Gun: CZ 452 American #2
Scope: Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 4.5-14x44SF
Ammo: Aguila Super Extra Subsonic 38gr. HP
Today I hunted with Daniel, my wife’s cousin. He’s from out of town and only 12 years old so he didn’t do a great job of packing clothing that was warm enough for the hunt. He had shorts and tennis shoes with a long sleeve jacket. There was frost on the truck this morning so that wardrobe wasn’t going to cut it. I had some extra camo that I outfitted him with. I also let him run my scoped CZ Scout instead of his iron sighted Marlin 795. It turned out to be a good choice.
It was already getting daylight when we made it over to the farm, and there were two does in the adjoining farms field. When we stepped in the woods we could immediately hear a squirrel barking, and tried to locate it with no avail. So we eased down the ridge and sat down. Saw what we thought was a turkey, but it was a squirrel coming out of a dark hollow. That squirrel came over to a willow oak in front of us and went up high to feed. I tried to get Daniel in position to take this one but it turned out a better shot for my positon. Using my Steady Stix, I made a 40-50 yard shot that entered the neck and exited the bean. Dead on impact of the ground. Decent sized female.
Next we had some deer come into the creek area that Daniel could see, but I didn’t see until they spooked. We decided to get up and move to the corner of the woodline where it meets the field. We knew a tree in this area had paid off last year. So we “rang the doorbell” meaning we shook a vine in this tree that produced a female from the upper nest and she tried to hide in the upper “V” in the tree top. We talked it through, and put Daniel on the right side of the tree and I took video of the whole process. Daniel did as I had taught him the year previous and picked an open tree to balance the rifle on, powered the Weaver RV7 up to 7 power, and pressed through the trigger to place a Winchester 40gr. subsonic in the neck and out the bean of this decent sized female. This was one of the best hunts all season for me. It’s very rewarding in 2 years time of instruction to see a young fella use that knowledge to successfully harvest game.
Afternoon
I was solo for the afternoon, as Daniel was enjoying some skeet shooting with the rest of the family. So I elected to hunt the patch of woods where the “pecan raiders” were located. As I crept down into the creek bottom, I caught movement on a productive water oak. Watching that squirrel come down the tree, I picked up more movement which was a second squirrel that decided it needed to be chased my direction. They got within 20-25 yards and one decided to post on a stump and eat. So I leveled my rifle on my stix, and from my knees, took a shot and just plain missed. Operator error for sure. Squirrel took off back to the original tree, and I couldn’t ever find it again. Watched one then cross our deer cleaning apparatus and disappear. So on the way back to the creek bottom, I spot a squirrel feeding in a water oak about 20 feet off the ground. She never saw me. Again using the stix I parallax down to 20 yards, power the scope up, and make a neck shot. Another squirrel down.
I decided before I went in for Thanksgiving supper, I’d hit the other end of the creek bottom. I stepped by my wife’s old playhouse in the edge of the woods, under some beech trees to hear something dropping stuff from up in the canopy. As I made my way out from under the heavily leaved beech trees, I have something fall beside my foot. When I look up, there is a squirrel working a hickory tree up high in the canopy. Well on his way down he sees me. I parallax down to 30 yards and run my power down to 4.5, and basically shoot straight up, free handed to make a shot right beside the nose. He fell like someone dropping a hammer off a roof.
It was a great day and a great Thanksgiving. I always look forward to this time of the year. Fun with family, great food and good hunting. Praise be to the good Lord for another Thanksgiving on this earth.
Squirrels taken by myself: 3
Shots taken: 4
