another morning and evening of squirrel hunting

[rjohns94]

I walked into my local peddler's place and on the rack was an item I have been looking for. It was brought in by an older lady, the piece was her late husband's rifle and had been in storage for ages. This Winchester model 61 was made in 1958, my birth year and is in beautiful condition as the picture shows. It also has the grooved receiver. So as to not disturb the area too bad, I was using subsonic ammo, 60 grain bullets. This pic was taken during the early morning hunt. It was a bit windy so hearing the squirrels was a bit difficult so I had to rely on my binoculars to spot the critters in the trees. Later in the day, the wind settled and I had luck on three more after the morning harvest. This rifle balances so well, the sights seem so natural. Accuracy was very good with both CCI mini mags and aquilla subsonic 60gr bullets. The pistol is a model 18 in 22lr also. I was shooting the aquilla ammo out of it also. As I was walking out of the woods, I helped a guy track a BP shot deer. The guy had hit the deer in the right hind leg, it exited on the inside of the same leg and nearly eviscorated the deer. The deer was surrfering badly and the guy was waiting for it "to bleed out", he hadn't even reloaded and so when we were tracking, and the deer tried to get up, he couldn't do anything to end the deer's struggle. The model 61 was used to put a shot into the head of the deer and ended its struggle. So first day out, the 61 limited on squirrels, and put a deer out of its misery. The model 18 was used to put the squirrel in the picture down for good. All in all, a wonderful day in the woods with two new firearms, both keepers and both made meat. Can't get much better than that.

[Old No7]

Very nice Mike!

I think Kirk and Nath would be pleased with your picture-taking skills too!

Good find -- and good shooting too!

Old No7

[FWiedner]

A lovely set. Nice photo too. Very well composed.

Curious, do you eat those red squirrels?

Just making conversation on this one, do your local game wardens consider you to be deer hunting when you help out a fellow such as you encountered? If the warden had come upon you as you put the deer out of it's misery, might you have been required to produce a deer tag?

[kimwcook]

Good job, Mike. Sounds like another brother had a nice walkabout in the woods. Nice pic and thanks for the story.

[AJMD429]

Good job, Mike. Sounds like another brother had a nice walkabout in the woods. Nice pic and thanks for the story.

+1 on that...!

[rjohns94]

The squirrel is actually a gray, and yes I do like to eat them. I think they are some of the best eating game animals. As for the deer, I do have tags, so no problem there, but the guy tagged the deer before I left. The wardens here do not consider a coup-de-grace in any negative manner and it can be delivered by an alternative firearm (like a side arm or such). Here you can hunt Doe's during the season with BP rifles, while carrying a bow, or if so licensed, a side arm. I could have easily have shot it with the pistol instead of the rifle. I did see the game warden on leaving the field. I let him know of the incident and he was fine with it considering the original hunter was there, and claimed the deer. Had the deer been passing by with its guts hanging out and I shot with the .22lr rifle, it would have been an illegal deer kill (not bp) and I would have been fined (since the original shooter would not have been known). years ago I got this qualified by the wardens because I was in another situation and didn't shoot because I was unsure of how it would be viewed. It pays to ask the question before taking action. Good question.

[Old Savage]

Two of my favorite guns - great 22 LR combo.

[gamekeeper]

Good job, Mike. Sounds like another brother had a nice walkabout in the woods. Nice pic and thanks for the story.

+1 on that...!

Ditto...

[gimdandy]

Good for you on both guns and game

[Griff]

Very good, Mike.

[pokey]

A lovely set. Nice photo too.

&1

[1894c]

shouldn't have read this post--i miss gray squirrel hunting big time--where i presently live we don't have any--we do have some squirrels but they are restricted and protected--ohhh well--thanks for the photo and even for the post...

[Pitchy]

Good story all around, nice job.

[Nath]

Brilliant report and fantastic picture Mike.

I don't care for the regs much, you did the right thing period. The other hunter caused the issue, end off!

God bless ya' Mike.

Nath.

[Dave]

Squirrel hunting is the best. That 61 is one high class pump gun too

[madman4570]

Beautiful guns/great photo/and a fine read.
Thanks Mike

[Blaine]

In Washington, putting a finishing shot into a deer requires one to use a legal firearm....anything below .24 will not be legal. Stupid, huh? I'd shoot and shutup, and move on, I think.

[Paladin]

Beautiful guns/great photo/and a fine read.
Thanks Mike

+1

[crs]

Interesting coincidence:
As a teenager, I bought my first handgun, a Model 18 and my first rifle, a Model 61 - both like yours. I shot them extensively as a youth and still have both of them . I was out of college before I learned to use the sights on the M18 as it was used mostly from the hip practicing quick draw on tin cans. .22 ammo was cheap back then.

Two differences are that I put the S&W magnum grips on the M18 and in later years, scoped the M61. Both are still very accurate and fun to shoot. Smiths and Winchesters are still my favorite handguns and rifles; old habits are hard to break.

[jdad]

I just bought a 1958 M61 a few weeks ago too! The previous owner was a 93 year old WW2 bomber pilot. He shot the 61 once, put away in the closet (keep it oiled), and since his kids didn't want it he posted it for sale at our club.

The finest slide action 22 ever made. Congratulations!

[HEAD0001]

The model 61 was used to put a shot into the head of the deer and ended its struggle. So first day out, the 61 limited on squirrels, and put a deer out of its misery.

I did that one time when a friend was bow hunting in the state of MD. Exact same situation. My friends brother dispatched the deer for him.

Unfortunately there was a game warden standing on the other side of the creek. We had no idea he was there. He hollered over to us. And my friend invited him over to see his deer.

We were in no way suprised that he was a game warden. We never thought we did wrong by dispatching the deer. Boy were we wrong. My friends brother lost his squirrel rifle over that, with a couple of heavy fines.

And the game warden even testified to the judge because he witnessed the entire scene.

The judge did not care. He said the law is the law. Tha was a costly mistake we made that day. Tom.