2024/2025 Squirrel Hunting Thread...........

longcruise said:

Oooooh my! I fear that you and @ETipp are right. I haven't added to "The Colony" for quite a while now so I thought to go by and see how things are going. One of my main worries about them is the potential for them to fracture into differences that would become detrimental to their society. In fact I had encouraged them to enact a sort of constitutional method of governing that would insure respect across the board for each other and for their established culture. They they failed to do so mostly at the behest of a senior member who persuaded them that they would be better off to consider him to be some sort of chief and sealed the deal with promises of continuing and ever growing prosperity.

Peace did not prevail!! Promises far exceeded the possibility of being kept. Dissension grew and eventually they broke into two factions with an upstart leading the dissent. Our supposedly older and wiser leader sensed that he would be completely usurped by the upstart and therefore entered into secret negotiations with the lesser leader and appealing to the greedy side of his adversary succeeded in an alliance against a greater evil Namely me!!

The story contrived suggested that I am the source of all the problems in The Colony. The result of course was the formation of an axis of evil and the plan of action was/is to March against me with the promise of applying a final solution and confiscating my property thus having complete control of my fruit trees!!

You of course are asking "how does he know all this"? Well, they made a strategic mistake. There was one squirrel who opposed the plan and refused to go along with the madness.

I'm feeling safe for the time being given that the terrain and distance they must cover includes much open ground and is presently heavily covered with snow. Further, they will have to forage as they go which is going to be difficult. I don't see that they can possibly reach their objective any sooner than late March or early April.

Intercepting is out of the question since the March is across the urban/suburban/rural interface which is heavily patrolled by a peace keeping force.

My first line of defense is that I have recruited the single member of The Colony to be my early warning system. It was difficult coming to an agreement what with the turncoat since he wanted indoor quarters as well as a huge pile of nesting material in his own private room. I countered with choice feeding twice a day and a promise that he would be made ruler of my backyard for life with benefits. Not sure how that is going to work out. Oh and incidentally he also demanded that he have a name so I caved and named him Pnut.

So, don't worry about me, EVERYTHING is under control.

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ETipp said:

Yes sir, most all the time. Unfortunately, its often some terrible song that I hate. Quite often something I heard on the radio earlier that day that gets stuck in my head for the remainder of the day. It usually requires some mighty willpower to over come it.

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ETipp said:

Yes sir, most all the time. Unfortunately, its often some terrible song that I hate. Quite often something I heard on the radio earlier that day that gets stuck in my head for the remainder of the day. It usually requires some mighty willpower to over come it.

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ETipp said:

Yes sir, most all the time. Unfortunately, its often some terrible song that I hate. Quite often something I heard on the radio earlier that day that gets stuck in my head for the remainder of the day. It usually requires some mighty willpower to over come it.

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longcruise said:

Oooooh my! I fear that you and @ETipp are right. I haven't added to "The Colony" for quite a while now so I thought to go by and see how things are going. One of my main worries about them is the potential for them to fracture into differences that would become detrimental to their society. In fact I had encouraged them to enact a sort of constitutional method of governing that would insure respect across the board for each other and for their established culture. They they failed to do so mostly at the behest of a senior member who persuaded them that they would be better off to consider him to be some sort of chief and sealed the deal with promises of continuing and ever growing prosperity.

Peace did not prevail!! Promises far exceeded the possibility of being kept. Dissension grew and eventually they broke into two factions with an upstart leading the dissent. Our supposedly older and wiser leader sensed that he would be completely usurped by the upstart and therefore entered into secret negotiations with the lesser leader and appealing to the greedy side of his adversary succeeded in an alliance against a greater evil Namely me!!

The story contrived suggested that I am the source of all the problems in The Colony. The result of course was the formation of an axis of evil and the plan of action was/is to March against me with the promise of applying a final solution and confiscating my property thus having complete control of my fruit trees!!

You of course are asking "how does he know all this"? Well, they made a strategic mistake. There was one squirrel who opposed the plan and refused to go along with the madness.

I'm feeling safe for the time being given that the terrain and distance they must cover includes much open ground and is presently heavily covered with snow. Further, they will have to forage as they go which is going to be difficult. I don't see that they can possibly reach their objective any sooner than late March or early April.

Intercepting is out of the question since the March is across the urban/suburban/rural interface which is heavily patrolled by a peace keeping force.

My first line of defense is that I have recruited the single member of The Colony to be my early warning system. It was difficult coming to an agreement what with the turncoat since he wanted indoor quarters as well as a huge pile of nesting material in his own private room. I countered with choice feeding twice a day and a promise that he would be made ruler of my backyard for life with benefits. Not sure how that is going to work out. Oh and incidentally he also demanded that he have a name so I caved and named him Pnut.

So, don't worry about me, EVERYTHING is under control.

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snakebit said:

Two words I would like you to consider Cruiser; "preemptive strike". Attack when their chi is low. Take out their food caches if possible. You want to kill the leaders, and wound the lower ranking. It will cause confusion, and decrease manpower caring for and moving the wounded. Attack at odd hours to deprive your enemy of sleep. Remember, weapons are not what wins battles. It's a hard heart that kills. The other side of that coin of course is, "peace through superior fire power." Avoid prolonged battles if at all possible, unless of course you have support elements. Good luck friend, and God's speed.

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snakebit said:

Two words I would like you to consider Cruiser; "preemptive strike". Attack when their chi is low. Take out their food caches if possible. You want to kill the leaders, and wound the lower ranking. It will cause confusion, and decrease manpower caring for and moving the wounded. Attack at odd hours to deprive your enemy of sleep. Remember, weapons are not what wins battles. It's a hard heart that kills. The other side of that coin of course is, "peace through superior fire power." Avoid prolonged battles if at all possible, unless of course you have support elements. Good luck friend, and God's speed.

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10 spot said:

First gray squirrel with the Crockett

First gray with the Crockett

First gray with the Crockett View attachment 360626

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snakebit said:

Two words I would like you to consider Cruiser; "preemptive strike". Attack when their chi is low. Take out their food caches if possible. You want to kill the leaders, and wound the lower ranking. It will cause confusion, and decrease manpower caring for and moving the wounded. Attack at odd hours to deprive your enemy of sleep. Remember, weapons are not what wins battles. It's a hard heart that kills. The other side of that coin of course is, "peace through superior fire power." Avoid prolonged battles if at all possible, unless of course you have support elements. Good luck friend, and God's speed.

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10 spot said:

First gray squirrel with the Crockett

First gray with the Crockett

First gray with the Crockett View attachment 360626

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10 spot said:

First gray squirrel with the Crockett

First gray with the Crockett

First gray with the Crockett View attachment 360626

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ETipp said:

Awesome!

Glad its coming together for you.

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snakebit said:

Well done 10 spot. Objective achieved! Give us the story?

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10 spot said:

I had shot my rifle Tuesday, loaded
Last time, it was getting late so I
Stopped shooting, rifle still loaded
Uncapped came in. 2 day went buy
Had not shot the rifle, Thursday I had
Just painted testers dot on my front
Site, waiting to dry, rifle was outside
With me, I seen the squirrel on the ground at the base of the tree eating
Now, I'm right at my shooting table
My caps and excessories there got
It capped, and sit down, all this going on the squirrel keeped on feeding
Eased the rifle to the rest, for a bead
On him, (snap) Cap fired rifle didn't go off!!! The nipple was stopped up. Squirrel still there eating!!
I recaped the Crockett, resighted
Bam! Got him!! I guess it was meant to be. So that's the story

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10 spot said:

I do Kno this was not your typical hunting situation, shooting off hand
Or barrel against tree trunk is a hole
Different ball game, But I'm git'n closer to where I want to be.
I shoot at 25yrds load testing
That squirrel ranged at 21 almost
22 yrds. Lots of work left to do
And I have a squirrel soaking in
Salt water in the fridge. ETipp, SGM
Snakebit, Thank You . I git'n there.
Tinspot.

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snakebit said:

Crockett rifles are so deadly, the squirrels come to you to die.

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10 spot said:

Just rough out my load block for
The Crockett , curly maple.

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Greg Selner said:

What size drill bit did you use for the.32 caliber.
I plan on making one for myself as well.

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10 spot said:

21/64 that what I used and fit great
With .018 patch they bump right on

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10 spot said:

21/64 that what I used and fit great
With .018 patch they bump right in. And my load testing is done, I'm grinng big!

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10 spot said:

View attachment 360926

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10 spot said:

View attachment 360926

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Gum Slough Muzzleloader said:

Nice group 10 Spot.
That's the ticket.

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10 spot said:

View attachment 360926

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10 spot said:

Thanks, I don't know what more I could ask for. You ETipp, snakebite, Jim, Thanks for all the tips and all
The Kno how. Finally sweet Satisfaction!!!!

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