Air Rifle Hunting

[F50myster]

Who here owns an air rifle? I live in a city and own chickens so i have one but hardly ever use it because theres nothing to hunt, oh but i did kill a racoon one night with my beeman .177 caliber air rifle it was on top of a tree near my chicken coop i had seen it before eating my chickens and stuff before but i would always be too scared to shoot it while it was standing in front of me staring straight into my eyes

... but this time it was staring from far on top of a tree and i shot it! at first he just made a noise then my brother said "dude i think you got it!" and surely next thing you know it fell from the tree and tried crawling away...

it was really sad but at that moment i had a flashback of how he made me suffer by killing my pets so i shot him like 4 more times until he died..it was kind of sad and i feel that i killed him in a not so humane way.. but yeah idk you guys decide. one word to describe it VENGEANCE...so anyways lol does anybody else own a air rifle or has a cool story to tell involving one. oh and just in case some of you want to know my rifle shoots at 1200 FPS and can easily cleanly kill a bird or squirrel

 

[swift4me]

Depending on where you live, it might not be legal for you to fire an air rifle in your own yard. That said, the type of rifle you have is very effective for killing certain animals, but it is not really appropriate for something as big as a raccoon. There are pellet rifles that shoot .20, .22 and .25 caliber pellets, (at slower speeds), that are more lethal. Velocity is good, but pellet mass and diameter are also very important. I've owned several, but the Sheridan Blue Streak with .20 caliber Kodiak pellets was my favorite.

Even so, to humanely kill a raccoon at anything over 15 or 20 yards, you should use something else. The chances of you not killing, (wounding), that raccoon were much greater than the chances of killing it. In hunting, sometimes animals are woulded and not retrieved, but trying to shoot something without enough firepower is asking for trouble. A raccoon is not a bird or a squirrel.

Just my opinion, and you asked for it.

Pete

 

[CowgirlJules]

I use mine for rats in the woodpile, and would take a shot at that danged ground squirrel in my chicken yard if he didn't see me coming every time.

You know they're making some really nice, high powered air rifles these days. I've heard of people taking pigs with them, which seems a little crazy to me, but it's a dedicated pig hunter that tried it that I know of.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

For coons, I trap first.
IMHO, I would never try to kill a coon with an air rifle. They're very tough. I had to use 4 or 5 shots at point blank range sometimes with a .22 CB(subsonic) - which I was using because they were quieter. Would 1 shot do it? Eventually but if I kill something, I want it to die quick.

I quit using them and switched to .22 LR.

 

[Darin115]

They make some strong air rifles these days. My son has one that will dispatch any small game. When we catch a coon or a opossum in a trap, one quick shot to the head is all it takes. Buy one with a higher velocity and you should be fine. Anything over 1000 feet per second will work fine.

Darin

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

If I did such a thing, I sure would not post about it. In the eyes of todays lawmakers (at least in our area) that stuff could get you 2 years for animal cruelty plus fire arms or weapons charges. Not so long ago ago a guy killed a racoon with a shovel and had the book thrown at him including weapons charges. Using a firearm be it a pellet gun rather than a shovel would have likely even made this poor saps troubles worse.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/0...ly-attempting-to-kill-raccoons-with-a-shovel/

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
That's the problem with laws nowadays. Any killing is cruel but OP is trying to do the best at the time. Wished the laws would work in our favor when we KNOW they are a nuisance and they multiply by hundreds, something HAS to give.

Its a risk each and every one of us have to take. Most of the neighbors would be in agreement that coons and possums would be shot, saving their cats and dogs, and so forth.

Trapping is not bad but you still have to dispose of it instead of relocating it. It creates more harm than good if you dump a coon and it will eventually meet his death alot sooner due to territorial coons in the area and not finding food or water in a strange area.

 

[Chickenlover14]

I have a Air rifle and it very good strong and fast

 

[Chickenlover14]

Quote:
I think if i go Pig hunting i would bring a better gun because they all mean around here

 

[swift4me]

I'm all in favor of folks dealing with the problem, as Animal Control couldn't deal with it, but it is good to have a sense of the right tool for the job.

Pete