Guest
My smoothbore got the most critical pattern testing to date this evening after work, in the form of two dead squirrels.
My usual method of locating the little critters is either by seeing them jumping from one branch to another or hearing cuttings fall through the leaves. Neither method came into play this afternoon.
The first just suddenly materialized about thirty feet away on a large dead oak that had split and fallen into another tree. He was partially hidden by some dead leaves on the trunk, so I aimed just ahead of his tail and shot. He ran along the top of the leaning trunk toward the base of the tree but I could tell he was hit. I reloaded and went to see if he had had the courtesy to die in the meantime. He had not, but I soon found him. He was hurt too bad to climb, but not too bad to run on the ground a little, and so I just backed off about fifteen feet and shot him again. After seeing the damage when he was skinned I realize I should have backed off a little more.
The second is the one I’m happiest about because I would probably have never even known he was around if not for Huck the beagle.
I was sitting on the same log I’d shot the first one from, scanning to the east, and Huck was sitting next to me on the log looking to the south. Suddenly he bolted and went trotting - not running mind you, but trotting - toward a squirrel he had seen on the ground. It treed and he ran to the base of the trunk. Watching Huck, the squirrel went on the opposite side of the trunk from the dog giving me a perfect right angle silhouette for a target. You all know the drill, smoke obscures the initial results. However, while the smoke was still hanging I saw the squirrel fall to the base of the tree. Huck of course was there before me and I wondered if we might have a disagreement about possession. I got to be proud of him for the second time in less than a minute because he didn’t even put his mouth on it.
All in all a great afternoon. Both my gun and my dog performed for me, and I have taken game with a flintlock for the first time in I don’t know how long.
What more could you ask for?
My usual method of locating the little critters is either by seeing them jumping from one branch to another or hearing cuttings fall through the leaves. Neither method came into play this afternoon.
The first just suddenly materialized about thirty feet away on a large dead oak that had split and fallen into another tree. He was partially hidden by some dead leaves on the trunk, so I aimed just ahead of his tail and shot. He ran along the top of the leaning trunk toward the base of the tree but I could tell he was hit. I reloaded and went to see if he had had the courtesy to die in the meantime. He had not, but I soon found him. He was hurt too bad to climb, but not too bad to run on the ground a little, and so I just backed off about fifteen feet and shot him again. After seeing the damage when he was skinned I realize I should have backed off a little more.
The second is the one I’m happiest about because I would probably have never even known he was around if not for Huck the beagle.
I was sitting on the same log I’d shot the first one from, scanning to the east, and Huck was sitting next to me on the log looking to the south. Suddenly he bolted and went trotting - not running mind you, but trotting - toward a squirrel he had seen on the ground. It treed and he ran to the base of the trunk. Watching Huck, the squirrel went on the opposite side of the trunk from the dog giving me a perfect right angle silhouette for a target. You all know the drill, smoke obscures the initial results. However, while the smoke was still hanging I saw the squirrel fall to the base of the tree. Huck of course was there before me and I wondered if we might have a disagreement about possession. I got to be proud of him for the second time in less than a minute because he didn’t even put his mouth on it.
All in all a great afternoon. Both my gun and my dog performed for me, and I have taken game with a flintlock for the first time in I don’t know how long.
What more could you ask for?
hotoSmile:
