I need to reduce the squirrel population as much as possible this summer. Cost me $ thousands in surgery on my bird dog who injured himself trying to get them. My question is do I need to go with the high speed @1200 fps stuff or move up to a .22 one? Goal is a quick single shot kill as I am in a subdivision. Does Accuracy trump the energy of speed? I see some high end stuff but it's not in the high end speed wise.
Squirrel rifle
- Thread starter linderhof
- Start date
Sorry about the squirrel troubles. My Lab is doing the same thing and I'm surprised she hadn't hurt herself yet. She finally caught one the other day and that seems to have soothed the savage beast in her. For now....
I've been told if you're sticking to feathers go .177 but for any targets with hair go .22 and larger. I started with a high speed(1200fps rated/actually just ove 1000fps) .177. It did a number on small birds and I purposes it for gophers a couple times but it was not super accurate no matter what I fed it. 12-15 yards was my cap. So I dumped it and bought a Weirauch HW100T .22 PCP in pursuit of accuracy and a bit more range. I'm shooting at 840fps(actual). You can adjust them a bit higher or lower but that's the most accurate speed. I head shoot sparrows and starlings inside 50 yards. Have taken pigeons as far as 67 yards and head shot Ravens at 72yards. Gophers I wasn't ranging but I think I had my longest pokes.
The higher speed of energy rifles are loud for air rifles. If I was wanting to keep things as covert as possible and not expecting longer range targets I'd be looking at a PCP in the 500fps area. .177 would be more than adequate as long as you've got a rig that will put the pellet where you want it each and every time. But everything the .177 will do the .22 will do better.
So short answer to your question is in my opinion, accuracy trumps energy with a small game air rifle.
I've been told if you're sticking to feathers go .177 but for any targets with hair go .22 and larger. I started with a high speed(1200fps rated/actually just ove 1000fps) .177. It did a number on small birds and I purposes it for gophers a couple times but it was not super accurate no matter what I fed it. 12-15 yards was my cap. So I dumped it and bought a Weirauch HW100T .22 PCP in pursuit of accuracy and a bit more range. I'm shooting at 840fps(actual). You can adjust them a bit higher or lower but that's the most accurate speed. I head shoot sparrows and starlings inside 50 yards. Have taken pigeons as far as 67 yards and head shot Ravens at 72yards. Gophers I wasn't ranging but I think I had my longest pokes.
The higher speed of energy rifles are loud for air rifles. If I was wanting to keep things as covert as possible and not expecting longer range targets I'd be looking at a PCP in the 500fps area. .177 would be more than adequate as long as you've got a rig that will put the pellet where you want it each and every time. But everything the .177 will do the .22 will do better.
So short answer to your question is in my opinion, accuracy trumps energy with a small game air rifle.
Thanks Lou. That's the key me of input I was looking for. To give more details, the targets are grey squirrels at about 75 ft max range. They are big well fed buggers. Also being in a subdivision the less noise the better.
In a subdivision, don't be surprised if a neighbour gets real upset. Air rifle or not.
People on my street put out peanuts for the squirrels.. Could hardly believe it when I moved in. I guess theyre ok with the squirrels getting in their attics and ripping insulation apart and chewing on wiring. I sure am not.
But anyways... I recommend a .22 air rifle as well. It will take less velocity to do as much damage, less velocity means less noise.
People on my street put out peanuts for the squirrels.. Could hardly believe it when I moved in. I guess theyre ok with the squirrels getting in their attics and ripping insulation apart and chewing on wiring. I sure am not.
But anyways... I recommend a .22 air rifle as well. It will take less velocity to do as much damage, less velocity means less noise.
freezer filler
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Windsor, Ontario
22lr with CCI Quiets. Headshots only for me. Mmmm... tree chickens.
unicorn gravedigger
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Failed State
The Benji 25cal with heavy ammo, like 35gr should slow it down to 650ish, the rifle is fairly quiet, pretty similar to the CCI RF Quiets, except better ammo selection, better ammo price. Having shot the 25cal for a bit makes me want Benji to come out with a 28cal. I will edit this post with some chrony numbers, just waiting for the rain to let up...
edit: So Exact King 25.4 gr are just under 700fps at an average of 693fps, going up to 30gr may drop it down to 600+- lots of energy at fairly short range.
edit: So Exact King 25.4 gr are just under 700fps at an average of 693fps, going up to 30gr may drop it down to 600+- lots of energy at fairly short range.
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I've found that around 10fpe is my comfortable minimum on greys if they're within about 15 metres. I go to the 20fpe PCP if they're further out. At 15 metres I know I can deliver dime sized groups from an unsupported standing position and with placement of a .22" 18gr JSB between and slightly below the eye and ear that's good enough for a sure thing. When they get a bit further I'm not as sure on unsupported shot placement, so doubling the power to the same pellet at 700fps is a better choice.
Oh yeah, about those Hav-a-Hart traps and the like... I used to do that long ago, trapping them in town then strapping the trap to my bike and dropping them off in the park where they were introduced here in the 1920's. Then on two occasions I was schooled by police that releasing grey squirrels was illegal. I didn't get fined, but did stop doing it to avoid a penalty. Tried a sword once when a grey had chopped down several young bonsai I'd grown from seeds, but he flew at my face and only missed because I dove for cover. My sword hand wasn't fast enough. Squirrels can be really fast. Tried loud noises, cayenne pepper on plants and soil, constant vigilance, nothing worked. After about 20 years I gave up playing nice, as their population just keeps growing to an absurd extent. Now I see the odd one, maybe every two weeks around my neighbourhood. The newer strategy is definitely helping. Hope they spread the word that their kind is not welcome around me.
Oh yeah, about those Hav-a-Hart traps and the like... I used to do that long ago, trapping them in town then strapping the trap to my bike and dropping them off in the park where they were introduced here in the 1920's. Then on two occasions I was schooled by police that releasing grey squirrels was illegal. I didn't get fined, but did stop doing it to avoid a penalty. Tried a sword once when a grey had chopped down several young bonsai I'd grown from seeds, but he flew at my face and only missed because I dove for cover. My sword hand wasn't fast enough. Squirrels can be really fast. Tried loud noises, cayenne pepper on plants and soil, constant vigilance, nothing worked. After about 20 years I gave up playing nice, as their population just keeps growing to an absurd extent. Now I see the odd one, maybe every two weeks around my neighbourhood. The newer strategy is definitely helping. Hope they spread the word that their kind is not welcome around me.
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Got Juice?
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Peoples Republik of Kanukkistan
Be really careful of air rifles in city limits. If you use one that is classified as a firearm that could go all sorts of sideways really fast.
Our child loves squirrels and considers them as pets that are 'free'- as in not domesticated. House is well insulated and never had them do any damage. They just come for their food and off they go...Youtube is full of DIYs for Humane mouse traps. If we can be humane towards rats/mice why not squirrels?
Also, not every shot fired will hit the target, perhaps not worth the consequences.
Also, not every shot fired will hit the target, perhaps not worth the consequences.
Hence the importance of training to be a good shot, to know one's limits and to stay within them. There's more or less a consensus among pest control airgunners that such a limit can be defined as that distance at which one can maintain 100% of shots within the diameter of a dime. Works for me with the very destructive, introduced species of Eastern Grey squirrels, and for the introduced rats of several varieties as well. Both nest in a number of rooftops in my area, doing extensive damage and leaving urine-soaked insulation and wood in their wake. And that's just the nests. Then there's the havoc they bring to any vegetable garden or nut or fruit tree. I've watched a grey squirrel take one or two bites out of every tomato they can find, then move on to the squashes and take one or two bites there. Considering that many studies have determined these animals are carriers of several diseases known to be dangerous to humans, this food becomes wasted in a second as the squirrel tests each and every item they 'might' like and moves on.
Last November a squirrel tore out some stucco from the outside wall around a wire conduit and started building a nest above my downstairs neighbour's bedroom. My neighbours reported hearing a lot of scrambling around up there, worried it might be rats, so I had a look around that side of the house. Sure enough, the hole which had started as just a tiny crack around an improperly sealed electrical conduit entry point (our landlord isn't very attentive to such things) had been enlarged into a 3" diameter hole. They have very strong teeth. A bit of glass and mortar is nothing to a grey squirrel's hard yellow teeth. It took a couple of days for me to find an opportunity for a safe shot. No trap would have been possible as the hole was 6 feet from any flat surface upon which to set one, besides which there aren't any kill traps sold in hardware stores for a rodent that large. And we wouldn't want to be inhumane about it, would we? The squirrel was taken care of before it could complete the nest and settle in to have a family between floors. Had it completed the task unmolested, as suggested by the BCSPCA (who advise that we wait until the young are weaned, then install a one-way door, wait for them all to go out, then seal the hole), the ceiling would have been filled with feces and urine and would have cost rather a lot in biohazardous waste removal and reconstruction. Moldy rodent urine is not safe in any home. Nor is it cute.
Rats seem slightly less destructive, being less picky eaters than squirrels, but the damage they can do inside walls is well established. You may think your home is well insulated, somehow sealed against them, but if there are rats in your yard they are going to get into your walls. Period. A single breeding pair can become close to 200 animals within a year. Sounds fun when they're scuttling around in the ceilings... My father used to run a hotel in San Francisco and one particularly hot summer had an explosion of rats there. He resorted to the best poison he could find. Result? He had to spend over $10,000 and more than a month of his time ripping out walls and removing rotting bodies. Close to 3,000 rats by the time he was done. Humane traps would have done little to dent such a population. Sometimes the numbers just get too bad and something more drastic needs to be done.
And yes, I am very familiar with feelings regarding cute squirrels. I agree, they're cute. But they have no natural predators in Western Canada. They were brought here without any thought being given to this, by enthusiastic wealthy men who wanted to see their fuzzy tails darting around in parks. Vancouver Island is experiencing a wave of the creatures, moving steadily up-island as they dominate more and more ecosystems with their voracious appetites and often 3 litter per year breeding cycles in our favourable climate. Each female can produce a dozen more of her kind per year here. Very rarely does a hawk or coyote catch one, as they're too quick. The BC Government has issued a request for reported sightings:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/ce19breummer.pdf
But this suggests no official measures to counter this expansion which began with the release of a few animals in Victoria. Two releases during the last century in Vancouver cemented their presence, and sightings are now as far inland and North as Kamloops. Another release by a zookeeper in Calgary has had similar results, if slowed slightly by the colder winters there. Red Douglas squirrels are becoming more and more rare in Eastern Grey occupied regions - while it is often suppressed by activist groups, the young of other rodents are often consumed by Eastern Greys. Some activist groups (BCSPCA most notably) seem intent on burying their heads in the sand on this issue. But just ask anyone interested in preserving the native UK red squirrels about this invasive species' ability to dominate. They almost lost their reds entirely, some regions having not a single red squirrel spotted for 2 or 3 years, before airgunners and other efforts started turning the tides. Read for yourself about the efforts of the Penrith & District Red Squirrel Group:
http://www.penrithredsquirrels.org.uk/
There are many similar efforts around the UK organised to fight this introduced menace. And the tide has turned. Reds are being spotted in slowly increasing numbers as their habitats are made available again through culling of the American species.
And then there's the songbird problem. Something I've been very happy to see over the past several years is the strong return of nesting bird pairs around here including a couple of types of Chickadees, hummingbirds, robins, finches, even some flickers who have settled in nicely. Grey squirrels LOVE eating up a whole nest full of eggs, or the featherless hatchlings. A single squirrel can wipe out the offspring of 3 or 4 nesting bird pairs per day. And they do. Last summer I watched a family of finches turned into lunch in about 40 seconds, with me helpless to do anything as there wasn't a safe shot available. The squirrel moved on, bloodied lips and all, to attack my garden below. He didn't last another minute.
So cute, aesthetically, sure. As a child I loved seeing squirrels in the park. I grew up. Are squirrels cute in their behaviours? Not at all. They're worse than domestic cats when it comes to the decimation of bird populations. Please give the facts some thought before judging those who are taking responsibility and humanely dispatching these non-native creatures.
Last November a squirrel tore out some stucco from the outside wall around a wire conduit and started building a nest above my downstairs neighbour's bedroom. My neighbours reported hearing a lot of scrambling around up there, worried it might be rats, so I had a look around that side of the house. Sure enough, the hole which had started as just a tiny crack around an improperly sealed electrical conduit entry point (our landlord isn't very attentive to such things) had been enlarged into a 3" diameter hole. They have very strong teeth. A bit of glass and mortar is nothing to a grey squirrel's hard yellow teeth. It took a couple of days for me to find an opportunity for a safe shot. No trap would have been possible as the hole was 6 feet from any flat surface upon which to set one, besides which there aren't any kill traps sold in hardware stores for a rodent that large. And we wouldn't want to be inhumane about it, would we? The squirrel was taken care of before it could complete the nest and settle in to have a family between floors. Had it completed the task unmolested, as suggested by the BCSPCA (who advise that we wait until the young are weaned, then install a one-way door, wait for them all to go out, then seal the hole), the ceiling would have been filled with feces and urine and would have cost rather a lot in biohazardous waste removal and reconstruction. Moldy rodent urine is not safe in any home. Nor is it cute.
Rats seem slightly less destructive, being less picky eaters than squirrels, but the damage they can do inside walls is well established. You may think your home is well insulated, somehow sealed against them, but if there are rats in your yard they are going to get into your walls. Period. A single breeding pair can become close to 200 animals within a year. Sounds fun when they're scuttling around in the ceilings... My father used to run a hotel in San Francisco and one particularly hot summer had an explosion of rats there. He resorted to the best poison he could find. Result? He had to spend over $10,000 and more than a month of his time ripping out walls and removing rotting bodies. Close to 3,000 rats by the time he was done. Humane traps would have done little to dent such a population. Sometimes the numbers just get too bad and something more drastic needs to be done.
And yes, I am very familiar with feelings regarding cute squirrels. I agree, they're cute. But they have no natural predators in Western Canada. They were brought here without any thought being given to this, by enthusiastic wealthy men who wanted to see their fuzzy tails darting around in parks. Vancouver Island is experiencing a wave of the creatures, moving steadily up-island as they dominate more and more ecosystems with their voracious appetites and often 3 litter per year breeding cycles in our favourable climate. Each female can produce a dozen more of her kind per year here. Very rarely does a hawk or coyote catch one, as they're too quick. The BC Government has issued a request for reported sightings:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/ce19breummer.pdf
But this suggests no official measures to counter this expansion which began with the release of a few animals in Victoria. Two releases during the last century in Vancouver cemented their presence, and sightings are now as far inland and North as Kamloops. Another release by a zookeeper in Calgary has had similar results, if slowed slightly by the colder winters there. Red Douglas squirrels are becoming more and more rare in Eastern Grey occupied regions - while it is often suppressed by activist groups, the young of other rodents are often consumed by Eastern Greys. Some activist groups (BCSPCA most notably) seem intent on burying their heads in the sand on this issue. But just ask anyone interested in preserving the native UK red squirrels about this invasive species' ability to dominate. They almost lost their reds entirely, some regions having not a single red squirrel spotted for 2 or 3 years, before airgunners and other efforts started turning the tides. Read for yourself about the efforts of the Penrith & District Red Squirrel Group:
http://www.penrithredsquirrels.org.uk/
There are many similar efforts around the UK organised to fight this introduced menace. And the tide has turned. Reds are being spotted in slowly increasing numbers as their habitats are made available again through culling of the American species.
And then there's the songbird problem. Something I've been very happy to see over the past several years is the strong return of nesting bird pairs around here including a couple of types of Chickadees, hummingbirds, robins, finches, even some flickers who have settled in nicely. Grey squirrels LOVE eating up a whole nest full of eggs, or the featherless hatchlings. A single squirrel can wipe out the offspring of 3 or 4 nesting bird pairs per day. And they do. Last summer I watched a family of finches turned into lunch in about 40 seconds, with me helpless to do anything as there wasn't a safe shot available. The squirrel moved on, bloodied lips and all, to attack my garden below. He didn't last another minute.
So cute, aesthetically, sure. As a child I loved seeing squirrels in the park. I grew up. Are squirrels cute in their behaviours? Not at all. They're worse than domestic cats when it comes to the decimation of bird populations. Please give the facts some thought before judging those who are taking responsibility and humanely dispatching these non-native creatures.
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I stumbled upon a story this afternoon regarding grey squirrels in the UK. Apparently the wildlife trusts - http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/rsu&utm_referrer=#2951 - are asking for a "volunteer army" 5,000 strong to help in their efforts to save the red squirrel. Efforts needed are to include education outreach for kids, monitoring native red squirrel populations, and killing invasive grey squirrels by shooting or bludgeoning. The latter is apparently executed by trapping, putting into a sack, then beating the sack until the squirrel is dead... not exactly humane dispatch in my books. A clean head shot is vastly preferable. I grew up with trout fishing and learned the hard way that a poor head strike can make for rather extended suffering for the fish. I'll stick with pellets and good marksmanship. Anyway, here's the story, which among other things talks about how squirrelpox virus is carried by the greys but doesn't affect them, while it infects and kills red squirrels rapidly. They predict extinction within 35 years if efforts are not made to eradicate the greys.
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-to-save-species-and-help-kill-invasive-greys
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-to-save-species-and-help-kill-invasive-greys
Nice write up Gerard, I am from the UK and this is quite correct. We call them tree rats and the native reds are on the edge.
I agree 100% about the importance of humane hunting / culling. I do not hunt myself and don't have a strong opinion about it as long as it's humane, sustainable and justified / not wasted.
I agree 100% about the importance of humane hunting / culling. I do not hunt myself and don't have a strong opinion about it as long as it's humane, sustainable and justified / not wasted.
When I lived in a city and had a squirrel problem I cleared them out with snares along the top rail of the fence. Neighbours got a little weird about it, but I just told them "I'm not setting snares in your yard. If they stay over there they'll be fine."
Edited to add - squirrel tastes a lot like grouse.
Edited to add - squirrel tastes a lot like grouse.
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Well the tree rats wouldn't be wasted with me if I were a carnivore. But I stopped eating animals in 1981, so unfortunately they are wasted in my yard. My wife's not vegetarian, though she was for a decade or so. Not a huge carnivore either but does like her sushi and the odd bit of beef. She draws the line at squirrels though, though I've offered to process them for her - I grew up with game bird hunting now and then using a .22" pellet rifle and am not squeamish about the job. Nope, she's not even slightly interested. Figures it'd be far too 'gamey' for her tastes. Fussy Japanese people eh? ;-) And my son's decided recently to go veggie as well so no squirrel stew for him either.
Not too gamey at all as I remember, quite mild and tender. They are quite commonly eaten but I only did once on a bushcraft course a few years ago. That is my memory anyway, some of the other things were more unpleasant. Crow was quite strong, sort if liver-y and moorhen was hardly worth bothering with.
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- Location
- Durham Region
1000 + fps .177 will kill them 1 shot. Get decent pellets that are meant for the job and not paper.
Savage has some offerings that come with a scope, and work well.
Aim to kill. Know what's behind your target.
Good luck.
ITB
Savage has some offerings that come with a scope, and work well.
Aim to kill. Know what's behind your target.
Good luck.
ITB
As for Eastern Grey and Fox Squirrel, I've never tasted any gaminess. Mild and a hint of sweetness. Unlike rabbit, squirrels don't stink when you dress them either. Double-bonus! One of my two favorite small game meats (the other being groundhog slow-cooked). And I am fussy.
Shots would be limited to a section of fence that has safe backdrop but they use it all the time. Range would be max 60ft. When the leaves are on the trees nobody would see anything and if they drop on my neighbors side he would cheer. So, given those conditions do you think a .177 is sufficient or a .22 a better choice. I want rid of them but want it done clean.
