.22LR Suitable for badgers?

curseyou said:
BADGER DECENSE THREADS!!!
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Make no mistake, badgers are tough critters. While hunting pheasant as a youth I can personally attest that it takes one more pheasant load #6 shot than you've got in your wingmaster to put it down as it's coming towards you, growling. (good thing I had a couple more in my pocket) Dangerous, no, unless you poke it with a number 6 shotgun load and pi$$ it off. :runaway:
 
You are exaggerating here. I moved up to a .222 Rem because I got tired of the gophers going back down their holes after being shot with ordinary .22LR hollow points at 25-50 yards. Far too many showed up days later crippled but alive. Stingers are marginally better if you can get any accuracy from them.

Shooting badgers is a whole different thing from butchering pigs.


superted said:
When butchering a 250 lb pig on the farm we used to shoot it in the head with ordinary .22LR - dropped like a ROCK - instantly DEAD!!!! Don't under estimate the killing power of the .22! A gopher at 25-50 yards EXPLODES on impact -especially with CCI Stingers!
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I shot one once with a 22lr when I was 16, Came charging out of the long grass and scared the bejubs out of me and I shot it from less than 6 feet

I think I got lucky though and shot it in the spine as it stoppped moving but wasnt dead! I judidiously moved 30 feet away and emptied the rest of the clip into it just to make sure it was dead
 
I have shot at least 20 Badgers with the 22 LR round. I would prefer a 40 grain solid HV round rather than a HP though.

They are well- built and have a nasty temperament when stirred up, so if you entertain any doubts, a bigger gun might be better.

Nowaday, if I had to dispatch one, I would probably pack my 22 WRM.

Regards, Dave.
 
Is a 22LR suitable for badger - my answer is no. While the round can kill a badger, it is not an quick killer for larger animals. I shot a raccon and a porcupine with a 22LR and while they both died - it was neither quick or what I would have described as painless, I was advised by some "experienced" hunters that a simple shot to the head at close range would be lights out for either animal. In both cases, the animals required multiple shots after they had received a "lights out" shot to the head and I was using a high velocity round. A badger is much bigger than either a racoon or porcupine and I wouldn't try to use a 22LR again, especially considering that I have much larger calibers available now.
 
IMO, other than shot in a trap, 99% of western Canadian badgers that are shot are stumbled upon. They spend vast amounts of their life underground, and catching them above ground involves more fluke than hunting prowess. Most are shot with a .22 because the shooter was hunting gophers when he stumbled upon them.
 
This is just the sort of situation that justifies a man in a relationship buying a powerful new varmint rifle, and then of course a high grade scope to go with it. I mean, what real choice do you have?

I will also throw in that as a class most varmints in a location quickly learn what the effective kill range of a .22LR is and exploit it.
 
Big Bad said:
This is just the sort of situation that justifies a man in a relationship buying a powerful new varmint rifle, and then of course a high grade scope to go with it. I mean, what real choice do you have?

I will also throw in that as a class most varmints in a location quickly learn what the effective kill range of a .22LR is and exploit it.
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Practice saying that into a mirror a few times so you can keep a straight face and a new varmint rifle just may be in your future. :)
 
Sorry about that, had to actually work.

This was no "explosion" either, but it was 70+ yards.
Tedsdeadgopher.jpg


And this was my BEST SHOT EVER!!! 60 yds, rifle on the same level as the gopehr, all I could see was his head.
Still no "explosion", though. All killed using solid point Remingotn Cyclones.
IMG_0084.jpg
 
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