me.  BIG MISTAKE.  He joined the little lady over the Great Divide.  I had not heard or seen the third one, so I moved to pickup my kills.  Well, as soon as I stood up, number three started barking again and shortly he joined the other two. I picked up the three (all head shots) Fox Squirrels and started home.  I was back at home by 12:45 p.m. with a smile I can't wash off.

Thanks for sharing my hunt.

EDIT:  I almost forgot to mention that I had recovered two of the pellets.  Both almost made it to the other side before lodging between the flesh and skin.  The third was somewhere inside the skull. 

[amb5500c]

Good kills Mike. Sure is fun aint it?
Richard

[Bicycleman]

This morning (December 30), I went out to the woods.  Because of all the rain and the harvest, I didn't take the bicycle but walked instead.  Good thing, since the head land was freshly plowed and very soft/muddy.  The sky was cloudy and there was a slight wind that would blow and then get still.  The temperature was about 48 F degrees.  Can you say perfect!  Hummm, I guess the squirrels didn't get the "memo". 

Shortly after I got into the woods, I saw a huge squirrel moving away at high speed.  I was busted.  Five steps later, I saw two in a different tree.  One jumped to another tree.  The second one stopped and gave me a shot.  The crosshairs settled on his head and I squeezed the trigger.  I nailed that little twig I had not noticed until after the pellet smacked it.  OOPS!  (Don't you just hate OOPS?)  But luck was with me because he just did a 180 turn and stopped.  I stood for the second shot and, when I squeezed this time, he hunched his body, quivered a little while, and rolled off the branch.  I hit the neck on the front side and the pellet exited the shoulder/leg.  He was a young guy born last summer.  He aint gettin any older.

I hunted for another 2 1/2 hours and didn't see anymore squirrels.  Sorry everyone, no pictures.  [I wish I had asked Santa for a camera for Christmas.]   

[Bryan Heimann]

Sounds like you are on a roll!  Seems to me like the skin with flesh behind it punctures easily, but the skin opposite side of impact has room to stretch and give a little bit.  Squirrels have some tough, leathery hide anyway.  Tough little guys, compared to rabbits seems like rabbit skin tears like paper...

[Bicycleman]

Yes, this season is going the right way - so far.  But with the small nut crop, I need to make the most of the feast.  Next year will likely be the famine year.

"Tough little guys" is an accurate statement.  I am finding a pellet lodged in the far side skin on about every third squirrel.  And that is with a Discovery .22.  But today, it was a pass through on the squirrel and the twig too.   

Thanks for reading and replying. 

[Bicycleman]

JUST BLAST  The head land that I travel on to the woods is still pretty muddy and the bicycle would not go there. 

I went out this morning in the warm air and hunted for about three hours.  I saw two Fox Squirrels and killed the second one with a pass through head shot.  She fell and didn't move away but was not dead.  Amazing!  After I dropped her in my game bag, I moved into another part of the woods that is much more open.  I didn't see any squirrels; but, while I was standing in the shadows, a COYOTE trotted by at a distance of about 15 yards.  I was about 25 yards from where Nail Gun and I had sat on that fallen tree.  The coyote stopped right in front of where I was standing motionless and looked me in the eyes (I had a camo head covering and only my nose and eyes were visible.)  It knew something was not right but could not figure what was out of place.  So it trotted on about its business.  The coyote thing happened about 11:00.  Yes, that pretty much ended my hunt.  My concentration was all out of whack after that, so I walked back to my truck and went home.

[Bicycleman]

Yesterday afternoon, Dave (Nail Gun) again joined me for a Fox Squirrel hunt.  We were in the woods a little too early for the afternoon rush hour, but it was such a beautiful afternoon, we just had to be out and about.  When we left the sugar cane fields and entered the woods, it was like walking on a bed of corn flakes.  I knew about a 4-wheeler trail near the River, so we walked it.  I saw the first squirrel about 40 or more yards away.  We crept on it and finally got to a point where I had a clear shot.  I did a hold over and shot a little too high I think.  POOF, it disappeared.  We moved on.

Dave saw one about thirty yards away, but it was on it way to the ground.  POOF too.  We moved on.

Finally, near sunset, Dave came up on two more.  One was too far for a shot and I think he said the other was barking but he could not see it. 

Oh, well, it was still a beautiful afternoon.