A GOOD DAY ALL ROUND

This outing was split in two halves,the first was a try on the squirrels with the .177 and then on to another wood for some roost shooting.
we started off on the ground that has produced alot of squirrels this winter,i had a quick zero check and all was well,my old man had decided on the shotty as he was going to take any runners while i took the branch huggers.
The first squirrel we spotted had run to the top of a tall conifer,with it being thick near the top i sat back and let my old man walk round the tree to get in a better possition just incase it ran.As he was walking i noticed it move , so i looked through the scope and could see it looking over a branch ,resting on a tree i took aim on its head and let fly.It dropped to the ground stone dead,a nice clean shot right on the money.After taking a quick picture we left it for our fox freinds.

The next wood we split up , you have trees with alot of holes in here so the shotgun proves the best way of getting them.The first squirrel proved to slow for the old man and 2 shots later i heard the thump of it hitting the floor.As he took his shots i noticed two squirrels run up an old tree,I walked over and watched it for any movement until the old man came over.We must have looked up this tree for ten minutes and could not see nothing,i got a bit of stick here as my old man was saying i was seeing things and there was no way a squirrel up this tree never mind two.
As we walked away i looked back and noticed what looked like a small lump ontop of a thick branch,i looked through the scope and to my suprise there he was , looking so sneaky over the branch.I rested again on a tree and shot him stone dead, as he was falling the other squirrel decided to go on a runner and he was put to rest by me dad.
It just goes to show how tight these little beggars can lie on a thick branch and you wouldn`t even know they was there. Another picture and we was off again.

My dad had seen another squirrel and was off like a rocket after him,i walked up near the tree he was looking at and watched for any movement while he was walking round to find him.I seen the squirrel right at the top of the tree but there was a few branches between us,i knew if i moved he would know i was there so resting again i could just see a way through to him.
It was going to be a tight shot through the branches and for this reason only i have swapped to .177.If this had been the .20 the curve of the pellet would have been a clear branch hit,there would have been no way to get the pellet through , if i had been on my own it would have resulted in a squirrel running off after seeing me move trying to get a clearer shot.
With the flatness of the .177 i was able to squeeze the pellet through the gap and hit the squirrel smack in the forehead.

The last wood we went into was very quiet,i walked down a path near some houses,now i dont mean town houses ,there is two houses in the middle of nowhere that back on to the wood and theres always a squirrel here but i have always had the shotgun lately so i dont shoot near them.As i came near to the end of the path i noticed a lump on the end of a branch right by one of the houses,was it or wasnt it,i looked through the scope and sure it was , a nice squirrel eating a cone,he didn`t even know i was there.
I tucked myself against a tree and watched him for a while,five minutes had passed when he finally decided to move across a couple of trees and give me a shot that if i missed the pellet would fall away from the house.
This shot turned out to be as near to the one i last had,loads of branches in the way but a nice hole to squeeze one through,the .20 would have been useless again.This one met his maker too and still had a nut in his mouth to take with him for a snack on his way to squirrel heaven.

On the way back to the car dad had spotted a rabbit move in some brambles,I took a look through the scope and could see him sitting inside looking at us.I took a kneeling shot this time just to make sure i was as steady as i could be and took the shot,a white belly confirmed it had hit the right spot and off we went to pick up the prize.We was greeted by the dreaded sight of mixy , now that was two grounds with mixy still on them,with all the cold weather we have had i thought it would have died down a bit.
It looks like we are going to have to go out and get on top of them with mixy and hopefully the young ones will have a chance to grow healthy this year.

The next session we both used the shotguns as we were after pigeons now.We decided to take a walk round the wood we was going to shoot the pigeons in and within minutes a squirrel took off above us.I let it run on a bit to get it in the clearer branches and it proved no mach for a 32grm shell.This shot had spooked a few pigeons and one came over nicely for dad and he took that one out no problem,what a start this was.This was the signal to split up and not waste time walking around,as the pigeons were alredy coming into the wood we dicided to pick our spots and wait it out till we finished.
Things were slow for me ,i was getting odd pigeons coming over but not in the numbers we had seen when i was beating in the wood through the winter.I could only put it down to it getting milder and the need to tuck up in the wood wasn`t there today.I had rang a mate up to join us as another gun is helping push any pigeons around that could otherwise settle down where we are not shooting.
Well two hours had passed and for 16 shots i had ten pigeons,i had to resort to taking higher birds just to have some shooting and with the shots i had heard from dad it wasn`t looking good for him either.
I decided to pack up and collect the birds i had shot and got my mate to take a quick picture for the feature then go and see how dad had got on.

He had the same problem as me ,he had taken some high birds aswell and some had fell a bit away from him.I sent dee in to look for some and she found two while dad had found his other birds.He had also took another squirrel while he was walking to his spot so it turned out not bad in the end.

Hopefully we will get some cold nights again and the pigeons will soon be back to keep warm in the conifers.We will be waiting for them again.
We will try to get out foxing in the week so will post any news on here as it happens.