MCgunner
Member
For squirrel hunting, accuracy rules. And, no two rimfires like the same ammo, it seems.
Look how big the chest/neck kill area is in that picture, and look how tiny the brain is. It's like shooting at a dime. Maybe other people can reliably shoot into an area 1/2" wide at 75+ feet without a rest, or at varying ranges with a scope zeroed at 50 yards, using crap rimfire ammo. That's too hard for me.
As for other people's claims that they can do it every time...call me suspicious. On the Internet, everyone is Annie Oakley (even Annie Oakley wasn't REALLY Annie Oakley). People shoot all over their targets. Then they get 3 shots that cloverleaf. They take photos of those groups and throw their other targets out!
I like shooting the upper body. It seems much more ethical. I don't understand the claims that it ruins meat. I fried 5 squirrels yesterday, all killed with a .22. The bullets leave miniscule holes with clean borders. Once they're fried, you can't tell where they were shot.
If .22 rounds blew meat apart the way people claim, nearly every head shot would be a kill.
2 things are required to head shoot critters of any type and drop them on the spot. The first is precision marksmanship ability, in the given scenario and within the limits of the shooter and equipment. The second is knowing where the brain is in the skull of the critter in question. If these 2 requirements are not satisfied, that's when you end up with animals getting their face shot off, being blinded, etc. Not a humane thing, and a scenario where recovery of the animal may not happen.
In reality, the heart/lung area of a squirrel is not any larger than the head. The head of of squirrel dictates that very few poorly placed shots will make it suffer any more or any longer than a poorly placed body shot. Unlike a deer's head, the mouth and nasal areas are very small and relatively close to the CNC and/or major blood vessels. IOWs, the kill area on the head is closer to the size of a 50 cent piece than a dime. Anyone that cannot hit a 50 cent piece @ 20 yards, is not going to hit a deer's chest @ 150. Period. Yet, who claims shooting at deer past that is unethical? Part of squirrel hunting is patience and waiting for a good shot opportunity. It's different than just squirrel shooting. My 9 year old grand-daughter can consistently hit golfballs at 25 yards with her little Cricket .22, with open sights. She's no Annie Oakley either. Hard for me to believe a grown man that claims the same cannot be done with a scoped .22 is beyond me.
As I said, I grew up hunting squirrels. It was considered unethical not to shoot them in the head. We would hunt from sunrise to sunset many a Saturday or Sunday morning during hunting season. Those squirrels shot in the body would sour due to body fluids fermenting in the body cavity. Cold squirrels are hard to clean. Body shot squirrels were a real pain in the butt. Regardless of what you say, I disagree than no meat is ruined by a front shoulder shot. The front legs of a squirrel are about a 5th of the total meat. Even a clean hole thru them destroys any meat I want to eat. There is also those glands under the front legs that will be carried into the meat if shot into, tainting the taste. Same for gut shot(what poorly placed body shots become) squirrels. The meat is going to be tainted, even if one cleans the squirrel immediately.
But ethics are different than what is legal. One's ethics are dictated by what they are taught, and by the ethics of their peers. Hunting is a prime example that not everyone's ethics are the same.
Even with a solid, shoot 'em in the front shoulder and you destroy a lot of meat which is not abundant on a squirrel anyway.
The holes my .22 made were tiny, and they were impossible to see in the fried results. They closed right up. Maybe if I had peeled the breading off and poked around with forceps, I would have noticed something.
This. I've been killing nuisance squirrels in my yard with a .177 pellet gun for a while. It's almost entirely head shots. At this point I've killed over 120. I actually keep a log of the activity that includes shot placement. 90% of my shots are head shots, and I can't recall a squirrel ever doing anything other than slumping off it's limb, or immediately twitching and flopping for 10 seconds.
If you put the shot between their eye and ear, they'll be dead. I never shoot past 30 yards, I always shoot from a rest, and I know exactly how my rifle groups at those distances. The "rest" I'm shooting from is a three point stance. My stock is pushed into the windowsill, and both elbows are resting on my clothes dryer. It is as solid a stance as I can get. There is no wobble. Past 30 I can't guaranty the accuracy I need to do the job, so I just don't take those shots. This what I'm using for 30 yard shots. It's a Benjamin Marauder with a 4-16x scope. 30 yards max for me because with thousands of shots under my belt, I know that's my comfort zone for the very tiny target that represents a squirrels brain.
Anyone that cannot hit a 50 cent piece @ 20 yards, is not going to hit a deer's chest @ 150. Period. Yet, who claims shooting at deer past that is unethical?
That's a fancy air rifle. I had a Benjamin .22 caliber pump up got for my 7th Christmas. I killed my first squirrels and my first rabbit with it. I still had it in the 80s when I got my first chronograph and it still worked. I shot it over the chrony and it clocked something over 400 fps. I killed squirrel quite dead out to 25 yards or so with it.
Those fancy air guns have gotten expensive and I can't bring myself to get excited about 'em. But, I live out in the boonies now, no longer have to worry about shooting in town. Some folks really get into the air guns, I just prefer my rimfires.
I got into airguns simply because when I went to buy a nice .22 a few years ago, rimfire ammo was non-existant. This was back when people were driving to a bunch of stores every day trying to find .22 ammo. I wasn't going to be doing any of that, so after some research I pulled the trigger on the Marauder. I've been exceptionally happy with it. I now also have a short .22 Marauder carbine I take with me when deer hunting. So many mornings I sit on a deer stand covered up by squirrels but only have my 7 mag. Now if the deer aren't moving but the squirrels are, I just switch to the pellet gun and get some meat for the pot. It's also so quiet that it doesn't spook anything in the area.
Tons of fun.
What powers that cool lookin' air rifle? Is it one of those you have to have an expensive compressor and dive tanks for or is it a springer or CO2 gun. I can't keep up with the innovation in air guns now days even watching that TV show on Pursuit channel, "American Air Gunner".
Today I read that some people think squirrel brains carry dementia, like mad cow disease.
Waste of good brains. One deer brain will tan one deer hide. Brain tanned leather is the softest you'll ever feelSquirrel brains? REALLY? Kinda like cracking a walnut for a meal the size of a BB, I'd think. LOL I had an aunt that liked venison brains. I never saw the appeal of THAT, either.
Well, this topic is getting squirrelly.
The chest cavity is not your target. your target (in thoraxic shots) is the aorta, which is much smaller than the chest cavity. Aim small, miss small. (I remember this from a certain movie, though I heard it long before that) Shooting squirrels is not long range sniping. reread the posts about waiting for the right shot. Patience, young paduwan.Facts are important. The brain is MUCH smaller than the chest cavity.
and I know exactly how my rifle groups at those distances.
With the above quote, sage advice."A man's got to know his limitations." [Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force, Warner Bros. 1973]
Facts are important. The brain is MUCH smaller than the chest cavity.