I shot 3 mice with a bb gun on Sunday. Seriously fun.
I was sitting there smoking a cigar at a campground up in the mountains and noticed a mouse nearby chewing on a piece of wood. I didn't think the people at the campground would appreciate me grabbing my shotgun from my car and blowing it and the pleasant mountain piecefulness up. Then it occured to me that I always keep a bb gun in my car. I went to get my bb gun, knowing that my movement had frightened him down the hole a couple times and he always came back up. So I wasn't concerned about scaring him off perminately. I waited a few minutes for him to come back up the hole, slipped the safety off, and slowly raised my gun. I wasn't in a position to put the gun to my shoulder and aim well so I one-handed it. BAM. I shot high. Missed by about a quarter inch. But he didn't move down the hole. So I jacked another bb in to the chamber and pumped it 4 times. Slowly I raised the gun to my shoulder this time. Took aim a little lower this time. HIT. He crawled away and I knew the blood track was on. I wasn't sure if I should give it a couple minutes before I took off to find him. Then I decided, Naw, he was only about 3 inches from where I shot him and I could see him right there. My over compensation had only wounded him so I moved in to finish him off with another bb. I'll be taking him into my local taxidermist and getting him mounted.
As I sat there finishing my cigar, I noticed another mouse down by my car running around. I jacked another bb in and pumped it 8 times. We were looking at a 15 yard shot now and I didn't want to scimp on the power. As soon as I raised the gun he ran off. But I heard a mouse behind me in the grass. I slowly turned around and not only was there one mouse, I saw a couple mice running around. I took aim at the closest one and fired. He didn't move. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted another mouse so I quickly jacked another bb in my gun, gave it a few quick pumps, took aim and fired. He ran to his hole and I wasn't sure if I got him. I walked up on him and booyaa. I had a third mouse. It was a lung shot, which is why he made it to his hole, but there he expired. The mouse right before him was a head shot. I was pretty pumped and pleased with my shot selection. I made an attempt to find some more mice, but everyone I put my sights on was in grass and other plants that were too thick, and I didn't want to risk making a hurried shot that resulted in a wounded animal crawling off where I couldn't find it. I found a stick, used it to pick up the dead animals and lined up my trophies on a stump and snapped some pictures. I'll only get the first one mounted. He was the biggest. And my first. You can't forget your first no matter what the size. I'm going to start lobbying Robby to have a Mouse hunting sub forum added to Rokslide. It's my new passion. I wish I could've limited out, but alas, I have something to look forward to next time.
In all seriousness, that is what I did yesterday. I found it a blast for something to do at dusk. It occured to me that I had to still-hunt the mice, and it would be a great thing to do with some kids that were old enough to sit still and/or stalk the mice like I did for the second 2. Great way to teach them some patience and get them started on some skills. Ironically, the only one sitting still was the one I gut shot and the other 2 were running around and I make great shots. But if you can get them to chew on something(dare I say baiting), it would make an easier shot for a kid. Or a couple people could sit around and have a few libations, facing in opposite directions to cover all the angles and have at it. I'll post a picture from my phone later.
