An evening Squirrel

306 Views 15 Replies 8 Participants Last post by msturm, 19 h ago

Mrln

Discussion Starter · 10 d ago (Edited)

It was a lovely evening so I fancied going out with the express intention of bagging something. The woods where incredibly busy with a big maybe 200 or so murder of Crows and the alarm calls travel which makes it tricky. I spotted a pair of squirrels up to no good damaging yet another Sycamore however they saw me and promptly scarpered so I continued my walk. I doubled back getting bored of being shouted at by crows.
Low and behold back in the same tree where the squirrels this time luckily this one stopped on a branch to look at me with just it's head poking through a tight fork. I took my shot.

Plant Frog Water Botany Toad

Unfortunately I got horribly stung on the retrieval shorts and nettles is terrible, exactly the same happened when I took some with the air rifle on my main rabbit permission dropped three in the same nettle patch and felt the sting for two days.

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Rb1984

· #2 · 10 d ago

Good hunt mate👍🏼👍🏼🎯 in my country it is not allowed to hunt squirrels but time ago I hunted some on a friend's private land, where they damaged some trees.
I like to hunt them, they don't make it easy for you and you have to be watchful.

I have also had problems with nettles not long ago lol.

Have a good day.

Reactions: 4

Torn2bits

· #3 · 10 d ago

Congratulations on getting yourself a squirrel, where I live squirrel are open season, people shoot them because of their abundance.
Very cool ya got one, sorry to hear about the inability to hunt in other countries, seems unfair.

Reactions: 3

Mrln

Discussion Starter · #4 · 10 d ago (Edited)

Rb1984 said:
Good hunt mate👍🏼👍🏼🎯 in my country it is not allowed to hunt squirrels but time ago I hunted some on a friend's private land, where they damaged some trees.
I like to hunt them, they don't make it easy for you and you have to be watchful.

I have also had problems with nettles not long ago lol.

Have a good day.

Thanks, over here they are an invasive species and therefore treated as a pest get them wherever and whenever you can on permission. I work in forestry and they are extremely damaging to trees having a behaviour of ripping the bark off a few hardwood tree species which at minimum damages timber value but often ring barks and kills the top of the tree, been through young plantations where they have killed or damaged the whole lot.

They are tricky to hunt but sometimes stop just in the right place, bonus is they make good eating too.

Reactions: 4

Mrln

Discussion Starter · #5 · 10 d ago

Torn2bits said:
Congratulations on getting yourself a squirrel, where I live squirrel are open season, people shoot them because of their abundance.
Very cool ya got one, sorry to hear about the inability to hunt in other countries, seems unfair.

From what little I know there's a real mix of rules/laws for hunting everywhere even within the US with some not allowing air guns just .22 lr some allow slingshots some don't.
Grey squirrel are introduced invasive here so it's get them when you can.

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shooter452

· #6 · 9 d ago

Great shooting and recap. What ammo did you use?

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Mrln

Discussion Starter · #7 · 9 d ago

shooter452 said:
Great shooting and recap. What ammo did you use?

Currently ~9mm lead (.36 cal ish) weighing 66gr only a cheap eBay fishing mold that said it would make 8mm they are not as round as I would like. That setup has them going 265fps from memory so hovering around 11ftld.
Recently scored a Lee mold for .395 which is the 10mm lead that seems to be about the most popular, looking forward to trying them.

Reactions: 3

Mrln

Discussion Starter · #8 · 9 d ago

Was thinking about it might have remembered my chronograph numbers wrong as I have been experimenting with a few bands and tapers didn't write anything down, definitely in the 10-11ftld range though.

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skarrd

· #9 · 9 d ago

squirrel is good eating [better than chicken] congrats on the shot,sorry bout the nettles,we have them too,miserable things grow everywhere

Reactions: 2

Mrln

Discussion Starter · #10 · 9 d ago

skarrd said:
squirrel is good eating [better than chicken] congrats on the shot,sorry bout the nettles,we have them too,miserable things grow everywhere

Maybe some of that has to do with breeds of meat chicken we have these days, depending how you cook it I prefer the flavour of squirrel over rabbit but need a few squirrels for a meal, I can't eat a whole big rabbit in one go.
Nettle's is an occupational hazard I'm just glad I'm not in Australia where sounds like everything is out to get you.

Reactions: 2

hoggy

· #11 · 9 d ago

bbqed squirrel & bbqed nettles.

Reactions: 3

Mrln

Discussion Starter · #12 · 9 d ago

hoggy said:
bbqed squirrel & bbqed nettles.

Some days I would like to Napalm the nettles, I have spent weeks of work being scratched and stung.

Reactions: 2

Mrln

Discussion Starter · #13 · 8 d ago

Answered my own question 265fps average, grey squirrel are incredibly tough so wouldn't mind some spare energy which I will hopefully get with .395. But the 9mm at that speed go in one side and don't come out the other so not a bad match.

Reactions: 1

shooter452

· #14 · 6 d ago

skarrd said:
squirrel is good eating [better than chicken] congrats on the shot,sorry bout the nettles,we have them too,miserable things grow everywhere

Eat the nettles alongside the squirrels. Fabulous food, great health benefits, and the ULTIMATE revenge.

Reactions: 2

Rallan

· #15 · 6 d ago

Evening squirrel.

Only thing better is two evening squirrel.

Reactions: 3

msturm

· #16 · 19 h ago

Great story telling and great shooting! What is 2 crows? .... An attempted murder.

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