Update July 5th: HE'S DEAD! See post #107 for video, and the post just above it for info.
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Ok, so my friend's been having a problem with something killing her chickens. It tears the bodies apart, leaves the wings and neck/head in tact, but doesn't look like it's eating any of it. She's lost 14 in the last three days. Friday night she lost 6, and one of them was my pet chicken named "Misty". She's never laid an egg in her life, she kept her around just for me, and she loved to cuddle with humans. So, that drew the line. It's all out war.
So, I pack up my master blaster (with Tasco 42mm red dot on top):
and head down to her farm at 10:00pm.
I loaded her up with some 2 3/4 - 000 magnum buckshot (12 pellet) and set the poly choke to full, go up on top of her barn behind some flood lights (I can see you but you can't see me
), and wait.
About 1:00am a huge mofo skunk comes charging at the cats that hang around and starts eating out of their cat dish (I can't see this, it's just inside the barn door, I can hear it well in my electronic muffs). When it's done there it starts heading for the chicken coup. It's walking directly across my field of view at approx 25m away. I let a shot rip. It rolls about 7 or 8 times, shakes its head, then starts to run straight away from me. I let another round rip (about 35m away by now) and it flips two or three times nose to tail. Gets up, starts running even faster, no limp or nothin. I rack another round, and voila, no red dot. I check, batteries still in there, no setting gets any dot. yay. It's running between two expensive horse trailers so I'm not about to attempt a guess shot.
So, I go down there to look for it and finish it off. I follow the skunk smell for about 200m but can't find the damn thing anywhere.
So, is it too much to expect a deadly shot at 25m with 000 buck and full choke out of a 30" barrel?? I've never patterned it or anything.
The only thing I think I can take down there is my shotgun and my Walther G22. And I'm not sure how much damage a standard velocity, 36gr hollow point .22 would do to a skunk. In her area there's a hunting caliber restriction to .263 or something weird like that, so my uber powerful CZ 858-2 is outa the question (or is that just for hunting regs? Does caliber limit still apply to preditor control?), and of course, my FS2000 being restricted is out. I don't own anything else in .223, and that's it.
I know if I hit it with a slug it'd explode like a watermelon, but I highly doubt I can hit it with a slug.
And of course, murphy's law. That tasco reddot had survived last years EESA open house, and had at least 700 rounds through it between now and then, and of course, the only time it fails is the only time i've ever not been shooting paper with it. Go figure, I'll have to put a real red dot on her I guess.
So, do I need a .50BMG to finish off this monster skunk?
-Jamie M.
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Ok, so my friend's been having a problem with something killing her chickens. It tears the bodies apart, leaves the wings and neck/head in tact, but doesn't look like it's eating any of it. She's lost 14 in the last three days. Friday night she lost 6, and one of them was my pet chicken named "Misty". She's never laid an egg in her life, she kept her around just for me, and she loved to cuddle with humans. So, that drew the line. It's all out war.
So, I pack up my master blaster (with Tasco 42mm red dot on top):
and head down to her farm at 10:00pm.
I loaded her up with some 2 3/4 - 000 magnum buckshot (12 pellet) and set the poly choke to full, go up on top of her barn behind some flood lights (I can see you but you can't see me
About 1:00am a huge mofo skunk comes charging at the cats that hang around and starts eating out of their cat dish (I can't see this, it's just inside the barn door, I can hear it well in my electronic muffs). When it's done there it starts heading for the chicken coup. It's walking directly across my field of view at approx 25m away. I let a shot rip. It rolls about 7 or 8 times, shakes its head, then starts to run straight away from me. I let another round rip (about 35m away by now) and it flips two or three times nose to tail. Gets up, starts running even faster, no limp or nothin. I rack another round, and voila, no red dot. I check, batteries still in there, no setting gets any dot. yay. It's running between two expensive horse trailers so I'm not about to attempt a guess shot.
So, I go down there to look for it and finish it off. I follow the skunk smell for about 200m but can't find the damn thing anywhere.
So, is it too much to expect a deadly shot at 25m with 000 buck and full choke out of a 30" barrel?? I've never patterned it or anything.
The only thing I think I can take down there is my shotgun and my Walther G22. And I'm not sure how much damage a standard velocity, 36gr hollow point .22 would do to a skunk. In her area there's a hunting caliber restriction to .263 or something weird like that, so my uber powerful CZ 858-2 is outa the question (or is that just for hunting regs? Does caliber limit still apply to preditor control?), and of course, my FS2000 being restricted is out. I don't own anything else in .223, and that's it.
I know if I hit it with a slug it'd explode like a watermelon, but I highly doubt I can hit it with a slug.
And of course, murphy's law. That tasco reddot had survived last years EESA open house, and had at least 700 rounds through it between now and then, and of course, the only time it fails is the only time i've ever not been shooting paper with it. Go figure, I'll have to put a real red dot on her I guess.
So, do I need a .50BMG to finish off this monster skunk?
-Jamie M.
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