doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Much ado about one squirrel

Can't imagine using a .22 for squirrels. Not sure what you would do with a rifle while also flushing partridge and woodcock in the squirrel woods. Not to mention how dangerous it is to fire a rifle round into the air.

If you really want a challenge stalk squirrels with a shotgun, and get yourself into position so ONLY the squirrel's head is exposed for the shot. Simple way to eliminate damage to the rest of the body.

I say shoot them with whatever you like.

Growing up I generally just picked up whatever gun I wanted to hunt with that day.
I think its everyone's own personal business.

Along the same "getting into position" as you mentioned, with my 22 I wait for the squirrel to be on the trunk close to the ground, with many trunks or a hill for background, or on the ground. Never take tree top shots because of wind or squirrel movement with open sighted rifle. Aim only at the head, so it's either instant kill or instant miss. As for grouse or woodcock, I haven't seen one in west/central PA for a decade or more.

Model2128Ga

I have two options .22 bolt gun with 3-9x42 scope or 12ga with 1&1/8oz of 6s.

Much like topgun, my dad had an ongoing war of attrition with squirrels.

Back when we had the house built in the early 60s, he planted an English Walnut tree in the back yard. He nurtured it through a couple tough winters, tarring cracks in the bark and so on and, in due course (20 years or so) it started bearing nuts. Lots of nuts.

This drew the squirrels, as you might imagine.

He got a .22 from a friend and some BB caps - our hunting guns were all shotguns. Early in the morning he'd stand in the kitchen drinking his morning coffee and watching his tree through the window over the sink. At some point, a branch would start shaking, a sure sign of a squirrel raiding the tree.

At that, he'd slip down into the basement where he'd stowed the .22. The steel Bilco cellar door with its creaky hinges he left open at night, locking only the door at the bottom of the steps. The cellar steps made an ideal sniper's nest, one which guaranteed the neighbors (this was a suburban development) would not see where the gun was, assuming they heard the quiet report of the BB cap. The angle also ensured that his background was not a house.

I didn't think much of this for legal and safety reasons and told him so, but he didn't listen. These were his walnuts. He didn't care if they were in season or not, those squirrels were going to get it. One of his favorite winter projects to keep him out of trouble with my mom was to stay in the basement listening to his accordion music and shelling walnuts, one at a time, with his pocketknife. The more the squirrels ate, the more likely he'd run out of project and into trouble.

After several years of this, there were 47 dead squirrels buried in the garden. One old greybeard played cat-and-mouse with him - and the neighbor's cat - for months one summer only to get greedy and wind up next to all the younger, stupider squirrels that lasted only a week or two.

The house was sold several years after the squirrels, inexplicably, stopped coming to steal his walnuts. The folks who moved in didn't like the shade the now-huge tree cast and turned it into firewood. I never told my dad about that because it might well have broken his heart.

I have a number of squirrel colonies here. As long as they don't come around the house I leave them be.
It seems the individual colonies hate each other.

Occasionally, when I want squirrel and biscuits, I grab my Hamilton Boy's rifle, and a box of cb longs, and snipe whichever colony is dumb enough to chatter at me.

I can't believe there was a time when a Hamilton was considered a sign of maturity and responsibility.

When I lived in PA and was younger I had to keep the camp cleared out of chipmunks, as they would find someway to get in and make a nest in the winter. So all my time was spent hunting these little critters. We were over run with them.

I generally used a 22 either handgun or rifle. The most fun was when I was using my Model 70, 30-06, when using the 220 gr, I generally could find no stiffs

John Boyd

My wife is fond of putting out bird feeders full of various seeds to attract the pretty little birds she likes to watch, goldfinch, wrens, robins, jays, etc. She is not fond at all of robbers in the feeders, so I keep them thinned out pretty well with a Benjamin pump gun shooting .20 cal lead pellets and mounted with an inexpensive Simmons scope. Very quiet, no complaints from neighbors, and effective.

I like to use lead bullets and small charges of fast burning powder in my center fire rifles as a tune up for big game. Head shots only of course.

If I had my way I would use a punt gun to clear entire colonies.

They gnawed through my soffit to enter the attic where they pooped, pissed, and fought at all hours. And chewed the evaporative cooler wiring. I patched their hole and they gnawed through my patch. I patched their hole with aluminum and they gnawed an entirely new hole. They eat my tomatoes and squash. I�m patient or stupid. They gnawed through the ceiling and into a pantry. More patching. One day I come home and my dog has a squirrel �treed� on top of the fridge. I trapped a few and relocated them. I suspected I kept trapping the same male squirrel but they all look alike�

Next time I caught one, I spray painted his tail, and took him to my workplace for relocation. This is 4 miles as the crow files and lots of busy roads. Bastard was back within a day.