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

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Thank you, That iron nitrate does
A great job, brings out the burles
Swirls, on curly maple.

To me, applying iron nitrate / aqua fortis to a hunk of maple is one of the fun parts of building a muzzleloader. It's like opening a Christmas present - total surprise and you never know what you'll get. It's true the squirrels don't care how much figure your stock has, but still...
 
To me, applying iron nitrate / aqua fortis to a hunk of maple is one of the fun parts of building a muzzleloader. It's like opening a Christmas present - total surprise and you never know what you'll get. It's true the squirrels don't care how much figure your stock has, but still...
Yep, they don't care, but very please'n
To the eye.
 
To me, applying iron nitrate / aqua fortis to a hunk of maple is one of the fun parts of building a muzzleloader. It's like opening a Christmas present - total surprise and you never know what you'll get. It's true the squirrels don't care how much figure your stock has, but still...
Agreed Hammer. It's like looking at a beautiful woman with big saggy clotheslines (to quote our buddy Ed), you just can't take your eyes off. Don't get me wrong, most of my guns are plain Jane hunting tools, but the ones with the nice wood get a little extra care.
 
This morning I went back to the area I hunted Wednesday morning. My plan was to sit at a different area then move over to where I had all the action Wednesday. It didn’t work that way. I never moved. There were squirrels everywhere. I got 7 shots and 5 squirrels from that spot with my Crockett. This place is going to spoil me for hunting my other areas. But I’m sure having fun!
IMG_3987.jpeg
 
This morning I went back to the area I hunted Wednesday morning. My plan was to sit at a different area then move over to where I had all the action Wednesday. It didn’t work that way. I never moved. There were squirrels everywhere. I got 7 shots and 5 squirrels from that spot with my Crockett. This place is going to spoil me for hunting my other areas. But I’m sure having fun!View attachment 362346
Congratulations Jim
Having fun is what it's about.
I'm glad your having fun. Looks like alot of fun.
Long Live The Crockett Rifle.
 
This morning I went back to the area I hunted Wednesday morning. My plan was to sit at a different area then move over to where I had all the action Wednesday. It didn’t work that way. I never moved. There were squirrels everywhere. I got 7 shots and 5 squirrels from that spot with my Crockett. This place is going to spoil me for hunting my other areas. But I’m sure having fun!View attachment 362346
Man, you put'n it too them bushy tail
Great hunt huh!!! Congradulation
JimK. 10spot.
 
I hope no one minds me posting these pics
Been away mostly the past few days and just catching up. I was thrilled to see the pictures and your story.
And that squirrel on the right is huge and a female.
According to my eyes you hit all five with great placement. Nice shooting.
 
I just showed that chunky one to my wife.
I can see it now if I were to do that.

"Hey, honey, look at all the squirrels that JimK got. See that fat chunky one on the end, its a female....................Smack!"

"Back to the camper with you, Ed."

Words have consequences, you know. Must choose wisely. :)
 
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An update on cataract surgery and lenses implants.

As I have previously posted, the implants I chose are called Panoptix. They are a Tri-Focal lense. Just as the eye surgeon and research has stated, vision is slowly but surely improving. As it is now, I can see squirrels running up and down trees for well past 100 yards. Up close vision is good as well.

Now for the meat and taters. I can see my sights plenty well. Peep sights as well as iron, blade type sights. Even in somewhat poor light conditions things appears to be good. The real test will be when I resume squirrel hunting in poor light conditions on a live target.

The only real issue I’ve experienced with these lenses has been with eye hydration. Special eye drops has been very beneficial for that. This is has been slowly improving but within the last week it has made great improvement. I attribute part of that to the weather. We have been in a big time drought in this immediate area all year. Since it finally started raining a little off and on, I am not experiencing as much hydration issues.

One other occasional issue has been during certain light conditions, sometimes objects are clear but not always distinguishable, if that makes sense. Difficult to explain and I’m hoping this too, will eventually go away.

Also, my depth perception appears to be good. This was a huge factor for me considering I often am up and down ladders, climb trees in climber tree stands, and spend a lot of time on steep hillsides. At first this was an issue but it has been slow going away. Very thankful for that.

Overall, at this point, I’m very happy with my choice. I do not foresee me having to wear glasses again, at least not for a while. After 53 years of having to do so, I’m absolutely thrilled to no longer put corrective lenses on my face again. I do need to where sunglasses on bright days. Also, for whatever reason, I’ve found that wearing a hat while hunting and shooting helps with distortion from the sky above. I will know more when I resume squirrel hunting in a day or two.

IMO, one should not shy away from these Tri-Focal implants if your surgeon says they most likely will work for you.
 
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