calling all hunters: dealing with an air rifle- Grafic content

[katie4]

When we have problem raccoons in our neighborhood, we use a coon-sized live trap (one brand is Havaheart) to trap them. When trapped, transport the raccoon to a different location and let it go. Be sure to be sensitive to people or livestock in the "new" neighborhood and the coon's chance of survival there.

I used the live trap to capture the animal then transported it by car to a more rural location where it was safe (and legal) to disbatch the coon with my .22 LR (long rifle). I buried the animal after I disbatched it. One shot just in front of the ear was fast and humane. A small gauge shot (such as a .410) gun at close range will also quickly and humanely kill a small animal such as a raccoon.

You can trap the raccoon then call upon a friend or family member with a higher powered weapon than an air rifle who can humanely disbatch the animal.

I'm a licensed hunter but I find no pleasure in killing (the only reason I hunt is to feed my family with healthy animals that have had a chance to live as nature intended). However, given a choice between the safety of my children or farm animals and the predator, my choice will always be to get rid of the predator according to hunting regulations set by my state.

Good luck and remember that hobby farming is joyous but can also be hearbreaking and full of hard choices and responsibilities we don't want!

 

[PoultryRocks]

When using pellet guns on pests I was taught to aim behind the head right where the spine and skull meet. It's hard to do if the animal is aware of you but i you are lucky it is a fast way to rid yourself of your pest. But be careful nothing is more dangerous than an injured animal.

 

[mjuenem]

Quote:
Since my experience is opposite to yours to the nth degree, I would assume that we are seeing different results based on different ammo manufacturers. I haven't used any in years, but I think CCI used to make a rimfire shotshell that used larger (or more) shot than the standard .22 LR. Also the .22 mag rimfire was made in a shotshell version that would be much more capable than a standard .22 rimfire. Now the ones that I remember being worthless were simply a brass .22 shell with a crimp on the end to hold the shot. Some of the more capable brands actually had a tiny plastic cup holding the shot. I remember the shot in the crimped ones looking more like dust than shot.

 

[mjuenem]

This may be the answer. Gamo makes a air shotgun that shoots 17 grains of #9 shot.
http://www.airgunwarehouseinc.com/py-p-485.html

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Some of the more capable brands actually had a tiny plastic cup holding the shot. I remember the shot in the crimped ones looking more like dust than shot.

I've been shooting various brands for over 50 years, and none of the 22 LR's use shot larger than #12

It takes over 2300 of them to make ONE ounce, and one shell contains about 1/15th of an ounce, or roughly 29 grains.

That means there are just over 150 pellets per load, and they weigh about 0.193 GR each or 4/10,000ths of an ounce

They are fired at around 1200 FPS at the most, and after about 20 feet, they have lost most of the minute amount of energy they started with, due to their light weight (0.0004 OZ) and poor sectional density. (0.011)

This profile is of the wound created by a 12ga. 27 pellet #4 buck at 1350 f/s. Penetration depth of the deepest single pellet is only 10.6" with the majority between 6" and 10", which corresponds to the known performance of #4 buck--in other words erratic.

If a pellet of #4 Buckshot only penetrates 6-10 inches, when it weighs more than the entire shot charge in a 22 LR, then it's physically impossible for a pellet weighing 150 times less, and moving slower to penetrate with enough force to reliably kill anything much tougher than a bird

I haven't used any in years

I haven't used any in the last few weeks

Here is some info on the science behind what happens when a bullet hits it's target (Terminal Ballistics)

http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/wounding.html​