Squirrels + Air Rifles + Friends = FUN!

I went small game hunting last week and had fun - more fun than I've had in a long while on any hunting trip.

I spent a day and half near Montgomery, AL, at Southern Sportsman Lodge as part of the inaugural Squirrel Masters Classic (SMC). OK, go ahead and laugh if you want, but I still had fun and so did the 35 to 40 other participants in the event and many of those are names you will recognize if you pay any attention to the outdoors.

The SMC was a team event and was hosted by Buckmasters' Jackie Bushman, the fine folks at GAMO USA (http://www.GAMOUSA.com) and included popular outdoor television show hosts from Buckmasters, Bone Collectors, McMillen River Adventures, The High Road and Addicted to the Outdoors. Participants also included several members of the national outdoor press, a local guide, a dog handler complete with champion squirrel dog (more on that in another blog) and local 4-H members who qualified to hunt with the teams. Very few of the 4-H members had ever hunted and some had never shot any type of gun before. I must say those 4-H folks were fast learners.

The winning team of the one-day event was determined by the weight of the squirrels brought to the scales at the end of the morning hunt, and, again, after the evening hunt. Each hunt lasted about three hours. 

Each team member was provided with one of GAMO's Whisper Fusion Pro rifles complete with scope in .177 caliber, though one member of each team was provided with one of the same rifles in .22 caliber. Each of these superb rifles was a single shot and team members were supplied with plenty of GAMO pellets in the proper caliber. Participants spent the afternoon prior to the hunt sighting-in their rifles and even that proved to be quite a bit of fun. "You're going to put your eye out," was a popular remark throughout the first afternoon, but don't worry, safety was paramount with everyone there and there were no incidents, just a ton of fun.

You don't need to be bored with the details of the hunt. Suffice to say Team Buckmasters took top honors and deservedly so as the six members of that team brought in a combined total of nearly 40 squirrels - tops among all teams.

I was part of the Addicted to the Outdoors team led by show hosts Jon and Gina Brunson that also included fellow outdoor writer and all-round good guy Tom Claycomb III, 4-H member Justin Scroggins, squirrel dog handler Keith Landrum, GAMO Marketing Communications Manager Fedor Palacios, our guide Glen Johnson (he donated his time that day away from work and family) and three Addicted to the Outdoors cameramen there to record the hunt for a show to air on Addicted to the Outdoors sometime later this year. One of the cameramen, Steve Finch, utilized a radio-controlled flying camera that buzzed around us from time-to-time - quite an experience. 

I've said all of that to let you know how the event was set up (kudos to Fedor Palacios and Jackie Bushman for putting a quality event together at the last minute and thanks to both of them for participating as actual hunters).

But more than anything else, this event was just downright fun. Story after story was told of when we were all pre-teens and had our first BB guns and pellet rifles - nothing near the quality of the GAMOs we used for this event. I can't divulge the stories since most of us probably did things with those early BB guns we don't want folks to know about, but it has been a long time since I've laughed so hard on a hunt. It was that enjoyable. 

I was able to renew some old acquaintances, made several new friends and got to meet some really fine folks who appreciate having fun while hunting. Hunting should be fun and a hunter couldn't ask for anything better.

If you need more information about the SMC or GAMO products, contact Fedor Palacios via email at fpalacios@gamousa.com.