What happened to this one??

[HOSPassassin]

I was out hunting squirrels in one of my favorite spots in central Ohio. I managed to work my way around a tree trunk just far enough to get a clear view of a fox squirrel's head and take a shot with the .22 Dragonfly. On impact he half jumped, half fell out of the tree, hit the ground a few feet away, and took off running. "Oh, lovely. I'm going to have to chase him," I thought. Well, he started running in circles and bumping into things. Sometimes it looked as though he was trying to find something to hide under, but most of the time it was hard to tell whether he was consciously choosing where to go. I have seen them do the crazy dance after a successful headshot and this was not that. I ended up having to shoot him in the head TWICE more (yes, all three pellet impacts were in his noggin)!

His meaty parts are now approaching ambient temperature in my fridge.

I know squirrels can be amazingly tough for their size, but this was a first for me. The first hit was right at the base of his skull on the right side. How did that not just turn the lights out immediately? Did I miss the brain but give him a concussion or something? I thought the whole point of aiming for the head was to prevent them from running!

Was he actually brain dead after the first one but the rest of him was as tough as nails?

[only1harry]

It happens once in a while.  Sometimes half their brain is taken out but their nervous system and reflexes somehow enable them to run for a few yards or stumble around and still breathe for a minute.  Just to be sure I would also put my rifle (your Dragonfly) through the Chrono to make sure it's shooting optimally and that air is not leaking from the breech with each shot.  I 've had that happen before.

[ray1377]

Another thing to consider when hunting with pumpers. I figured this out years ago. Always a good idea to pump up the gun to your preferred hunting power and shoot it at that level 3 or 5 times over a chrony. This gives the pump cup and or o-rings time to heat up and take a set. After doing this, pump up the gun again to the same level but don't shoot it. Put it down for a couple hours and then come back later and shoot it over the chrony again. Your looking to make sure the gun hasn't slowly leaked down any of the pumps you put in it a few hours earlier. For if it has, this will surely effect your power output which also applies to your trajectory. I do this test with all my pumpers that I hunt with. Never hurts to be sure.
Ray

[Back_Roads]

 Last couple squirrel hunts have produced some stubborn squirrels with shots that normally would stop them in their tracks, I was suspecting a meth lab nearby and there was more to go around after dispatching so many squirrels before this started.

[ranchibi]

Brendan, sounds like the proverbial chicken without a head running around! They are very tough critters! I had trapped a rat by it's foot and had to point blank shoot it 3 times directly at it's brain with my Prod as it just wouldn't expire! Maybe the shot took the brain out but not the nervous system (spine)....sever the spine and no movement.

[PlasticTacTic]

I have personally shot a squirrel in the eye with a .177 storm XT, went to pick it up and it revived from the dead pretty much and climbed into a tree, taking off. It happens sometimes with our airguns, if the shot doesnt completely destroy the brain or spinal cord they could survive. Stuff like that is why is why i try to squeeze out enough accuracy from my gun before taking it hunting.

[only1harry]

Stuff like that is why is why i try to squeeze out enough accuracy from my gun before taking it hunting.

I am the same way.  If I can't get 3/8" groups at 25 yards most of the time, I don't hunt with that gun. 
Also equally important is the 1st "cold shot".  If the gun is off a little with the first shot, but holds a tight group with the next few shots, I rarely hunt with that gun, and use it for paper punching only until I figure out how to fix that.

[avator]

I pest rather than hunt, and even though they are considered pests by me, I don't want them to suffer behind my actions. I am bothered by every run off. Living here in the woods where the under brush is so thick they have alot of cover to escape to. I let many opportunities slip by with that in mind.

[JimD]

I have 5 pcps and all that killed at least a couple squirrels.  My lower powered pcps are my Marauder Pistol, Prod, and my P35-177.  I tuned the Prod up to 17-18 fpe because I had a couple run off with the original 12-14 fpe power.  Might not have been well placed but it works a lot better now.  My other 3 pcps are all over 30 fpe.  My high teens guns work well but have less margin for placement that is a little off than my 30+ fpe guns.  My P35-25 has killed the most, 18, and took one cleanly with a head shot that hit about at the hinge point of the jaw.  Squirrel dropped immediately.  When I was cleaning it I found the skull was crushed.  I hit one in the neck with my 19 fpe 177 and it fell immediately but climbed 10 feet back up a different tree bleeding badly.  Then it fell and my dog finished it off.  When my shot is well placed the squirrel takes at most a step or two before dropping dead regardless of gun.  If I am a little off, the 30+ guns still drop them quickly. 

I take more head shots than body but it's close to 50/50.  I take what I am most confident in given how steady I am and the way the squirrel presents itself.  I don't see much difference in how quick they drop.  A good body shot will drop them immediately in my experience.  The only shot I don't like much is one straight into the chest traveling the length of the body.  That kills them but they run a little first.  Side to side, even if at an angle, works better. 

The lower the fpe the more careful you need to be with placement.  But sometimes they just survive a few seconds when they really shouldn't.  I shot the top of the head off a bird with a 40+ fpe 25 and it still was looking at me and got another.  So sometimes it isn't all what you do. 

[HOSPassassin]

I feel like I should add that anything like this is a rare occurrence for me. One reasonably well-placed .22 pellet does the deed 95% of the time. The other 4.9% they're not quite dead but still rapidly expiring and not going anywhere. I still like to end that as quickly as possible. It's the .1% that happen like what I described. Oddly enough I had more run offs and not-quite-deads back when I used a shotgun exclusively.

I used to think caliber didn't really matter on something as small as a squirrel back when all I had access to was .177. Now that I have hunted for most of a season with a .22 I can say with confidence that it does make a difference. As long as the accuracy and trajectory management are equal, .22 will kill better.

[avator]

I feel like I should add that anything like this is a rare occurrence for me. One reasonably well-placed .22 pellet does the deed 95% of the time. The other 4.9% they're not quite dead but still rapidly expiring and not going anywhere. I still like to end that as quickly as possible. It's the .1% that happen like what I described. Oddly enough I had more run offs and not-quite-deads back when I used a shotgun exclusively.

I used to think caliber didn't really matter on something as small as a squirrel back when all I had access to was .177. Now that I have hunted for most of a season with a .22 I can say with confidence that it does make a difference. As long as the accuracy and trajectory management are equal, .22 will kill better.

If that's the case, would it not be even better to use .25?   

[HOSPassassin]

I feel like I should add that anything like this is a rare occurrence for me. One reasonably well-placed .22 pellet does the deed 95% of the time. The other 4.9% they're not quite dead but still rapidly expiring and not going anywhere. I still like to end that as quickly as possible. It's the .1% that happen like what I described. Oddly enough I had more run offs and not-quite-deads back when I used a shotgun exclusively.

I used to think caliber didn't really matter on something as small as a squirrel back when all I had access to was .177. Now that I have hunted for most of a season with a .22 I can say with confidence that it does make a difference. As long as the accuracy and trajectory management are equal, .22 will kill better.

If that's the case, would it not be even better to use .25?   

Eh, any .25 that is worth the money is out of my price range at the moment.

[3crows]

Cocaine Squirrel  . Could be the title for a great film.

[only1harry]

I feel like I should add that anything like this is a rare occurrence for me. One reasonably well-placed .22 pellet does the deed 95% of the time. The other 4.9% they're not quite dead but still rapidly expiring and not going anywhere. I still like to end that as quickly as possible. It's the .1% that happen like what I described. Oddly enough I had more run offs and not-quite-deads back when I used a shotgun exclusively.

The percentages you stated are amazing considering you are truly hunting, ie: walking around in the woods taking off-hand shots or using the side of a tree trunk as a rest.  Many (or most) of us do pesting, which usually involves shooting from a stationary position at a window, or from a deck, porch, using a bipod, tripod, caldwell bag/rest, etc.  What you are doing is much tougher and harder to shoot accurately, so kudos to you if you harvest or recover 99% or 99.9% of the squirrels you shoot while "hunting"!

As for myself I make it even easier and put out seed/bait at a fixed distance (22-23 yards) where I target shoot, and use a bipod from behind a 1st/ground floor window, so I have never had a Gray or Starling (or Groundhog, raccoon, possum or crow) walk away since I started pesting that way 12-13 years ago.  Before that I walked around my backyard half the time and made some NOT so perfect shots when I tried to lean on the doorway, tool shed, or rest on 1 of the many trees on my property or taking off-hand shots... and I have to say that about 1 out of 20 or 25 squirrels I shot ran off or crawled wounded before they dropped or I took a follow up shot.  That was definitely much harder than how I do pesting today.  My shots where nowhere near as accurate when I wasn't shooting at them from a rest inside the house.

[martrage]

 HOSP, same thing happened to me today ! I went into the "rat " barn today w/ my ranging binos' to double chk some ranges . I caught some movement in front of the few cows still feeding. I crept up to another window in the stone wall to watch a bit. Every minute or so a large rat would peek out for a couple seconds then dart out to the feed area , grab a few bites , then dart back into a hole . After a few cycles I ranged it at 19 yrds. I left the shed area ,went back to the Toyota parked in the large opening in the old horsebarn where I set up a sight in range of 20 yards. I took 3 shoots to set the ATN LTV up for that. I had moved both ATV sights yesterday and only got both set for 12yrds in the basement. Good to go ! Back into the shed w/ my trigger sticks . At the window I saw the critter still feeding as before. I set the sticks and waited for a shot . Took only a few seconds when the target appeared heading out again, head out for a second or two ,then shoulders , Twack! It lunged forward about a foot , stopped on its side . Got it ! No movement for a few seconds , then just in a blink of an eye it regained it's feet , spun  around & zipped back into the wall !! Well now !! Checking the spot later found  no blood or a tail sticking out of the wall. 

[HOSPassassin]

I feel like I should add that anything like this is a rare occurrence for me. One reasonably well-placed .22 pellet does the deed 95% of the time. The other 4.9% they're not quite dead but still rapidly expiring and not going anywhere. I still like to end that as quickly as possible. It's the .1% that happen like what I described. Oddly enough I had more run offs and not-quite-deads back when I used a shotgun exclusively.

The percentages you stated are amazing considering you are truly hunting, ie: walking around in the woods taking off-hand shots or using the side of a tree trunk as a rest.  Many (or most) of us do pesting, which usually involves shooting from a stationary position at a window, or from a deck, porch, using a bipod, tripod, caldwell bag/rest, etc.  What you are doing is much tougher and harder to shoot accurately, so kudos to you if you harvest or recover 99% or 99.9% of the squirrels you shoot while "hunting"!

As for myself I make it even easier and put out seed/bait at a fixed distance (22-23 yards) where I target shoot, and use a bipod from behind a 1st/ground floor window, so I have never had a Gray or Starling (or Groundhog, raccoon, possum or crow) walk away since I started pesting that way 12-13 years ago.  Before that I walked around my backyard half the time and made some NOT so perfect shots when I tried to lean on the doorway, tool shed, or rest on 1 of the many trees on my property or taking off-hand shots... and I have to say that about 1 out of 20 or 25 squirrels I shot ran off or crawled wounded before they dropped or I took a follow up shot.  That was definitely much harder than how I do pesting today.  My shots where nowhere near as accurate when I wasn't shooting at them from a rest inside the house.

I thought about those percentages to see if they were exaggerated. I think they're pretty close. I did have a day about a month ago when I was using the HW30 in .177. I have had good success with it before, but not that day. I shot probably 7 or 8 squirrels but only recovered 3. I know I hit the others because I found blood. It was really aggravating. I have not taken it out since. A .22 producing 13 fpe has been a far more efficient killer for me than anything else I have tried.

Of course, this assumes that I hit the target, which is not always a great assumption!

[Novagun]

I have shot rabits and gone to find them in the long grass and they are some metres away from where I thought they were . There was one I shot and when I went to pick it up the back leg was twitching so I put another shot in and mashed its brain. I carried it out and left it at the junction and went off looking and came back about 15 minutes later. The rabbit was lying there quivering . I asked the vet about it. He said life processes can go on for about 15 minutes after death. He said the quivering was probably some residual oxygen in the blood that was enabling the nerve endings to fire impulses .

[JimD]

A bigger hole is bound to kill quicker but I think fpe is also a significant factor.  My P35-22 at 32 fpe has only taken 9 for me so far but all died as quickly as the 18 taken with my P35-25 (I've had it longer) which was also tuned for 32 fpe at the time.  But my little Prod, also a 22, kills more like my P35-177.  Both are a little under 20 fpe.  The Prod does not consistently put them down as quickly as the much higher power P35-22.  I suspect exit holes have something to do with it.  The P35-22 has exited the squirrel on 8 of 9.  The other one was kind of a freak thing.  The pellet went up a front leg breaking it in multiple places, through the chest, through the spine and stopped on top of the squirrel under the hide.  Squirrel fell lifeless immediately.  The same placement with the Prod would have been a kill shot, I think, but it would not have made it out of the chest cavity.  Breaking the spine has to help a little.

But well placed shots kill quickly with all my guns.  The difference seems quite small, the squirrel takes a step or two after contact, unless my placement is not the best.  Seems like the higher power 22 and 25 still drop them quickly and they may need another pellet if hit with the lower power PCPs.  Fortunately I have not had a lot of poorly placed shots, however, so it's more my impression than something I can substantiate.   

[only1harry]

Power doesn't matter much with well placed head/brain shots.  FPE and caliber matter with body/vitals shots.

My Marauder Pistol (Prod) .22 has dropped every squirrel in its tracks, and I 've taken a dozen or more Groundhogs (5x-6x the size/weight of a squirrel) with my 14 FPE Diana .177 springer, for example.  But I only take head shots with these guns and with any of my guns that have <20 FPE of ME.  With the Mrod .25 and Air Force Condors that range from 45 to 90 FPE I never have to take head shots on squirrels.  I did a couple of times and part of their head usually came off, not to mention head shots from these powerful PCP's made a very loud "crack" sound when they shattered the skulls, so I avoided head shots with these guns to keep things a little low key, except for the medium-sized game like Raccoon/Groundhog/Possum - those I don't take chances with because 99% of the time they will run with a vitals shot even with .25 cal, so I always take them with a single head shot and have never lost one.

Harry

[Back_Roads]

 That reminds me I have my Prod charging up to delete a rabbit issue I recently noticed