Got the air rifle out for some real hunting this weekend. Quite a few ground squirrels here. Got one in the front yard. Then up at the back of the property is where most of them are. Average shots are 20 to 23 yards. This property is a 16 acre apple orchard in Selah outside of Yakama. There are both collared and morning doves. I was able to get two morning doves.

Nice, what do you do with the squirrels and doves after you bag them?

Cooked the two dove breast in a little bacon fat and one pear from the same tree I took the first one from.
The magpies and hawks are eating the squirrels. But honestly there is no reason a person could not eat them. The squirrels are a pest and do a fare amount of damage. Also a non native species. So I personally don’t feel guilty about not consuming them.

Not sure if I would ever eat a “city squirrel “
But the ones out here on the Island are really tasty..
Soaked in buttermilk overnight, breaded in panko and fried
Yummy
This time of year, chanterelle mushroom gravy works as a nice topping.

Got more doves out here than I can deal with, but when the squirrels are gone, they are on the menu......

Is your air gun a Maurader in a pistol or AR configuration or a different model? .22 or .25? Good shooting!

The gun is a Benjamin Marauder pistol in .22 cal. With a Neil Calgue moderator. A Marmot Militia hammer forged barrel.
And an RAI AR style but stock adapter. I’m using a Nikon Prostaff P3 Target EFR rimfire 3x9-40 AO but I’m going to up grade that. The .22 pellets have a loopy trajectory and I really need mill dots to help with hold over/under.

That's a pretty serious set up. Very nice.I just got the new Marauder with the regulator built in, along with an ATN 4k Pro 3-12 day/night scope. Weighs a ton. I'm designing a bullpup stock for it to lighten the load a little. I'm hoping to find some local farms to bonk rats and pigeons, but permission is a little hard to come by unless you know somebody. The ATN scope can compensate for the. rainbow . 22 path if you're a good judge of distance or use a range finder. They also have their own rangefinder that will automatically calibrate the scope for the target's distance, but I'm broke enough already!

I’m too cheap to go for the ATN scope set up. Perhaps if I had a farm permission I could justify the cost. I got the pistol for it’s lite weight and compact size. Mostly back yard shooting where 50 yards would be a long shot. I’m very pleased with the gun. It’s whisper quiet. I’m happy to say. At this point I don’t feel the urge to upgrade to a bullpup rifle. But ..maybe ...someday

Got out for another look before I had to head home. Took out two more.
The weekend total was 12 hit, 7 recovered and 3 clean misses.