Hello everyone! I'm a newbie on using air guns, and I'm looking for some advice on shooting mice that are coming by my chicken coop every night. They are eating up the chicken food, pooping everywhere, and chewing up stuff. About 4-5 mice scatter away quickly when I shine light on them at night.
I've been using mouse traps for a while and caught a bunch, but now, either only the smarter ones are left, or they became smarter, the traps don't work at all, and it has been killing sparrows instead (I don't want sparrows dead.. just mice).
The main issue is that, I can not spend any more money on gun related stuff, due to... nagging wife. It is just not worth the nagging and it is better to leave the mice alone. I thought of poison, but I learned they cause other ecological harm, so i dont want to do that either. Here is what i've got.
Beeman P-17
Crosman 2100
Cheap reflex sight
Cheap 4x scope
Bunch of mouse traps (been killin sparrows so I stopped)
*I won't use these, because I can't shoot actual firearms in the backyard, but maybe someone has an idea to incorporate it somehow?
Mossberg 500 Shotgun
Kimber 1911 .45ACP
1) At first I tried with Crosman 2100, but I can not really sit outside and wait for mice to come out, so took the scope out and used iron sights. However, aiming quickly was not working because I'm cross eye dominant. And I multi-pumping it made the shooting not enjoyable. So I said no to Crosman 1377 or 1322.
2) Since I've been shooting a Kimber 1911 .45ACP for a longtime in shooting ranges (right hand / left eye), i thought I'd have a better chance with a Beeman P-17. I've been shooting at stationary paper targets in a well-lit indoor shooting range only. And I've never shot at a moving target in the dark, so I was not acquiring targets fast enough.
3) So I got a cheapo $20 reflex sight for quicker target acquisition... but I realized it sits high on the Beeman P-17, and I have to install it on the front of the gun (because rear "slide" is used for cocking. This caused me taking longer to find the red dot. I tried doing the Center Axis Relock stance, to keep the gun close to my face.. But holding the gun at 30-45 degrees made it inaccurate (maybe due to bullet drop), and was taking longer to aim.
4) So what I'm doing now is.. sneaking out to the backyard quietly at night with Beeman P-17 with ironsights + flashlight. Turn on the flash light while aiming somewhere on the chicken coop, and try to pick + shoot as mice scatter. Doing this for days, and I'm just too slow. And once they scatter, they don't show up for at least 30 min.
Is this even possible to do by practice?? The chicken coop is about 5-10 yards from where I shoot. I am hitting a quarter taped on the coop, about 75% of the time during daytime, but the quarter is not moving at all and I'm aiming for good 3-5 seconds before shooting. I hit it much less when I shoot while I'm moving or trying to shoot quickly. It also does not help that P-17 is a single shot pistol.
*I understand that Beeman P-17 may not kill a mouse in one shot, so I've prepared a wooden club in the chicken coop for whacking it dead.
*I don't need to worry about hitting chickens, because they are sleeping enclosed in a housing inside the coop.
*I would like to shoot them to extinction, for fun. But if there is any non-shooty method, please do suggest.
*I'm living in a populated city.
Any suggestion would be appreciated. My efforts have pretty ineffective, and would like to try a feasible suggestion before I give up. I am seeing slight improvement on accuracy on shooting targets quickly after days of practice.
I've been using mouse traps for a while and caught a bunch, but now, either only the smarter ones are left, or they became smarter, the traps don't work at all, and it has been killing sparrows instead (I don't want sparrows dead.. just mice).
The main issue is that, I can not spend any more money on gun related stuff, due to... nagging wife. It is just not worth the nagging and it is better to leave the mice alone. I thought of poison, but I learned they cause other ecological harm, so i dont want to do that either. Here is what i've got.
Beeman P-17
Crosman 2100
Cheap reflex sight
Cheap 4x scope
Bunch of mouse traps (been killin sparrows so I stopped)
*I won't use these, because I can't shoot actual firearms in the backyard, but maybe someone has an idea to incorporate it somehow?
Mossberg 500 Shotgun
Kimber 1911 .45ACP
1) At first I tried with Crosman 2100, but I can not really sit outside and wait for mice to come out, so took the scope out and used iron sights. However, aiming quickly was not working because I'm cross eye dominant. And I multi-pumping it made the shooting not enjoyable. So I said no to Crosman 1377 or 1322.
2) Since I've been shooting a Kimber 1911 .45ACP for a longtime in shooting ranges (right hand / left eye), i thought I'd have a better chance with a Beeman P-17. I've been shooting at stationary paper targets in a well-lit indoor shooting range only. And I've never shot at a moving target in the dark, so I was not acquiring targets fast enough.
3) So I got a cheapo $20 reflex sight for quicker target acquisition... but I realized it sits high on the Beeman P-17, and I have to install it on the front of the gun (because rear "slide" is used for cocking. This caused me taking longer to find the red dot. I tried doing the Center Axis Relock stance, to keep the gun close to my face.. But holding the gun at 30-45 degrees made it inaccurate (maybe due to bullet drop), and was taking longer to aim.
4) So what I'm doing now is.. sneaking out to the backyard quietly at night with Beeman P-17 with ironsights + flashlight. Turn on the flash light while aiming somewhere on the chicken coop, and try to pick + shoot as mice scatter. Doing this for days, and I'm just too slow. And once they scatter, they don't show up for at least 30 min.
Is this even possible to do by practice?? The chicken coop is about 5-10 yards from where I shoot. I am hitting a quarter taped on the coop, about 75% of the time during daytime, but the quarter is not moving at all and I'm aiming for good 3-5 seconds before shooting. I hit it much less when I shoot while I'm moving or trying to shoot quickly. It also does not help that P-17 is a single shot pistol.
*I understand that Beeman P-17 may not kill a mouse in one shot, so I've prepared a wooden club in the chicken coop for whacking it dead.
*I don't need to worry about hitting chickens, because they are sleeping enclosed in a housing inside the coop.
*I would like to shoot them to extinction, for fun. But if there is any non-shooty method, please do suggest.
*I'm living in a populated city.
Any suggestion would be appreciated. My efforts have pretty ineffective, and would like to try a feasible suggestion before I give up. I am seeing slight improvement on accuracy on shooting targets quickly after days of practice.
chickens will get on that mouse like stink on manure and they'll kill it and eat it. Chickens rule the day cats rule the night.
