Ready for Squirrel Season

[Splitear]

I got a chance to sight in my old Remington 550 this evening. I found an old Bushnell scope a few weeks back and it sighted in just fine. I’m excited to hit the woods next month. 

[wolc123]

I am going to try a little of that this year also, but not as my “primary” objective.  I will bring my open sighted .177 cal Marksman  pellet gun along with my shotgun, during the early antlerless deer season in September, turkey season in October, crossbow deer season in November, and maybe even with my ML, during the December Holiday deer season.

 

The advantages of the pellet gun, in those situations, would be the relatively silent report, will not spook as much of the “primary” objectives (deer and turkeys).  It will also relieve some boredom, and hopefully provide some tasty food.  

[Splitear]

In my 550, I use CCI .22 shorts, mainly because they are so quiet. Not as quiet as a pellet gun, but not far off  

I’ll probably use my 20 gauge a lot more this year though, as I’d really like to get several squirrels, and in the woods I hunt, a lot of my shots will be on the ground or on low on a trunk. 

[wolc123]

Another advantage of the pellets is cost and availability.  I have yet to shoot at a squirrel with it though, so the jury is out till I see how it does.  I don’t have the .22 ammo to spare though, so no squirrels for me, if the pellet gun don’t work.  

Edited August 17, 2022 by wolc123

[Splitear]

I’ve got plenty of shorts, and know where to get more. They’re not as cheap as they used to be, about 13 cents a round now, but I don’t go through a lot of them. 20 gauge shells are starting to show up little by little as well, so I’m not afraid to shoot them. 
Im sure the pellet gun will do just fine within range, there’s plenty of folks out the killing squirrels with them. 

[wolc123]

7 hours ago, Splitear said:

I’ve got plenty of shorts, and know where to get more. They’re not as cheap as they used to be, about 13 cents a round now, but I don’t go through a lot of them. 20 gauge shells are starting to show up little by little as well, so I’m not afraid to shoot them. 
Im sure the pellet gun will do just fine within range, there’s plenty of folks out the killing squirrels with them. 

I hope so, and I definitely aim to find out first hand.   Besides eliminating boredom, and providing tasty “treats” for the crock pot, the best thing about the simultaneous squirrel / deer hunting, is the additional “live fire” practice that the little nut-eaters provide.

All of the same skills are required to kill a deer, which has a kill-zone approximately 13” on diameter, as are required  for a squirrel having one of approximately an inch.  
 

Too many folks put too much reliance on paper target shooting.   Being able to cleanly dispatch squirrels at close range in the woods might be more beneficial to the deer hunter, than punching holes in paper targets from a bench rest across an open field. 

I haven’t killed many reds, and I can’t ever recall eating one.  Their smaller kill zone and increased figitiness, makes them a greater challenge than greys, and certainly worth “wasting” a few pellets on.  If I can take out a few reds with my pellet gun, my confidence, shooting at deer, would increase significantly.  Gaining that confidence, hours or minutes before needing it on a deer, is priceless.  

I put a sling on my $29 Dick’s special Marksman break action pellet rifle, and there is plenty of room in most of my blinds and stands.  Bringing it along on most deer and Turkey hunts shouldn’t be a big deal.  It came with a scope (which I have removed) and fiber optic open sites.   I still need to site it in with those - hopefully in the next few days.  It has a horrible, heavy trigger pull (what do you expect for $ 29), so the scope was a bit of a waste, plus I don’t want to have to handle it very gently. The open sights look like they would be a lot more durable.  

[wolc123]

I took the day off from work, to take our youngest daughter to college, so I had a little time to kill this morning.  Her and my wife are late risers.
 

  I got the .177, $29 Marksman model 90 sighted in with the oem fiber optic sights.  (2) 3-shot 1” groups, from 11 yards, and I am good to go.  My first two shots (high right) were touching.  

It put those 7.9 grain hollow points thru 1/4” of yellow pine, from that range, so should be good for squirrels at least up to 15 yards or so.  
 

The rear sight was easy to adjust with a screwdriver.  I think I used 4 or 5 pellets from that tin to sight in the scope it came with, so I should have about 490 left.  If I miss or wound a squirrel or two, I’ll sight it in again.  Otherwise. I should be good to go for quite a few years, as far as the ammo goes.  

 

 

I was glad to see that my rangefinder is working again, after replacing the $ 5.50 battery.  I will need that for some more sighting in work on my Marlin 512 bolt action deer shotgun, that I hope to get done back on the range, over the next couple weeks.

It’s nice to be able to sight in the pellet gun from the back deck without waking up the wife and kids.  
 

The hard trigger pull on this pellet gun is a lot less noticeable at short range with the open sights than it was at 50 yards with the scope. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by wolc123

[airedale]

I look forward to Squirrel hunting, it is my favorite type of hunting these days. I have an accurate Winchester single shot Low Wall 22 sitting in the safe begging for some hunt time, she is a little on the heavy side but I will manage.

Al

Edited August 18, 2022 by airedale

[Northcountryman]

1 hour ago, airedale said:

I look forward to Squirrel hunting, it is my favorite type of hunting these days. I have an accurate Winchester single shot Low Wall 22 sitting in the safe begging for some hunt time, she is a little on the heavy side but I will manage.

Al

Nice scope on that 22 Bud!! How old is it?  Im planning on doing some squirrel this season , time  permitting, of course. Prtoblem is, it tends to conflict with Salmon/Steelhead!!

[johnplav]

1 hour ago, airedale said:

she is a little on the heavy side but I will manage.

 

Nobody?  @Pygmy 

[airedale]

25 minutes ago, Northcountryman said:

Nice scope on that 22 Bud!! How old is it?

The scope is a discontinued Simmons Atec 3.8x12 back when Simmons was producing  high quality Japanese scopes, I purchased  several on closeout from "Optics Planet" about 20 yrs ago for rimfire rifles, these were Simmons top of the line models and I have nothing but good to say about them.

Al

Edited August 18, 2022 by airedale