They're Cute Unless ya Grow Alfalffa

[snert]

Or use an air rifle...

 

[284winner]

View attachment 1036750

This past summer I upgraded my Sheridan 20 cal to the Benjamin 22 cal 1100 Nitro XL. What a nice air rifle. Shoots around 850-1000 fps depending on which pellet. Shoots the PBA around 1100 but they are much too light. Very accurate with the heaviest and deadly on them hogs. Should have upgraded a long time ago.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Or use an air rifle...

Yup, works for me here too.



This burrowing rascal was thinking he could take up residence under my garden shed, burrowing under the support piers. I was wondering why the shed had taken on a list to starboard. Every time I'd go for my rifle, he'd see me through my sliding glass patio door and bail under my deck. Until one day recently.....

A Silver Bear HP out of my Beeman R-10 .20 cal at ten yards took care of the shed listing, and put an end to his frolicking about in my yard!

I'm considering upgrading to a nice PCP too, but my old Beeman still does the job, as does my old Benjamin M317 .177 cal pneumatic pump rifle. Got it for my birthday in 1962, sent it back to the factory 20 years ago and had it completely rebuilt.....at no charge! Absolutely stellar customer service!

 

[dtucker]

I'm in OH and it is pretty much the same thing. Many farmers have sold off their a portion of their property close to the road. Leaves them a field but now you get city dwellers that build a home on the edge of a field. Kind of kills hunting in the field.

I just learned the village where I live bought 750 acres of hunting land to lease to a solar farm. So now I've lost 750 acres of hunting land.

Sad really.

I live East just outside of Cincinnati. I used to go out most every day after work and shoot ground hogs. 25 years later the coyotes and hawks have devastated a lot of the things I like to hunt in the area I live. Subdivisions pop up all over. If I was a young man once again I would pack my things and head West and never come back.

 

[bluealtered]

Just a word for those that don't know, Wyoming has gates across the freeways during the winter sometimes, not that it snows or blows or anything there.

 

[jds holler]

Parker, that looks like a modog of an air rifle you're packing. I suppose you have to limit your shots to 200 yds or so with an air gun??

I'm having trouble with my air rifle arsenal that I think may be caused by lack of quality. One rifle is a Ruger Air-Hawk that won't keep shots on an 8x10 page at 20 yards. The other is a Chianese tool sale model that is a little better but still no peach. I'd frankly do as well with my Red Ryder.

Got a spot up the high way that needs to be shot with an air gun for safety, and I'm thinking of up-grading. jd

 

[snert]

Parker, that looks like a modog of an air rifle you're packing. I suppose you have to limit your shots to 200 yds or so with an air gun??

I'm having trouble with my air rifle arsenal that I think may be caused by lack of quality. One rifle is a Ruger Air-Hawk that won't keep shots on an 8x10 page at 20 yards. The other is a Chianese tool sale model that is a little better but still no peach. I'd frankly do as well with my Red Ryder.

Got a spot up the high way that needs to be shot with an air gun for safety, and I'm thinking of up-grading. jd

For years I shot the old Daisy 881. then I went to a springer, a Winchester import of RWS model 45/450...an underlever 177 and a fine rifle. After wearing it out and rebuilding it, i bought two RWS 48 in 22. I liked those a lot too. But when I bought the 25 cal Marauder i was "blown away". Ya, it is a total PIA to pump up...and the high pressure tanks cost two arms and a leg, and if you don't have a scuba shop nearby you have to see a friendly volunteer FD, but wow, when you pull the trigger all the pain goes away. I have killed pigeons at 75 yards, and sparrows at 50 are as good as dead. This chuck never twitched at 20 yards. It will put one pellet after another in the same hole at 25 yards. At distance it requires a fine tuned attention to wind...but so does every air gun. I use the "wind on the hair of my legs" method in summer, and the "which way is the frost of my breath going" method in the winter. After a bit it becomes second nature. I would love it for squirrels, but I only get 16 rounds before having to pump. No way I am going to do that without a tank, and BIG one called the White elephant...but they are $700.
I like my Discount special Weaver 4-14 GS with dots...it takes out the hold over thing. And a 25 cal pellet is another dimension of POP when it hits a pigeon or dove. Don't expect barn roofs to not have holes...but then I shoot farms where the roofs are usually missing anyhow. I love the dome shaped pellets from Benjamin.

If you have to go springer for cost, I strongly suggest the RWS 48 in 22. You will need an air rifle scope and a GOOD mount with a recoil pin. I got about a year of shooting out of each 2-7 cheapo airgun scope, then sent them back under warranty when they came apart. BSA as I recall,a nd got new ones every time. Nice little scope. Nice thing about side lever is no barrel droop issues like the 350 etc. Beeman used to make a fine rifle too. I also like the RWS 34.

 

[snert]

Just a word for those that don't know, Wyoming has gates across the freeways during the winter sometimes, not that it snows or blows or anything there.

Are you trying to discourage us??

 

[jds holler]

I just came back inside from shooting a dozen shots with the Air-Hawk. Someone told me that it might get better with use. Out of a dozen, I put about five in two inches, the rest were all over the place. (20 yds.) This was standing off-hand. I can do better with my bow.

Maybe I'll force myself to burn some pellets, and see if it will break in. jd

 

[snert]

I just came back inside from shooting a dozen shots with the Air-Hawk. Someone told me that it might get better with use. Out of a dozen, I put about five in two inches, the rest were all over the place. (20 yds.) This was standing off-hand. I can do better with my bow.

Maybe I'll force myself to burn some pellets, and see if it will break in. jd

Are you shooting from a rest? Springers are notoriously innacurate from a rest. Much to be said for a soft hold, offhand, or leaned against a hand and a post. They jump all over in a rest.

Also, pellet has a lot to do with it. I have found the ones that are heavier tend to shoot better...not always the heaviest, but 3/4 to the way to heaviest is where mine all shot well. and round nose, not pointed.

If you have a scope, look there too. Springers eat scopes and scope mounts. All this assumming an airhawk is a springer...I did not look

 

[Howland]

The only groundhog I’ve ever got to shoot at took up residence under my house in KY. I had to shoot him with a 22 Pistol to keep suspicion down since I lived in the middle of town.

My wife tried growing tomatoes. It was odd. The tomatoes stayed green and small except for one Golden Jubilee. They didn't grow or ripen.

Then one day she said, "There is a creature living under our house." I asked her to describe it and from the description I assumed it was an opossum.

Then one day I came home from work and saw it by the tomatoes. Woodchuck for sure. This time it had started on the single Golden Jubilee, having eaten from both sides. It scurried away when it saw me, but the mystery had been solved. He was eating them as fast as they grew, not waiting for them to ripen and turn red.

Out came the .177 Crossman with the red-dot scope and I set up an ambush from one of the upper windows. Yup, you read that right, a red-dot on the pellet gun. We lived in a little subdivision, what NH called a compact area. Discharging firearms are forbidden so anything larger was out of the question.

I pumped it up about twenty times and waited. Sure enough, he eventually cameback out to finish his lunch. I waited until he had settled in to the tomato and squeezed one off. I could tell it was a good hit and he scampered off. I figured he might decide to move if the neighborhood started going downhill.

Ten minutes later he's back at the one (actually about 3/4) tomato he had left.This time I pumped it thirty times and got another good shot. Off he went. I thought this time for sure he would be gone for good.

Twenty minutes later he's back again, but looking all around like he feels he's being watched. Screw the damn ordinance, out came the .22.

Just as I slid the barrel out the window and started to take up the slack, the neighbor's teenage daughter came home from school and took their dogs out to the backyard to play. I waited. Patience is a virtue.

Eventually she went inside and the woodchuck was still there eating. Bang! Then the gun got returned to the safe right away before anyone saw anything.

I went outside and there he lay, slumped over a flat rock by the tomatoes, looking like someone that had had a massive coronary while eating lunch at the kitchen table.

I normally would give vermin an air burial. You know, drop the tailgate, place carcass, then find a railroad crossing at about 40 mph. They magically disappear. But I knew my wife would be home any minute and the critter was good eating and I wanted to offer her the ultimate satisfaction of eating the culprit that had completely decimated her tomato crop, so I left him where he fell.

Sure enough she comes home and sees what is left of her prize Golden Jubilee before I have a chance to say a word. "I want you to kill that creature," she said.

"Did it look something like that?" I asked, pointing at the woodchuck. I regaled the entire stalk and offered to dress and clean it if she wanted to eat him, explaining that they basically have the same diet as a rabbit, just with shorter ears, and assured her that it tastes just like chicken.

She declined, which surprised me because Chinese will eat anything with legs except for the kitchen chairs, but then she asked, "Aren't our next door neighbours from Maine? Maybe they'll want it."

Air burial.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Yep only another month or two and they will be waking up. A friend who lets people shoot them ended up with a cow with a broken leg from a bullet (had to slaughter her), and a shot out window in a tractor last year. Thats why its getting harder to find places to shoot them. If they trust you they almost beg you to go shoot. I have a zero freebore 6BRA waiting to sling 55 grain blitzkings! 8 twists really make them blow!

 

[bluealtered]

Heck no snert, the west is best if you want to get away from the rest of the country. P-dogs are like coyotes, they are everywhere and you will never get rid of either one. I'm just saying that sometimes the weather changes very quickly and you may be where you are for a while. If you come down I-80 towards Rock Springs, (between Rock Springs and Rawlins) Take the 789 turnoff towards Colorado. From the freeway to Baggs you can shoot a Simi truck load of p-dogs or deer or antelope. A word of warning though, if it has rained or snowed don't go off road until it's dried, there nothing to winch off of and the nearest ranch may be a very long walk away.

For those that don't know the difference between deer and antelope, it's easy, the deer are the ones you will hit in the middle of the road at 75mph as you come around a corner, the antelope are the ones that are on the other side of the range fence watching you hit the deer.

 

[searcher]

Looking at Rickinoregon's photo showing the wheeled pipe in the background, it got me to wondering. Where i shoot 95% of the time, there are no irrigation pipes to worry about having a ricochet or misplaced shot do any damage, though when I do shoot at targets in front of those pipes, I am always cautious, as i never want to damage anyone's gear. I know what a direct hit on the pipe will do - as I have helped fix pipes shot by others, but I have always wondered whether what is left of the 32, 40 or 50 grain thin-jacketed varmint bullets typically retain enough enough kinetic energy to pierce the pipe. Obviously, the impact is greater 10 feet in front of the pipe as opposed to 100 yards. What is the rule of thumb you folks that shoot around that pipe a lot use as to how close of a shot you will take in front of the pipe? Like, no closer than 50 yards in front, Etc.? It would be best to not miss - but sometimes.....

 

[snert]

Looking at Rickinoregon's photo showing the wheeled pipe in the background, it got me to wondering. Where i shoot 95% of the time, there are no irrigation pipes to worry about having a ricochet or misplaced shot do any damage, though when I do shoot at targets in front of those pipes, I am always cautious, as i never want to damage anyone's gear. I know what a direct hit on the pipe will do - as I have helped fix pipes shot by others, but I have always wondered whether what is left of the 32, 40 or 50 grain thin-jacketed varmint bullets typically retain enough enough kinetic energy to pierce the pipe. Obviously, the impact is greater 10 feet in front of the pipe as opposed to 100 yards. What is the rule of thumb you folks that shoot around that pipe a lot use as to how close of a shot you will take in front of the pipe? Like, no closer than 50 yards in front, Etc.? It would be best to not miss - but sometimes.....

I can't speak to pipes etc, but i have seen 224 Vmax etc scitter across the dirt on long shots when the dirt is dry in NY. Farther than I ever thought I would want one to go. For that reason i avoided the VLD trend. I have too many houses, golfers, lawyers, and buses full of nuns that will all be hit in succession if I ever miss. It is just my luck they would all be out plowing an empty field behind the ridge...

 

[bluealtered]

I know that we are all very careful when by wheel lines, but in this area if they even hear a gun go off by their wheel line, ... there's a very good chance that someone would find you hanging by your thumbs along the road. A couple of people here swear there's no advantage to having longer thumbs.

 

[jds holler]

I had one guy tell me, "Don't worry about the lines. I can patch few holes. Just kill those SOBs."

Most aren't that casual about it, and at any rate, I'm veeerrrry careful about causing any damage. jd

 

[Nature Boy]

Here’s a pic from our trip a few years ago with
my son. It’s good I don’t live up there. I’d go broke buying barrels and ammo

 

[dedogs]

I’d go broke buying barrels and ammo

What a beautiful spot. Is that a M1-A on your bench? dedogs

 

[Nature Boy]

What a beautiful spot. Is that a M1-A on your bench? dedogs

Yes. It worked pretty well on the pdogs.