Squirrel issues
- Thread starter yoderjac
- Start date
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I don't have the time to protect individual containers. Also thought I'd report back on the Benjamin NP2. As I reported earlier, the scope failed quickly on my first one. I order another from Cabelas. When it arrived, I swapped scopes and with my existing gun and boxed the old scope with the new gun for return. Well, things didn't work out so well. I could not get the new scope to adjust far enough in the vertical direction. The picatinny style rail is glued permanently to the gun so it can't be shimmed. I tried putting a shim under the rear ring but that didn't work. I also moved the scope back and forward on the rail to no avail. Eventually I gave up.
Even though the old gun was on it's way to being broken in, I decided to try the new gun. Evidently this rail was aligned slightly better. Instead of shooting low, this one was shooting high, but no so high that the scope adjustments couldn't compensate. In both cases, the horizontal alignment was pretty good. Daisy needs to work on manufacturing tolerances for the bases.
Thanks,
Jack
Even though the old gun was on it's way to being broken in, I decided to try the new gun. Evidently this rail was aligned slightly better. Instead of shooting low, this one was shooting high, but no so high that the scope adjustments couldn't compensate. In both cases, the horizontal alignment was pretty good. Daisy needs to work on manufacturing tolerances for the bases.
Thanks,
Jack
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I'm finally having some success controlling them using the pellet gun. The problem is how to get a safe shot in a suburban neighborhood without causing issues with neighbors. They seemed to be spending time in my front yard exposed to the street and neighbors rather than my back yard where I can get a safe hidden shot. I did take one from my back deck, but that was it.
I finally figured out was they were doing. They are crossing the street from a neighbor's yard that has big oak trees. I have a large pine next to my house with branches that extend into the front of the house. They are now spending time in my ornamental crabapple in the front yard. When I come home in the car or folks walk down the street and show any interest in them, they obscure them selves in the pine boughs that touch the crabapple then go back to feeding on the crabs when they think it is safe.
I finally realized that one of our guest bedroom windows is the perfect perch. It is obscured from the street pretty well by the pine boughs but I can easily look up and down the street to see that no cars are coming, no one is out for a walk, and no kids are playing in the street. From this elevated position, I have a good backstop for each shot and because I'm indoors the squirrels ignore me. I generally wait until they are on the ground or in the lower part of the tree. Because the pellet gun is completely indoors, it is dead quiet outside. If I shoot and miss, the squirrel just scampers a couple yards, looks around, and goes back to feeding.
I had 3 in the crabapple last evening and dispatched two. The third finally retreated back across the street before I could dispatch him. I finally think I have a good working solution (at least while the crab apples last!). So far, I've dispatched 5 this year and I know there is at least one more using my house/yard/decks.
Thanks,
Jack
I finally figured out was they were doing. They are crossing the street from a neighbor's yard that has big oak trees. I have a large pine next to my house with branches that extend into the front of the house. They are now spending time in my ornamental crabapple in the front yard. When I come home in the car or folks walk down the street and show any interest in them, they obscure them selves in the pine boughs that touch the crabapple then go back to feeding on the crabs when they think it is safe.
I finally realized that one of our guest bedroom windows is the perfect perch. It is obscured from the street pretty well by the pine boughs but I can easily look up and down the street to see that no cars are coming, no one is out for a walk, and no kids are playing in the street. From this elevated position, I have a good backstop for each shot and because I'm indoors the squirrels ignore me. I generally wait until they are on the ground or in the lower part of the tree. Because the pellet gun is completely indoors, it is dead quiet outside. If I shoot and miss, the squirrel just scampers a couple yards, looks around, and goes back to feeding.
I had 3 in the crabapple last evening and dispatched two. The third finally retreated back across the street before I could dispatch him. I finally think I have a good working solution (at least while the crab apples last!). So far, I've dispatched 5 this year and I know there is at least one more using my house/yard/decks.
Thanks,
Jack
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Yes, a .22 rimfire is a lot more accurate than my pellet gun, but discharge is not legal in my county and would really alert the neighbors. Fortunately, VA passed a preemptive law prohibiting counties from prohibiting discharge of pneumatic guns. The Benjamin NP2 is pretty quiet when use outdoors. When I was shooting at a target to sight it in, I'd say that pellet contact with the target was louder than the gun discharge. When I fire it in the house out the window at squirrels, you hear nothing outside. I wish it was a bit more accurate but it works. All of my shots so far have been at a downward angle, even those where the squirrel was in a tree. I won't shoot up at them even with a pellet gun in my neighborhood.
I'd say 5 dispatches in a couple months is a temporary success. If I get the others that are using my yard and deck, I'll be good for a while. They are territorial, so once you eliminated the local population, it takes another mating cycle before new squirrels move into your territory. It does take some persistence to get the local population under control. Back when they were not smart enough to avoid my box trap, I had well over a dozen baptisms one summer.
Thanks,
Jack
