Squirrel Hunting - Frederick Watershed

What a beautiful day yesterday was.  Temperatures were in the low 60s and a steady wind blew the leaves all about.  I got out of bed late, but still made it to the Frederick Watershed by 9:30 to hunt squirrels and scout new deer hunting area.  The watershed is my favorite place to hunt because it's just so beautiful.  The terrain is rugged and features a lot of exposed rock with dense patches of mountain laurel strewn throughout it.  Yesterday morning, the sights I saw were absolutely stunning.  The forest was a whirling sea of yellow, orange and red leaves.  It was a beautifully noisy day in the woods, with the crunching of leaves underfoot and the sound of the leaves clipping branches on their way down to the forest floor.  I sat at the base of a tree to watch for movement over a valley below.  Twenty-five minutes later, I realized I had fallen asleep.  This isn't the first time this has happened; it's funny, but it's just so easy to do when you're comfortable in the woods and beauty is all around you.

 

I love finding stuff out in the woods.  Whether it be an old dumping ground full of old bottles and cans, an automobile, or even a unique or interesting tree.  This time I found a hunting blind/fort.  The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) prohibits leaving personal tree stands or blinds up, overnight on public land.  As a way around this, hunters build blinds out of natural materials.  I've come across several blinds while hunting the Watershed, and I take advantage of them (See this post for example).  Though this one was over the top.  However, based on what I found inside, I think that this may be more of a "fort" built by local kids, rather than a hunting blind.  Or maybe a hunting blind, overrun by local kids.  You decide.  

Whoever built this blind, used the existing rock cave to maximize the inside space.  They even built a fireplace and chimney into it!  There were random items stashed in the cracks and crevices of the rocks.  Among them I found an arrow and a recurve bow; it's string made of bailing twine.  I also found frying pans, a broken pair of binoculars, a handmade pipe (haha) and a bottle of rum.  

On this hunt, I carried my Rock Island Armory, Mig 22.  Although extremely accurate, I really need to mount a different scope on this rifle.  The length of pull (distance from the middle of the trigger to the end of the buttstock) on this rifle is so short that I cannot mount my current scope, far enough forward.  I am constantly having to back my eye away from the scope.  I'll have to do some shopping around to find a scope that can be mounted farther away from my eye.  It's important to note that the Mig 22 (pictured above) is a .22.  It is not an AR-15.  Although the similar in form, it is still just a semi-automatic, .22 rifle. (Like the Ruger 10/22 for example)  Some people see this rifle and I know that they think i'm some sort of nut-job hunting squirrels with an "assault weapon".  Please, do your homework folks.  THIS IS NOT AN AR-15.

As usual, my hunting trips turn into photo opportunities.  I took a couple of photos of a compass that Debbie bought for me last year.  We found this in an antique store in Gettysburg.  It was labeled as a World War I, US Army Aviator's compass, though I have a hard time believing this.  I don't think the US had much of an Army Air Corps during WWI.  I may be wrong.  But, to say that this compass was issued exclusively to pilots; I highly doubt.  I will have to do more research.  Regardless, this is an excellent compass, and coincidentally, is the same type my father carries in the woods.

Range Report: Mig 22

A bunch of guys from work invited me to go on their annual "company camping trip". They're all hunters and from what I've heard, the trip is basically a weekend in the woods, shooting skeet, pistols, and bow & arrow during the day, and roasting chickens over a spit & drinking at night. Sounds good to me! I'm going to bring my Rock Island Armory Mig 22 for this trip. With the amount of shooting I expect we'll do, I figured this was the most fun and economical route to take. But, I have recently removed the scope, so I needed to zero it again. I took it down to Hap Baker Firearms Facility yesterday morning and shot about 300 rounds through it. I have it zeroed for 25 yards, where it will hold a dime-sized group. I really love this rifle. Its a work of art and functions great, BUT, it has a serious Achilles heal. The barrel comes loose on my rifle after about 20 rounds. I have to unscrew the barrel shroud enough to access the small set screw and tighten it back down.  This set screw passes through a forward portion of the receiver and into a detent in the breach end of the barrel.  This screw is removed when you want to remove the barrel, consequently, it loosens during use and suddenly your shots are landing way off the mark.  Very frustrating.  I've used two different grades of loktite to rememdy the problem; both failed as fixes.  I now keep an allen key with this gun, when I carry it.  I hope someone at Rock Island Armory is reading this.  

Despite the frustration of having to keep my rifle from falling apart at the range... it still holds excellent groups.  Above are my results at 25 & 50 yards.

 

Squirrel hunting - Frederick Watershed

I was lucky enough to get a few hours of hunting in, today, at the Frederick Watershed.  This area is my primary deer hunting area but I always see squirrels here.  I took my Rock Island Armory Mig 22 again because it is just so much fun to shoot, and it's accurate as hell.  About an hour into the hunt, I heard a squirrel barking about 40 yards off of the trail I typically walk.  I stalked in and watched him for a while.  He slowly worked his way down the trunk of the tree and onto the ground where I watched him dig for a bit before squeezing off my first shot.  As luck would have it, he jumped just before I let the shot go and I hit him in the hind quarters.  I had to come in close and finish him with a second shot.  He was still mobile and climbed about 15 feet up a small tree, keeping the tree between him and I.  This is where I came up with an idea I hadn't used before; no matter where I walked, he kept on the other side of the tree.  So after a few moments of circling the tree, I grabbed a stick and tossed it on the other side of the tree.  When he scurried over to my side of the tree I popped him in the head.  One more squirrel for the freezer; this makes four this season already.  Stay tuned for the squirrel feast!  

Squirrel Hunting - Patuxent River State Park

Phil and his .17 caliber.

This week, after work,  I was lucky enough to get out squirrel hunting on Tuesday & Wednesday evening.  Both hunts were at the Patuxent River State Park.  I went alone the first night, and was joined by my buddy Phil on the second night.  I work with Phil; he’s an avid hunter and all-around good guy.  He kept an eye out for me, and grabbed up a decent .50 caliber muzzle loader for me to hunt deer with this season (Stay tuned).  At any rate, large plots of tall, old hickory trees make Patuxent Park an ideal habitat for grey squirrels.  Both evenings I entered the woods around 4:30pm which is just about feeding time.  Grey squirrels are active feeders around mid-morning and in the evening.  If you keep your eyes and ears open, and know what to look & listen for, you stand a good chance of honing in on their location. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees which works both with, and against you.  The leaves provide good coverage for the squirrels to hide behind but they also act as giant flags for activity.  In the treetops, the squirrels feed on the hickory nuts, leaping to and climbing out on to the smaller limbs, which dip and shake under the weight of their bodies.  You can usually see and hear this activity pretty easily.  Another good thing about the leaves is that, when the squirrels perch on a branch and “cut” their nuts (chew the exterior shell away), they drop the shavings down below.  You can zero in on their location by listening to the shavings drop down through the leaves.  This week, at times, there was so much feeding activity that it sounded as if it were raining.  Sometimes if you’re “a bit early for supper” and the squirrels aren’t out feeding yet, you can coax a few squirrels in by rubbing two quarters together.  This has worked well for me in the past.  The serrated edges of the coins mimic the cutting noise made when squirrels work the shell off of nuts.  You want to hold one quarter firmly and drag the edge of the other quarter over its serrations, as if you’re playing a washboard.  A lot of times squirrels will come to see who is eating nuts in their area. Tuesday night I sat and watched as many as eight squirrels crawl around in the upper branches cutting nuts, barking, and leaping from limb to limb.  The difficult part is keeping an eye on them and waiting for them to pass by an open area, where you can send a bullet to meet them. 

Results:

Tuesday night:       1 squirrel for the deep fryer.

Wednesday night:  2 squirrels for the deep fryer.

Above: Tuesday night I used my Marlin XT17 (left) and Wednesday I used my Rock Island Armory Mig 22(right).

Squirrel Hunting - Frederick Watershed

Its that time of year again:  Hunting Season.  I thought it'd never arrive!  So far, the only thing in season is squirrel, which I do enjoy hunting, so I took a rifle out that I haven't used for hunting before:  My Rock Island Armory Mig 22.  I got a late start this morning and left the house around 8:30, putting me at the Frederick Watershed around 9:30; later than I wanted, but still prime time for squirrels.  I crept into my usual spot and sat for a while.  I sat peacefully, enjoying the activity of the chipmunks and birds, yet there are still too many leaves on the trees to catch all the activity up above.  Nevertheless, it was a cool and breezy 57 degrees out so I didn't mind just relaxing in the woods on a beautiful morning.  After sitting in a few different spots, I got ancy and decided to go check out my deer sitting spot.  I searched around my deer spot for buck rubs and deer poop (Or as my father always called them "smart pills"... which begged the naive question:  "Do they really make you smart?" ... My father is a great guy.  Thank you for not letting me eat deer poop when I was little Dad)  After a few minutes of sitting where I usually do with my .30-30, I saw some activity far down in the valley below.  I zoomed in with my scope and had a squirrel in my cross hairs just long enough to estimate my holdover before he scurried out of sight.  It would have been a 125 yard shot, had he sat still long enough.  Still, I'm confident that I could have "rung his bell"; no problem.  Next time little buddy!

I, of course, couldn't leave without shooting some beer cans.  Check the video below; I'm going to go make a snack...I wonder if we have any smart pills in the pantry.

New Rifle - Rock Island Armory Mig 22

I’ve picked up a few rifles over that last couple of months. One of which, is the nicest little AR style, tactical .22s I have ever seen. Made by Rock Island Armory (RIA), in the Philippines, this is an incredibly well made rifle. The receiver is milled from a solid chunk of aluminum then anodized black while the barrel is made of ordinance steel and parkarized. The solid steel shroud was turned to leave a very smooth finish on it. RIA boasts that none of the pieces on their Mig 22 are cast or stamped out. Instead; they are all machined. The 15-round magazine for example, is made from 1/8” thick aluminum. It’s hefty and stout; like the rifle itself. The machining quality is clearly evident upon disassembly and cleaning of the rifle. I was amazed when I took it apart after my first trip to the range; this rifle’s internals are as beautiful as its external features. Speaking of the range; it performed beautifully. My buddy, Hoopsie, and I knocked bull after bull out of targets at the 50yd and 100 yard range. The trigger travel is quite short, and incredibly smooth. This is the only rifle I own which has a match-grade, free-floating barrel (rifled with a 1 in 16” twist) and from what I read, this largely accounts for the accuracy I enjoyed at the range. 

 RIA also, makes a target version of this rifle which has a longer picatiny rail for mounting larger scopes and features a folding bipod and leaner stock. It is equally sharp looking, yet I prefer the solid M-16 style stock which my Mig 22 has.