SifuSkyler

This is the thread to talk about the art of hunting small game with air rifles (and to brag about your kills, lol). Anybody else out there hunt with air rifles? I shoot a modified Gamo Shadow 1000 with a scope, sling, and bipod. My targets of choice are rabbits, squirrels, doves/pigeons, quail, and those annoying English house sparrows. Well, any other airgun hunters out there?

live2hunt743

I've got a .177 but I dont really hunt with that. I think that .177's are too small. But I do shoot little moles, dragon flys, frogs, bees etc. with that gun. Im also lookin into buying a larger 900 fps .22 caliber. I think i'd be able to hunt squirrel with that. I like the pellet guns more than shotgun b/c you have to get close to the game with a shotgun and with the pellet gun you can just plink 'em off.

Dairy King

I use a cheap Chinese .117 to kill rabbits. Next year I will try to get tree rats.

take-em

I have a Gamo Hunter 220 in .177 and I use it for rabbits, squirrell, pigeons, sparrows, crows, and blackbirds. It is a great gun for the money and I am very pleased with it. I can efectivly kill rabbits at 40 yards but after that there is a lot that can go wrong and it can end up just wounding the rabbit, or it might end up it a miss. I love hunting with a air rifle because it gives me a extra challenge.

Good luck

Take-em

DearSlayer357

I have a Gamo Shadow hunter .177 I have killed 15 or so squirrels with it in 2 years. Its not realy no go to gun.

rile1564

I use a Dianawerk 100 with bushnell 3x9 to shoot pidgeons off of a barn roof.. Other then that air rifles are illegal to hunt with in PA.

SifuSkyler

Wow, that sucks. Here in California we can hunt a lot of stuff with an Air rifle. It's listed as a method of take under the "general" season for all this:

Chinese spotted doves, ringed turtledoves of the family Columbidae, California quail and varieties thereof, Gambel or desert quail, mountain quail and varieties thereof, blue grouse and varieties thereof, ruffed grouse, sage grouse (sage hens), white-tailed ptarmigan, Hungarian partridges, redlegged partridges, including the chukar and other varieties, ring-necked pheasants and varieties, and wild turkeys of the order Galliformes; and the following game mammals: jackrabbits and varying hares (genus Lepus), cottontail rabbits, brush rabbits, pigmy rabbits (genus Sylvilagus), and tree squirrels (genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus).

The following nongame birds and mammals may be taken at any time of the year and in any number except as prohibited in Chapter 6: English sparrow, starling, coyote, weasels, skunks, opossum, moles and rodents (excluding tree and flying squirrels, and those listed as furbearers, endangered or threatened species).

Any house cat (Felis domesticus) found within the limits of
any fish and game refuge is a nongame mammal, unless it is in the
residence of its owner or upon the grounds of the owner adjacent to
such residence.

Nongame birds and nongame mammals may be taken in any manner except as follows:

(a) Poison may not be used.

(b) Recorded or electrically amplified bird or mammal calls or sounds or recorded or electrically amplified imitations of bird or mammal calls or sounds may not be used to take any nongame bird or nongame mammal except coyotes, bobcats, American crows and starlings.

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It's great to be a Californian. Though you do need at least a .20 caliber airgun to hunt turkey. What are the laws like in your states?

P.S. live2hunt743, .177 is plenty powerful enough to drop a feral cat at 40 yards if you have 1000 fps and a hollow point.

HighDesertWolf

I use a .177 cal benjamin sheridan, any squirrels or rabbits within 50 yards of me are in trouble

kevin1

Iused to do a lot of varmint shooting ,
along with the occasional bunny for lunch , when I was younger . I recently found out that my state allows air rifle hunting and I'm currently shopping for something in a Beeman in .22 caliber . Tree rats , bunnies , and any stray animals will soon need to find a new way to get from here to there that doesn't involve crossing my property or my visual cortex .

take-em

Hey guys,
I went out squirrell hunting yesterday after school and I got 2. Both were with my pellet gun, and both were shot at about 30-40 yards. I saw a bunch of them but I held off waiting for a closer shot. But then I figured out that I wasn't going to get a better shot so I picked one and settled the crosshairs on his head and sqeezed the trigger. To my suprise instead of just rolling over he started to run in cirlces trying to see what just hit him so I loaded another pellet and finished him off. When I was looking at him I found out that I had hit him right behind the shoulder, and I later found out my gun was shooting low and to the left. Then I went back to were I was sitting and waited some more and sure enough they started poping out again so when one got in range and stopped moving I shot him. He fell of the tree but was still alive and ran, and I thought I lost him. But when I went looking I saw him hiding under a stump so I finished him off and headed for the road, where my dad was going to pick me up. While waiting I did a little target shooting and saw that my gun was off so I corrected it and it was dead on at about 35 yards. I hope to get out on Thursday but it depends on the weather.

Good luck,

Take-Em