# Squirrel hunting



## mrpete

This is somewhat of a delicate topic given that I live in a major city. Some background: I grew up in the mountains and had my first Daisy bb gun at 8, my first .22 at 12, and my 12 gauge at 16. Boy Scout, Isaak Walton League and Hunter's Safety Course at a very young age. My dad was a Colonel in the U.S. Army and taught my brothers and me about guns. I grew up with guns, and an appreciation of their power and the responsibility one must have when handling them. However... I've never been hunting. Not once. Excepting the time that I shot a hummingbird on the wing (lucky shot and I balled like a baby when I saw it was dead) I've never killed anything. Now though, everything has changed. I want to kill squirrels.

I live in a big city that doesn't like people shooting little critters, even if said critters are an invasive species of tree rats. I 'effing hate squirrels but many of my neighbors think they are "cute." They have trashed my yard, my patio, my bird feeders, my trees, my house (tore through the screens and run amok through the house, oh my god!), and I hate them. They aren't cute. They are pests and should be dead.

You know where I'm going with this. I want to kill the critters, know how to shoot (even if I haven't done so in a long time), but can't get caught doing so. In my city, killing a squirrel would make front page news and people would compare me to the Antichrist. My best buddy had a SWAT team come down on him for shooting pigeons off of his balcony. No kidding. Someone saw him with a pistol shooting pigeons and SWAT was called out. $800, community service, probation, and his court date later he vowed never to shoot a pistol in city limits again and the pigeons crap on his balcony with impunity. It's a little crazy.

So help me out. Do I set out the live trap and surreptitiously cap the 'effers with a pistol when nobody is looking and then pretend to let them go, or do I live trap them and use my shed as a blind and fire across the yard. Bottom line is, I can't be seen killing squirrels, but trap and release is seen as humane.

Do I get a high powered pistol and do it up close, or do I opt for a rifle and take care of them hidden from 30 yards out?

Which brings me to my question: what pistol would I use (powerful enough, but not obvious), or what rifle/scope combo?

Thanks folks!


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## Rev_William

Depending on the laws where you're at you have a few options not to anger the neighbors. You can use the live traps and dispatch them in a tub of water, or if you want a 1 stop answer get a few rat traps, I mean the real rat traps, bait them and then empty them regular. set them out of sight from prying eyes. I usually drill a hole big enough for a secure cord so traps don't disappear. It also makes for a good poor mans trap for survival pack. just make sure it's baited with squirrel specific food as you don't want to get any cats.


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## Pellet_fire_177

I have problems with squirrels. I have a similar situation as you do. I have a gamo .177 air rifle that i pop em with when i see them. Works fast and quiet :sniper:


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## billjac

I live in suburbia and eliminate squirrels in my yard every chance I get. They have emptied, knocked down and destroyed my bird feeders consistently. One year they took every apple from a dwarf tree I had been caring for all summer. They are rodents and they are destructive. Their one saving grace is that they make excellent target practice for air rifle fans. I just make sure the next door neighbors on either side aren't out in their yards for safety, not because they object strongly. Out here people understand and I'm not the only shooter around. I usually rush out and gather the carcass in a bucket if they are recoverable. At times they limp off.
You have to be more careful in a city. People are closer and as you say some think the rodents are cute. They would willingly sic the police on you and think it serves you right. You need to place a feeder near a window where you can watch it and at the same time in a place not visible to touchy neighbors if that is possible. Usually in cold weather city people huddle inside since they despise the outdoors and anyone who enjoys it. Avoid line of sight to their windows. My buddy in Pittsburgh, 12 miles from me, popped many pigeons at his feeder this way while sitting in his home office despite houses on either side 25 feet away. He got to them quickly with a paper bag and put them in the garbage. If squirrels are tree rats, pigeons are flying rats. Good hunting!


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## LeeAirRifle

I concur with Pellet_fire get the best air rifle you can to take them out much more humane way of taking out squirrels :sniper: anything with a velocity over 500 should do the trick.


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## phoenixhunter

Personally I would go for a .22 nitro piston rifle. Instead of a spring it uses a gas filled ram. I have a Benjamin trail np and you can't hear it past 10 yards. But you hear the pellet which I think is an awesome sound haha. The trail has a shrouded barrel and inside the shroud there is a 1.5 inch suppressor. I removed it and the shroud and it was pretty loud so it does help a lot to have it on. Plus np rifles have 1 way recoil and less vibration


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