Yesterday I made a trip back to the 800 acre lease I used to be a part of. I haven't been there for two years. The current leasee, who runs a fishing and hunting guide service based in Wisconsin, very graciously gave me permission to make a few small game hunts in January/February since I've helped him out a few times with information I gained after having spent 7 years on the property.
I got there around 10AM, loaded up the .36 SMR, and headed out with great anticipation as this place is usually a squirrel mecca! Well, I found that a large part had been logged over the summer (tree tops still had leaves on them). Now...this place needed a "haircut" badly...way too much mature oak timber. The loggers did a very nice job with selective cutting vs some places I've seen where they just clear cut. Of course, taking those big oaks out clearly reduced the available mast to the local critter population. Squirrel (and turkey) sign was very, very slim and by 4:30 PM... nearly sunset... I had not laid my eyes on one single squirrel...and I could see a LONG ways out there. Deer sign in the cut areas was abundant as they were bedding in those downed "tops" piles and also eating the tips off the branches. I kicked up a number of does and fawns and one pretty nice looking 10 pointer. There's a nice overlook on a cliff in one spot. I noted the old picnic table out there had rotted one of the seats off.
I had made a several mile circuit up and down hills and even though the squirrel sightings were nill, I was really enjoying just being back on the property and wandering around to see what was new. I was almost back to the century+ old farm house on the place and was pooped out. It was nearly sunset and thoughts of just heading home were in my head when I decided to take a detour through some brushy area a few hundred yards from the house. I had no more than entered the brush when I heard a little sound to my left. Peering through the brush I saw a cotton tail rabbit bound off about 25 yards and somehow he stopped right in a little opening facing away from me. I brought the SMR up, rested against a nearby sapling and slowly squeezed the trigger......KLATCH!
I quickly redistributed the powder in the pan, closed the frizzen and was amazed that he was still just sitting there! Getting the sights all lined up again, I squeezed the trigger and this time it was followed by a "boom" and smoke! Through the haze of smoke I could see the rabbit kicking it's last.
Hey....as long as you're out there...it can happen!
I got there around 10AM, loaded up the .36 SMR, and headed out with great anticipation as this place is usually a squirrel mecca! Well, I found that a large part had been logged over the summer (tree tops still had leaves on them). Now...this place needed a "haircut" badly...way too much mature oak timber. The loggers did a very nice job with selective cutting vs some places I've seen where they just clear cut. Of course, taking those big oaks out clearly reduced the available mast to the local critter population. Squirrel (and turkey) sign was very, very slim and by 4:30 PM... nearly sunset... I had not laid my eyes on one single squirrel...and I could see a LONG ways out there. Deer sign in the cut areas was abundant as they were bedding in those downed "tops" piles and also eating the tips off the branches. I kicked up a number of does and fawns and one pretty nice looking 10 pointer. There's a nice overlook on a cliff in one spot. I noted the old picnic table out there had rotted one of the seats off.
I had made a several mile circuit up and down hills and even though the squirrel sightings were nill, I was really enjoying just being back on the property and wandering around to see what was new. I was almost back to the century+ old farm house on the place and was pooped out. It was nearly sunset and thoughts of just heading home were in my head when I decided to take a detour through some brushy area a few hundred yards from the house. I had no more than entered the brush when I heard a little sound to my left. Peering through the brush I saw a cotton tail rabbit bound off about 25 yards and somehow he stopped right in a little opening facing away from me. I brought the SMR up, rested against a nearby sapling and slowly squeezed the trigger......KLATCH!
I quickly redistributed the powder in the pan, closed the frizzen and was amazed that he was still just sitting there! Getting the sights all lined up again, I squeezed the trigger and this time it was followed by a "boom" and smoke! Through the haze of smoke I could see the rabbit kicking it's last.Hey....as long as you're out there...it can happen!
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