Miller,
The .22 short has a muzzle velocity of about 850 FPS. Standard velocity LR runs perhaps 1200. If you see a squirrel hunkering down on a branch in the top of a tree, and take a shot, more often than not, the LR will pass right through the little guy, and he will expire in place on the branch. The lower velocity .22 short will, more often than not, knock him off the branch. He expires somewhere between the branch and the ground.
It is/was far easier for me to recover squirrels on the ground, than squirrels that expired on a branch, in a tree.
That was my point. Nothing more. What happens to the bushy tail on the way down from the tree is far less predictable. But, gravity is your friend in this situation.



Best,
Ted