Posted on 01/12/2010 9:13:29 AM PST by Jewbacca
I have got squirrels all over my damn house, ruining flower beds, getting in the attic, etc. Some idiot introduced them (they are not native) to our town and they are going crazy with no natural predators.
I live in a city (suburb) where the discharge of firearms is rather disfavored.
My friends and neighbors have opted for the pellet gun approach --- some with the C02 pistol spray-and-pray approach --- some with the scoped rifled (nailed one myself at a friend's house at 30 yards).
I know squat about pellet guns, other than they come in .177 and .22.
Recomendations?
Will that Gamo dispatch rabbits? I have that problem, but live in the city limits, so they don’t look kindly upon things that go “bang.”
35+ years ago...when our kids were young, they came up with a squirrel. They were only 4 and 7 at the time and I don’t remember how they found the warm little creature.
And I, being of sound mind and wanting our children to be well rounded and manly, saw an opportunity....
So, I skinned, and tanned the hide of the little squirt,
as our boys watched amazed, because they saw it done by their mom!
Of course it took several days....:-)
They are delighted today as they show the skin to their boys, that their mom was not a sissy!
My neighbor’s have a really fast, high strung rat terrier. The squirrels stay very close to the trees. lol
Rabbits are much more fragile than squirrels IMO, the Gamo will air them out no problem, even with body shots.
Rabbits almost want to die in my experience, they just fold up.
"License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to lie back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote."
Try a .22 CB. They are quieter than an air rifle when fired from a rifle, not so much out of a pistol.
I think I saw a Whisper at Charlie’s recently. Call 275-3006 and ask.
This is essentially an exercise in sniping ... shooting from within a building is standard fare ... perhaps other aspects of sniper fieldcraft could be adapted to the short range and small size of the current enemy?
I tried CB’s out of my CZ 452, except at close range they wouldn’t penetrate the local ground squirrels. Switched to the shot cartridges out of the smoothbore .22.
Be careful. Some cities don’t even allow you to trap small wildlife like squirrels — much less to kill them.
—great—a learning opportunity few kids get anymore—
I would recommend any Gamo model you are willing to pay for. I paid $129 for mine at The Bass Pro Shop. It goes out at 850fps with normal ammo which is deadly on squirrels. My 9 year old grandson can cover his 3 shot, 30 yd, group with a dime. Also deadly on squirrels.
I just remembered this article from 1984. (No, I don’t have a life)
http://www.minisniping.org/articles_petercapstick.html
Capstick was a noted big game hunter and author.
Cool.
I have an aged and disabled Yellow Lab who ignores rabbits. I'm guessing that he figures he can't catch them, so he doesn't try. Bloody things will munch our green stuff within 5 feet of him.
Lizards, however, he chases until he can't hardly walk anymore.
At typical in town backyard distance, you won’t even need a scope for rabbits.
I think I paid somewhere around 129$ for the Gamo break barrel I have now form Academy Sports. It is definitely a high quality gun, but its nowhere near as nice as that Gamo Whisper that is shown above. I am drooling over that, but it’s close to 300$ -_-;
Trust me. The tree rats won’t know the difference.
I remembered that one too, as soon as you mentioned it. Rats over cheeseburgers wasn’t it?
I might need it. I live on a 1/2 acre in town. Thanks for the info!
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