Posted: 9/18/2012 8:38:56 AM EDT
So over the weekend I went up to the land I hunt on for the first weekend of Small Game Season (and the first weekend of Archery Deer Season). While walking the woods with my Marlin XT22TR I spotted an all black squirrel hopping around in the leaves. I slowly laid down in the leaves and kicked out the legs of the bipod on my rifle. I had my rifle loaded with CCI Stingers and my 4x scope zeroed for mini mags, so I knew I would have to aim about 1 mil low. He finally stopped jumping around and sat on a log for a few seconds, that's when I took my first shot. I got nothing but the view of a squirrel running away to another log. He sat on that one for a few seconds and I took a second shot. Nothing a second time, and he ran off for good . I was too pissed off to bother looking for another target so I just walked back to the cabin. When I got there I went out back, hung a human silhouette target at 50 yards and took 2 shots. The first shot was 1/8" below dead center of the target (I measured it out), and the second shot made 1 oblong hole with the first one. This was done with the same ammo, using a 1 mil hold under(?). I have no idea how I didn't hit the squirrel with either shot (especially since this is the 3rd time it's happened with an all black squirrel , 1 other I attribute to a crappy scope). And to make it worse (in my mind) I took 2 other squirrels that same day with the same rifle at about the same range, both offhand, both 1 shot kills. I don't get it. Anybody else have this happen to them?
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| I know it's about shot placement. I just don't understand how I didn't hit him. I've shot plenty of squirrel in the past, so I know how they react to getting hit. I checked the logs he was on for the 2 shots and the wasn't a single trace of blood anywhere. The last squirrel I took 2 shots to kill I hit in the gut on the first shot (he flinched a bit when I fired) and he crawled around with his front legs for a few feet, then I got him again. Every squirrel I've shot and bagged reacted "weird" compared to a scared squirrel, flipping around, crawling instead of hopping, trying to bed down somewhere, etc. This squirrel just bounded away hopping through the leaves like I was chasing him, didn't even remotely act like i had shot him. |
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You're laying on the ground in the woods right? Odd's are, your bullets hit something on the way to the target that threw them off target.
I agree with the people here, ditch the stingers. They're wildly inconsistent. From my testing, it wouldn't surprise me that two could be right on top of each other, and had you kept shooting you would find that the group opens up quite a bit. I shoot only minimags HP on squirrels out of my 10/22 with a bentz chamber and at early season squirrel distances(<25yds) it's one ragged hole. Once the leaves are gone, and distances can open up here out to even 100yds or so, I switch to the 17HMR. Bullet performance is not an issue with the hummer, the main problem is small twigs you can't see between you and the target... |
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Quoted:
You're laying on the ground in the woods right? Odd's are, your bullets hit something on the way to the target that threw them off target. This is all I've come up with, since the stingers have been plenty consistent for me (more than consistent enough to hit a squirrel at 50 yards). I've shot targets at pretty much the same distance and haven't had any parallax issues at the ranges I shoot at (10-60 yards). I just irritates me to no end. The fil told me that when I shoot one of these guys he'll get it stuffed for at the cabin, so I'm really wanting to get it. I'd rather not use a 17hmr since I don't want to destroy the pelt too much, but I will if I have to. If I use the 17 I would assume the 20gr game points would be better than the 17gr V-Max, since the V-Max will expand for a much more violent kill. Any thoughts on this? |
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Quoted:
racist.  no, just judgemental, we caught him chewing a hole in the back of our outhouse (why? we're not sure of), also caught him chewing on an extension cord (we would have let him continue, but it was our only cord of that length, and we needed it). It still baffles the hell out of me how he could run around that long with his guts hanging out like that. Either way my father in law is getting him mounted for in the cabin. ETA: yes, I know you weren't serious |
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I've run into two big males this year that took 4 rounds each to finally kill.
Some of the little bastards are just tougher than others. Last weekend I shot one twice, then buttstroked it twice, then ended up stomping on his head to finally kill him. Yes, I buttstroked a squirrel with my 15-22. 
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Quoted:
I've run into two big males this year that took 4 rounds each to finally kill. Some of the little bastards are just tougher than others. Last weekend I shot one twice, then buttstroked it twice, then ended up stomping on his head to finally kill him. Yes, I buttstroked a squirrel with my 15-22. do what you gotta do to put him out of his misery |
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I've shot them with a .22 Hornet, 45 grain bullet at 2700 ft/sec and lost them with solid body shot. Even heard them hit the ground. But when they are hit in the neck/head with the smallest rifle, they drop like a sack of potatoes. 10.5 grain 0.177" at 1050 ft/sec. Took out the spine in the neck. Went right through  |
I know exactly what you're talking about. I catch some flack for it, but I use a shotgun for exactly this reason. A, it knocks them out of the thee often allowing me a second quick follow up shot if needed, and B it doesn't seem to tear up as much meet as a body hit with a .22. I use either a light 20 or a cheapy 12 with #6 and full choke and that seems to reach the top of the tall trees pretty good. I do have to finish a lot of them off though. I used to stab them in the neck but I got tired of having a game bag full of blood so now I grab them by the tail real fast and whack them against a tree. 
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