Air Gun Home :: View topic - My can of worms- why kill squirrels anyway?

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

Heck... when we were teenagers we went out to the rice fields at night with flashlights ziptied to our 22's to shoot rats. The farmers loved us for it. As long as we were safe and not drinking the cops would just check on us and then left us alone.

cw · Banned

Yeah, the farmers love to see my truck pull up.
I usually end up taking some very fresh produce
home to boot.

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

More Anti-PETA stuff @
http://www.cafepress.com/unclefrog/1657307
&
http://shop.cafepress.com/anti-peta?page=1

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

Should I go on???

thepaladin · Senior Member

True you touched on a totally different type of hunting I didn't address. Varment hunting is a type of hunting many of us cut out teeth on. Though you can eat some varments (some people consider squirrels varments) mostly they are trublesome animals that damage crops or threaten live stock. Again, I can understand and participate in this when approprate.

As for trophy hunting, I have very little urge to participate per se but I would take the biggest buck i could get, as I love venison. I never felt the call to say, bear hunt, but I have had friends who looked forward to the season every year. So, while I may not care to take part, i will defend the right of hunters to hunt all legal game. "Judge not lest ye be judged" comes into play here. How soon in other words, if I sit by quietly while trophy hunting is wiped out, will hunting critics move on to outlawing all hunting? For example, the idea of hunting elephant discusts me, but there are areas, in Africa for example, where the land is supporting too many elephants and the government sells liscences to "cull" the heard. It's not something I would ever care to be part of, but it is legal and I suppose a conservation effort, at least in part. A comperable situation here is the damage done by White Tail deer in rural areas of WV while they forever held on to low bag limits. Deer were starving to death each year, yet it was against the law to take them for food or trophy.

So....whle we as a group should step on poaching, hard. We need to defend each other's rights.

naynay · Member

10-4 on your posts fellas- I can certainly understand geting satisfaction and pride from the hard work and years of hunting that goes into finding and killing a trophy buck, etc. most people don't have that kind of time, patience, or work ethic. and the pest control angle seems good too.. helping to preserve crops and buildings is very worthy- do you get paid for that? I need some extra income... I know the golf courses around here are fed up with critters wrecking their perfect greens. I'm gonna look into the options- would justify the magnum I want. Smile

thepaladin · Senior Member

might be able to, sounds like a good idea, though, I'd stay away from blasting them out of their dens. Laughing

cw · Banned

Just ask around. I have been able to find a place almost
everywhere I have been. If you keep asking, pretty soon
you will have a lot of places that will let you shoot.

I don't get paid for every cleaning, but I've recouped
the entire cost of my Condor and 3200 doing this.

When I do farms, sometimes I get compesated other
ways. ie- Land use, produce. Sometimes I get paid
monterily. I did the corn for free because the farmer
always shares a lot with us. You can also put up flyers.

CW

naynay · Member

thanks- sounds like fun, and good target practice! and providing a service via pest elimination. win win win!

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

CW, when you shoot at long ranges, what type of shooting position are you in? Do you have a bipod? Are you laying down or sitting or using a vehicle or some other surface as a support? Just wondering.

cw · Banned

I always try to use a rest of some sort for anything
over 50 yards. I also have a bi-pod, which I feel, is a
must for long range. I have an old pickup truck with
a canopy on it that I use for a blind that has rests built in.

Also, a gun level is a must have for any shooting over
50 yards.

Old Pa · Member

thepaladin · Senior Member

I agree on most of those, I've enjoyed squirrel since I was a kid. They also tend to be hard on gardens (roots,pulled up etc.). People who enjoy their bird feedrers usually have a problem with them too. (I have a friend who actually shot a squirrel off her feeder with a bb gun, close range kill, though I don't suggest going after them with bb guns.

If squirrels are a nice addition to your yard, enjoy them. i probably means you aren't keeping a bird feeder for song birds or keeping a flower garden. If on the other hand you like Brunswick stew, or fried squirrel with gravy...well you know.

By the way, squirrels seldom carry rabbies, racoons do, as do coyotes, skunks and other pest varmints, but squirrels are generally free from that particulair scurge.

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

See what you started Naynay...

naynay · Member

well, i Do like to stir things up....but this was genuine curiousity re the bushy tailed rodents- they have done no mailce unto me- but if they Did, i'd sing a different tune- just like how raccoons are now on my sh*t list. but i don't know if i could kill one, cuz then i'd have a big 'ol carcass to deal with- i'd just like to give one a little sting next time i see one around my chicken coop- and Cool

if i had had an air gun last year whan the rats were stealing chicken food, i would have shot them no problem- save myself the $5 i paid to snap his neck with a spring trap. so i get it- kill to eat, kill vermin- i just never knew squirrels were vermin.