BUSHYTAILS - THE RIFLEMAN'S
SPORT
Boat Hunting
Editor’s
Note: To squirrel hunt, one of my favorite hunting sports,
effectively and accurately, I need a good rifle, a quality
scope and also the best binoculars I can buy. I'll only
find the rifle and the scope effective if I can see
the squirrel. Spotting a bushytail lying on the limb
at 60 yards will test even Superman's X-ray vision without
binoculars and a riflescope. However, from 60 to 80
yards with these optics, I can distinguish the difference
between a squirrel's tail swishing or a bird's wings
flapping. I also can determine if a bump on a limb is
a squirrel's head or a knot on the limb. I particularly
enjoy lightweight binoculars that have superior light-gathering
qualities, which many optics companies offer today.
Using quality optics enables me to bag bushytails at
long range.
To
produce squirrels as well as test your shooting skills
and abilities of balance, coordination and dexterity,
boat-hunt bushytails. With a canoe or a flat-bottomed
johnboat, you can move swiftly and quietly down a stream,
around a lake or through flooded timber and pinpoint
the location of squirrels without their ever hearing
you approach. Usually if the animals do notice you,
you won't spook them. When I first hunted squirrels
utilizing water as my mode of transportation, I soon
realized I had given up having a stable platform from
which to shoot. The canoe moved with the wind and the
current. Every time I leaned slightly to the left or
right to adjust my aim, the canoe also shifted. Trying
to aim while sitting in a canoe made me feel as though
I aimed while sitting atop a giant bowl of jello on
a table that someone shook.
Turning
your body to either side of the canoe and attempting
to aim and hold your rifle off-hand to bag a squirrel
on the bank makes you the least stable. Instead, sit
on the canoe seat with both feet spread wide apart while
propping on your knees, aiming and shooting over the
front of the craft. Usually you can maintain your stability
and shoot accurately when you sit in the stern or the
bow and have a range of about 15 degrees to either side
of the canoe when boat-hunting bushytails. Your knees
and your elbows will provide the most stable platform
and braces for the shot. From this position, you can
bag your game more often than you can from any other
position in the canoe, if you keep the canoe relatively
steady.
To
make my best shot, I point the bow of the boat toward
the squirrel. Then I have 30 degrees of killing range
with my .22. I prefer to hunt squirrels from a canoe
with a partner. One of you can sit in the stern of the
boat and keep the bow of the boat with your partner
in it pointed at the squirrel. Then the shooter only
must concentrate on the squirrel and the shot rather
than boat position, squirrel position and taking the
shot. If I hunt alone and see a squirrel, instead of
aiming my rifle immediately at the furry critter, I
make sure I have my boat angled toward the animal before
I ever pick up my rifle. By first positioning the boat
properly, I can shoot more accurately, bag more bushytails
and not fall out of the canoe as frequently.
TOMORROW: FLOAT-TRIP PLANNING
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