I need a squirrel gun!

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

I've had it with those tree rats pillaging my bird feeders. It's time to shoot a couple and nail their pelts to the trees in my backyard as a message.

I'm looking for a "quality" air rifle at a "reasonable" price. I'll go to $ 150.00 and perhaps, $ 200.00.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I'll give serious consideration to any air gun that is capable of mortally wounding my neighbor's cat. It's killed two birds this week in my backyard and it needs to go too.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Sabot]

Who are you trying to fool? You're just looking for the materials to tie some picket pins. This should be in the flytying section.

 

[krayfish2]

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Remingtonreg-Express-XP-Air-Rifle/1883553.uts?WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

 

[TimMurphy]

Yo krayfish,

That looks nice! I have a few Cabela's bucks to spend too so I could get free ammo!

Thanks for the tip, I might need to take a ride tomorrow.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[beadhead2]

http://www.pyramydair.com/a/BB_guns_and_pellet_guns/BB_and_pellet_rifles/1117
http://www.airgundepot.com/
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/
http://www.airgun-supply.com/
http://www.airgunmegastore.com/blowback-pellet-and-bb-guns/

 

[PhilC]

If you really want to get rid of them get a trap.
I had a squirrel infestation at my old house about 10 yrs ago...they drove me nuts (no pun), one day I woke up, to them in the walls and decided to do something about it. Went to walmart and bought the best air gun they had. I got a couple by shooting them in the yard. It was a fun challenge but not as effective. Gotta trap and I was getting one just about every day. Trap em and cap em

 

[PennKev]

You can get an honest to god .22 rimfire at that price. Just shoot cb caps and noise will be kept at a minimum.

Pellet guns are not necessarily quite and the ones in your price range may not be the most accurate.

 

[sandfly]

gammo will hit out to 75 yards no problem and has enough power to drop a bobcat..

 

[outsider]

Havahart squirrel traps work great. Just put a small cracker covered with peanut butter as bait, and leave a small peanut butter trail inside the trap leading to the trip mechanism. Also anchor the trap to the ground with landscaping pins (cheap at Lowes), as the squirrels try to overturn the trap.

I tried sprinkling cayenne pepper powder on the seeds in my bird feeders with limited success. Won't harm the birds.

 

[brookieaddict]

How about this one???

 

[PennKev]

sandfly wrote:
gammo will hit out to 75 yards no problem and has enough power to drop a bobcat..

This is not a realistic example of a pellet guns abilities.

A .22 pellet is typically less than 1/2 the weight of a .22 bullet, often much less.

Even on pellet gun rated at 1000+ FPS the performance is usually less than 800fps as the guns usually have inflated speeds for marketing reasons.

A .22 CB rimfire round fires a bullet weighing twice as much at the same speeds.

No one would hunt at 75 yds with a CB. With a pellet gun you would be delivering about a 1/3 - 1/2 of the energy of such a round at that distance.

If you drop down to a .177 pellet it gets even worse.

 

[ryguyfi]

My dad had a red squirrel problem a few years back. He shot a couple off his deck. Eventually he literally had a flock of crows that would wait for him to kill a squirrel and they would "take care of the mess". He had them get into the attic and over a summer trapped and killed over 20 red squirrels on his property. He only has a hair over an acre, which is crazy. I would do both, smack a few with a 22 and live trap them as well.

He also told my mom he "released" the trapped ones, but I know better...

 

[beadhead2]

Yum squirrel pie !!!!!

 

[salvelinus]

I remember my Dad had an ongoing war with the buggers. He didn't want to kill them so he had some old wooden box traps from the Game Commission that he used. He took them outside of town and released them, but their numbers never seemed to go down. So one day he marked one with a bit of yellow paint and released it out in the country. A few days later it was back in the yard. That's when he told me to get an air rifle.

 

[springer1]

You can get an honest to god .22 rimfire at that price. Just shoot cb caps and noise will be kept at a minimum.

+1 You'll then have a rifle that can shoot anything from low velocity "quiet ammo" or CB caps or 22 shorts - up to hi-velocity 22LR (long rifle) as well.

Stick with a bolt action because they typically accept all these different kinds of ammo and you can either insert a single round directly into the chamber or load the magazine. Low velocity 22 ammo will not operate an auto feed rifle.

 

[laszlo]

I use my Red Ryder, you have to be pretty close though

 

[mikesl]

I think trapping/shooting the squirrels is a short term fix... not that there is anything wrong with short term fixes... but it seems to indicate somethign is out of whack.
Perhaps the more fundmental issue is that you and/or your neighbors have too many squirrel-friendly bird feeders and too few foxes and hawks.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

A buddy at work lent me a Benjamin NP22. The squirrels must have seen me getting out of the car with it last night because they are scarce.

Mike the biggest problem is my neighbor who raised 6 squirrels in her house this Spring and then let them go in her yard. I didn't care that she "fostered" them but I figured she'd have enough sense to release them somewhere away from the house and dogs they grew up around?

She is now fostering a raccoon. I can't wait until she lets that walk out of her house into the woods. It'll be a real pleasure when it rummages through the garbage every Sunday night.

We have plenty of hawks and foxes around here but they aren't dumb and tend to stick to the tree lines that surround several hundred acres of hay and corn fields that border the area where I live. They stay in the woods and go into the fields when they need something to eat. It's much easier for them than having to hunt in a development, even if the development is 75% wooded.

The bears on the other hand spend a lot of time in our backyards.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[pro4mance]

Dear Tim,
You have the 22 so when the raccoon shows up, pop it. Tying supplies and dog food with one shot. Win win situation. If your neighbor starts fostering Pheasants you could make some spare cash and make allot of PAFF guys happy at the same time. Another win win situation. If you know Andrew Zimern he could teach you how to cook the raccoon, another win win situation. Or maybe the Bear will eat the raccoon.
Regards, Norm

There was a bit of sarcasm in that post, or maybe not.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Norm,

I sensed no sarcasm at all in your post. It was full of good practical advice as far as I am concerned.

I did find the identical gun to the one my buddy lent me on line for a good price so I will be getting one eventually. My friend who lent me the gun said it'll drop a raccoon at 50 yards easily so I might need it when the neighbor releases her latest pet.

For now I'll just have to wait until Mr. Squirrel shows up and then pop a cap in him and nail him to a tree over the bird feeders as a message.

The neighbor who used to live next door took two pheasants with a bow. He was the best neighbor anyone could ever have, bar none. I live next door to 11,000 acres of SGL and when they stock birds the birds don't get released with GPS's and Google Maps so occasionally they wander. Stocked pheasants don't even know how to fly so they have to walk in search of food. Sometimes it doesn't work out well for them.

C'est La Vie!

Regards,

Tim Murphy