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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

More Squirrel Problems


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We have scrawny gray squirrels. They love to bore holes under the high eaves of our cedar-sided home. This is the third time. I didn't want to hammer a hole closed with some poor squirrel to die in there. I like squirrels, but I had to shoot the poor booger. I have a Henry brass .22 lever action. Accuracy wasn't very good until I put a scope on it. That raised a problem. The cantilevered scope was unstable. I drilled through the rear of the mount into the rifle a bit, then tapped it, and ran a bolt through both. Mr. or Mrs. Chucky didn't stand a chance, even high up on a tree a ways off.

 

I'm thinking of building squirrel, owl, woodpecker, and more bluebird boxes. Maybe a bat house too. Wonder if the squirrels will rather have that, or go back to eating holes in the siding?

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I have problems with gophers at one of my rentals. I've had good results using mouse pellets from the dollar store. I scrape the mound of dirt away, drop a few pellets in the hole and cover the hole with dirt to keep the pellets out of sight from birds. If the dirt mound grows or I discover another I just keep repeating it until they are gone. Pop corn soaked overnight in anti-freeze also works well. They are usually back every 4 or 5 months. The gophers killed a Tangerine tree by eating the roots.

 

I wish I could hunt and shoot the gophers prairie dog style. Wait for them to stick their heads up and shoot. Several years ago I got a stern warning from the cops for shooting pigeons with a pellet gun. Cop told me if he got another complaint he'd give me a misdemeanor citation. When I tried to explain it was a pellet gun and not a firearm he interrupted me mid-sentence "don't make any difference, a gun is a gun, call a licensed exterminator".

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Luckily no gophers here. Guess you live in town since you got scolded for the pellet gun.

 

Afraid so, living in the city limits even discharging an air soft is prohibited. What got me in trouble over the pigeon was it landing in my neighbor's swimming pool. A few years ago my next door neighbor's son and his friends were having an air soft gun fight. Somebody called the cops, apparently exaggerated what was going on as several cops pulled up and drew their guns two with shotguns. I told the cops the kids had my permission as well as the neighbor on the opposite side to play in our yards. Myself, the kids and other adults all got a lecture from the cops.

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A couple years ago my Son with the neighborhood kids were playing in the city park across the street, having a airsoft war. At one point the police pulled in on their regular patrol they got out and talked to them. They told them to make sure all their guns had the orange tip in place so no one would mistake it for a real rifle and then they went on their way.

 

Tom

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Some idiot thought that red squirrels looked cute. So, he illegally imported a few, and dropped them off at the local country club about 2 miles down the road. Now, it and all of its neighborhoods (including mine) are overrun with the buggers. I may have to scope my pellet rifle and start sniping them off. The alternative is to use one of my very long barreled 22s and use 22 shorts.

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22 CB longs in a rifle make less noise than a pellet gun. Just sayin'. Of course, finding 22 anything today is difficult.

 

I've bought 2 "air rifle" scopes from Sportsmans Guide. This one:

 

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/hammers-3-9x40-ao-air-rfl-scpe.aspx?a=1017438

 

3-9x40. I got the first one for my "Ruger" (Chinese copy of a German design) break barrel air rifle. That came with a 4x scope that is probably just fine at 50 yards from a parallax perspective, but useless at my winter indoor shooting range (AKA "The Kitchen.") This Hammers scope has a parallax adjustment down to 5 yards. Optics are nice, mount is nice and the narrow groove airgun style. I liked it so much I bought another for a 22 that uses the same type of mounting system.

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