rudy parnell
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2005
- Messages
- 418
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Got to share this story. I am new carrying the smoothbore to the woods for meat. That said, I hunted all season with my T/C 56, never "crooked my finger". I let my only deer go...a cow horned Buck cause I was hunting for a Doe or a keeper. Well I just knew that I was going to do well with the gun for squirrel. I decided to practice the Old Native American Proverb for conservation, preservation, and ethics..."Never take more than you need and always let the first animal you see go"! This being January and the season[url] gone...in[/url] ten days, all the leaves are fallen from the trees and the forrest floor is covered. Needless to say, the squirrels can see you long before you're in range or even see them. I've been hunting all month and letting the first squirrel go...and not shootin the pets out of the yard...I haven't had a fair chance at a critter. I let the first one go and he warned the entire woods...[no chance]. Today, Today will be our magic moment...Shot a squirrel off the withered limb of a huge Lop Lollie Pine. Now it was 100' to the base of that tree and another 50 or 60 feet to the quarry. I took careful aim and fired. Nothing happened...the squirrel just sat there and then ran up the tree another 10' and perched broadside...like nothing had happened. I immediately began this self talk...I think the lead was discharged cause...it sounded like a real shot...Oh! look...there are some sprigs and even a limb in the shot path. Damn, I counseled ..."you know that's too far". I immediately went to work reloading...I like to have never found all that "stuff" to reload. Let's see..."I'm going to just put it back just like Rebel and Stump said," little powder lot of lead...kills um dead. I put 60gr. of powder and 70gr. of 71/2 shot. CRUSH..plop. What was that ...I'm squinting down range...oh that's that little squirrel at the base of the tree...can I make that shot? No, let'um go cause that's still about the same range and you didn't even phase him with the first shot.Got the musket cap on now and ready to fire...Thirty minutes later, not another critter in sight. Well, I am going to pace off this missed attempt and make sure that my next attempt is closer. Step off the range and make several guesses at the distances. Getting dark and I hear one barking.Think I'll head out in that direction and start my way back home. Just keep wondering what went wrong on my first attempt. Then it dawned on me..."you didn't search the area for a dead squirrel". You didn't look hard enough to locate the downed animal. Maybe this thing kills like it does with deer...I walked all the way back to the base of that tall pine...tallest in the[url] woods...in[/url] the dim light of the setting sun...nearly dark..but there it was. There, so gentilly curled was my first little squirrel.I felt like a kid again. :grin:
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