The squirrels in our neighborhood have been getting bolder and bolder. As much so that when I dump scraps off our supper plates like chili, on to the firepit behind the house, the squirrels eat the chili. Imagine, meat eating squirrels!
Yesterday, my truck wouldn't start, and when I opened the hood, a big fat squirrel jumped out. Since the battery wouldn't take a charge, after inspecting the engine well, I found that the little *** ate through a wire bundle behind the battery. The bill was $314.00! So Saturday morning, I'm purchasing my first air rifle.
Death to the squirrel population in Azle Texas!
That's not much of a hunting story but it's all I got until I thin them out.

Squirrels and dumplings sure are good on a cold winter night. Except that one that has been eating your chile

Wouldn't want to eat the ones eating the cable insulation, either! :D

Go git'um Tom! Had I known, I've got a spare pellet rifle I would have given you last month.

Wouldn't want to eat the ones eating the cable insulation, either! :D

Go git'um Tom! Had I known, I've got a spare pellet rifle I would have given you last month.

Hello there Jodum and Kdub.
Yea, my wife feeds them so much that they come up on the porch and lay down two feet away from me. Those will die!

I like the ones that run away at fifty feet. After pricing air rifles on the internet, I may try to borrow one from someone. I didn't know they were so expensive. You guys have a good week-end, football is over for us,, alas!

I've shot a few with a pellet rifle. Squirrels that have been raiding the birdfeeder, are fat and tasty!!!!

Happy hunting....

I've shot a few with a pellet rifle. Squirrels that have been raiding the birdfeeder, are fat and tasty!!!!

Happy hunting....Mike, is there anything you haven't eaten??

That's sort of a leading question, Tom! :p

Haven't been hungry enough for possum, coon, or armadillo. That's about it!!!

Haven't been hungry enough for possum, coon, or armadillo. That's about it!!!

Coon tastes good, baked with yams, (a little greasy tho.), but I draw the line at possum and armadillo.

Wouldn't want to eat the ones eating the cable insulation, either! :D

Go git'um Tom! Had I known, I've got a spare pellet rifle I would have given you last month.
Thanks anyway. BTW, young Alex is enjoying the Chipmunk rifle. Just his size!

Coon tastes good, baked with yams, (a little greasy tho.), but I draw the line at possum and armadillo.
I ate armidillo tamalies once... I said once!

I ate armidillo tamalies once... I said once!

We have a bumper crop of Armidillo's here at the Park this year, and will gladly send you all you can use.:D:D

Let's see out here in Idaho our tree squirrels are protected species just like Rattlesnakes. We can however shoot the ground squirrels, but after being hit with the 243, 22-250 or the new 204 at velocities near 4000 fps or some past it there usually isn't much left.

I have eaten a robin, coyote, cougar, rattlesnake and a raccoon, but only the cougar and rattlesnake are something I would revisit. I've seen several recipes for squirrel's fixed different ways. Coyote's are real stringy and smell like a wet dog when your cooking them. The cougar was much like eating pork, nice white meat and a really mild taste.

Heard an interesting story about the Canadian Army when they first entered the second world war they were buying rabbits from the local natives to supply their training camps. Was found that they were paying for house cats instead of rabbits and they made the local traders leave the feet attached or they would not buy them. Kinda makes you wonder how many cats the troops ate before it was discovered.

Bob, that is quite an awful thing to contemplate, having your dinner smell like a wet dog!!! Ugh!!!! :eek:

Marshall himself told me that cougars were good. If I pop one down here, it's going into the freezer.... kdub, best check the package label if you get any more 'sausage' from me in the mail :p

Bob, that is quite an awful thing to contemplate, having your dinner smell like a wet dog!!! Ugh!!!! :eek:

Marshall himself told me that cougars were good. If I pop one down here, it's going into the freezer.... kdub, best check the package label if you get any more 'sausage' from me in the mail :p
Not that anyone would, but after reading this, don't any of you guys send me any meat!!!

I've suddenly become VERY cautious, Tom! :eek:

Naw - Mike wouldn't do something like that, would he? :confused:

All of my training as a wildlife mgt biologist paid off as I had gray squirrel problems in NYS years ago but I discouraged them quickly ,I made up peanut butter balls with a dried tabasco pepper tucked inside it was a trip to watch them eat the peanut butter and then react to the pepper climbing the tree rubbing their gums on the bark as they climbed they stayed away from our back porch.

You mentioned air rifles being very expensive - what kind of air rifles are you looking at? I would think that you could get into something decent for under $100 that would do the job fairly nicely.

My first purchase of a pellet rifle was a S&W 22 cal pump which has been used to rid the area of varmints & loaned to friends to dispatch lagomorphs.A friend had a neighbor cat that used his rose garden as its toilet so he told the neighbor to keep his cat at home but the guy paid no attention to my friends plea.One day my friend saw the cat crapping in the rose garden so he grabbed his 22 cal S&W Pump pellet rifle & pumped it 15 times & shot the cat ,it went all the way thru the cat killing it instantly so since the cat liked the rose garden so much he buried in beneath the roses. The neighbor asked my friend if he'd seen his cat & my friend said no. They're no longer made. My other purchase was a 20 cal Sheridan Blue Streak (made by Crosman )from Cabela's it also works great on varmints.In CA 20 cal & up pellet rifles can be used to hunt all non migratory game birds:quail,grouse,pheasant,turkey & chukar.

^^ That's kind of an interesting situation you painted there and I'm not sure I like the outcome for a couple of reasons.
1.) Cats in many places are not bound by a leash law and are free to roam
2.) The cat wasn't doing anything that it wasn't supposed to do - cats, like dogs, are what they are - they can't be or do anything that isn't inherent to their nature

I think that an arrangement could have been come to that didn't involve killing someone's family pet, and the fact that your friend did so shows what I believe to be a pretty high level of arrogance and ignorance. If I had a "friend" who I found out acted in a similar fashion, they would no longer be my friend.

My friend was a retired US Army M/Sgt,he passed away many years ago from diabetes complications.Felis domestica are wanton killers of ground dwelling game birds,my wildlife mgt professor had a real thing about cats & the damage they do to bird populations,I share the same feelings.

I shot many a squirrel with my Crossman 2100 classic .177. I think you can get one for around $50-60. I usually used the maximum number of pumps (10) and pointed pellets. I did kill several with BB's however. You may have noted that this is all in past tense. My back yard squirrel shooting ended when I plunked one in the head as it sat on a stump below the bird feeder. It flopped around quite a bit for a few seconds and sprayed a little bit of blood. I didn't realize that my wife was watching the squirrel out the kitchen window at the time. Thereafter, I was relegated to live trapping the darn things...much less effective and a whole lot less fun! I still like hearing my wife tell her girlfriends about the "exploding squirrel!"

I shot many a squirrel with my Crossman 2100 classic .177. I think you can get one for around $50-60. I usually used the maximum number of pumps (10) and pointed pellets. I did kill several with BB's however. You may have noted that this is all in past tense. My back yard squirrel shooting ended when I plunked one in the head as it sat on a stump below the bird feeder. It flopped around quite a bit for a few seconds and sprayed a little bit of blood. I didn't realize that my wife was watching the squirrel out the kitchen window at the time. Thereafter, I was relegated to live trapping the darn things...much less effective and a whole lot less fun! I still like hearing my wife tell her girlfriends about the "exploding squirrel!" I would counter your wife with a detailed explanation about the ecto & endo parasites & the diseases the vermin carry that could adversely compromise her health. I've had a course in Parasites of Domestic Animals while getting a degree !I use a Sheridan Blue Streak in .20 caliber pumper & a S&W 22 cal pumper;pump it 15 times & it will go thru vermin lengthwise.

I've heard that lion was the best game meat but have not tried it. I did try coon a couple of times and thought it was awful. The possum my grand dad bbqed and the dillo aint bad however. I can hardly tell a robin from a dove or a gallinule from a duck, but I do draw the line at coyotes and buzzards.

To the OP:

I used to have a Daisy Powerline 880 as a kid, which was pretty accurate for the price and slayed many varmints and lots of targets before my uncle ruptured the barrel by over-pumping it.

Once my dad asked me to take care of some red squirrels that had invaded their suburban backyard and had pushed the larger, slower gray squirrels out.

I had great success using (subsonic) .22 CB Shorts on them. They shoot a heavier slug than the .177 pellets, and can reach out a little farther. I think they were actually quieter than my air guns.

That fun ended when I shot one or two out of the top of a neighbors tree and they saw me retrieving said dead critters from their lawn.

I had one of the pump single shot crosman pistols years ago. Pumped up 12-15 times and it had a serious amount of power for an air pistol, and decently accurate. Shot a raccoon in the butt with it that was on our porch. As for the cat-killing, I think if its doing damage on your property its open season. I hate it when people treat cats like their kids, and expect everyone to also.

I started out squirrel hunting with a Benjamin pump 22 cal pellet gun. My father let me carry the pellet gun before he allowed me to use a shotgun or 22 Long Rifle. I killed quit a few squirrels with that Benjamin pellet rifle.

Oh yeah, my favorite book is "101 uses for a dead cat"

When I was a kid a would beg my dad for a bb gun. He would always tell me "A bb gun is more dangerous than a real gun because people(kids) think they're just toys." So my response of course would be "So buy me a real gun!":D Never worked out to well.:D:D

Never had a personal BB gun when a youngster. Dad brought home a used Springfield/Stevens single shot .22 bolt gun when my older brother was 10 and I was 7. Gave to us and said "Just be da****d careful where you're pointing it!" Used to get an allowance of a box of cartridges every couple of weeks if I had helped out with the chores and hadn't made Mom's life too miserable. Older brother latched onto the rifle and kept it 'til he passed on a few years ago. It now resides in one of the vaults in the gunroom.

Used to hunt squirrels with my Dad in NW Arkansas later in life. He used a shotgun or .22 rifle with scope. I used a .22 High Standard Mod 102 Citation target pistol with a 10 1/4 bbl. with open target sights. He was amazed I could knock down as many squirrels as he could!