I saw what I thought was a fat fox squirrel while I was driving past a hickory tree. Turns out it was two cat squirrels frolicking around the base of some oaks by the time I pulled off the road and walked back. It was in the general area where old known den trees are. I knew a rancher was waiting on me but I pulled over anyhow, grabbed my truck gun, walked down the road, found a spot to kneel, and drew down on them. I was in a rush and was only able to bag one. The rancher called while I was searching for the carcass that had fallen into some briars around the base of the tree trunk I shot it off of.
I can imagine his face when I told him I was after a squirrel. He knows how I can get. Hopefully I’ll have an hour or two this evening to get some actual hunting in.
edited to add more photos and details
Two shots to the back. I didn’t know the first shot hit because it was still moving on the trunk. The second shot froze this sow and through my scope I watched her slowly fall backwards off the trunk and into the brush. The shots came quick. I wanted the other one too, but it got away.
First time recovering a pellet from inside of a squirrel. It was beneath the skin. I think this is the second shot that hit the spine. After cleaning her i noticed blood in the thoracic cavity, but the heart looked good. One lung was dark and bloody so I’m pretty confident I hit one. In the abdominal cavity the liver and one kidney looked good. My fingers went numb pulling out the viscera, but the above is what I noticed
I was fighting sunset to clean her so I didn’t take as much time to go through her internals. I thought the that the recovered pellet looked interesting in the sense that it still appeared almost perfectly formed. There are scratches on the dome on one side likely from striking vertebrae. It was hard to capture some of the scratches on the dome in a close-up photo with my phone.
I keyed in on the rifling marks around the skirt. It’s as if the skirt barely flares out to catch the lands and grooves as opposed to how much I’ve seen pellets’ skirts flattened and indented after being shot from my Brocock and examined after recovery. I don’t know what this means but it caught my eye. I’m assuming maybe it’s because they have different barrels. I really don’t know. What I do know is that I typically don’t shoot .25 JSB King Diabolo 25.3 grain pellets (pictured below) out of my Brocock. I use King Heavies in it. I also assume that EDgun and Brocock use different barrels. Other than that I’m hoping some of you can chime in with an in-depth explanation on the short rifling marks on this pellet.
I can imagine his face when I told him I was after a squirrel. He knows how I can get. Hopefully I’ll have an hour or two this evening to get some actual hunting in.
edited to add more photos and details
Two shots to the back. I didn’t know the first shot hit because it was still moving on the trunk. The second shot froze this sow and through my scope I watched her slowly fall backwards off the trunk and into the brush. The shots came quick. I wanted the other one too, but it got away.
First time recovering a pellet from inside of a squirrel. It was beneath the skin. I think this is the second shot that hit the spine. After cleaning her i noticed blood in the thoracic cavity, but the heart looked good. One lung was dark and bloody so I’m pretty confident I hit one. In the abdominal cavity the liver and one kidney looked good. My fingers went numb pulling out the viscera, but the above is what I noticed
I was fighting sunset to clean her so I didn’t take as much time to go through her internals. I thought the that the recovered pellet looked interesting in the sense that it still appeared almost perfectly formed. There are scratches on the dome on one side likely from striking vertebrae. It was hard to capture some of the scratches on the dome in a close-up photo with my phone.
I keyed in on the rifling marks around the skirt. It’s as if the skirt barely flares out to catch the lands and grooves as opposed to how much I’ve seen pellets’ skirts flattened and indented after being shot from my Brocock and examined after recovery. I don’t know what this means but it caught my eye. I’m assuming maybe it’s because they have different barrels. I really don’t know. What I do know is that I typically don’t shoot .25 JSB King Diabolo 25.3 grain pellets (pictured below) out of my Brocock. I use King Heavies in it. I also assume that EDgun and Brocock use different barrels. Other than that I’m hoping some of you can chime in with an in-depth explanation on the short rifling marks on this pellet.
