An epic day of shooting

[randyman]

My son, his friend and I had a great day shooting squirrels last Friday and Saturday. The sky was clear and no wind blowing and with the snow storm on Wednesday and Thursday the little buggers were out in force grazing on new alfalfa and sunning themselves on the burrows. I alternated with my AR-.204, Henry .17 HMR and my 10/22. The explosive force of the 204 was unbelievable when compared to hits with the rim fires. We set up our shooting tables and shot almost non-stop for 4 hours. We had to stop a few times while eagles and hawks swooped in to dine on what was left of some of the carcasses. We had to keep watch for pronghorn antelope that would pop up over the rise to see what all the hooting and hollering was about as we were shooting. One band of about 30 strolled thru but it was a good time to stop and make a sandwich anyway. We each have a little clicker/counter we use to keep track of the number of squirrels we get and we stopped shooting when we each had a hundred. The next day was a little cloudy but I still got 100 squirrels but it took a bit longer. The second day I mostly used my modified 10/22 which was a blast. All together, we got 520 confirmed over a two day period.
The photo is me with my 204 and some of the bigger pieces we gathered near one of the holes on the first day. I was also lucky enough to bag my first coyote on Thursday morning. Hoping to make another trip in a week or so especially if I can get my new 20VT put together. I get the Remington 700 SA receiver out of gun jail next Monday and have all the other parts here waiting to assemble. Randy.

[Rick in Oregon]

Randy! Excellent there, buddy!

A coyote plus a great rat shoot.....about as perfect an outing as one could ask for, right?

Looks like you all had a great time out there. Won't be long now till all that brown in the fields turn green and the little buggers stand out like elk turds on a golf course.....my favorite time.

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to seeing your new 20VT when you get her running (I love mine!). Always fun to see other forum members gear and being out there doing what we all love to do.

[Varmint Shooter]

Nice going there Randy.

[Bill K]

Randy. That does look like a nice trip and shoot, for all of you. Always neat to bonus on a coyote, that comes into view, while out, like that. Enjoyed the photo's and story. And yes you will find you will use that 20VT often, when you get it up and going. Bill K

[brooksb]

Good shooting Randy, and nice pics too...a good day or two of Rat shooting is hard to top.

[Bill K]

Never saw All juveniles and no adults out. Have seen early days when the young first start coming out and there will be 3-6 running back and forth, all over the mound/den and it seems there are only young one's ( small targets also) but usually there are some adults here and there. Bill K

[Silverfox]

Looks like you had a fun time. Makes me wish I was in better health so I could get out and do some shooting. Maybe my back surgeon will give me the OK to go out hunting around the end of May??? I sure hope so.

[randyman]

Sorry to hear about the health issues-hope everything works out for the good and you can get out join in on the fun! I have a good friend
who is in Minot and I was able to go back there last year for some pheasants, geese and fishing. Nice area. Randy.