22 LR/magnum vs. shotgun for squirrels- age old question!!

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Spanky870

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Which do you prefer, shotgun or .22 for killing the tree rats. I personally like to take a shotgun in the early season, due to all the leaves on the trees, i just find it easier to get shots on them with a shotgun in all the leaves than a .22,then in the late season i like to bring out the ol .22LR or magnum and snipe those suckers out of the bare trees! but thats just me. i wanna know what you guys think? what do you use and why?
 
I'm with you on the shotgun! I've been taking the airguns and my friend Justin the .22 and we've been getting one squirrel per trip each! In fact, if we would have been carrying shotguns we would easily have a limit. There are just too many leaves this time of year in TN.
 
i agree shotgun is easier, but i love to take my savage model 64 semi auto .22 out for plinking lol, cant tell you how many clips i've went through before i got the sucker! all fun!
 
I use a .22LR probably 90+% of the time. Early in the year when it is greened up I like my old Marlin M39A with Williams receiver sight and gold bead front. I can sneak closer and the squirrels are moving around and shots tend to be a bit fast many times so the peep sighted Marlin is perfect. The little .22 Marlin lever action is also great practice for my grown-up Marlin 1895 .45-70 with the receiver sight on it. I also use my old S&W M17 K-22 revolver or Ruger MK I bull barrel semi-auto handgun some at this time too. That keeps my eye in tune and is a lot of fun to collect some squirrels with. Later in the season I switch to a scoped .22LR rifle of some sort. Very seldom do I haul out a shotgun for squirrels. Nothing against it, I just enjoy hunting with the .22's so much they just jump to hand first. After a few misses with one of the handguns there have been plenty of times I wished for one of my shotguns!
 
Originally Posted By: Atchman2I'm with you on the shotgun! I've been taking the airguns and my friend Justin the .22 and we've been getting one squirrel per trip each! In fact, if we would have been carrying shotguns we would easily have a limit. There are just too many leaves this time of year in TN.

Thats funny because this is actually why i brought it up, the last time i went out i took my rugar mark III hunter pistol and killed 2 but could have kill 20 with my shotgun. it was the first time i had taken anything but a shotgun this early since i was little, and the first time i didnt limit out since then aswell
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i learned a lesson here in PA. ...i have killed 2 coyotes squirrel hunting...and had to let the first one walk i had a shotgun and was out of range...i now take a 22ma so im covered for both...i also call with hand calls sqeeker...diaphram rabbit,...and woodpecker call....see more squirrel calling yotes i did take a black sharpie and made my orange lined like bark on a tree...one of the yotes was looking right at me 15 yards...i had a camo face mask on and i also made bark design on my orange hat...worked well...
 
I prefer to use a .22lr. I kinda like the challenge of sniping them. My dad has a single shot .410 Winchester with a fixed full barrel on it that would be perfect for squirrel hunting.
 
I generally start out season (cutting seasons as we call it) when it's all greened up, using a shotgun. Taking them that time of year with a rimfire is a lot of fun, but not as productive in general.

Later in the fall when the leaves are down, a .22 is a lot of fun when the squirrels are on the ground, digging after acorns.

I plan to give the .17 HMR a try later this winter. It's very accurate out to 100 yards, so taking head shots shouldn't be too difficult.
 
i like to use 22lr all season until my Friend let me use his 17mach2 now i gota get me one. theres been times when i could of got my limit with a shot gun but that is no fun as said before shoot them in the head much easier to clean
 
When I was younger, I would use a shotgun because all I cared about was numbers. As I grew older, I wasn't as concerned as I use to be as to how many I killed. I started using a .22. Now my sons (7 and 8) are getting into it. They both used .22s last year and became quite frustrated. Too many leaves and shooting a squirrel up in a tree is a little different than shooting a can. I am currently trying to find a youth model 20 gauge they can use. So currently, I don't use anything to hunt squirrels. I am too busy helping little ones.
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When I was much younger and into hunting squirrels a lot... I found that picking buckshot was a lot more time consuming than simple cleaning...
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...and after my grandmother bit down on a piece of meat with a piece of shot that I had missed, it really got bad...

More time picking my shots with a rifle was well worth the effort..
 
Maybe we should be using coyote chokes on the shotties and aiming at the heads
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When I want to get a bunch I have an old Remington 1148 with a modified choke on it. It is squirrel death with some number 5 shot. Before I got my new shotgun, I bought some four shot for turkey hunting. Since I'll never use it for that it is going to be for those long range shotgun shots
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My favorite squirrel gun is an airgun. It is even more challenging than the .22 rifles, but you guys that use pistols I have a LOT of respect for!
 
Hey Atchman2, that's something I have wanted to do for quite a while - hunting with an air rifle. That would be fun, no doubt.
 
hey 6mm06, It is legal to hunt them with an air rifle in Virginia now. I can't wait to get a good air rifle


But back to the question. Shotgun early season. I use high brass #4. That way if I do see a coyote or a bushy tail way up in a pine tree I can get them. Later season I use my marlin in 22mag. That is a sweet shooting little gun.
 
Originally Posted By: Loop Winghey 6mm06, It is legal to hunt them with an air rifle in Virginia now. I can't wait to get a good air rifle


But back to the question. Shotgun early season. I use high brass #4. That way if I do see a coyote or a bushy tail way up in a pine tree I can get them. Later season I use my marlin in 22mag. That is a sweet shooting little gun.

i didnt even know they had bushy tails in VA beach, i thought it was all just women and really costly parking
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Folks over on the GTA Airgun forum hunt squirrels all the time with them. I got one the other day with a tough headshot from about 30 yards (est).

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My TF 89 with its new flashlight mount! It works great too! I put a Coleman LCD flashlight on it. It makes it a lot easier to see the reticule at night when lining up a shot on a raccoon or possum.

 
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