Shooting Pesky Red Squirrels

dh1633pm

dh1633pm

Contributing Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
5,228
Location
Central New York
The neighborhood is inundated with Red Squirrels. They invade your house and garage. Aggressive and invasive. I caught as many as I could last summer using traps. Got about 22 of them in the last year and they keep coming. Lately I have taken to shooting them off the squirrel feeder using my trusty Gammo Swarm 22 (although their mag loader has broken) and my Weihrauch HW97K. With the German brand bringing much better accuracy and the Gammo more punch. I have a Bushnell Banner Scope Mounted. Its a killing machine for squirrels. I use crossman .177 pellets. They don't go far after a good shot. Just nudge open the side house door when the Squirrel is eating their last meal from the feeder and silently shoot. Their bodies are always gone by the next day.

cyZwaWQ9QXBp.jpg
 
Nice!

My favorite underlever air rifle is my Air Arms TX200. (I do have and love Weihrauch break-barrels... HW30, HW35E, HW90). My favorite red squirrel terminator is a .177 Diana 34. It's extremely accurate and has a LOT of zip.
 
I added two to my collection yesterday. One was just a dumb one who let me have a great shot. That TX200 looks like quite the rifle.
 
dh1633pm said:
I added two to my collection yesterday. One was just a dumb one who let me have a great shot. That TX200 looks like quite the rifle.
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I hope you're not putting a notch in the stock for every one you get! ;)

The TX200 was my first air rifle and it got me hooked. I built up a nice selection since buying that one. I'd shoot it a lot more if it wasn't so heavy. I need to get some better photos of it...
Air Arms 1.JPG
 
My Weihrauch is also heavy, it's the price of an accurate rifle. No notches. Had three in my Garage last summer. They bored a hole right next to the door. Pesky animals. Besides the two I got, my son caught on in a trap on his roof. They try to get into his house from his roof.

Your rifle is a nice looking one. What kind of scope is that on it? I live in NY as well. I live close to Syracuse. Never been to Lake George. We do go to Lake Placid almost every year.
 
Thanks. The scope is a Hawke Airmax 4-16 x 50. It looks huge because it has a 4" long sunshade on the front end. (I think it's the most expensive scope I own, and it's on an air rifle!) It has a 4" side wheel that's not on the scope in my photo. I really like the Hawke scopes and have them on a few of my air rifles.

I go up to Lake Placid at least once a year myself. The eastern High Peaks area is beautiful. I usually go up to do some fly fishing in the West Branch of the Ausable River in Keene and Wilmington. In some spots, I can see the olympic ski jumps from the river. You can just see them behind the trees in the middle of this photo below:

W.Branch Ausable.JPG
 
We have driven through that area many times. Good fishing. How many air rifles do you have? I have the two, both have the same scope.
 
These are my Gray Squirrel getters. Living on the edge of a large wooded area gets you a ton of these guys chewing up wood decks and trim or digging up the wife's flower boxes. I've lost count of how many I take out and the bodies are gone in a few hours. I like to build my own guns pictured here. The top Carbine is made from a Crosman 160 stock I got from Numrich, 25cal LW Barrel with TKO, Magnum Airpower Custom Valve, Shortened Disco PCP Tube and Disco Trigger Pack. It's set up to shoot 28.24g Baracudas at 725fps for 33fpe. The bottom ,22cal gun has a 160 stock, Crosman 2250 CO2 Tube, Mountain Air Custom Valve, TKO and Disco Trigger Pack. It shoots CHP 14.3g Pellets at 645fps in warm weather for 13.3fpe. TKOs are real quiet too. IMG_2625.JPG
 
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The grays around here don’t cause too much fuss at all. The reds and sometimes the blacks are bothersome. I got two more on Sunday. One red and one black. Their aggressive nature does them in. They are so worried about other squirrels or birds they ignore me lining them up for the kill shot.
 
Nice air rifles!!!

I bought this RWS 48 over 30 years ago, and even though it's a .177 it has done away with many destructive squirrels and other garden raiding small game. It's very accurate with the factory sights. I've been on the lookout for a .22 version but the prices on those rifles have gone nuts. Ended up purchasing a .22 Gamo (w. scope).

IMG_20181229_090807994~3.jpg
 
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dh1633pm said:
.....Lately I have taken to shooting them off the squirrel feeder using my trusty Gammo Swarm 22 (although their mag loader has broken).....
Click to expand...

The .22 Gamo that i recently purchased is the Swarm Maxxim 2. So far I have shot only a few mags of pellets to sight it in (dialed in at 30 yds for now). There have been a few occasions in which the (Gamo brand) pellet did not load into the chamber. Not sure yet if the issue is me or the loading system, but time will tell. And to my surprise this rifle is a touch louder than the .177 caliber RWS 48...not that it matters around here, but it sure would have at my previous address. I'll finish sighting it in when the weather warms up, but so far I'm impressed with its accuracy.

BTW...good shootin'!!!! Last year I bagged some greys that had been hitting the garden.
 
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My Gammo Swarm doesn't feed at all anymore. Can't figure it out, so I just load one at at time. Sometimes you need a little more. It is accurate, just not as much as my other rifle.
 
Got another two, seems like one a day. At some point they have to stop coming, but like mice, there is no end I guess. Good thing is that the pellet gun is accurate and gets them first shot.
 
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I don't. The foxes come for them at night. Bodies always gone by morning. They are about the size of a small rat. Not much for eating. The grays on the other hand are quite big. They are good eating.
 
dh1633pm said:
I don't. The foxes come for them at night. Bodies always gone by morning. They are about the size of a small rat. Not much for eating. The grays on the other hand are quite big. They are good eating.
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That is just the opposite when it comes to the red fox squirrels and gray squirrels here in Missouri.

And both are a menace, but the reds are worse.

People think I am crazy when I tell them that squirrels are evil and out to take over the world. And the only solution is to shoot as many as one can and eat'm.
 
Here the grays sometimes get into things, but mostly you don’t bother them and they do the same. Today I had to attend a job fair at at local school. All dressed up and heading for the door, wouldn’t you know it, another red. Shot him and then off to the job fair.
 
I bet the RWS would be a good shooter. Carved another notch today. First thing this morning another red showed up. I like my Weihrauch HW97K, but it's a .177. Has the 350 been discontinued? Midway says that on it's site.
 
The 350 is for sale on pyramid air right now. I actually just deleted an email from them listing some on sale guns. The 350 was listed.
It's a heavy gun, and since I scoped mine it's become a backyard pest eliminator, I have a DAR gen 2 .25 for woods walking now.
 
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