It was a dark and stormy night.

No.  That’s not quite right.  Actually, it was more of a generic sort of sunny afternoon.  A light breeze ruffled the plum and lemon trees.  A pair of mourning doves whistled into flight.  In the not-so-distance, someone had their car stereo turned up until every bolt and buckle rattled and buzzed.  A child laughed down the street, playing the innocent games of childhood.

But here, in my backyard, a scenario of deadliest doom was playing out.

I’d heard the rustling in the jasmine earlier.  Thinking that damned skunk was back, I grabbed the Benjamin Marauder and snuck out the side door.  I’d put an end to this pest!  I eased around the storage bin, rifle at the ready.  I captured a flash of movement under the fruit trees along the fenceline and eased into position.

I don’t know if it was the smell that hit me first, or the gurgling snort.  But it had to be scent or sound that set my brain into action, because I simply wasn’t buying what my eyes were selling.

A huge boar faced off at me across the yard.  But he wasn’t a normal hog.  His flesh was rotting from his scarred up body.  Bloody drool and maggots dripped from the open maw.  The sound he was making was something like a snarl, but it was a liquified, gooey rendition, as though his whole throat was full of phlegm or gore.  This was a zombie hog!

This is the kind of shooting you need to stop a zombie hog. The Benjamin Marauder does the trick!

Where had this thing come from?  Did I not bury the last one deep enough?  Maybe it was a mistake to skin and butcher that old boar under the midnight moon?

I dropped to the ground and set up the Benjamin.  This wasn’t the time to stand and be shocked.  Another second and he’d charge!

I leveled the crosshairs between his eyes and let fly with a .25 caliber pellet.  The Marauder spoke true once again, and the shot went right where it was supposed to.  As fast as it started, it was over.

This exciting, backyard zombie hunt was brought to you, in part, by the good folks at Birchwood Casey.

In my mail yesterday, I received a long-awaited package.  In it were about 40 of the new Birchwood Casey “Darkotic” targets.  I mentioned these after seeing them at the SHOT Show back in January, and with Halloween peeking over the pumpkins, I thought it would be fun to see if I could get my hands on a bunch.

To be sure no one felt left out, the company has provided a pretty awesome selection of zombies, from “Drainpipe”, the sewer rat to “Shopping Spree,” the mall rat.  I received a small selection, but I had specifically asked for extras of “Smokehouse”, the zombie hog.  Big surprise, huh?

So what’s up with zombie targets?  Good question… if you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years.

Zombies have taken a pretty phenomenal place in the popular  consciousness lately.  I’m not quite sure how it started, but it’s got to be one of the best marketed memes in recent history.  The living dead have gone from the stuff of B-grade movies and teen-rated video games to the topic of conversations in otherwise staid company.  In the world of guns and hunting, there have been a pile of columns and blog posts related to the perfect “zombie gun”, while college kids are leveraging the social networks to organize campus-wide, zombie invasions.  Even the CDC Office of Public Health and Preparedness has published a guide to prepare the living for the impending zombie apocalypse, along with several other documents and presentations.

Hornady ammunition has taken it to an even higher level, with the recent introduction of the Zombie Max (Z-Max) ammunition… specially designed for shooting zombies!  They’re even rolling television commercials for the new loads, at least on some of the hunting television channels.  According to the disclaimer on the Hornady site, this is real ammunition and not a toy.  I think it would be a hoot to keep a couple of boxes around, but right now I really don’t know a lot more about it.  Anybody tried any of it yet?

In the meantime… the targets are going to be a kick in the pants to play with.  They “splatter” on impact, so it’s easy to see your accuracy… and to ensure those zombie-killing head-shots.  I may not be taking the zombie apocalypse as seriously as I should, but I’ll be getting plenty of practice over the next few weeks… you’ll know because you’ll probably hear me giggling.

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