Brain Shots

[squirrel_getter]

It is even more challenging when a squirrel is playing peak-a-boo or flattened out on a limb. I have often taken my hat off and thrown it to the opposite side of the tree to trick the squirrel into sliding around and exposing itself to a shot. That is literally using every trick in your hat. I learned that as a kid while hunting with my dad. Be ready because they usually will see you and slide back around the tree. As long as they are shot in the brain or a well placed shot to the lung/heart area they are going down quick for a humane kill shot. This has been a very informative topic with a lot of good discussion and illustrations.

 

[elh0102]

If you look at the shots in the above target, 3 of the head shots would have resulted in a messy cripple. Place that group in the chest cavity, and all would have been lethal. Not criticizing head shots, but your margin for error is small. If I'm using my shooting sticks, a head shot is usually my first choice, if available. If my support is the side of a tree, or my knees, then I prefer the larger target of the heart/lung area. In my pesting scenarios, I'm not overly concerned with an instant kill, but I've always believed that even varmints should be humanely dispatched when possible. 

 

[JimD]

I remember shots better from this year than last. This year all 16 squirrels I've shot have been with my P35 in 25 caliber shooting 20.06 grain H&N FTT pellets at 850-900 fps (was doing some tuning, most were 850-875). I've had 3 or 4 pellets stop in the squirrel, all body shots. All squirrels were recovered. Of the 6 body shots, 2 ran the furthest at around 10 or 15 feet. One was high up in a tree and ran down the tree before collapsing stone dead. The other was low on the tree on top of a bird feeder and made it just through the fence onto my neighbors yard before collapsing dead. That is a pretty significant percentage of the body shots ran a bit (both those the pellet did not exit) but most of the body shots they collapsed. All the 10 head shots, even when I missed the brain, they collapsed. I only remember one when the POI was forward of the eye and it still dropped at the shot. The skull felt crushed, however, when I was cleaning it. I did not skin out the skull to look at it. It bled profusely.

I am not arguing we don't need to aim for the brain but I suggest the practical thing to do is to aim for the back portion of the head rather than the center of the head. Maybe ear or just below instead of between eye and ear. If we are a little forward we hit the eye which is OK. If a little back, we hit the neck and it is OK. It is forward of the eye we get iffy. Or any non-solid hits. But if I am not feeling my hold is solid, I go for the chest. It might run a bit but it will die quickly and not suffer.

 

[markT]

34 yards/ .177 / 13.43 gr JSB Monster Diabolo. 

 

[markT]

Jellied the brain. .177 is plenty of energy. 

 

[markT]

Two more. These tree rats chewing on my building and trying to nest in attic of old house. One shot was left as he would not stay still. 

 

[Ezana4CE]

Jellied the brain. .177 is plenty of energy. 

@MarkT What am I looking at here? I viewing on a phone and I can see some skin from what appears to be the left front leg attached to the separated head. I can’t see much of anything regarding a “jellied” brain or shot placement in the above photo. I see dark spots that could be pellet holes or ear holes (at least two of the three spots may be ear holes, but I doubt that they are). In the future can you post close-up photos of what you’re trying to show and communicate to your readers ? Maybe provide a little more information about what happened and what you found after skinning the animal. Photos of the recovered pellet(s) sometimes help to envision the effects of the the shot(s).

Concerning the aspect of energy (power), because it isn’t solely dependent upon caliber the velocities of your gun’s tune also come into play. As for killing capability, I’ve read of guys using single digit FPE to kill squirrels. However, shot placement seems to be equally or more important. As long as one is abiding by the laws and hunting regulations I see no problem with caliber size until people start shooting animals with oversized ammo and ridiculously overpowered guns, but that’s another topic. For squirrels it seems that .177, .20, .22, and .25 are sufficient airgun calibers with fitting tunes for squirrels. IMO the gun and tune should also fit the environment. 

 

[JungleShooter]

Ezana4CE,

you've got good questions! Yes, answers to these will help us understand the shot performance better.

As long as one is abiding by the laws and hunting regulations I see no problem with caliber size until people start shooting animals with oversized ammo and ridiculously overpowered guns, but that’s another topic.

Would you elaborate?

"oversized ammo" & "overpowered guns" — what would be the "problems" with these?

(Forgive my innocent/ignorant question, my biggest caliber is .22, and my highest power achieved is 34FPE.... )

Matthias

 

[Ezana4CE]

@JungleShooter The caliber size comment is a personal thing, that’s why I worded it “I see no problem…” I started to italicized “I see.” Anyhow, because the answer is a personal one I’ll PM you about it.


I understand limitations due to what you may already own. For example, I am on the larger side of the spectrum I mentioned because my smallest caliber at the moment is .25. If my smaller caliber was .30 I’d purchase an appropriate sized squirrel gun to hunt. Pesting is something else.


My mention of energy/power fitting for the environment speaks to pass through shots, misses, and ricochets. In the woods with trees and branches throughout the back drop I can get away with shooting pellets and slugs 670-875 fps without having to worry nearly as much about hitting people, damaging property, or hitting another animal (my targets aren’t usually bunched together). If I were shooting around my home or in an (sub)urban environment I would take my tune down into the 500s fps range with a heavier pellet. I chose that range because I’ve used the tune before and I don’t tend to get pass throughs like I do at the aforementioned higher velocities, but I’d still be concerned about and mindful of my backstop because of misses and ricochets. I guess thinking about terminal velocity is relative to the topic. The liability is also much greater in an urban/suburban environment. At least that’s how I see things.


edited to add emphasis and specifics. 

 

[markT]

How about this? The skull was fractured and hinged when I dressed / shucked the skin..

Pellet impact was perpendicular to critter and right 1/3 of brain...pass thru shot. the pellet just liquified the brain.. Light switch was actuated and critter froze, flipped forward and never moved again... 

 

[Ezana4CE]

@markt The arrows and labels are very helpful. Thank you.