If you circle Opening Day on your calendar, this Pro Pick is for you.

"Opening Day is special. The start of a brand new season, fall is not far behind and the woods seem alive with activity. Raccoons in the treetops, squirrels on the forest floor. Awesome. 

It's hard to beat the Nitro Venom on the openng day of squirrel season: .22 is an ideal caliber for squirrels and rabbits and the Nitro Piston powerplant gives me a huge advantage. It's quiet, powerful and the forestock on this rifle is specifically designed for the artillery hold - the most accurate way to shoot a piston gun. 

The Ultimate Hunting Pellet Assortment from Benjamin is a great selection of the very best hunting pellets. And the new Crosman Powershot Red Flight Penetrator pellets pack a wallop to ensure you max your bag limit on Opening Day."

The Nitro Venom air rifle features a precision, rifled barrel with fluted muzzle break and sculpted rubber recoil pad. The rifle is equipped with a CenterPoint 3-9x32mm precision scope and a quick-lock mounting system for quick and easy optic mounting. The ambidextrous synthetic stock has a raised cheek piece and modified, beavertail forearm designed to promote the Artillery Hold shooting position. The wider surface area of the forearm is designed to rest on the palm of your hand, and assists in achieving improved accuracy with break barrel air rifles.

The Opening Day Critter Gitter Pack includes:

• Crosman Nitro Venom .22 air rifle
• Benjamin "Ultimate Hunting Pellet Assortment" - 100 each of the highest quality Domed, Hollow Point, Super Point and Pointed Expanding pellets, all 14.3 grains
• 100 rounds of Crosman Powershot Red Flight Penetrator pellets

Chip Hunnicutt has pursued a wide variety of fish and game and used this experience to develop two iPhone apps for scoring trophy animals. He tweets for Crosman as @crosmancorp and manages the company's Facebook Page.

• Specifications Overview

• Model NumberPROPICK017
• Alloy Pellet VelocityUp to 950 fps
• Weight6.6 lbs
• Length46.25
• MechanismBreak Barrel
• Power SourceNitro Piston
• Caliber.22
• CapacitySingle Shot
• BarrelRifled
• Optics RailPicatinny Style
• Optics3-9x32 mm
• SafetyLever
• MaterialSynthetic