Got that squirrel (finally!)

[Boondox]

Ahh, the Christmas tree saga. My wife once handed me one snowshoe and a bow saw, pointed to the tree she wanted, and sent me out into the snow. After cutting down the 12' tree and dragging it uphill a couple of hundred yards to our cottage, strugging all the way while she shouted encouragement in the thigh-deep snow, she told me to cut off the top three feet because that's all she wanted! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My son works in a gun shop and recently brought home a LAR Grizzly .50 ( the same gun that Burt used in Tremors II) to sight in. I shot the monster off the bench and can say that anything able to push a 710 grain slug at 2900 fps. gives a whole new meaning to the term "muzzle blast". Would have worked quite well on Pete's squirrel but having the bullet land some 4 miles away could have been a problem.

 

[skent]

I went to get my power saw off the shelf Sunday. Two chipmunks had nested behind it. One jumped on my shoulder and to the ground and both hid under the filing cabinet. My wife came out and was helping me 'track them' down. We managed to get the first one outside (with wife right behind). She got em' with a 7 Iron. Watching her I began to regret criticizing her and any of the mean things I might have done to her over the last 18 years. I have been sleeping with one eye open. Look forward to taking her bear hunting. (is a 7 iron too big for hunting bear?)



Steve

 

[RobertN]

I have a friend that has two .50BMG's, one a single shot, the other a Barret Light. When we shoot those, it clears three benches on either side of us(muzzle blast).

They are fun to shoot. For plain old machine gun ammo, you can make a pretty nice group. The only thing is, he has never had it past a 450 yard range. At that short range, I was shooting just as accurate with my varmit weight 700Rem .308. I've been trying to talk him into a desert trip, so we could do some 1000+ yard shooting.

Remember, Carlos Hathcock had a successful sniper shot with a .50BMG at a bit over 2200 yards.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[JayinNH]

I think good old Carlos is God in many marines eyes. The man has the most confirmed kills if I remember correctly.
Jason

 

[RobertN]

I believe he still holds the record for most confirmed hits. I have not heard of any shot's longer then the one he did at 2250+ yards, confirmed.

It's hard for me to imagine a 2250 yard shot on a moving target(VC on a bicycle). I'd have to read up on it again, but I remmember he used either a 8x or 10x scope, mounted on the .50BMG. And, think about the fact he was using machine gun ammo, in a machine gun, a combo that's not really noted for accuracy.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[patrickg]

.50 BMG for squirel??? HMMMM, I say, is that sporting? I've actually been hoping that as more makers get in the game competition will force the prices down on something decent in .50 BMG as I just can't quite convince myself to take the plunge since I have way too many hobies. I do have plans for putting in berms for target backstops at 100, 200, 300, 500, 800, and 1000 yds/meters(haven't decided whether or not to be metric). Was originally intending to get a fluted heavy barreled .308 to improve on my 30-06 capability and probably still will since it is so common for finding good reloading supplies. Can't seem to shake the hankerin' for a .50 BMG.

Several decades ago a college friend's father treated me to a shooting demonstration. This guy spent more on guide fees filling his house with horns than I have ever spent in my entire life on anything that propells projectiles (bows, pellet guns, shotguns, the works). The object of his attention through the H U G E scope was, yes a lowly red squirrel. Don't know the exact range but about 500 yds. Don't recall the round, some wildcat magnum Cape Buffalo disintegrator death ray howitzer thingy. Enourmous (well smaller than .50 BMG) casing shooting something larger than .30 and quite a long boat tailed bullet. Don't know muzzle velocity but it was fairly flat for such a huge (did I mention it was a loooong bullet) projectile. Anyway, he rested it on a sturdy table on the rear veranda of their house, no bench rest acoutrements, and looked around the pecan trees until he spied a victim then torched it off nonchalantly like the purpose was just fire a warning shot or something. BIG limb drops from tree.

I think, keep a straight face, let him save face, above all DON"T chuckle. My bud, his son, hops in jeep and comes back with a dead red squirrel. No bullet hole. Claimed the hydrostatic shock transmitted through the squirrel from the shock imparted to the limb blows out their blood vessels in their brain, stops their heart, etc. I don't know, coulda been shrapnel from the limb but I didn't see any entry or exit wounds. For all I know it could have been an elaborate hoax involving etherizing his kid sister's pet squirrel (if she had one), I didn't see it in the tree at 500 yds and didn't put a stethescope to its chest.

Oh yeah, standard disclaimer: DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS.

Patrick

 

[Bird]

Patrick, many, many years ago I read a book that talked about "barking" squirrels. It was claimed (whether fact or fiction I don't know) that some of the early pioneers who only had large caliber rifles would shoot tree limbs directly under squirrels and either the concussion or the bark knocked off the limb would kill the squirrel. Of course they didn't want to hit the squirrel with the round because they were only shooting them for something to eat.

Bird

 

[patrickg]

Of course they didn't want to
hit the squirrel with the round because they were only shooting them for
something to eat.

Bird

Well, that would certainly have cleared up any doubt about any hoax if we had eaten it. They may have eaten it later. They ate a lot of game. I was there for the afternoon and evening and had a pretty elaborate but informal dinner with Elk and Caribou both on the table which as sturdy as it was could have colapsed under the weight of the home baked breads, cakes, pies, rolls much less the huge quantities of Elk and Caribou and a dozen different fresh garden vegies in various forms, raw, steamed, grilled. I was previously led to believe Caribou to be tough and dry but this was braised with a lightly seasoned wine sauce and it was fork tender.

Patrick

 

[dsquared]

Pete:
Glad to hear you got that bas$&rd.I had $500 damage to two vehicles this summer from one grey squirrell. He was smart too. I set a Havahart trap, but he would go in and get the peanuts I baited it with, and not spring the trap.I got out an old 22 rifle with a 4X scope I used to squirrell hunt years ago. My wife said I looked like Bill Murrey in Caddy Shack... I thought I looked like Carlos Hathcock. He would hear me open the door and hide, I took the doors off the hinges and WD40'd them. I finally took to hiding under the porch and waited for him. Then one day I came home from the store and there he was in the trap. I had stopped baiting it, and it had only one or two peanuts left in it. He went for a ride. The other squirrells haven't been a problem... yet. Dave