Rifle: CZ 452 American 22” “Tigra”
Ammo: RWS Subsonic HP 40gr.
Scope: Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 4.5-14×44 Mildot
If you are wondering why the “Squirrel Whisperer” isn’t in the above listing, that’s because it took a trip back to CZ-USA to have the light primer strike issue looked at. I hope they can remedy the problem soon, but it looks to be a 4-6 week turn around time. Until then, I know my other CZ’s are happy to come out and play in the squirrel woods.
This morning my buddy Chad and I hit one of his deer leases. We got a pretty late start, but that’s usually not a huge deal with squirrels. We slipped into our spots about 8:25am. We settled into a couple of trees on the edge of a path of one of his deer stands. We were between 50-57 yards from his “gold nugget” pile to bring the deer in. Chad had lots of recon on the pesky squirrels that had been indulging in his corn pile during deer season. We set out to thin the herd a bit. We had only been in our spots about 5-7 minutes when the first culprit started to feast. Chad rolled on the camera and I prepped for the shot. I had already ranged the area so I knew I needed to hold dead on at this distance. I placed my 452 in the shooting sitx and settled the crosshairs for a shot. When the round made contact the squirrel began multiple somersaults, eventually kicking itself out of the corn pile. It appeared to me to have run off. I was a little aggravated at myself. Chad had seen another squirrel come just into camera as I broke my shot. This squirrel would spend the next 15 minutes warning all other game this place was unsafe.
We then decided to walk down to the pile to find the squirrel. Much to my happiness the squirrel was just on the edge of the corn pile. This is what the other squirrel had been squawking about. Chad and I made a loop through the hardwoods headed towards his deer stand. Not long after we arrived, I glassed the corn pile to spot a second squirrel. Game time, and Chad was up to bat. Chad’s rig of choice is a Marlin XT-22 with 20” threaded barrel. It shoots Eley subsonic hollow points with great accuracy. Scope of choice is the Nikon Prostaff 3-9×40 BDC model. From the deer stand to the corn was 100 yards, so we crept to the 75 yard mark. I thought maybe we’d shoot from there, but Chad had a better plan of sneaking closer to the squirrel hidden by the trees on the side of the path. I filmed as Chad made is approach. Chad braced on a pine tree, and I ranged where he was and subtracted it from the 75 yard distance. Shot was calculated at 61 yards, and Chad shot on 7 power. When Chad broke the shot the squirrel dropped in place, and waved its tail over and over as a sign that it had surrendered. Upon inspection it was a very clean, through the ear, headshot. One of the best I’ve seen and filmed.
At some point and time before we left Chad attempted another shot at a squirrel on the corn pile at 75 yards and just missed. It seemed if we would just walk back to the deerstand after collecting a squirrel, we could hit a reset button and another squirrel would take it’s place on the corn pile.
Off to grab a bite to eat and then to our afternoon destination. We made it to the woods early and took up a few different spots before the squirrels became active. We’d sit at a set for 30 minutes and check the back of our eyelids for cracks, and then move to another spot. Sure was peaceful catching a little rest in the timber.
About 3:15pm the activity picked up. We were moving into an area and had a squirrel come tearing off a tree, running like he had received a report about our morning success. We set up in this area. Within 20 minutes I spotted movement. I, at first, thought it was a black fox squirrel. Through a little more movement I saw it was a gray. The brush and bramble was thick in the area and the shot was between 15-20 yards. When I broke the first shot, I thought it was a hit. The squirrel barely moved. The I caught it moving again. I had already run the bolt so I settled in for another attempt. This time it was evident, with the thud of the subsonic hitting home. Another squirrel then jumped to the base of a tree 90 degrees to my left and about 35 yards away. Chad couldn’t see it, and it didn’t give me enough time to move my rifle.
The afternoon ended with Chad and I chasing a squirrel through the trees. Chad attempted a few shots. Coming mighty close on a few. That squirrel will live another day, and that’s ok with us. Just means they’ll be more next season. It was certainly worth the day off from work to spend it with a fellow hunter I hadn’t hit the timber with yet this season. We had a good time, and Chad’s Pa had 3 squirrels for his freezer.
