Cricket .25 Tastes First Blood

Out target shooting the other night as usual when this squirrel appeared in a tree about 20 yards to my left. So I threw the Cricket up, free hand and locked him in. Just about that time a hawk past overhead and that squirrel just melted into the branches. That was cool to see that. Took a while to glass the tree but finally found him. I was zero’d at 30yd and was shooting at a good 45 degrees up so I made a few adjustments. At 20 yards the pellet is below the zero point but at an incline the pellet tends to fly higher so I guess that they negated one another but thought I should shoot a tiny bit low, just below the eye that way I stand a better chance of hitting something rather than giving it a haircut.

Just its head was sticking out from between the split of the tree trunk so cross hairs just below the eye and squeezed the trigger. I’ve not owned a bullpup before so don’t have any experience but I have to say that even though this gun is heavy, the balance on it is superb. You throw it up into your shoulder and the weight seems to disappear. Really easy to keep on target. Man, I love the tight solid “zip” that the Cricket makes followed by that loud smack! I had miscalculated the wind, (it was pretty dang windy), so the King struck it in the neck, between, & behind the ear and jaw, and passed right through. Had it not been for the wind that pellet would have fallen square on the calculated POI. That squirrel was dead before it hit the ground. Actually it hit a branch a few feet above the ground and stopped there, but not even a twitch. Had to get a step ladder. Sorry, it was getting dark and no camera on hand.
I hadn’t planned on shooting the squirrel but I had to christen the Cricket! A perfect performance.