The Weatherman DIDN’T lie!!

I got set-up in my turkey woods a little before 8 this morning with a temp of 44, no wind, & clear skies. It was a beautiful morning just like the weatherman predicted. Just goes to prove that even a blind weatherman finds an acorn once in awhile. A few minutes after 8, I spotted a fox coming into the woods from the wheat field. I kept watch but it never showed itself until 15 minutes later when it came out of the brush pile & immediately took to the tree tops. That was unusual for this time of the year. I have found that the vast majority of squirrels stay on the ground this late in the fall rather than hit the trees. I never got a shot.

The wind picked up a little & it got chilly so, around 9:30, I went to the edge of the woods to check the fields for action & to get into the sun to warm up. I saw a bushy waaaaaaaaaay to the east in the plowed ground & thought I could sneak through the woods & maybe get a shot. I got to where I thought the bushy was & quietly went out to the edge. I could see it but it was still a good poke off but doable. I needed a rest, so putting a large tree between us, I moved up. I could see between where it was & the woods & didn’t see it leave but it was gone. Upon further investigation, there was a rise in the field & I think it ran into the woods on the far side of the rise out of sight.

At about 10, I headed to the north side of the woods, checked out the wheat field, & sat in the west woods until a little after 11 when I headed to the house. I ate a couple of sandwiches, talked with Ron about an upcoming trip, & headed back to the woods behind the house.

I got set up about 12 & had a fox working across the trail into the woods to my left about 20 minutes later. I took a shot but missed. I figured it would take off south out of sight but it fooled me & ran west in front of me stopping & giving me a shot. Just as I started to squeeze, it moved & thought another miss but it started flipping & flopping & went over a small, old log. I went over expecting to find it but nada. Then I heard it inside the log. I started banging on the log & the bushy ran out the other end trailing intestines. CRAP!!!! A gut shot!! It was running pretty fast so I couldn’t get a shot or catch it. It ran around a big tree & went up inside it. The intestines were hanging down so I thought I could pull it out. WRONG!! I ended up with about 2’ of gut but no squirrel. I found a 5’+ stick & started poking around hoping to knock it down but no luck. I decided to go sit down & wit for at least an hour hoping it would die & drop down.

When I’m in the woods, I can usually exercise a lot of patience like sitting on a deer stand all day or a turkey stand for ½ a day. Then again, sometimes not so much. This was some of the not so much times. I hate to wound game & I hate to lose it even more so, after about 30 minutes, I went back to check. There was a lot of blood inside the tree but no squirrel. I poked the stick & about ½ my arm up the tree but no luck. I was looking around for a longer stick when I found her lying on the ground on the other side of the tree, still alive. She even tried to get away. After dispatching her, I check the hit & not only was it a gut shot, it tore up the left hind leg & she was still able to run pretty well & climb way up inside the tree.

I sat back down &, at about 1, I saw movement on the trunk of the blowdown in front of me. I thought it was a chipmunk at first but then saw the tail of a small red. I had the rifle up trying to decide whether to shot it or not when it stopped with its head behind the cross-hairs sealing her own fate.

These are numbers 25 & 26 exceeding by 1 my kill number but still 4 short of the pot number. The weather is supposed to be nice this week so I’m going to hit the woods hard to try to get those 4 foxes.

This time of year it is even more critical to mark down the squirrels as they do blend in with the leaves. I was lucky to find the red as it had worked up under the leaves & only a small part of its back was visible.