Pesters vs Papershooters....

ahhhh young grasshopper,you have arrived

Tried to pest but around here (south central KY ) all the farmers use bait or just don't want someone shootin '

i find shooting too much target or even plinking makes me less successful at moving quickly to get the shoy on that pos thats been aggravating me .. its like he dont know how lucky he was i forgot to cock it and the horror i felt at squeezing a dead trigger haha .. but no, i try to live the scenarios and keep things straight and minimize paper time .. just for sighting and dialing ...

I agree with your post, I paper punch in order to kill them pests. I love the practical aspects of my current PCPs. And that came about through lots of plinking and pesting. Glad that you are happy and helping out those farmers.

I got into this sport because of rats but had to hone my shooting skills on paper because it was a springer but I mostly shoot paper now because I've culled the rat population quite well! I also gravitated to the darkside which made it much more enjoyable and easier plus like you, the pesting lead me to my fav PCP's which satisfies my paper and pesting needs. Funny how things lead from one thing to another.

i got into pcp's for hunting small game along with deer & hogs.
started pesting with them on my farm and boy was that fun and rewarding !!
i dont call myself a paper-puncher, except when i get a new gun or accessories.
we do plink objects for family fun, but scoring on paper......maybe one day.....

Just paper here.

I'm too close to the center of the city to go hunting little critters. No farms within a nominal driving distance to talk to...so, just a short distance, paper hunt.
Still good times though.

Mike

CTairgunner1288 said:

I came into this sport a year and a half ago Ijust wanting to shoot paper, I just liked shooting. As I started seeing people using their airguns to pest, I thought , maybe I too can do that? So I started reaching out to farmers. Its been about 3.5 months since I started doing this and I had gone through a handful of rifles early on but slowly fine tuned my collection for tasks rather than curiosity .... This weekend with back to back pesting days on two separate permissions I think something finally clicked....

My setups all do their job well, they bring enjoyment to me while paper shooting as well but now I am shooting paper to hone my pesting skills. I don't have as strong a desire to try this and buy that but finally hit that blissful moment where my collection truly pleases me.

I do think that if I hadn't got into pesting that this wouldn't be so and I would just want to continue to buy and try everything to change up my bench days as the bench days get redundant ( if that makes sense to you?)

I still long for a .30 cal for bigger pests and having used a thermal for a brief bit , I'd like to upgrade my NV to a thermal but thats really it.

Anyways, just figured id open up another thread for discussion to see if others found themselves in a similar situation at one point in their airgun journey.

Click to expand...

I got into Air Guns to do both. I have various targets set up around my property so that I can be incredibly familiar with and accurate with my rifle's when it comes to putting down a pest as quickly as possible. I even go up on my roof and shoot from there lol. I have an Impact M3 in 30 cal, and today I get my M3 Compact in 22 cal back from FX and so I should have that up and running by days end tomorrow. I've found the 30 cal to be a little bit overkill for a lot of pesting shots in my yard but the 22 will be perfect.

Paper only .

paper and few pests will be pesting the tree rats more soon as they have really got out f hand since iv been down for few mnths and can now get out a bit more

I shoot paper a lot more than pests,to me shooting paper is easier.My goal is to hit the Bullseye.
I can hit the Bullseye ,that gave me confidence to try to do one shot kills on pests.
Uh,butt the difference and it is a big one,is to remain calm and steady and do not rush my shoots on rodents.
So now I treat shooting pests like shooting targets,after all pests are targets.
Truthfully I seldom pest anymore.Maybe that can change because I know where many cattle and sheep farms are at and there are way too many ground squirrels causing much demage,like holes in the ground that can break the farm animals legs.What is holding me back is that "pest shooting " becomes a job and I would properly need a partner to support me,or rather have the kind of " fun".

Just paper and stuff.
But i would like to shoot pests, and the carry the expense it is to get gear to be able to do that ( night sight ) and i would also like to supplement my meager pension.

BUT ! though my will are strong it is not so strong that i will take the poison course you must take here to shoot pests, and the night sight would also necessitate a permit from police, and with a " job " there is a chance my pension would get taken, though it is allowed to make a little on the side, and they are on the back of all old people to stay working for longer due to the lack of skilled people in just about any trade / occupation, and preferably longer than the 67 year pension age.
The night sight deal, well Danes can only get that due to one particular pest that have come to the country, which are a lot bigger than rats.
I am pretty sure shooting rats at night have not ever been on the table in regard to that.
Anyway Danish hunters can get a permission for a night sight if they for free will hunt and shoot this pest,,,,,, and for shooting that pest they do not need a poison use course / permit. like you must get if you intend to shoot rats.

The whole ore deal are just one big SIGH

PS. Rats are actually also a big problem here, as the state ( which are supposed to take care of that too ) have cut back on things like that to be able to do all sorts of other crazy things with the money they steal from people.

I live in smaller suburb of Toronto, my gun club is 15 minutes (drive) from my house, lot of ranges there and lot of people to socialize, I like to shoot there paper scoring.
But I have four big (20yo) walnut trees in my backyard and the treerats coming in waves, like every month a horde for several days. That was fun game too but I got tired of recycling. A past one month I just let the critters to my cats game.

I live in a rural area and primarily pest and hunt small game, although as our guns become more complex and powerful I find myself at the bench more often trying to improve accuracy and extending my range.

My shooting is almost 100% pesting. I shoot paper to confirm accuracy

I got back into air guns and specifically PCP's about 8 years ago. I was going to try hunting coyotes and pigs. Then the owner of the property sold it. So I lost my permission. We recently replaced all the screens on our pool enclosure this past spring and the very first night something ate a large hole through the screen. I bought 2 trail cams, a set of solar landscaping lights and a Harbor Freight Driveway Alarm. Then I built my bait station. I've killed 5-6 opossums, 3 raccoons, an armadillo, a bunch of rats, voles, etc. At least it gets me off of the couch. LOL I need to find another permission.

Our squirrel season just opened Saturday and I went to a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) about an hour from my house and hunted a couple hours. I saw a squirrel but had my scope turned up too high to locate him in the very limited time he was visible. I will go back, hopefully soon. It's still pretty warm here, however, so the squirrels are not burning a bunch of calories and food is plentiful for them. They thus are not very active. The leaves are still on the trees which makes them harder to locate. I'd like to get a few this month but it will be easier as it gets colder.

I've taken over 3 dozen in my back yard over the last couple years I've been shooting PCPs. But mostly I shoot paper to determine what pellet(s) each gun likes. I also test penetration in wet paper and in MDF. But I'd rather hunt or pest than shoot paper. But when the season is closed, I shoot paper (or steel).

I get satisfaction from a small group or a decent score at the 30 yard challenge or hitting all my "know your limits" targets without a miss. But I get more satisfaction from a squirrel dropping to a well placed shot.

I got into airguns just to dial scopes and keep my ELR doping skills sharp , as I got no where to shoot long range unless I go 24 hours of travel , and I have now evolved to pesting and love my hi end pcp guns and hunting and I only shoot paper to hunt and I can hunt in my back yard with airguns
LOU

I hunted squirrel with Crosman pumper when I was a teen. When I got back into airguns about five years ago it was with the intent of finding something that I could practice in my back yard with. So most of my shooting is at targets in my yard. But hunting and pesting with an air rifle has become my current obsession. Squirrel season opens October 8 here.