I busted me up a nutria, FINALLY!

[waterinthefuel]

Unfortunately, due to the EXTREMELY skittish nature of this particular nutria I was unable to take photos of the animal before the shot. When I shot it it doubled back into the pipe and never returned so I didn't get any photos of the dead animal. Here is the breakdown of what happened with accompanying photos when possible.

I had seen these trails through the grass behind our dock. Those are the classic tell-tale signs of a varmint, either beaver or nutria. I had no idea where this sucker was coming from or going to because I hadn't even ever seen him personally, but I also had not been hunting at dawn and dusk, the normal times to see these animals.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...l/IMG_6199.jpg

So I got up on top of my parents houseboat, in a sniping position that had worked great in my old firearms days to bust these animals and I waited. About 15 minutes later, and much to my surprise, the animal didn't come towards our dock via the water, but he came from the land from an area of very overgrown and dense vegetation near a docks' walkway. He came out, jumped in the water and stayed perfectly still, but about 60+ yards from my sniping spot.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...6267edited.jpg

That's a long long shot for an airgun on a large nutria only being able to see basically his nose and eyeballs because the rest of him was in the water. My target would have been roughly an inch and a half tall and about 2-3 inches wide. At 60+ yards. Too far for me. So I just sat and watched him. He sat in the water about 3 minutes and then scurried back up into the bushes where he came from. About 30 minutes later (and it's almost completely dark now) he went back into the water and swam an angle away from me that put him further and further away. I watched helplessly as he swam around the corner of the cove from me out of sight. However, knowing where he came from helped alot as I was able to quickly accertain where I needed to get for the next nights hunt. But that required me getting on my neighbors dock which required a phone call to his home requesting permission. He granted it and so the next night I sat here.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...6261edited.jpg

This put me within 30 feet of where he actually came out. I had the railing in front of me breaking up my siluette. I sat in that chair in that location (I didn't move it for the photo) and used the top of the railing as a gun rest to steady my shot. Since cocking the gun in advance would mandate shooting it later if I didn't see the animal and thus wasting valuable air and expensive 43 grain EJ pellets, I decided that I would cock the gun when and if I saw the animal. You can see in the photo where the pipe was, where the little animals track was through the grass and about where he was when I shot. Distance from my chair to that spot is about 30 feet.


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...6266edited.jpg


He popped out of the bushes right on cue. I drew where he was when I shot on the photo. I slowly cocked the Sumatra and placed it up on the railing. The scope was set to 4x zoom so this big rat filled the scope from side to side with some not even in the view. The crosshairs were on his side, and I wanted a head shot so I slowly moved the crosshairs to his head. Just prior to pulling the trigger he started to move and I knew I had a split second to shoot. I tried to keep the crosshairs where they needed to be and shot. The pellet, I suspect, hit him in the neck. Instead of quickly jumping in the water and simply disappearing as they have in the past whenever we shot at them and missed, this one jumped, doubled back and when back into the bushes. I quickly cocked the gun again and sat still. I heard a loud thumping against the wood wall that was behind him. He didn't return. So I got up and walked to the wall against where he disappeared. Expecting to find a dead animal in the bushes I peek in with my flashlight and discover an old drainage pipe that went under the neighbors property. Obviously that's where he went. However, since I didn't see him again (and never in the past has a missed shot meant you don't see the varmint again, maybe not that day but usually the next they're back to their regular routine if not just a bit more skittish) I suspect I got him. I haven't seen any new tracks or any sign of him whatsoever. The photos give some explanations of his location and where I was when I shot. This photo shows his little path through the tall grass indicated with a red line.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...6264edited.jpg

Even if I did miss, which I seriously doubt I did, if I drove him off that's the goal anyway. These large rats destroy docks and if they aren't killed or scared away, they can (and have) cost thousands of dollars of damage. After, with the same scope settings and everything, I checked my guns aim on a 1/2 inch piece of plywood. At twice the distance that I shot that nutria at and without a bullseye and just eyeing the center of the piece of wood I hit about 1" left of dead center and it blew a big hole right through it. So with less air pressure and twice the distance it still had the power the go through plywood. I was more worried about accuracy, and it looks like I probably did indeed hit him. I've shot them before with 22 magnums from about 30 yards and hit them in the head and they take off, they might flop around after a little bit, but they are very hard to kill with a single shot right away. I think that next time I will ensure a head shot to ensure an instant kill, or at least more indication that I hit him than he gave me. I'd rather photograph an animal but if I did I'd have to have dealt with him as this animal was on the neighbors property so at least I didn't have to deal with him.

I've never experienced my heartrate go up like it did when I shot at that animal. Amazing. Here is a photo of his little paw prints in the mud.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...l/IMG_6265.jpg