Late last week I decided to head into the mountains for a few days with my family and good friend @TerryE1 to enjoy a few days of camping. For this trip we had lots to bring, mostly for my one year old daughter....anyone who has little kids knows exactly what I mean. We loaded up the motorhome and headed several hours into a fairly remote property where I film many of my adventures.
We parked in a great spot that was nestled amongst some large Ponderosa Pines, it did offer some good shade for us throughout most of the day.
The beauty of having such a large vehicle is being able to pack much more than usual such as a shooting bench and other necessities that help make shooting a bit more comfort based. Terry set out some targets from 30 yards all the way out to 100+ for us to zero our guns and get some practice in at various ranges before setting out to hunt.
For this trip Terry brought his Taipan Mutant in .22 caliber that tuned to around 30 fpe, I really like this accurate little bullpup and find it excellent for all day carry.
This particular area can require a good amount of hiking around so having something lightweight with a fairly good shot count is important. I use a wide range of Airguns in the field but for this trip I brought out my own personal gun, the AAA Mini Evol in .22 caliber that produces about 30 fpe. This little gun is very enjoyable to carry, very accurate and obviously extremely well built for vigorous field use.
After playing around in camp and getting the girls settled in Terry, Marley and I set out on foot to check out the Ground Squirrel situation. In the past weeks it had been pretty rough with the heat, upwards of 100+ near everyday. Thankfully it had cooled down considerably into the high 70's, perfect weather for the Squirrels to be active. Just outside camp Terry spotted the first victim sitting on a branch around 40 yards.... THWAAACK!!! Down he went
Marley and I headed off a bit West into an area that had a ton of deadfall, usually makes for perfect Ground Squirrel habitat. It didn't take long to find a nice spot in the shade where we were able to spot two of them moving about a large fell tree.
Both were within 65 yards and unfortunately we were only able to recover one of them that expired on top of the deadfall. Many times, even with a headshot these squirrels will somehow make way back into a hole or wiggle into a spot that makes it near impossible to find them.
Moving along we took out several more before heading back to camp for a break and to check on the girls. Terry made his way back and was excited for the spot he found sounded very promising for some continued hunting. Here is one of eight squirrels he took, I believe this one was around 35 yards.
After a bit of lunch we headed out again, this time we all headed down towards where Terry had been an hour prior. This area was next to a creek with loads of deadfall on each side with plenty of spots to sit in refuge from the sun.
Terry made the shot of the day at 87 yards, pretty impressive shooting considering the wind wasn't exactly calm.
Marley and I found another great spot on the embankment where I was able to take around six between the ranges of 50 yards all the way out to 75.
We had a fantastic day hunting here and it ended up being very successful taking down about 30 of them between us, we di some Jackrabbit hunting later in the evening but saw no activity. We plan to head back to the area again very soon where we can spend some time in a different spot that might be good as well. Enclosed is the video documentation of this trip that I hope some may find enjoyable to watch. Cheers
We parked in a great spot that was nestled amongst some large Ponderosa Pines, it did offer some good shade for us throughout most of the day.
The beauty of having such a large vehicle is being able to pack much more than usual such as a shooting bench and other necessities that help make shooting a bit more comfort based. Terry set out some targets from 30 yards all the way out to 100+ for us to zero our guns and get some practice in at various ranges before setting out to hunt.
For this trip Terry brought his Taipan Mutant in .22 caliber that tuned to around 30 fpe, I really like this accurate little bullpup and find it excellent for all day carry.
This particular area can require a good amount of hiking around so having something lightweight with a fairly good shot count is important. I use a wide range of Airguns in the field but for this trip I brought out my own personal gun, the AAA Mini Evol in .22 caliber that produces about 30 fpe. This little gun is very enjoyable to carry, very accurate and obviously extremely well built for vigorous field use.
After playing around in camp and getting the girls settled in Terry, Marley and I set out on foot to check out the Ground Squirrel situation. In the past weeks it had been pretty rough with the heat, upwards of 100+ near everyday. Thankfully it had cooled down considerably into the high 70's, perfect weather for the Squirrels to be active. Just outside camp Terry spotted the first victim sitting on a branch around 40 yards.... THWAAACK!!! Down he went
Marley and I headed off a bit West into an area that had a ton of deadfall, usually makes for perfect Ground Squirrel habitat. It didn't take long to find a nice spot in the shade where we were able to spot two of them moving about a large fell tree.
Both were within 65 yards and unfortunately we were only able to recover one of them that expired on top of the deadfall. Many times, even with a headshot these squirrels will somehow make way back into a hole or wiggle into a spot that makes it near impossible to find them.
Moving along we took out several more before heading back to camp for a break and to check on the girls. Terry made his way back and was excited for the spot he found sounded very promising for some continued hunting. Here is one of eight squirrels he took, I believe this one was around 35 yards.
After a bit of lunch we headed out again, this time we all headed down towards where Terry had been an hour prior. This area was next to a creek with loads of deadfall on each side with plenty of spots to sit in refuge from the sun.
Terry made the shot of the day at 87 yards, pretty impressive shooting considering the wind wasn't exactly calm.
Marley and I found another great spot on the embankment where I was able to take around six between the ranges of 50 yards all the way out to 75.
We had a fantastic day hunting here and it ended up being very successful taking down about 30 of them between us, we di some Jackrabbit hunting later in the evening but saw no activity. We plan to head back to the area again very soon where we can spend some time in a different spot that might be good as well. Enclosed is the video documentation of this trip that I hope some may find enjoyable to watch. Cheers
