{"id":3276,"date":"2025-09-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregg57.sg-host.com\/hunting\/?p=3276"},"modified":"2025-08-23T09:15:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T16:15:54","slug":"a-morning-out-with-my-daystate-huntsman-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/2025\/09\/a-morning-out-with-my-daystate-huntsman-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"A Morning Out With My Daystate Huntsman Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been saying this for years, to my eye the Daystate Huntsman<\/a> Classic is the Most Beautiful PCP Hunting Rifle ever built. Join me as I take mine out for a squirrel hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ground was damp and springy as I hiked into the woods bordering a friend\u2019s farm on an early fall morning, everything was quiet and still. I carried the Daystate Huntsman<\/a> Classic in the crook of my arm, as I walked through the leaf covered ground as quietly as I could. The ridge smelled of rain-soaked oak, and the mist was lifting from the hollows when the first squirrel gave itself away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A sharp, rattling chatter sounded through the canopy\u2014loud and angry, making his irritation known. I froze in place. Up in an old shaggy oak, a gray squirrel pressed itself flat against the bark, only its tail twitching in short, jerky movements. Then he went still, trying to vanish into the trunk, while peeking at me with one black eye. They always think they\u2019re invisible when they do that, hugging the bark and watching. They can be hard to spot with the naked eye, and that\u2019s when having binoculars pay off. But when the tail twitched again, I had no problem localizing this guy! I shouldered the rifle, waited for the squirrel to edge out farther, and just before it leaped onto the next limb, I let the pellet fly. The muted pop<\/em> was all it took. The squirrel cartwheeled down through the branches, hitting the ground with a muffled thump. As usual I was using the JSB Exact 18 grain pellets this gun likes, and they always do the job providing excellent accuracy and great terminal performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deeper in the woods, I heard acorn shells raining down from the trees above. I eased forward, moving slowly, until I spotted another gray perched on a limb. It sat on its haunches, with a nut in its paws, gnawing with quick, sharp bites. Bits of shell called cuttings, floated down to the forest floor below. Next to a twitching tail, spotting cuttings is the best indication of a squirrel when the leaves are still on the trees. I had the Huntsman braced against an adjacent tree trunk as I lined up the shot. Every few seconds, the squirrel froze and raised its head, whiskers twitching, ears swiveling, before going back to feeding. I waited for the moment it lowered the nut, chest broadside, and sent another shot. The squirrel stiffened, twitched once, and slid from the branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I nearly missed the last squirrel of the morning. I\u2019d heard its chatter but couldn\u2019t get eyes on it. I sat tucked against a fallen log, pulling out my binoculars and scanning the canopy, until finally spotting him. He was right in front of me, but I hadn’t seen him till the glass came out, pressed tight against a branch and laying so flat it seemed to blend into the tree. I lined up the crosshairs for a headshot, then squeezed the trigger, and watched as another squirrel hit the deck. I had three plump squirrels on the stringer, and I decided to call it a day. I hiked back to my vehicle, and quickly skinned and gutted the three squirrels before throwing them on ice and starting off on the drive home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Huntsman<\/a> Classic is one of the most elegant and capable PCP air rifles on the market. Many of the newer guns hitting the market have a more tactical look and feel, but the Huntsman<\/a> Classic has the look and feel of a traditional sporting rifle. While the performance of this rifle is excellent, I have other rifles that have slightly better accuracy, more power, and a higher shot count. But none combine the high level of performance with what I consider the pinnacle of style in a field gun. The styling is timeless, the beautifully shaped and figured walnut stock is slim, lightweight, and carries exceptionally well in the field. The balance is neutral, which matters if you spend your time walking ridgelines or slipping through woods instead of shooting from a bench. I also find this rifle easy to maneuver in thicker brush, due to its compact dimensions and light weight. This is a gun I am proud to own, and has a permanent place in my small game line up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Huntsman<\/a> delivers the performance and quality you would expect from Daystate. The regulated versions produce exceptional shot-to-shot consistency, and unregulated models still offer excellent real-world consistency. At typical small-game hunting ranges (60 yards), it will stack pellets into tight groups. Stretch it to 70+ yards and it still holds steady if you do your part. The trigger is crisp, breaking cleanly without excess travel. It\u2019s not a match trigger, just consistent, tactile, and dependable\u2014exactly what you want for a hunting rifle when shooting from field positions. The latest iteration of the Huntsman is the Huntsman Revere, which leverages the HUMA regulator technology to elevate performance over that of the already outstanding Classic model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This rifle shines in the woods. It doesn\u2019t snag, doesn\u2019t feel clunky, and carries like a classic rimfire. The bolt-action is smooth, the magazine feeds reliably, and the report is subdued, especially if paired with a moderator. Shot count is respectable for a rifle this slim, giving you plenty of shots for a morning of squirrel or rabbit hunting without lugging a spare tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been saying this for years, to my eye the Daystate Huntsman Classic is the Most Beautiful PCP Hunting Rifle ever built. Join me as I take mine out for a squirrel hunt. The ground was damp and springy as I hiked into the woods bordering a friend\u2019s farm on an early fall morning, … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,102,1],"tags":[271,5,270],"class_list":["post-3276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airguns-of-arizona","category-daystate","category-uncategorized","tag-classic-airgun","tag-daystate-huntsman-classic","tag-traditional-hunting-rifle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3285,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions\/3285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}