Fun with Skippy in 2012 Pt. 2 (The Valley of Death)
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:16 am
After only a couple of weeks at this time of year, the fields really green-up quickly, and alfalfa grows and starts to obscure the squirrels. As mentioned earlier, the shooting becomes very challenging and offers only "head & shoulders" shooting. Hitting a squirrels head at 400+ yards really becomes an effort with a CF like the 204 or any other caliber.
We shoot from fixed bench positons for as long as the crop length will allow, then resort to "drive-by" shooting out the truck windows using our Ruger 10-22's and WW 40gr Power Points, which really tears up the squirrels, launching small ones a foot in the air inside of 40 yards. This type of shooting is legal here, but only on private property, which all of the ranch is of course. We normally drive the edges of the irrigation pivots, taking targets of opportunity when they poke their little heads up....quick action, ALOT of fun.
Now that the fields have really greened-up, the shooting is harder, but the place is beautiful:
Yours truly on an early morning at the bench on the hill:
Some might wonder about all the gear "necessary" just to shoot squirrels from afar:
With a severe back injury long ago, bending over for every little thing is not possible for me, so an "accessory table" keeps everything at hand. My mates liked the idea so much, they all use a table for their extra gear now too. No lost camo accessories in the grass now.
A shot of our last day of bench shooting, as the alfalfa was now too long to make it worth setting up benches any longer, as the squirrels were just too hard to see out there any more:
We stowed our 223's, 204's, and 20VT, got out the 10-22's again for the remaining four days. THEN we got the best news ever.......we now had permission to shoot "The Valley of Death", a beautiful valley hidden away in back of the ranch that HAD NEVER BEEN SHOT! It was infested with squirrels from end to end, and we had four days to work it over, along with the alfalfa pivot edges. We were in Rat Heaven.
Here's a shot of our 10-22 battery.....all are tricked out with Volquartson innards, some with graphite/SS barrels for walkabouts:
During these rimfire shoots, we each can easily go through 1,000 rounds of ammo in a couple of days, sometimes sooner, the shooting is that hot. We have raptors circling above all the time waiting for their meals. Here's a hawk sitting on an old corral post at the top of the hill at the enterance of The Valley of Death:
Cresting the hill into the valley, Dan (Rat Force One) acting as tail gunner in the back:
Bottom of the hill in the valley bottom at the H-bar gate. The valley got it's new name that day.....and for good reason. Sure was a nice place to spend the day with friends and rifles (and LOTS of squirrels!):
A young squirrel wondering what all the fuss is about (he found out shortly thereafter...... ):
Garth takes a turn at tail gunner:
Yours truly as waist gunner, using "Heavy Helga", my Clark Custom 10-22 with Boyd's thumbhole stock, 16.5" Douglas Match barrel and Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8X......great squirrel medicine:
Helga resting on a fence post between shots:
At the bottom of the hill entering the valley, there's a gate with a steel H-bar gate. We dismounted and used the post tops with our window bags and proceeded to snipe squirrels on both sides of the valley. Dan saw a squirrels WAY out there, so started working on it with his Ruger. Not sure how many shots transpired, but the WHOO-HOO told us all he made the hit........at a lasered 255 yards no less!
Here's Dan working on that unlucky squirrel:
And the proud shooter with his LR rimfire trophy. The steel H-bar gate can be seen in the background.....255 yards distant:
To illustrate just how good those WW Power Points work on these varmints, check out this large adult squirrel hit at 45 yards with one.....he didn't go far at all....pretty good performing 22LR HP ammo:
"Lola" with a 141 yard squirrel, the last one shot that day...not much expansion at that range though:
I had shot a large squirrel at 65 yards that flipped and went down his hole on my walkabout. When I got to his hole, this is how he appeared:
And the last squirrel shot during our ranch stay with 'Lola' during my walkabout that day:
We usually end up each day with some defensive pistol drills at the gravel pit, now dubbed the "pistol range". Garth is hot with his Glock or one of his .38 revolvers, having trained at Thunder Ranch on many occasions. Here he is with his Glock, giving the steel bad guys a bad day:
And a parting shot of yours truly, thumping the steel meanies with my Kimber daily carry piece, my Ultra Carry CDP II in .45 ACP, shooting 230gr ball handloads. If ya carry, ya gotta practice!
It has been a grand rat season so far, but now the alfalfa is too long to see the little critters, so now it's on to rock chucks. Time to warm up my "walking 204", my Kimber 84M Varmint on the local beasties. Hope you all are having a great 2012 varmint season, and enjoyed taking the time to check out ours.
We shoot from fixed bench positons for as long as the crop length will allow, then resort to "drive-by" shooting out the truck windows using our Ruger 10-22's and WW 40gr Power Points, which really tears up the squirrels, launching small ones a foot in the air inside of 40 yards. This type of shooting is legal here, but only on private property, which all of the ranch is of course. We normally drive the edges of the irrigation pivots, taking targets of opportunity when they poke their little heads up....quick action, ALOT of fun.
Now that the fields have really greened-up, the shooting is harder, but the place is beautiful:
Yours truly on an early morning at the bench on the hill:
Some might wonder about all the gear "necessary" just to shoot squirrels from afar:
With a severe back injury long ago, bending over for every little thing is not possible for me, so an "accessory table" keeps everything at hand. My mates liked the idea so much, they all use a table for their extra gear now too. No lost camo accessories in the grass now.
A shot of our last day of bench shooting, as the alfalfa was now too long to make it worth setting up benches any longer, as the squirrels were just too hard to see out there any more:
We stowed our 223's, 204's, and 20VT, got out the 10-22's again for the remaining four days. THEN we got the best news ever.......we now had permission to shoot "The Valley of Death", a beautiful valley hidden away in back of the ranch that HAD NEVER BEEN SHOT! It was infested with squirrels from end to end, and we had four days to work it over, along with the alfalfa pivot edges. We were in Rat Heaven.
Here's a shot of our 10-22 battery.....all are tricked out with Volquartson innards, some with graphite/SS barrels for walkabouts:
During these rimfire shoots, we each can easily go through 1,000 rounds of ammo in a couple of days, sometimes sooner, the shooting is that hot. We have raptors circling above all the time waiting for their meals. Here's a hawk sitting on an old corral post at the top of the hill at the enterance of The Valley of Death:
Cresting the hill into the valley, Dan (Rat Force One) acting as tail gunner in the back:
Bottom of the hill in the valley bottom at the H-bar gate. The valley got it's new name that day.....and for good reason. Sure was a nice place to spend the day with friends and rifles (and LOTS of squirrels!):
A young squirrel wondering what all the fuss is about (he found out shortly thereafter......
):Garth takes a turn at tail gunner:
Yours truly as waist gunner, using "Heavy Helga", my Clark Custom 10-22 with Boyd's thumbhole stock, 16.5" Douglas Match barrel and Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8X......great squirrel medicine:
Helga resting on a fence post between shots:
At the bottom of the hill entering the valley, there's a gate with a steel H-bar gate. We dismounted and used the post tops with our window bags and proceeded to snipe squirrels on both sides of the valley. Dan saw a squirrels WAY out there, so started working on it with his Ruger. Not sure how many shots transpired, but the WHOO-HOO told us all he made the hit........at a lasered 255 yards no less!
Here's Dan working on that unlucky squirrel:
And the proud shooter with his LR rimfire trophy. The steel H-bar gate can be seen in the background.....255 yards distant:
To illustrate just how good those WW Power Points work on these varmints, check out this large adult squirrel hit at 45 yards with one.....he didn't go far at all....pretty good performing 22LR HP ammo:
"Lola" with a 141 yard squirrel, the last one shot that day...not much expansion at that range though:
I had shot a large squirrel at 65 yards that flipped and went down his hole on my walkabout. When I got to his hole, this is how he appeared:
And the last squirrel shot during our ranch stay with 'Lola' during my walkabout that day:
We usually end up each day with some defensive pistol drills at the gravel pit, now dubbed the "pistol range". Garth is hot with his Glock or one of his .38 revolvers, having trained at Thunder Ranch on many occasions. Here he is with his Glock, giving the steel bad guys a bad day:
And a parting shot of yours truly, thumping the steel meanies with my Kimber daily carry piece, my Ultra Carry CDP II in .45 ACP, shooting 230gr ball handloads. If ya carry, ya gotta practice!
It has been a grand rat season so far, but now the alfalfa is too long to see the little critters, so now it's on to rock chucks. Time to warm up my "walking 204", my Kimber 84M Varmint on the local beasties. Hope you all are having a great 2012 varmint season, and enjoyed taking the time to check out ours.
