After-Action Report: 13 November 2009

Night Hunting

I set out at bedtime-thirty with poquito and my nifty LED flashlight that can be stood on end (for steady vertical illumination) and hit the driveway. SurpRISE surprise, right over a poo pile on the drive, I found a bird. I lit him up and searched for a clear shot. Twigs everywhere. Nobody has trimmed this tree in at least 6 years, and there are lots of little branches in between the big branches. This makes for frustrating shooting when the optical axis of my telescope sight is +1.5" over the center of the bore.

Ok, I see a clear-ish path. Shot!
Little pieces of twig fall down.
. . . I move around a bit . . . the bird is still asleep . . .
Another clear-ish view. Shot!
Little pieces of twig and a few leaves this time.
. . . I moved again, probably moved 50 feet laterally, forward, and back, in a four square-yard area. Lots of motion, but the bird still stays put.

Alright, trying again . . . Shot!
After a short pause, the bird fell like a stone to the driveway. Thud. No twitching, even. He panted out his last breaths for a minute, but that's only because birds are dead simple animals. This was a painless kill.

Come on VFD you're just saying that to make yourself feel better!

When I went to pick him up, his head was floppy. Shot straight through the spine, in the middle of his neck. Have you ever heard the expression "running around like a chicken with its head cut off?" Yeah, this was like that, except the head was still on. He was a dead bird breathing.

I looked around for a few more minutes, but I didn't see any more foul fowl, so I tossed my boy down the drain for the cats and went inside for the night.