OT: BB/pellet guns for discouraging rodentia

[spank]

Originally Posted by rnhood

If you wound the squirrel, it will die. They don't heal and come back.

My experience has been a little different. Rabbits around here remind me of professional soccer players; plink 'em anywhere and they launch themselves 2 feet in the air and probably then off themselves by flailing around on the ground like a group of 12 year-old first time thespians performing Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.

The squirrels around here, if not a well-placed pellet, run off only for me to plink them again. I've encountered over a dozen that have healed spots on them (usually looking like dried tar spots on their fur) when they finally receive further assistance to cease moving about. We even had one squirrel that I felt pretty sorry for as it was "running" around in the fastest "dog carpet scoot" position on the ground you've ever seen and for nearly a week before it's suffering was ended.

May be my rifle. It's a .177 and will sometimes go clean through a squirrel with crossman premier "destroyer" pellets.

We have an owl box, but it's too close to the house. Had babies in it for 2 seasons straight and they cry and cry and cry all night long begging to be fed. None this year in our box, though, which makes us kind of miss the squelching. Rats are particularly bad this year.

Oak trees w/ acorns, macadamia nut, orange, avocado, loquat, kumquat, and pomegranate trees (plus date palms) in a rural area mean we are the local buffet, even though we don't really tend to any of those trees except the avocado, watering it just enough to keep it alive but not really fruit-baring.

[gdw]

If you're not familiar with guns, firearm safety, marksmanship, and don't plan to kill and eat the fruit thieves, find a nonviolent way to deal with your rodent problem. Have you tried trimming back the low hanging branches and installing a metal collar 5-6 feet up the trunk?

[dbnm]

I flooded this little f*cker out today.

Got him in a bucket and moved him next to the Rio Grande river.

Hopefully he was the only one digging up my yard.

[chismog]

Originally Posted by dbnm

I flooded this little f*cker out today...Hopefully he was the only one digging up my yard.

I feel you. I'm a detail-oriented gardener and just one or two of these guys can do a ton of visible, lasting damage in my yard. I don't make them suffer, but I relish the victory of their demise when they bring the battle.

[dbnm]

He was digging under our fruitful apricot tree and making a mess. When he popped out of the hole he ran towards me and scared me as I did not see him. I was busy watching a garter snake eat a frog from my frog pond. That's another story.

[2LeftCleats]

I’d call Bill Murray.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by gdw

Have you tried trimming back the low hanging branches and installing a metal collar 5-6 feet up the trunk?

That might work for the rats but the squirrels do most of the damage and they mount aerial assaults via the neighbor's trees.

The tiny saving grace is that the avocados that they nibble can still yield edible fruit, kind of remarkable.

[old_fat_and_slow]

Originally Posted by dbnm

I flooded this little f*cker out today.

Got him in a bucket and moved him next to the Rio Grande river.

I applaud your humane tactics.
After putting up with all his damage I would have just squashed him, but perhaps that's just me.

[Louis]

I kill pests only if there are no other options. Since I live out it the woods there are plenty of critters who want to come live inside. It also makes it easy to relocate them pretty far away. Not sure how that works out for them, but at least it gives them a chance. Most of the time I try to remove their access to whatever it is they want, but that isn't always an option.

[Clancy]

We live on 2 acres in a neighborhood of similar size lots. We have squirrels, armadillos, skunks, foxes, whitetail and axis deer.

We have always kept at least one but usually two outdoor cats. They are “fixed” and fitted with bright sparkling collars to alert birds. We feed them about half of what they should get and we do not treat them as pets. These semi-feral cats do a great job of keeping the skunks, squirrels, and armadillos off our property. My neighbor hates cats so instead traps and will trap 18-24 squirrels each year.

Squirrels are rats with furry tails, they’re rodents. I have no problem with anyone eliminating them with an air gun as long as it’s done safety. By the way, sitting or standing inside a room and shooting out through a window will prevent any noise from escaping. Someone standing 5 feet outside will not hear a thing, the sound will be trapped in the room.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by Clancy

We live on 2 acres in a neighborhood of similar size lots. We have squirrels, armadillos, skunks, foxes, whitetail and axis deer.

We have always kept at least one but usually two outdoor cats. They are “fixed” and fitted with bright sparkling collars to alert birds. We feed them about half of what they should get and we do not treat them as pets. These semi-feral cats do a great job of keeping the skunks, squirrels, and armadillos off our property. My neighbor hates cats so instead traps and will trap 18-24 squirrels each year.

Squirrels are rats with furry tails, they’re rodents. I have no problem with anyone eliminating them with an air gun as long as it’s done safety. By the way, sitting or standing inside a room and shooting out through a window will prevent any noise from escaping. Someone standing 5 feet outside will not hear a thing, the sound will be trapped in the room.

You can also buy silenced pellet guns.

[jpw]

Forget pellets. Just play looping Taylor Swift.

[sailorboy]

Originally Posted by rnhood

If you don't use pellets to kill the rodent, or squirrel in this case, it will be back the next day. Maybe even later the same day. A 177 or 22 pellet gun (or pistol) will do the trick. If you wound the squirrel, it will die. They don't heal and come back.

I use a Feinwerkbau 124 sporter for long shots, and their FWB 65 pistol (now outdated) for closer shots. They both work wonderfully.

Maybe with a pellet gun, but my story is that I tried using a slingshot with large BBs at 'half-strength' to bounce a couple off some squirrels that were wrecking havoc last year...intending for body shots to scare them off, I unintentionally hit one right in the face, he flipped around a while, then went still. Feeling a bit bad at my mistake, I waited a bit before going out to pick him up off the lawn and toss in the woods, only to find he was gone about 10 minutes later. Apparently was knocked out and came to, leaving to fight another day. Fast forward a few months, I resigned to use preventive measures rather than kill them unless they really start doing damage to property, and just watch their antics. Looking out the window one day through the binos I see one with a face that is drooped on one side, with one eye lower. He must be the survivor!

The only things I take out now with the pellet gun are starlings and the occasional english brown sparrow, both invasive and destructive species here in the US. The foxes seem to enjoy that. And no, at the range I'm hitting them with 1200fps, the pellet goes right through so the foxes aren't eating lead.

[sailorboy]

Yum

[54ny77]

Now that was a funny.

Originally Posted by jpw

Forget pellets. Just play looping Taylor Swift.