Hi guys! Missed you all for a while. After culling the herds of ground squirrels the past three years, they’re baaaaack. My favorite hunting spot is a rural neighborhood where someone got me into it three years ago and we have since got two other neighbors into it. Kinda funny-one guy got a Steyr H5 like mine and another got a Weirauch like my friend’s. Anyway, three years ago we were pelting them at 25 yards. Thinned them out so much that we had to shoot farther. Last summer we would only have targets at the closest of 60 yards. This spring we were all busy and did little hunting. Got a call from the 2nd Weirauch owner who broke his arm wanting to know if I could come over and shoot those bastards for him. Well I got there and a huge bush that we had shot out was chock full of them. I was 60 yards out and shooting up onto a clearing where the bush stood. Since my last time out I’ve added a bubble level and have recalibrated my rifle to StrelokPro with the Hades .22 15.89grainers. Last year I got a March scope 5-40 to top my Steyr. One poked his head out of the bush and I let one fly. The satisfactory thud was heard and he fell out of the bush with his tail helicoptering. Then another squirrel hopped out and looked to be pulling him back towards the bush. I already had the range dialed in so I lined him up and let the second shot go from the 5 round magazine. Plop, right over. About 10 minutes of all quiet and the next one comes out onto a limb of the bush facing me. The Steyr and March are right on point and the third falls limp. Must’ve been a skull shot right through the entire body.
this goes on in and around this bush for an half-hour till I knocked off 10. Went around to the other side of the house and a barn that had a few mulling around near the baseboards. I took three in individual incidents but the best was for last. Three juveniles playing about 40 yards from me near the barn. The Weirauch owner had come out to see how I was doing and he witnessed the awesomeness of a semi automatic. I took one down and the another came over to him then I took him out. I panned a little to the right and had the last one just staring at the other two. Thwack and that’s three in about 3 seconds. Homeowner was impressed. I waited a little more but it was getting hot and the only reason these guys were moving was because of the shade from the bush and the barn. All told 16 in about an hour has got to be the most for me in the least time. It was concentrated fun!
Things I learned: I didn’t realize how off my can’t was till I put the bubble level on. What I thought was level was off, especially if I was on a slope too. And you can never eliminate enough variables. I sighted in my rig for the new to me Hades pellets but while I was doing that, I chrono’d them, calculated scope height with calipers, and made sure to verify my results with StrelokPro. Everything was in sync. With my rangefinder, StrelokPro was spot on. The mesh of scope and pellets blended perfectly. It was almost effortless. Now given the max range was around 60 yards, and I’m used to trying to reach double that last summer, it seemed they were all very close. And all from just one spring of not being culled.
this goes on in and around this bush for an half-hour till I knocked off 10. Went around to the other side of the house and a barn that had a few mulling around near the baseboards. I took three in individual incidents but the best was for last. Three juveniles playing about 40 yards from me near the barn. The Weirauch owner had come out to see how I was doing and he witnessed the awesomeness of a semi automatic. I took one down and the another came over to him then I took him out. I panned a little to the right and had the last one just staring at the other two. Thwack and that’s three in about 3 seconds. Homeowner was impressed. I waited a little more but it was getting hot and the only reason these guys were moving was because of the shade from the bush and the barn. All told 16 in about an hour has got to be the most for me in the least time. It was concentrated fun!
Things I learned: I didn’t realize how off my can’t was till I put the bubble level on. What I thought was level was off, especially if I was on a slope too. And you can never eliminate enough variables. I sighted in my rig for the new to me Hades pellets but while I was doing that, I chrono’d them, calculated scope height with calipers, and made sure to verify my results with StrelokPro. Everything was in sync. With my rangefinder, StrelokPro was spot on. The mesh of scope and pellets blended perfectly. It was almost effortless. Now given the max range was around 60 yards, and I’m used to trying to reach double that last summer, it seemed they were all very close. And all from just one spring of not being culled.
