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favorite squirrel getter
danielgage
Member Posts: 10,590 ✭✭✭✭
what is your favorite squirrel gun?
I have used 410 20 and 12 gauge shotguns and 22's with open sights when I was a young fellow
just have not hunted them as an adult
I am thinking I need to get a scope on one of my 22's and start hunting them again(recommendations scope wise?)
we definitely don't have a shortage of tree rats
Comments
Haven't really hunted them in years. We do have periodic population explosions of the nasty little red squirrels around the house and garden. Those get taken care of with a RWS mod 48 in .177. Had to go to hollow point pellets because the pointed ones would give me the occasional pass through. I don't like the possibility of ricochets near the house. Bob
My favorite is my Marlin Golden 39A "Mountie" shooting short HP's. I have a Nikon 4X32 scope on it since my eyes are 75 years old, but I'm still deadly at about 40 yards. Now as to quantity, my 870 12 ga has accounted for many SW Arkansas 'Squatches". I love me some fried young gray's, with potatoes and gravy!!!
I DID get a kill last month on one at 20 yards with my Browning Buckmark, but that was purely luck!
My favorite all-time squirrel getter is the first gun I ever got, passed down from Grandaddy. Stevens Model 24, .22/.410. Just can't beat that combo for squirrels.
My second favorite tree rat killer is a Marlin Glenfield Model 60 with a Bausch and Lomb 4X scope.
A little ole Sears Roebuck .22 single shot with a 4x scope. Ya gotta get close, shoot ‘em in the head.
Ive got a Marlin Glenfield bolt with a scope that is very accurate. I also use a 10/22 scoped. Im not a good enough shot to shoot them with a handgun at 75 yards and not a good enough bull chitter to say I could.
A Savage 24-22/410 with a Tennite stock.If I remember correctly it was made about 1940.I also use a Beeman R-9 in 20 cal that works very well.
Still take it out once in awhile just for that. My grandfather's old Remington target master 41 the squirrels have better odds now with the open sights then when I was much younger
Mine has that Tennite stock too. Ugly as sin, but it goes well with the 57 coats of "blue" (i.e. oil-based paint) that were layered on the gun during it's the 50 or so years of life before I got it. Hahaha!!
Most of my scoped 22's I have the Simmons 22 mag mounted on them it isn't fancy but gets the job done for a reasonable price
When I was still squirrel hunting, it was my Dad's Browning Sweet Sixteen.
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
Winchester model 37 in 16 gauge or a Springfield / savage 87a . Both of which I first learned to hunt with about 55 years ago . Squirrel was my first game !
Squirrel hunting hones your skills for other endeavors. You learn patience and stealth. Marksmanship. But if you kill it, you must eat it. Squirrel meat is very tasty.
I quit on shotguns. Had a few squirrels crawl off. .22 shorts for chest shots out of my scoped 10/22 put them down every time. Not enough meat there to worry about. May depend where you are hunting, but felt the rifle gave me more range and most importantly no crips.
The old K-22 Masterpiece
My CZ 452 in 22 lr, as long as I do my part it never misses.
dads model 12, 12ga. if you could see them it would kill em............ gotta use a 870 with a reflex sight now as I can't see the bead and groove on old model 12
For years I used a Ruger 7722 with a 3-9 Redfield. Now that PA allows semi auto rimfire I now use a Fedderson barrelled 1022 with a 3-9 Leupold rimfire.
I posted about a Remington 552 I've hunted with this year. It has a Simmons 4x32 on it and does fine. I bought the gun used and the scope was already on it. It works well and I didn't see a need to change anything. You probably already know this but get a scope for a .22 as the parallax is generally set at 50 yards vs the 100 yards on most center fire scope. I have a .22 rifle with a variable 2x7x32 .22 scope with a side turret for parallax adjustment. It works fine but is heavy compared to the straight 4x scope.
When I was a kid I mostly hunted squirrels with a single shot shotgun and sometimes with a single shot .22.
Did anybody else send their tails to Mepps we use to send enough in to buy a brick of 22's every year
Being from PA it is illegal to trade or sell game animal parts. Squirrels are considered small game in PA.
Just looked up the law and I guess it is legal if you do it within 90 days of harvest. Maybe my dad just didn't want to mess with them. lol
interesting
thanks for sharing
Id dry them and throw them in a box, and when Id remember them they would be full of moths or some kind of bugs.
My old Savage .22 pump
It has been decades since I hunted tree squirrels, they being notably scarce in Utah, but if we include ground squirrels, then my gun of choice is my Rem 582 fitted with a rare Burris 4X Mini with AO. Phenomenally accurate rifle.
Mossberg 500 12 gauge or Ruger 10/22.
Started out with a Dad's 550 Remington. Best day I was shooting longs. Harvest my limit but then those rascals move in herds sometimes.
60 years later, squirrels faster, eyes going, and me not so fast, 870 with 1 1/2 ounce # 6's, hand loads of course. Most often from a turkey choke. No lost game at all and a carefully place shot there is very little lost meat.
Squirrels seem to be more skidish now a days.
Yep, sold them lots of tails. Got 8-10cent each back in the early 90's. Kept them frozen brown paper sacks until time to ship. Would ship sometimes 300-400 at once.
I squirrel hunting was my favorite next to deer hunting.
Young fried squirrel is my favorite. Old squirrels and dumpling is also ok.
Kept them separated for such.
I usually still hunted but had some good tree dogs and had to use the tree dogs in red squirrel woods instead of the wilder gray squirrel woods.
Have a Winchester model 12 full choke and 7 1/2's. Could use the edge of the pattern if close shots.
In later years I got a Savage Model 24F 223 over 12 gauge. Neither barrel shot straight. The shotgun barrel would shoot 24 inches left and foot high at 25 yards and the 223 would shoot 6 inches high first shot with a cold barrel and after 5 shots print on target at 100 yards and trigger pull at 9 lbs. Sent it back to Savage and the next replacement was even worse.
I would not re-sell something that bad to someone else. Savage had at the time and probably still has Pee poor CS service and tech and would not admit to anything wrong. Would not even answer phone calls or very long hold times and no call backs for warranty repairs. Savage really left a bad taste in my mouth that will linger forever. That taste is coming back right now. Pew wee.
I went to work on the gun and about year later had both barrels working good and accurate and found a very accurate 22 mag reload. Installed a Leupold 4x12 Mark scope with adjustable turret. Even had to separate the barrels so as the rifle barrel would float separate from the shotgun barrel back to within about 2 inchs of the breech. Hi-vel load up 22 clicks from the 22 mag load. Can shoot 200 yards accurate with the HV reload or close range with the 22 magnum/shotgun load. The gun is deadly on the tree rats, the 22 mag reload is mainly for very close range rats and the 12 gauge full choke extended tube with 7 1/2's is for 50 yard wild gray squirrel running rats.
Quite a gun now. (and my favorite for Squirrels and Deer using 70 gr bullets for deer)
Suspect the very poor accuracy from the factory was why Savage quit producing the rifle shotgun O/U gun although they would never admit to such.
I think they are trying to get a new model going, but I would never buy another.
Usually not very consistently accurate and lots of work to get all working. the 24F parts are also obsolete now days.
Having one of these type Savage guns is in the same category as being married to a ugly woman that has a headache all time. Worthless and not even pretty to look at.
Did any of you tie a squirrel tail to your car’s radio antenna?
Winchester model 67 "Boys" rifle... Iron sights...
Combat Vet VN
D.A.V Life Member
20 ga. mod. 12. Haven't hunted them (although we have MANY hanging out in our yard) in many years but when I did it did a great job. And yes, they are good eating.
Yes, absolutely did. * tails too.
Did you mean raccoon tails? The aut censor does like the short version.
I added a red dot sight to a 6” S&W 617 a few years ago. Since then it has been my go to tree rat gun.
My 40 caliber flintlock southern style longrifle that was built by the late Harold "Cotton" Volrath. Has a 48" swamped A weight barrel that just about touches those tree rats! 😁 I load it up with 25 grains of 3F Goex black powder and a spit patched .395 round ball.