# Bad luck squirrel.



## Jaximus (Jun 1, 2013)

So, I'd decided I was done squirrel hunting until the leaves had finished falling. The season is long in IL, my freezer is at capacity and it's not worth the trouble trying to pick out the sound or movement of a squirrel with an unlimited amount of leaves falling continuously. That can drive a man crazy.

Having no intention of hunting I went outside to clean up my carport a bit. After just a few moments I hear thrashing out in the woods and see a furry grey tail flitting about through the ground clutter. I watched for a while, thinking it would eventually move deeper into the woods. It didn't. At this point I decided to go inside and grab my slingshot and a few lead balls. If the squirrel was still out there when I got back, well, that was the squirrel's problem.

Sure enough, upon returning I saw that the squirrel had decided to stick around. I took this as a sign.

He was right at the edge of the woods, completely out in the open at about 25 meters I figured. All week I've been shooting at 20 plus meters and have had good luck on the bottom of a soda can, so I felt fairly confident I would either make the shot, or miss so badly as to not endanger the squirrel. That's just how it goes for me. I lined up, aimed at a leaf about 6 inches above his head to compensate for drop and let 'er rip.

The squirrel must have been around 22 meters away, because my projectile whipped about 3 inches above the squirrel's head and smashed into a tree behind him. The squirrel was up a tree in an instant.

Now, in my mind, this squirrel was long gone. I've hunted these woods for several weeks now and they know what that band slap means. They've grown quite savvy. If they see me with a slingshot, they're gone like phantoms in the night. It doesn't help that the ground is covered with leaves that crunch under every step. It has been raining since last night, though. The leaves are soft and the ground is quiet. I figured it might be worth trying to ghost into the woods and catch secret squirrel off guard.

I moved to the tree I saw him go up and began to circle it, but I was certain he was no longer there. There are just too many trees packed too closely together for a squirrel to not have an escape route. The squirrel must have had the same thought about me not being there, because he came around the tree at eye level not more than 5 feet from me. I think we were both a little startled by this turn of events. He did some kind of ninja backflip to another tree and tried to get some distance on me, but he went the wrong direction, ending up at the edge of the treeline with me between him and the safety of the woods.

He started to go up and I would have certainly lost my shot, but for some reason he decided to take one last look at me. He was no more than 10 meters away at that point. My butter zone from shooting at too many pennies and match heads and other nonsense. This was something of a tactical error on his part.









A good sized male, probably last year's batch. With a lot of the leaves down I can see about 20 nests, old and new, from my front porch. There's still much work to be done.


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## MrTriscuit (Oct 10, 2011)

Nice job!


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Thanks so much for this, Jax!!! That was a great read. Congratulations on a fulfilling hunt.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## Jaximus (Jun 1, 2013)

Thank you kindly, gentlemen.

Just incase anyone is curious, slingshot is a Bill Hays Boy Scout. Projectile was a Hornady .44 diameter swaged lead ball. Rubber is TBG cut 1"x3/4" with 9" from fork to tie with a Tex medium pouch, giving me right around 200 FPS (so says chrono connect) with that projectile. It was lights out before he hit the ground.


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## MrTriscuit (Oct 10, 2011)

I actually wanted to know! I'm going to set up a slingshot for hunting and was wondering about ammo and band sets!


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

MrTriscuit said:


> I actually wanted to know! I'm going to set up a slingshot for hunting and was wondering about ammo and band sets!


Do not forget to check out this thread:

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/16188-effective-hunting-setups/

Lots of good info there.

Cheers ....... Charles


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## MrTriscuit (Oct 10, 2011)

Charles said:


> MrTriscuit said:
> 
> 
> > I actually wanted to know! I'm going to set up a slingshot for hunting and was wondering about ammo and band sets!
> ...


Of course! Thanks


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## M.J (Nov 1, 2010)

Good read and good shooting


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Nice. Time for that twenty meter badge under your name!


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## SmilingFury (Jul 2, 2013)

Great shot, great read! Bill Murray could have used you in caddyshack! Lol

SF


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## ndspecial (Nov 28, 2012)

Great story and good shot.


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## Jaximus (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks, everyone. That's what I've been practicing for, treefork. Now I've just got to get myself a tuna can lid before the weather goes way bad. I think I can get 3/5 if the stars have aligned and I've sacrificed a few virgins of good viking descent. Harder and harder to find these days it seems.


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## SuperMonkeySlinger (Jan 28, 2013)

Nice shot Man!!! Nice squirrel to! Keep at it.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Jaximus said:


> Thanks, everyone. That's what I've been practicing for, treefork. Now I've just got to get myself a tuna can lid before the weather goes way bad. I think I can get 3/5 if the stars have aligned and I've sacrificed a few virgins of good viking descent. Harder and harder to find these days it seems.


All the ones I dated were virgins, and as far as I know they are virgins still .....

Cheers .... Charles


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## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

Nice shootin' Jax!! Get a few more and you'll have a nice jacket for winter .

Get after that 20 meter badge...it'll look good on ya.

Todd


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

Good shooting Jaxy, thanks for a good read too. Take care


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## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

Nice read, good shot!


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## ash (Apr 23, 2013)

The squirrel gods will be pleased that this one put up a fight, fed your family and entertained SSF, rather than just a neighbourhood cat


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## Clever Moniker (May 12, 2013)

Excellent work Jax! I love hearing the story of the hunt... That squirrel should have known who he was dealing with! 

Cheers,

Clever Moniker


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