Well I was at it again today. Hunting in the drizzlin rain. This time I brought my C-Lect Mossberg 20 gauge. I used #6 shot. I used the Modified setting. Since it was drizzling I used your advice. I kind of figured that oiling the gun would be a way to protect the barrel, but I thought some of you might have some high speed way to keep a firearm from rusting. Thanks for the advice guys.
Well, after I dropped off my daughter at school I headed over to where I usually hunt. I decided to not go the same route I did last time. I wanted to use the fact that it had rained recently to hide the sounds of my steps. When I was getting my gear together I saw a female turkey. By itself. Now, I have never hunted turkey, but usually I have seen them in groups around here. To see one here all by itself seemed very strange. I am not sure if had got separated from the rest or if it was the lookout. I did not think I would get anywhere, but to get to learn more about the turkey I headed towards it. They must have keen sight because as soon as it saw me walking in its direction it took off. I followed it for a little bit, but still not a wasted excursion.
So, I got the rest of my gear together and headed towards the woods. Instantly it starts to drizzle. Nice. Luckily I took the advice and had pre-oiled my shotgun. Next thing I see above me is what appeared to be a tree snake. It was light green with yellow and black lines down the length of its body. I didn't pester it, but thought it was noteworthy. I didn't think many snakes went into trees in NC. Wasn't sure of the snake, but I will look it up later.
Walking around I did not see much activity. I didn't really expect there to be. Most animals seem to go to ground and seek shelter on days like this. However, it also afforded me some camouflage by hiding my silhouette. Being darker it also meant they could not see me was well. This time I had my binoculars with me. So, bad for them. Traveling through the woods I noticed many deer trails. Now knowing more of the signs of deer trails I was able to see them pretty well. I decided to walk along some of these trails for a bit to see what I could see. Where deer may be, squirrels might be too.
I was coming from a different direction this time, but I came to about the same area I saw the squirrel the first day I hunted. I noted last time that there seemed to be many underground burrows in this area. Considering that it is near a creek I am not surprised. Last time when I chased that squirrel it seemed to disappear. If these are not rabbit dens then I am guessing they were made (or at least utilized) by squirrels. I sat down on a log, and was about to use my cooking kit since I hadn't seen anything but blue jays so far. I looked around the area with my binoculars, and then started to take off my LBE so I could get to my food.
Just as I was about to put down my shotgun I saw this squirrel come out of nowhere. Now I had been paying attention to the tree limbs and around the ground. I had been listening intently for any noise, and the first noise I heard was this squirrel scampering on the ground. It didn't see me although I thought I was pretty much out in the open. This is leading me to believe that squirrels only see movement. It started coming right for me. I lined up the shot and fired. First one connected, but because of the close range I may have overshot a little. It started to run. I got off of the log and walked towards it. It wasn't going anywhere fast. When I lined up another shot my foot sank into the ground into one of those burrows and I missed. This flustered me a bit and I forgot for a second my shotgun was not an automatic. Once I got my senses back I got out of the hole and fired again. This one hit right on.
However, at this point I thought I missed because it was still moving around. However, when I got closer I realized that it was a fatal shot. I was about to finish it by shooting it in the head with my 9mm to put it out of its misery. I didn't want it to suffer. However, it was quite obvious when I got closer to it that it already had a head shot. Once it stopped moving I collected it and put it in my bag.
Considering that I had used a shotgun I was pretty sure it would be awhile before I could get another, and so I headed back. Perhaps I should have cleaned it right then and there considering what I had read afterwards, but I read some conflicting things as far as this goes. Perhaps some of you can give me some insight into what you think is the best method of cleaning them. In the field or not? I wanted to be able to clean it somewhere that I could make sure the area was clean and I could do it on a table of some sort.
Well, I tried the method I had watched many times on the net to make sure I knew how to clean it before I hunted. It failed miserably. For some reason it was really hard to seperate the skin. I had a very sharp knife and it seemed to do okay, but not like how I had watched others do it. Maybe it is because they were cleaning them right then and there. I don't know. It took me a long time, and I am not even sure that I did it correctly. I heard some say you can ruin the meat by having the skin touch the meat, but it seemed almost unavoidable. Now I am not sure if what I have is edible.
I butchered what I could making as sure as I could that the guts were taken out without spilling their contents, but I am not sure if I even succeeded in this because none of the videos I watched showed taking out their innards. I took the meat I could get and submerged it in salt water as some have suggested to me in order to tenderize the meat, take away some of the wild taste, and make it easier to get the shot out of it. At the end of all of it I felt like a failure. I am not sure what I did right and what I did wrong.
After doing all of that I took my food kit and cooked some items with it including ramen, eggs, and some coffee.
Anyway, I hope with experience I can do better. I just felt like I didn't do any part of this right.
After that I went out and decided to use a little more time and try and get another squirrel. I went to another area. I went into a natural ditch which was located near an oak tree. I sat underneath a holly tree, and used some of its branches to put on myself in order to camoflage myself. Well no squirrel came from that direction. As I sat waiting one came within 2 yards of me. It was coming down a branch of a tree that was about a breath away from me. It started making all sorts of noises. I think it was trying to provoke movement out of me by chattering at me and moving around. While it was doing this I was slowly moving my shotgun into position. Either it didn't see me or it saw me and was trying to figure out what I was by provoking me to move.
I could have taken the shot, but because of how close it was to me, and the trees behind it, I was not sure if it would rechochet back at me. I decided not to try it because I was not sure what would happen.
Anyway, considering all that happened I decided to take pictures of me in my hunting gear so that everyone can enjoy a good laugh.
My equipment includes the following (and not all of it is seen in these pics - all I had was my cellphone):
20 Gauge Mossberg
10 #6 shells
5 # 7 1/2 shells
My kabar knock-off knife (which is surprisingly good)
Binos
Compass
My Ruger P95 (I never go into the woods without some other kind of defense)
40 + rounds of 9mm
Latex free gloves
Ziploc Bags & garbage bag
Winchester Folding cleaning knife (Bone saw, guthook, and knife)
Two canteens
One pack which holds 3 days worth of food + utensils and cooking equipment


So thats about it. If anyone has any suggestions or comments feel free to add them.