I can't seem to shake this...

[Back_Roads]

 Yup I thought I was down to a few squirrels in the squirrel woods, but they keep on coming

[dk1677]

They are never ending, After 12 in 2008 I thought I was done but it turned in to over 100  most years and keeps up ( Harry called it a squirrel factory here  )

[Methuselah]

I’ve blowgun-darted close to a thousand rats, or about 1,600 blowgunned and airgunned, but I was still in the Philippines at that time.

Did not feel any compunction at all even though majority of them did run with a dart sticking out of their necks and heads, only to die hours or days later. Yes, I was that good during my peak.

Now that I am now in the US, I’m having reservations as to how I would approach a rat were it to present itself as a blowgun target, whether it’s here or in the Philippines.

I’ve witnessed how Americans are so sensitive when it comes to humane kills, and that has somehow awaken a bit of a COGNITIVE DISSONANCE in me, now that my place of residence, again, is in the US 🥸

Dan,

I was thinking along the lines Rick's post suggested to me. This "attitude" is likely American, possibly a minority.

I've seen this change over the years beginning around the time neighbors and "agencies" started telling us how to raise our kids.

Ask an 80 or 90 year old how it was when they were a kid.

I too hate to wound a critter. That said, it does happen and all you can do is try your best to finish what you started.

About a week ago I shot a grackle and it flew to another branch. Maybe 5 seconds later it dropped to the ground, DRT.

Your squirrel got away, but by the time it found a spot it felt safe in, I'm sure it passed away pronto.

We Americans are fickle (me included).

[dk1677]

You certainly don't want an animal to suffer. I think a lot of our feeling comes from movies and cartoons where all the critters are cute and sentient. ( not that that's bad )

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

I love a DRT shot, but realistically, they don't always happen.  Too many variables out of your control (pellet drift, target moves, etc).  I have found that in most cases, even if the critter scurries away, it expires fairly quickly, or it will return another day.  I get my condolences from knowing the other critters (Possum, Raccoon, Hawks, etc) get a good meal and live long healthy lives!   

[only1harry]

"They are never ending, After 12 in 2008 I thought I was done but it turned in to over 100  most years and keeps up ( Harry called it a squirrel factory here  )"

Dave I called it an experimental squirrel cloning factory near your house to be exact    Anyone who can shoot (and post) 100 squirrels per year just in their backyard has a cloning facility nearby 

[Rick67]

"They are never ending, After 12 in 2008 I thought I was done but it turned in to over 100  most years and keeps up ( Harry called it a squirrel factory here  )"

Dave I called it an experimental squirrel cloning factory near your house to be exact    Anyone who can shoot (and post) 100 squirrels per year just in their backyard has a cloning facility nearby 

Yeah, baby 🥴

[Hoosier Daddy]

There is a post here where I shot a 'coon. DRT.... then I saw her babies, through my scope, try and nurse from the dead momma.
Rattled me bad.
Haven't shot a raccoon since.

[Methuselah]

There is a post here where I shot a 'coon. DRT.... then I saw her babies, through my scope, try and nurse from the dead momma.
Rattled me bad.
Haven't shot a raccoon since.

Asside from possibly harboring rabies, raccoons can be very destructive in so many ways.

YOU may feel like taking that shot was a mistake, but I'm thinking the bigger mistake would have been not to.

No offense meant, just my $.02 worth.

[Sqrl Klr]

+1

In that case I'd tag the critters while at the teets too. No more being pests to anyone at the neighborhood. Speaking of I found coon damsge in my mother's yard yesterday so I need to get that sucker.

[airgunaut]

I have to agree, IF the raccoons are already a nuisance. Finish off the litter, too.

When we lived within limits of a very small city, one neighbor had chronic raccoon damage to a shed and, probably, his pot greenhouse which he thought I didn't know about. He told me had trapped a huge pregnant raccoon that he let go to save the future raiders. The raccoon soon had five babies and he "warned" me that I might "need to shoot them all". Yeah, right. The only gun I had then was a SD 357/38sp revolver, which shooting in city limits for any other reason than SD would've been dangerous, illegal (and rightfully so in such a densely populated area). He and one other neighbor were always trying to find out what gun I owned, which I never told them.

In addition to the raccoons, he and his wife outright asked me to kill a rat that had been a problem in their same rotting shed--which one moment after that DID run into my yard, looking like it had been poisoned. THEY said, "It might be sick." The thing was in such dire condition that it just lay panting on the grass, so I grabbed a box and trapped it underneath. Angrily, I said, "It is not sick. SOMEONE poisoned it," to which they hemmed and hawed before the wife meekly kindasorta admitted, "It might have been us." When I carefully lifted the box, the rat had already died. Betcha it was arsenic or some other long-banned pesticide.

Another neighbor told me she had seen a deer injured along a highway, hit by a car, and would I "use [my] gun to put it out of its misery." I had never told her I owned a gun, so the lamebutt other neighbor must've been spreading rumors. I suggested she call State Police and local Sheriff, both of whom were a) authorized and b) trained in such matters. I, who had never shot any animal with anything, was not qualified for the task.

Trap and turn over to wildlife dept, if you don't want to kill.