First chuck with my Henry 17HMR
Congratulations, and thank you for sharing. Hope all is well. We are in final stages of moving our factory to Bayonne New Jersey.
Anthony Imperato, President
Henry Repeating Arms, Co.
110 8th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
2006 - 2007 17HMR HUNTING - Free men do not ask permission to bear arms
Congratulations, and thank you for sharing. Hope all is well. We are in final stages of moving our factory to Bayonne New Jersey.
Anthony Imperato, President
Henry Repeating Arms, Co.
110 8th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
This year's squirrel hunting season started out at a crawl at best, but I'm pleased to say that it's turned into a lot of fun this month. I recently started saving tails to attract coyotes when that hunt begins in January. The plan is to attach a few to a stick which will be planted in the ground and doused with CoyoteBomb. I'm sure my wife will be happy when the tails are gone, though I plan to grow the collection a bit more over the next few weeks.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know this is the first year that I’ve squirrel hunted since I was a kid. I’ve learned a few things from personal experience since September that I’d like to share with you:My buddy Rob reminded me to throw a stone on the back side of the tree to get the squirrel to turn. The problem has been that every time I get in that situation, I can't find anything to throw within easy reach. Next time I'm going out with a few stones in my pocket.
- If it’s been cold and you get a few hours were the sun comes out and it warms up, that’s the time to hunt.
- Don’t bother hunting before 9:00 am. The squirrels are still in bed.
- Keep your eyes pealed at a distance. They will often sense your presence 50 yards or more away.
- Look for trees dropping nuts and little holes in the ground where they have been digging.
- Gut your squirrels soon after bagging them. They are much easier to skin. Bring a sharp knife and a pair of pliers to brake the bones so the paws are easier to remove.
- If you don’t see nests, don’t be discouraged. They are likely living in old trees.
- Carry freezer bags. You can carry your gutted game and protect your cell phone and camera should you get caught in the rain.
- Put a few stones in your pocket when you leave the parking lot (read below).
If I end up not hunting tomorrow, this will be the last post of 2007. Coyote hunting with Arne begins in early 2008, so look for the '2008 17HMR Hunting' button to check in on my 2008 hunts. I will continue to squirrel hunt as well until the season ends in late February, so check the 2008 page for new stories.
"You may want to cook them like rabbits. Thaw & quarter them. Try a can of cream of mushroom or chicken soup mixed with 1/2 can water & pour over the top & bake."
"Great shot......You lucky devil. I couldn't get out today at all. The wife had me cleaning and cutting up all kinds of things for our family get together. A friend of mine came by with a black squirrel that he shot for my brother in florida, he's going to have it mounted to go along with his all white albino squirrel he shot down there..... salt & pepper shakers I guess hahahaha....Anyway, congrad's on the hunt." ~Arne Thompson
"Nice gray. Best eating, imho. Mostly fox squirrels here and they can be a bit on the tough side if you get an old one. Believe it or not, there ARE grays in your state! LOL but they don't make it this far south (all of a coupla miles) not sure why unless the fox squirrels don't get along with them. Neck shots are pretty much fatal too. And if you use a shotgun on 'em............oh my. Totally uncalled for. Is for kids or guys that can't shoot. With my Ruger 10/22, I used to take nothing but head shots. Then I put a scope on it. Made it too easy so I took it back off! Grew up hunting them and rabbits. Great early memories. Shot one in a pin oak once. Landed in a small crotch in the tree. Figured I could just shoot him out. He was already very much dead and with about 4 head shots trying to dislodge him he wasn't budging. Climbed that dang tree, knocked him out with a stick. Pin oaks here have lots of little branches that stick out all over the place and did I get scratched up! Aint doing that again. Watch their tail too. If it's a good head shot, the tail, when they fall outta the tree, spins like a helicopter! Not sure why it does that but does it every time. I would take 5 bullets as a challenge. Get 4 squirrels and bring one bullet home! Dad was impressed with that! Hope Christmas was fun and hope you got lots of kewl 'toys'!" ~ Jim DrescherJim must have better eyes than I do. At these distances I'm lucky if I can see the squirrel's head.
I pulled into the parking lot and right in front of me was a rabbit caught in my headlights. It booked it and that was the last rabbit I saw today. About an hour after I started my hunt, I saw a squirrel and I plugged it with one shot at about 50 yards. After that I saw 5 more squirrels, but they were far away and scrambling through the branches. Even when I tried to wait them out, they didn't return. I think the problem was the abnormal heat. It's October 22 and in the 80's! That's unheard of. I doubt squirrels are gathering nuts for winter when the think it's the middle of summer. I'll try again tomorrow. For you bird hunters, they stocked at 1:00 and a lot of guys were walking to their trucks with birds.
"All of a sudden I heard the sound of nails tearing down the back side of the tree that I was leaning against!"

4:00 am
I was all settled in, when all of a sudden I noticed that it was really starting to rain. I couldn’t believe it, but the sky didn’t look bad so I thought it was just a passing shower. Then I said to myself, “Wait a minute” and took off my ProEars. It was silent. What I was hearing were the drops of water from last night’s rain falling from the leaves. Then I took off the ears, it was as if I were deaf! They were so comfortable that I forgot they were on, and I could hear every snap of a twig. It was as if my hearing was amplified 10 times. I could hear everything, and when I took them off, it was as if I could hear nothing. Fantastic. No coyote was going to sneak up behind me with these ears on."The scent confusion that I had read about had this guy so absorbed that he ignored me and went back to smelling the grass. "
"Everything felt right and worked well even though I screwed up and let my guard down. If my rifle was ready I would have had an easy head shot and that coyote would be history."
"Don't hunt the same areas over and over. Two or three times a season per spot is maximum."Predator Xtreme magazine, August 2007
NOTE: I use camo tape on my GoldenBoy, but let me warn you that it could damage the brass coating around the trigger area. Use it at your own risk.
I went hunting at 5:30 this morning, but a lightening storm started before I got out of the car. I was disappointed that I never got to try Predator Bomb (see my post on the PRODUCT page), and since it hadn't rained at my house, it was a good time to try this stuff out. I took the FOX scent and misted a bush in my yard. Then I got my Jack Russell, who always goes out first thing in the morning to pee, and let her do her thing. She peed as usual, then started sniffing around as always. All of a sudden... BOYNG! ...Her eyes bulged out and her head turned directly to the bush I had sprayed in a fraction of a second! I never saw her turn so fast and lock onto something. In moments she was all over that bush and rolling around in the grass I had misted. I ended up having to give her a bath at 8am. If the coyotes respond like Sandy did, we are going to have a lot of fun!"...Jack Russell terriers have about 125 million olfactory receptor cells, compared to humans who have a miserly 5 million..." MORE
I took a vacation day and got up at 4am to hit the fields again (OK, my wife already called me an idiot). It was supposed to start raining at 9am, so I figured I could get a few hours in before it began. I arrived at the spot where they dum to road kill at 5:30 and watched the spot for an hour. Then traveled a short distance to a beautiful spot with a scenic wide path that runs parallel to and about 40ft above the river (A horse obviously beat me to the spot this morning). The bank to the left of the path climbs about 20ft and gives you a beautiful view left, right, down to and across the river. I found a nice spot and stayed their an hour. I noticed that my calls were bringing birds in. A hummingbird hovered about 9 ft from my face, then hopped from branch to branch in front of me before rocketing off. Then some small, colorful birds did something similar as they watched me and started chirping their heads off. At least I was calling something in. The final spot was adjacent to a cow pasture. This is a beautiful area with open areas so I set up my chair under a tree and went at it. A red squirrel came running down the tree to investigate and got almost close enough to touch before it saw my eyes move and did an abrupt 180. By 9:00 it started to rain, so I stopped at the office where I work to talk to Arne. He thinks that the coyotes are wise to our calls and said we need to go in with only distress calls. I'll give it a shot, but you can't prove by me that there's anything there. But I'm a glutton for punishment so I'll be back.
It's a beautiful Saturday morning, and I headed out at 5:15 am to hunt. Arne had to work, so I went by myself. About a mile from my spot, a pickup gets behind me and as I pulled off the road to park, the pickup stops. Guess who? It's Arne! He's been there since about 5:00 waiting for me because the company decided that he wasn't needed at work this weekend. He shot me an email last night, but I hit the sack at 9:00 since I was planning to get up so early. Well, I missed his email and he thought I was a no-show, but I made it before he headed out without me.
We then drove to the location where I had originally parked and there was clearings at the edge of the field where we set up. The wind was in our face and we were in the shade. This time I didn't use my call, but let Arne use his mouth call followed by his electronic unit. Again we waited it out for about an hour, but there was nothing. Arne had to be in New York today, so he called it quits and I packed up and headed toward another field. There was corn growing 6-7 ft high, so I walked the edge of the field. Deer must have been sleeping in the area because there were fresh, wet holes in the brush. Arne said he saw a half dozen or so deer on the way in, so his day was made before he even started to hunt. He said that he thanked The Lord for letting him see that this morning.Arne had to work today, so I went out by myself, leaving at about 4:45 am and getting to my spot at 5:30. This time I first hit the spot where Arne saw the coyote last weekend; the road kill dump. Again there were no signs of carcases. It rained last night and everything was wet. The temperature was between 55 and 60 and all you could hear was the water dripping off the leaves. I borrowed Arne's electronic call and staked out a tree near the spot where the coyote was seen. I laid out the speaker wire about 25 yards ahead of me, set up the little chair and started calling. I could hear plenty of birds and what sounded like a nearby turkey, but no coyotes. I remained there for about an hour. Before I left, I walked up to the speaker to roll up the cord, and when I turned around and looked back at where I was sitting I couldn't see it! I was absolutely amazed at how well the camo worked on the chair and backpack.
Next I backtracked a bit and walked a trail that leads down to a pond. The bullfrogs were croaking up a storm, and I walked the path for about a mile. I couldn't find a good place to set up so I backtracked, and about half way up the hill I found an open area with some large trees and rocks. I set up there and gave out some calls, but again, nothing. I stayed there about half an hour and headed up to my car. It was about 8:30 and already the street was loaded with old people with walking sticks walking along the road and making there way into the woods. It was time to clear out. Discouraging.

Today was my first experience with coyote calling. Arne (at left) and I hunted state land early this morning. I woke up at 3:30 and arrived at around 5am. Arne must have been psyched to go because he showed up only a few minutes later."Today was my birthday 07-07-07, which was supposed to be a lucky day, but the only ones lucky were the coyotes."
Today was the last day of my sister's week-long visit with us, so at noon I took her to the airport, got her on a plane, and later headed out to get a couple hours of hunting in before dusk. It turned humid and the temperature was in the low 70's, which was a switch from the upper 80's with zero humidity that we've had all week (My vacation week!). Arriving at my spot, I put on my gear and walked the path into the forest. Two guys were fishing at the beginning of the trail, but other than that, I was alone.Bob,I love it! I'll need to do a re-write. Thanks Rob!
Sounds like a story out of "Out Door Life" This Happend To Me...
You could have spiced it up with something like:
"The hungry coyote that I was hunting was actually tracked me knowing I was lost in the storm..."
Tuesday, 22 May 2007 2:56PM




I returned to the fields after work Monday. It was in the lower 80's and weather was absolutely perfect. I walked the area from 4:30 till 7:00. In that time I did not see a single woodchuck, squirrel, rabbit...nothing. Saturday I saw 4 deer at this spot but not a single small game animal, nor a trace of one. I hunted this area from the beginning of chuck season last year when there was still snow on the ground, right through the summer. I saw plenty of deer and turkeys, but almost no woodchucks or holes. I am now absolutely convinced that the grounds are completely hunted out by coyote. Chuck season closes after next week for a month while turkey season is open. Over that time I'm going to read up on coyote hunting. I came across this dead one along with some droppings made of fir. I'm guessing that belonged to coyotes as well.


Got'm with Remington 22LR hollow points in my Henry 22LR lever action.
Well, I went to the fields around the DEP building at Roraback and I swear to god that someone fired a neutron bomb on the grounds because there's not a single living mammal to be seen anywhere. After about a half dozen trips this month in which I've walked the fields for about 2 hours each time, I've come across one single squirrel (excluding the 3 deer I stumbled across my first day out and the 4 turkey that crossed in front of my car). That's it for small game One squirrel. Not even a chipmunk! One lousy hole in the ground. I mean there's not even any road kill around. So that's going to be it for a long time at that place. Maybe I'll check back in a month or so, but right now I'm wasting my time and getting blisters on my feet for nothing. If I would stock my freezer with robins, I'd be doing OK because that's about the only like on that property. And I went everywhere. I was hoping that I could at least bag one chuck to encourage Jamie, but as it stands I won't take him back there because he'd just loose interest in hunting. I think I'll have to wait till small game season starts in the Fall to take him with me. Until then, I'll just take him to the range.

Went hunting at Roraback right after work today it was sunny and in the upper 60's, so I couldn't pass it up. All I got was a good walk in because the place was as dead as a doornail. I mean nothing! The only thing I shot were a few photos. After 2 hrs of walking I saw one squirrel and one chuck hole (photo below). Lots of fresh deer tracks, but that's it. I mean I walked for miles through a half dozen fields and saw nothing. Not even a squirrels nest. I don't know if this place is hunted out or if things will pick up later. I'll give it a few more days since the place is so close, but I'm starting to have my doubts. I'll return tomorrow and the day after because it's going to be sunny and in the 70's and I just want to get outside. After that it's Easter weekend which means no hunting for 4 days. I'll let you know if anything happens. Looking on the bright side, I don't have to clean my gun tonight.

Jamie and I went to Roraback today. It was a dismal morning, overcast and drizzling but the rain cell was scheduled to move out by noon so we decided to head up to Harwinton. By the time we hit Terryville, the rain had turned to a light snow. We thought the snow was over for the year. Snow is better than rain, but either way, no woodchuck in his right mind would venture out of his hole on a day like this. 
We parked in the DEP parking lot and walked the 3 corn fields. other than a half dozen robins we saw jumping around the cornfield, there was no sign of life. This was the first time Jamie was out walking with his rifle so I was hoping we'd see something. No such luck. We walked for about an hour, then decided to get back in the Jeep and scout out another area. The last time I tried this I got lost, but this time I came armed with a decent map. The road I was looking for turned out to be a dead end with a parking area that butted up to a golf course. It was posted for hunting, so we decided to follow a stream and take a look around. Again, the place was still. I told Jamie to take a couple shots, figuring it would make the stop more interesting. He couldn't believe how much louder the rifle sounded in the woods than on the range. Being surrounded by trees, there's lots of echoes in the woods.
The next drive took us on a road through the center of Roraback heading south. There was a dead coyote at the entrance of the first place we stopped. I checked with the DEP and state law doesn't require that dead yotes be turned in. I guess they left it there so the CO could get a head count, but they could have at least moved it off the path. 
The next place we stopped at was beautiful and we took a few photos that are posted here. At the foot of the trail there's what used to Roraback's hunting lodge, which is situated directly across from a beautiful pond, circled by pines. To the right there's a good size river. From the entrance through the center of the area is a wide, well kept path with cement bridges crossing streams. It's just a wonderful place and I'm amazed that I work so close and had no idea this was here.
We walked the trail for about half an hour and I could tell that Jamie was getting tired. There were some glass beer bottles that some boozers were nice enough to leave us, so I set them up for Jamie and he blew them to bits. He's always wanted to do that :) I then cleaned up the mess and we headed back for the Jeep. It's much to cold and wet for most small game to be out, but I did hope we could stumble across some deer as I did yesterday or a few turkeys as the day before. No such luck, but Jamie had his first day out in the woods with a gun and he said he had a good time. He fell asleep in the car a few minutes after we left and slept all the way home. Oh ya, there were a half dozen chickens in the road on the way back that I had to stop for. I have no idea where they came from. Are chickens in season?

