SLAYER & FRIENDS HUNT THE HIGH DESERT
Went to the high desert yesterday to hunt with Jessi (Lefty) and to meet Ray later on in the morning. Jessi and I arrived early at 4:15 am to set up our kits and hike into the hunting area.
I was using the American Air Arms .357 Slayer and Jessi was using his .22 Cricket Bullpup. We hiked several hundred yards from the truck and waited for the sun to come up hoping to view the amber ears in the distance. We walked around for a bit and I spotted a Jackrabbit ears at 150+ yards but they soon disappeared behind the thick foliage of Joshua trees.
By this time it was close to 7:00 am and we packed up to go meet Ray and his collection of Marauders at another location. Spent a bit of time hanging out and shooting a few of the guns he brought including a .25 Prod conversion.
We all spread out about 40 yards apart and walked towards the North looking for some Jackrabbits moving through the trees, I soon spotted one at 65 yards and was able to take him with the Slayer. What a mess that .357 138 grain (John Cripe) made pellet made.
We continued our walk and I soon spotted some amber ears at 60 yards, took aim with the Slayer and THWACK, a 3′ long trail of blood. I had wondered why my aim was a bit off and soon noticed I had made the dumb mistake of loading the magazine backwards,not sure how other than just not paying attention.
By this time it was about 10:00 am and getting fairly hot, Jackrabbits by now were taking refuge in the shade and much harder to find. This desert is very unforgiving to animals and requires a lot of water to survive. Jessi came across a sheep that wasn’t so lucky!
I had already taken two Jackrabbits so I wanted to focus my energy on helping Ray make his first Jackrabbit kill. I manned the binoculars and picked a spot near where I had made a previous 200 yard kill,offering a good amount of sight and open fields.
Ray was eager to learn and followed close behind as I was able to stalk within 95 yards of what I thought was just one Jackrabbit. We got within range when I noticed one run away leaving one more in a still position to make a shot, Ray aimed his .25 Marauder and made a flawless head-shot at 95 yards. I was as excited as he was being able to witness his first Jackrabbit kill, that smile was well worth the whole day of the trip.
By this time it was approaching 3:00 pm and we were getting lots of sun and very exhausted from our hiking around in the heat.
Jessi was having great luck with the ground squirrels and by this time had killed 6, some as far as 100 yards away. We continued for about another hour when I spotted a small size Jackrabbit that left me with a good 100 yard shot to the head.
The day had ended and we were all left with great memories and may have learned a few things as well.
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