It was warm, humid, and windy here at the the old homestead this morning. It had rained a couple of times before daylight and the ground was wet. Perfect weather for squirrels to launch an assault on the house, I thought to myself. I peered carefully out of the kitchen window as I poured a cup of coffee. Seeing only various songbirds forgaging in the piles of birdseed beneath the feeders, eased my mind a bit. Ever vigilent, I eased out to take a peek out of the laundry room window(the window I shoot out of when weather is too hot/cold/rainy) and.....
Panic! There. Not 40 yards away. A damn squirrel! My vision went tunnel, like in an old Hitchcock movie. I slowly backed away to gather the necessary weaponry to repel this attack. Having left my new trusty pesting rig(.177 Crown Tact Compact) in the truck, I grabbed the only airgun that was out(I had been testing it out with a single shot tray for use as a sub 20 ft/lb Field Target gun yesterday, and hadn't put it away yet):
.177 Brocock Bantam shooting JSB 13.43g @ 815 fps. I had the single shot tray on the gun, and it was pretty windy (15mph from the my left), better not chance it with a pellet. I knew from yesterday's experimentaion that JSB 13.4g KnockOut slugs shot similarly, and I had a Strelok set up for the KOs, so I grabbed a tin of those as I picked up the gun. Approaching the window slowly, I quietly raised it, and ranged the threat at 33 yards. I remembered from yesterday's shooting that this distance would be negligible holdover, and I just needed to hold a bit for wind. As I looked through the scope, I could see in his beady, black eyes that(as soon as he finished eating bird seed) he was intent on storming my house to make it his own personal nut depository. Carefully, I chambered a slug. Had to make this one count because single loading, I might not get off another shot before he charged me and ripped me to shreds. I took a breath and took the shot. Thwakk!
He dropped motionless for a couple of seconds, then began to do the "headshot flippity flop", before returning to motionless. The .177 slug entered under his right eye, and did a surprising amount of damage coming out behind and below his left ear:
My fears were confirmed! Do you see the blood around the mouth area? He MUST have just come from attacking/biting(perhaps even killing?) other humans. It's the ONLY explanation! I had weathered this initial onslaught, but how many more waves of attacks would follow? I decided to fall back, regroup, get more firepower, and stay frosty.
Breakfast rations were low, so I went to the local breakfast-ery, where they were serving a New Year's Day brunch. I ordered the 3 pancakes with fruit, 2 scrambled eggs, and bacon; with a side of 6 more scrambled eggs. Figured I needed to fuel up for a hard day of squirrel fighting. Waitress said she never seen someone order that much and took a pic:
Returned home and watched some of the (kinda boring) football Bowl game I missed last night and kept watchout on the property. Later on that afternoon, I looked out a window into the yard and saw movement in the distance. A quick check through the binox confirmed it; the 2nd wave had arrived! A lone scout was approaching. Grabbed the range finder and .22 Crown with 380mm barrel in a synthetic stock shooting H&N 21g slugs @ 880 fps and headed outside. I set up on the deck and ranged a tree next to him at 140 yards. The wind was strong and quartering into, but bushes blocked the wind most of the way to where he was, so I knew the effect on the slug wouldn't be too bad. I dialed the scope to 2 clicks over the 140 mark and adjusted the parallax. He was relentlessly plowing toward me like Panzer. Better not let him get any closer. Held 1 hash left for the normal righthand drift at that distance and an additional 2 for wind and sent it! I could watch the slug arc down and bend a bit to the right in my scope and....
thwakk.(the sound was muted by the distance and the wind). He dropped like a sack of guts and remained motionless for 2 or 3 seconds, then a couple seconds of rear foot twitching, before all was quiet on the western front:
The .22 slug entered below/behind his right eye and exited below/in front of his left ear:
No further encounters today, but this year isn't starting out great in the war against squirrels. Sure, I was victorious today. Victory was mine. Fortune favored me. I had a good run. Yeah, good times.... however...
It seems clear now that the evil of squirreldom is never weary; relentlessly eroding away at our humanity every chance they get in ever-incresing numbers(due to their enhanced breeding programs perhaps?). But I shall endeavor to persevere!
Panic! There. Not 40 yards away. A damn squirrel! My vision went tunnel, like in an old Hitchcock movie. I slowly backed away to gather the necessary weaponry to repel this attack. Having left my new trusty pesting rig(.177 Crown Tact Compact) in the truck, I grabbed the only airgun that was out(I had been testing it out with a single shot tray for use as a sub 20 ft/lb Field Target gun yesterday, and hadn't put it away yet):
.177 Brocock Bantam shooting JSB 13.43g @ 815 fps. I had the single shot tray on the gun, and it was pretty windy (15mph from the my left), better not chance it with a pellet. I knew from yesterday's experimentaion that JSB 13.4g KnockOut slugs shot similarly, and I had a Strelok set up for the KOs, so I grabbed a tin of those as I picked up the gun. Approaching the window slowly, I quietly raised it, and ranged the threat at 33 yards. I remembered from yesterday's shooting that this distance would be negligible holdover, and I just needed to hold a bit for wind. As I looked through the scope, I could see in his beady, black eyes that(as soon as he finished eating bird seed) he was intent on storming my house to make it his own personal nut depository. Carefully, I chambered a slug. Had to make this one count because single loading, I might not get off another shot before he charged me and ripped me to shreds. I took a breath and took the shot. Thwakk!
He dropped motionless for a couple of seconds, then began to do the "headshot flippity flop", before returning to motionless. The .177 slug entered under his right eye, and did a surprising amount of damage coming out behind and below his left ear:
My fears were confirmed! Do you see the blood around the mouth area? He MUST have just come from attacking/biting(perhaps even killing?) other humans. It's the ONLY explanation! I had weathered this initial onslaught, but how many more waves of attacks would follow? I decided to fall back, regroup, get more firepower, and stay frosty.
Breakfast rations were low, so I went to the local breakfast-ery, where they were serving a New Year's Day brunch. I ordered the 3 pancakes with fruit, 2 scrambled eggs, and bacon; with a side of 6 more scrambled eggs. Figured I needed to fuel up for a hard day of squirrel fighting. Waitress said she never seen someone order that much and took a pic:
Returned home and watched some of the (kinda boring) football Bowl game I missed last night and kept watchout on the property. Later on that afternoon, I looked out a window into the yard and saw movement in the distance. A quick check through the binox confirmed it; the 2nd wave had arrived! A lone scout was approaching. Grabbed the range finder and .22 Crown with 380mm barrel in a synthetic stock shooting H&N 21g slugs @ 880 fps and headed outside. I set up on the deck and ranged a tree next to him at 140 yards. The wind was strong and quartering into, but bushes blocked the wind most of the way to where he was, so I knew the effect on the slug wouldn't be too bad. I dialed the scope to 2 clicks over the 140 mark and adjusted the parallax. He was relentlessly plowing toward me like Panzer. Better not let him get any closer. Held 1 hash left for the normal righthand drift at that distance and an additional 2 for wind and sent it! I could watch the slug arc down and bend a bit to the right in my scope and....
thwakk.(the sound was muted by the distance and the wind). He dropped like a sack of guts and remained motionless for 2 or 3 seconds, then a couple seconds of rear foot twitching, before all was quiet on the western front:
The .22 slug entered below/behind his right eye and exited below/in front of his left ear:
No further encounters today, but this year isn't starting out great in the war against squirrels. Sure, I was victorious today. Victory was mine. Fortune favored me. I had a good run. Yeah, good times.... however...
It seems clear now that the evil of squirreldom is never weary; relentlessly eroding away at our humanity every chance they get in ever-incresing numbers(due to their enhanced breeding programs perhaps?). But I shall endeavor to persevere!
