If they know the rifle shape; switch it up and use a carbine/camo poncho mix; then walk n stalk
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Need advice please.
- Thread starter Imfishman
- Start date
I get behind this 100%. I shoot birds and ground squirrels regularly out to 100yds+ and will say a .22 will do great. It's safer to shoot and quieter than a .25. Ive tried .25s but didn't find them any better than .22 honestly. I don't shoot alot in wind as around here if it's windy both birds and squirrels aren't out and about anyways. Being it's your land I'm sure that you can choose to shoot any day where it's not too windy unlike people who might have permissions and can't choose any day to go there.
Also Airacuda standard .22 is a gun I have that for a budget gun hits well above it's price point. Much better than the gold standard of the Mrods as a starter gun IMO. At least from my extensive experience with the Mrods lol.
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M Rod , easy peasy ,22 . Learn it , shoot different heavy pellets it will show you what one it likes . Get to it.
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A used Taipan Vet or RTI Prophet in either .22 or .25, both compact and field worthy plus an electric compressor off amazon with extended warranty.
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I've got 6, soon to be 7 properties I do pest control for the owners. Every single one of them have traps at their places that SELDOM, if ever, succeed in catching ground squirrels! Every 3 months or so a stupid one might get caught but I've only seen it twice in the 5 or 6 years I've been hunting them. IMHO a waste of time & money.
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You have a problem that most of the folks here would love to have lol!
I agree with vana2 about a used Crown.
They are very accurate, I had one that could easily do around an inch at 100 yards with pellets.
One thing that works well with skittish ground squirrels is to use a blind, but try it with two people.
You drive or walk up to where you want the blind, set it up and then one person gets into the blind and the other person walks or drives away.
The squirrels are watching for sure and when they see the truck leaving they come back out.
It really works well with starlings too.
Good luck with your chores, they will be easy and fun with the right tools.
Definitely post pics of your rifle when you get it.
I agree with vana2 about a used Crown.
They are very accurate, I had one that could easily do around an inch at 100 yards with pellets.
One thing that works well with skittish ground squirrels is to use a blind, but try it with two people.
You drive or walk up to where you want the blind, set it up and then one person gets into the blind and the other person walks or drives away.
The squirrels are watching for sure and when they see the truck leaving they come back out.
It really works well with starlings too.
Good luck with your chores, they will be easy and fun with the right tools.
Definitely post pics of your rifle when you get it.
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Marauder in .22 would be great for your needs , unless you want to spend more money .
This is the best advice i have seen in a long time !!
"One thing that works well with skittish ground squirrels is to use a blind, but try it with two people.
You drive or walk up to where you want the blind, set it up and then one person gets into the blind and the other person walks or drives away.
The squirrels are watching for sure and when they see the truck leaving they come back out."
This is the best advice i have seen in a long time !!
"One thing that works well with skittish ground squirrels is to use a blind, but try it with two people.
You drive or walk up to where you want the blind, set it up and then one person gets into the blind and the other person walks or drives away.
The squirrels are watching for sure and when they see the truck leaving they come back out."
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Go with Gerry’s advice on a 25 cal. That way, the raccoon sized critters are covered. If you truly are bring swarmed by 1000’s of GS, try and get a bottle fed gun for the higher shot count. 480cc, or 580cc being better. A 25 cal bottle gun set up at 60 ft lbs will easily give you a hundred shots before hitting reg pressure setting.
If the concern for your crop outweighs the cost of the pcp, in other words, “whatever it takes”, may I suggest an FX Wildcat MK3 BT, with BT meaning bottle. Get the VP(value priced) version as it comes with the compact 600mm barrel. It comes with a steel bottle that can easily be replaced by a larger carbon fiber bottle later on. It’s mag fed, light weight, and a true hunting platform of a gun. Ask anyone here that owns one, and they’ll agree that you won’t go wrong with that choice as your farm maintenance tool
If the concern for your crop outweighs the cost of the pcp, in other words, “whatever it takes”, may I suggest an FX Wildcat MK3 BT, with BT meaning bottle. Get the VP(value priced) version as it comes with the compact 600mm barrel. It comes with a steel bottle that can easily be replaced by a larger carbon fiber bottle later on. It’s mag fed, light weight, and a true hunting platform of a gun. Ask anyone here that owns one, and they’ll agree that you won’t go wrong with that choice as your farm maintenance tool
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Honestly, unless you absolutely have to use an airgun due to noise, I'd forget it and get a Savage A17, stand back 100 yards if you can and blow their guts out. No seriously. I WAS using a A17 with great success but TRIED to switch to a .22 PCP for 75 to 100 yard shots due to a neighbors dog not liking the crack of a PB. Ground squirrels, you can't get within 50 yards of them, on another note there are colors they can't see, I forget which ones off hand but it may help. I have yet to have any success at 100 yards with either my FX .22 Compact or my FX VP .25. Dead flat area, zero cover. Oh and the .177 rounds don't ricochet, they just evaporate.
Yea thought about the .17 HMR & an EXCELLENT solution !!!!!
Tho original post stated neighbor concerns and limited buffer zone from them
Tho original post stated neighbor concerns and limited buffer zone from them
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Sorry didn't actually read the entire thing, I'm a fan of the short attention span theater.Yea thought about the .17 HMR & an EXCELLENT solution !!!!!
Tho original post stated neighbor concerns and limited buffer zone from them
They can be suppressed, to kill the bark a little, but given the state you reside in, not an option,....YET.....that day is coming very very soon. I've been having a hell of a time gettin my Maverick to be accurate at 100 yards, which is almost my minimum for those pesky rodents, it's pure miss and miss for me currently.Upvote 0
Wow, I have been really busy with work the last week and then had to go out of town, so not much time to check the forum, I am amazed at how many replies there has been and how much good advice I have gotten. Thank you very much! Please forgive the etiquette in my posts, or lack there of, as I am not much of a fan of social media for various reasons and have only participated in a couple of forums, so this is fairly new to me!
I am obviously going to have to do a little more research on PCP rifles as I have not heard of some of the airguns that were suggested. I also had never considered that there might be an airgun club near me, Sacramento is about an hour and a half away but would definitely be worth the trip if I could check out a few of the different brands/models. I called a few of the local gun shops but they do not carry PCP rifles, not sure if there is anywhere in the area that does so I could get a hands on look at some of them.
One gentleman here mentioned a mirrored blind, I have never seen/heard of one of those, but sounds like it would be really effective. I did pick up a pop-up camo blind at Costco last summer but have never used it. I think it would help as they definitely know what a rifle looks like, and as one member mentioned they seem to learn quickly and are very good with alerting each other when there is danger. I have an old RV sitting next to our house and had pretty good luck laying on the top of it and shooting from there, that is until they started getting on the roof of my house where they could see me and quickly learned where the shots were coming from and would warn all the others. They have a very distinct chirp pattern when they see danger, I never considered they might also have a call that could be used to attract them until mentioned here. I mean, I guess there is call for almost every other animal you hunt, just did not consider ground squirrels. Lol I was able to find some tree squirrel calls on the internet, but not sure if those will work for ground squirrels, I will have to try them to see their reaction.
I have not had time to spray or mow in over a month and with all the rain the weeds between the trees are way to high to see most of the squirrels or their mounds right now. I will be off for summer break in a few weeks so I should have time to get it done then. Once that is done I would not mind having a few members come out to shoot some squirrels as long as they are mindful of my animals and the neighbors. Sad fact of today is you always have to worry about liability!
A few of the posts mentioned traps. I spoke to some of the "real almond farmers" around me, I say that because I purchased this property in spite of it having a small orchard not because of it and I have NO CLUE of what I am doing! Lol Anyway, they all tell me that they have never had good luck with any of the traps, but tell me to use poison. I have tried really hard not to use poison as there are lots of foxes, hawks, and cats around here and would hate to accidently poison them by them eating the squirrels or poison.
Several members mentioned a range finder. I do not have one of those, and to be honest have not physically measured out how far I am shooting with the break barrels that I have. I have only been estimating it as the distance between the rows of trees is 21' and about the farthest I have been able to shoot and kill a squirrel is about 11 - 12 rows away, and I have MANY more misses than hits! Lol If I was able to get some fairly accurate shots out around 100 yards with a PCP, I would be able to kill a lot more squirrels!
As far as far as slugs go, if there is more of a chance of ricochet or them traveling more than 500 yard then probably not a good idea with the neighbors.
Also, I have watched a few videos that seem indicated that a round nosed pellet had a flatter trajectory than a slug at 75 -100 yard and required less tinkering/adjusting to be accurate. Not sure if that is true as much of what you see on youtube is not always the case in the real world. That leads me to caliber some of those same videos indicated that a .177 or .22 caliber pellet actually caused more internal damage than a .25 or .30 pellet at those ranges. There was one video in particular that showed a guy using modeling clay and showed a larger internal cavity with a .177 than with a .30. He also stated that the round nosed .177 pellets were less affected by wind than the larger calibers, which physically does not seem possible to me. Anyway, I am leaning towards the .22 as it seems to be much cheaper and more available than the larger calibers.
I am also going to need a little more magnification than most would with a scope as I have hit that age and my vision has recently taken a big change. I like the option of having a variable magnification if possible as I will be shooting at both medium and longer ranges. I have seen a few positive reviews on Centerpoint scopes as a cheaper option, but not sure what the durability or longevity of those are. I don't want to spend a fortune but I also don't want to be replacing a scope every year either. I know on a springer it is necessary to use a specialized airgun scope as the back and forth motion of the piston destroys internals, but is that necessary on a PCP gun or can you use a conventional rifle scope? I only ask because I had purchased a couple of
As far as price of equipment I have the means of purchasing a more expensive gun, my wife gives me a hard time about price but when it comes down to it does not complain if it is something I really want. Also, as one member pointed out if this works it will save me money, time, and labor in the long run with less damage and loss of crop from these pests! I am just not sure I want to invest in something majorly expensive without having any experience with a PCP yet. Don't get me wrong, I like to shoot conventional guns but rarely get the chance anymore, for obvious reasons I am not able to safely shoot them on my property. I enjoyed shooting the break-barrels other than the sore shoulder from cocking it; the inconsistent accuracy; and the limited range. My hope is that the PCP will bridge the gap and also allow me to do more shooting on my own property, and help to manage the pests. I would be willing to spend the money on an FX or something similar if it was going to be a significant difference in accuracy at distances but if it is only going to be marginal than it would probably not be worth it for me. Also I am not one who likes to have to constantly tinker/adjust with things to keep them accurate, or reliable, I just don't have the time to invest in that. I am looking for something that I can dial-in and just use it. Please don't take offense to what I said, I understand that for many who are in this sport the tinkering and modifying is a large part of the experience and enjoyment, and I would probably be one of those people if I had the time, but at this point in my life I just don't. I value the experience and expertise that many of you on this forum have, and want to say thank you again for taking the time and helping me make a more informed decision.
I am obviously going to have to do a little more research on PCP rifles as I have not heard of some of the airguns that were suggested. I also had never considered that there might be an airgun club near me, Sacramento is about an hour and a half away but would definitely be worth the trip if I could check out a few of the different brands/models. I called a few of the local gun shops but they do not carry PCP rifles, not sure if there is anywhere in the area that does so I could get a hands on look at some of them.
One gentleman here mentioned a mirrored blind, I have never seen/heard of one of those, but sounds like it would be really effective. I did pick up a pop-up camo blind at Costco last summer but have never used it. I think it would help as they definitely know what a rifle looks like, and as one member mentioned they seem to learn quickly and are very good with alerting each other when there is danger. I have an old RV sitting next to our house and had pretty good luck laying on the top of it and shooting from there, that is until they started getting on the roof of my house where they could see me and quickly learned where the shots were coming from and would warn all the others. They have a very distinct chirp pattern when they see danger, I never considered they might also have a call that could be used to attract them until mentioned here. I mean, I guess there is call for almost every other animal you hunt, just did not consider ground squirrels. Lol I was able to find some tree squirrel calls on the internet, but not sure if those will work for ground squirrels, I will have to try them to see their reaction.
I have not had time to spray or mow in over a month and with all the rain the weeds between the trees are way to high to see most of the squirrels or their mounds right now. I will be off for summer break in a few weeks so I should have time to get it done then. Once that is done I would not mind having a few members come out to shoot some squirrels as long as they are mindful of my animals and the neighbors. Sad fact of today is you always have to worry about liability!
A few of the posts mentioned traps. I spoke to some of the "real almond farmers" around me, I say that because I purchased this property in spite of it having a small orchard not because of it and I have NO CLUE of what I am doing! Lol Anyway, they all tell me that they have never had good luck with any of the traps, but tell me to use poison. I have tried really hard not to use poison as there are lots of foxes, hawks, and cats around here and would hate to accidently poison them by them eating the squirrels or poison.
Several members mentioned a range finder. I do not have one of those, and to be honest have not physically measured out how far I am shooting with the break barrels that I have. I have only been estimating it as the distance between the rows of trees is 21' and about the farthest I have been able to shoot and kill a squirrel is about 11 - 12 rows away, and I have MANY more misses than hits! Lol If I was able to get some fairly accurate shots out around 100 yards with a PCP, I would be able to kill a lot more squirrels!
As far as far as slugs go, if there is more of a chance of ricochet or them traveling more than 500 yard then probably not a good idea with the neighbors.
Also, I have watched a few videos that seem indicated that a round nosed pellet had a flatter trajectory than a slug at 75 -100 yard and required less tinkering/adjusting to be accurate. Not sure if that is true as much of what you see on youtube is not always the case in the real world. That leads me to caliber some of those same videos indicated that a .177 or .22 caliber pellet actually caused more internal damage than a .25 or .30 pellet at those ranges. There was one video in particular that showed a guy using modeling clay and showed a larger internal cavity with a .177 than with a .30. He also stated that the round nosed .177 pellets were less affected by wind than the larger calibers, which physically does not seem possible to me. Anyway, I am leaning towards the .22 as it seems to be much cheaper and more available than the larger calibers.
I am also going to need a little more magnification than most would with a scope as I have hit that age and my vision has recently taken a big change. I like the option of having a variable magnification if possible as I will be shooting at both medium and longer ranges. I have seen a few positive reviews on Centerpoint scopes as a cheaper option, but not sure what the durability or longevity of those are. I don't want to spend a fortune but I also don't want to be replacing a scope every year either. I know on a springer it is necessary to use a specialized airgun scope as the back and forth motion of the piston destroys internals, but is that necessary on a PCP gun or can you use a conventional rifle scope? I only ask because I had purchased a couple of
As far as price of equipment I have the means of purchasing a more expensive gun, my wife gives me a hard time about price but when it comes down to it does not complain if it is something I really want. Also, as one member pointed out if this works it will save me money, time, and labor in the long run with less damage and loss of crop from these pests! I am just not sure I want to invest in something majorly expensive without having any experience with a PCP yet. Don't get me wrong, I like to shoot conventional guns but rarely get the chance anymore, for obvious reasons I am not able to safely shoot them on my property. I enjoyed shooting the break-barrels other than the sore shoulder from cocking it; the inconsistent accuracy; and the limited range. My hope is that the PCP will bridge the gap and also allow me to do more shooting on my own property, and help to manage the pests. I would be willing to spend the money on an FX or something similar if it was going to be a significant difference in accuracy at distances but if it is only going to be marginal than it would probably not be worth it for me. Also I am not one who likes to have to constantly tinker/adjust with things to keep them accurate, or reliable, I just don't have the time to invest in that. I am looking for something that I can dial-in and just use it. Please don't take offense to what I said, I understand that for many who are in this sport the tinkering and modifying is a large part of the experience and enjoyment, and I would probably be one of those people if I had the time, but at this point in my life I just don't. I value the experience and expertise that many of you on this forum have, and want to say thank you again for taking the time and helping me make a more informed decision.
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Specifically something like this.
Buy Quiet-22 Segmented HP for USD 10.99 | CCI
Shopping for the Quiet-22 Segmented HP - Learn more about the latest Quiet-22 Segmented HP and other hunting or shooting gear at CCI.
www.cci-ammunition.com Quiet, reliable, no downrange issues.
If it wont cycle a 10/22 get a 22 bolt like a tikka or cz.
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I use this exact combination, and also with CCI CB caps many, many moons ago. If I remember correctly the CBs were doing 750 fps. Lots of ricochets at that velocity. I would simply hand cycle for the CB caps.
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Yeah, for sure will be ricochet. With 700 yards to work with though, and for pure utility, I wouldn't use an airgun.
Indoors in a barn or in my suburban backyard, a rimfire can't match an airgun.
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Thank you for the suggestion. I did try CCI subsonic ammunition but also got a lot of ricochets as well. I even tried the Aguila 22 LR subsonic ammo with a 20gr bullet, but I will be honest I think my springer was more accurate with just as much if not more power. Also one of the neighbors called the sheriff due to the noise of me shooting near the houses. He said I was within my right as I am in the county but did not recommend to keep shooting the 22 LR that close to the houses. On a funny note, I purchased something called a Rodinator, which if you have not seen one look it up on youtube. It uses propane and oxygen to inject down the ground squirrel's holes and them blows them up. It is so loud that it rattles the windows about a mile away. Several of the neighbors called the sheriff on that one but when he saw what I was doing he laughed like hell and stuck around for about 30 minutes watching and laughing.
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