What caliber for squirrels? (SERIOUS!)

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I use a cheap Chinese .177 air rifle (I think the model name is B-3) to get rid of the tree rats that are always digging up the wife's flowers. It was something like $20 or $30. I've only taken head shots so far, but it kills them just as dead as a .22. Not sure how it would do on the body.
 
I live in a town house - so in my situation any firearm is out and an air rifle is most likely ok - but I would stick to a trap (lethal or non... your choice)
 
.625 and no less.


But htat, I mean the Cold Steel .625 Big-Bore line of blowguns.

Just been waiting to see a squirrel in my birdfeeder since I bought my blowgun. They even have stun darts, just to scare the little seed-stealrs off.
 
Your PCO did a halfast job in not securing the entrance when he removed the raccoon. I always treated the whole problem when I did pest control work, and ingress was part of the problem to be dealt with. A rat trap, strategically placed, will make short work of a squirrel. Tie or screw it down to something like the joist, or a marginal hit like a leg or tail trap will let it drag the trap away.
 
I have one of these:

http://www.crosman.com/site/listing/1073

It's "only" 600fps w/a pellet, but I have taken out a couple squirrels and even a fairly large (8" w/o tail) rat with it. All were in our roof.

Squirrels all went down w/head shots, ~15-20ft, but the rat stood up as I fired and took it to the chest ~25ft. He dropped on-the-spot, though.

At 15ft, 10 pumps w/a pointed pellet absoulutely DESTROYS an apple out of this guy. Neat think is the pellets expand quite nicely =)

Oh...Did I mention I got it at wal-mart for $35?

My one suggestion is to buy a cheapy scope or red-dot wor it...the front sights have a tendancy to come loos (they're simply "tacked" to the barrel w/a light adhesive)
 
I loaned one of those scoped 760 Crosmans to a friend about two years ago for protecting his city garden from squirrels. He's very successful with it. It is rifled.

He's got a 6-foot fence back there for a backstop and shoots from inside the back door entry. One of the nice thngs about it is that it's impossible for small kids to operate it.

His next-door neighbor found out about his activity and offered to buy the pellets!

Pumping the thing is noisier than the shot itself, because (at least on mine), the pump handle/fore-end sort of snaps shut against the underside of the barrel with a loud clack on each stroke. And ten strokes times 10 shots gets tiring, but he only shoots it four or five times a week in summer.

I haven't the heart to ask him to give it back.
 
Another option is a .22 rifle with Aguila Colibri CB caps.
They are also pretty quiet in a 24" barrel, but you have the stigma of firing an actual firearm in the city.
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I have a .22 rifle, and I have Colibri ammo. I have already stated that it is illegal to discharge a firearm on my property, therefore I will not do so. BB guns are legal. Other suggestions are still welcome.
 
Pump up air guns are a lot louder than spring piston types and a PITA to pump. The sharp crack carries for some distance.

The dead soft match air gun pellets are deadlier than most versions of 22lr on small animals until you get to CCI Stinger or Quickshok 22lr rounds which fragment and leave a barely visible entrance wound and turn the back half of the squirrel, rat etc into red mist. However these 22lr rounds are LOUD!

I have had better results eliminating everything from woodchucks to starlings with a 20 to 25 caliber air gun at distances of less than 25yds than with 22lr. Most good air guns are also more accurate at less than 25yds than most 22lr rifles.

Back to the OP's original question. If you are seen holding or aiming any kind of gun outside your house you may well get a "man with a gun" 911 call from one of your neighbors. They only know you are armed with something that they see as a threat. IMO not worth the hassle for squirrels.

If you are determined to shoot at these things see my original post. Get a good .177, 20 caliber (best) or 22 caliber spring powered air gun and go to it. I hope you don't end up with more serious problems than the squirrels!

Added: One lawyer visit and the cost of the air rifle will likely be quite a bit more expensive than a competent exterminator.
 
noxx said:
If you're neighborhood is that tight about firearms, I would suggest a) repairing the vent, and b) taking a hike through your attic with some snakeshot.
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Repairing the louver is definitely on the agenda, but not until AFTER the little blighters have been accounted for. Otherwise, I'm just closing them in and inviting them to start chewing their way out (which they WILL do).
 
One-Way Pet Door

You COULD put a sprung flap over the louvre, one that allows egress but not ingress.

Kind of like a pet door that only opens one way.

There are probably a couple of different ways to do that, and I haven't tried them myself, but my imagination tells me I could probably do it.

I've had to cook up outside-the-box solutions to this sort of thing before. Some of them even worked.
 
Pump up air guns are a lot louder than spring piston types and a PITA to pump. The sharp crack carries for some distance
Click to expand...

i beg to differ, my spring guns are alot louder than my crossman pump mainly because the spring gun is so much more powerful.



i cant tell you how many animals i've killed with my Crossman air rifle. I forget exactly what model it was, something like a 760 or 66 powermaster..

cranked out pellets at somewhere near 700fps. i even had a silencer for it that made it dead quiet. I could pick off anything within 25 yards easily and had plenty of killing power for smaller squirrels

i've killled crow, groundhog, and possums with this thing with head shots as it was so accurate. The silencer just made urban activity much more common :) it was a beast of a gun and cheap too.

use a basic pointed pellet and give it 10 pumps and go at it. anything under 15 yards is a dead animal
 
Aguila Blanca, did you check your electrical wiring in the attic? If those critters were up there for a while, most likely they chewed up the wires. As an electrician, I had to replace a lot of wiring in peoples attics because of squirrels and coons. Even found some that were dead from electrocution.
 
If these squirrels are coming out every day, I'd install a one-way door over the exit. They can get out but not back in. Problem solved. Doesn't require you to spend hours waiting for the rascals to present "the perfect shot".

If there are babies involved, this is NOT always a good solution- mama squirrel WILL find a way to chew her way back to baby.
 
.22 short CB is not much louder than an air gun so might be safe to use. But you could try traps. Rat traps might work, #110 conibears would work.
 
Hey FELLAS!

OP has said more than once that FIREARMS ARE OFF LIMITS for this exercise.

He can use an airgun.

Other NON-FIREARM solutions might also work.

He's not asking for creative ways to break the law.

He's asking for legal alternatives.

Stick with the legal stuff.
 
Legal stuff, huh? Okay ...

  1. Sit outside the squirrel hole while you debate the real meaning of the Second Amendment with another gun owner and continue the debate until there's a winner or the squirrels leave, whichever comes first.
  2. File for ejection or eviction for non payment of rent in your local court and have the Sheriff send a deputy to get them out.
  3. Get a recording of Carolyn McCarthy's Best Speeches and play it loudly outside the squirrel's entrance way twenty-four hours a day at top volume.
  4. Casually drop a recipe for squirrel stew inside the opening one day.
  5. The next day drop a photo of a woman wearing a squirrel coat.
  6. Pretend to be from the gas company, tell the squirrels that you've had reports of a gas leak, and when you gain entry shove the squirrels outside and change the locks on the door.
  7. Scrawl anti-squirrel slogans near their entrance way ("Squirrels Go Home!" or "Nuts to Squirrels!" or "We Don't Want Your Kind Here.").
  8. Ask the head of the squirrel family for permission to date his eldest daughter.

One of the above is sure to work. If not, send me the squirrels along with a check for $50 and I'll take care of them for you.
 
Squirrel Feeder

Wooden platform that holds a cob of corn.

After whatever is done to remove squirrels, repair house to prevent entry from critters again, get one of these Squirrel Feeders.

Local Mom & Pop Hardware Store, Feed & Seed Supply, Tractor Supply - etc.

One sets these away from structures they do not want squirrels to get into.
Like houses, sheds, barns and the like. Squirrels are attracted to these, and not houses and the other structures.

I recommend finding a spot where one can watch from indoors, as this can be entertaining, and educational. Especially if one has kids.

A few neighbors doing this, will assist in controlling squirrels amongst neighbors.
These make nice gifts as well.
 
I make my living as a Wildlife Control Operator. I get squirrels and raccoons out of attics all the time. Squirrels almost every day.
I use one way doors for both species. Of course the ones for coons is a bit bigger.
Don't know what species of squirrel you're dealing with but if you let me know I may be able to help you out.
The business that I run does NON-lethal control only and I have found that one way doors are the most efficient and humane way of dealing with the little squatters.
Don't use poison. There is no poison registered for use on squirrels therefore using stuff like Decon is illegal. Plus the thing about them going outside to die is a myth--they will die in your attic and at this time of year they will stink till Spring. I have lots of experience removing DOA's from attics where homeowners thought poison was a good idea. They think they can save some money but then they hire me to remove the dead.
Also if it's illegal to shoot where you're at --then BB's or pellets are probably illegal too--so be careful with that.
I make my own one way doors but there are commercial ones available. Tomahawk Trap co makes some they call Excluders and you can find them online at www.livetrap.com.
I don't know how to post pics but if you want a pic of a one way door in action you can PM me and I can send you a few.
It's pretty easy to do--afterall you only have to be smarter than the squirrel
 
Local Police in Mass. tell me shooting airguns in town is legal. On your own property.

But the "One way door" suggestions are what I did as well. It works , the squirrel family is still around though , clearly pissed off that I kicked them out - they definately dislike me. Chatter and bitch me out whenever they see me.

A year later I took the trap door thing off their access hole , but didn't get around to closing it up. And the little bastrds moved right back in within 2 days. I pulled the wire door rig from the trash and put it back. Worked just fine 2nd time aound as well.

Probably oughta killed the little thieves anyway , as they strip my pear tree every year right before i pick them.
 
My experiance with squirrels goes like this. I had a large Pecan tree that attracted every squirrel and Bluejay in town. The only way to get any pecans was to kill as many of these pest as possible.

I used to shoot Squirrels with CB 22s until the neighbor saw me and called the cops. You said you can't use a cartridge rifle anyway. By the way, the 22 Colibris will sometimes stick in a 24" rifle barrel. Don't use them except for handguns or short rifle barrels.

I went back to a Benjemin 22 air rifle. I used Benjemin/Sheridan dome headed pellets. They gave the best penetration because they are a solid head with a small skirt. They don't shoot through the animal. I used 5 pumps. This is plenty and cuts down on the noise.

I tried rat traps. They didn't work. I even soldered two prongs on the bail sort of like beaver teeth. The squirrels would bend the prongs and get off. It killed the hell out of blue jays though. I baited the traps with a pecan i drilled a hole thru and wired it to the trigger.

I managed to catch one squirrel with a hav-a-hart trap. The squirrels will eat your wiring. Happened to my aunt. She thought they were cute running on the roof. They got in the attic and chewed the wiring up and she had to rewire.

I don't know how good of a shot you are with a sling shot. I have killed three with a 54 caliber ball for a muzzle loader.

Don't worry if a wounded one escapes. They will crawl into or under something to die. By the time they are found they are so ripe no one will look at them too closely.

I have killed over 200 squirrels using these three methods. About 50 with the air rifle.
 
To keep squirrels out of fruit trees and coons out of KOI ponds there is a device called The Scarecrow. It is a motion activated sprinkler and it will scare the crap out of them. Sold at many garden centers.
Yea Alex--if you don't seal the hole up they will get back in real quick. I leave one way doors on for 5 days minimum. When I seal the hole --I take the sheet metal or screen with me up on the roof. Remove the door and seal the hole immediately. I would never remove the door and then go down to the truck for supplies--they'd be back in
 
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