My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp

My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp

Sure would. You don't even need that much gun for squirrels.

GTO(John)

"Stephen" wrote:

My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

With a decent headshot, yes. Hit a squirrel in the hindquarters with
that and it'll limp off and die slowly, which is bad. The unlicensed
limit for air guns in the UK is 12 ft lbs, and that's OK for taking
bunny rabbits (not jackrabbits or hares though) with a 20 yard shot to
the head. The gun laws in the UK mean air weapons are popular here for
hunting varmints. A search for "air rifle" with "game", "huting" etc.
should find you diagrams of target areas for a clean kill with that
kind of weapon. Practice on targets till you're sure you can get a
clean kill.


Tim
--
Google is not the only search engine.

Stephen wrote:
My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp



About three years ago I solved the problem by buying a "Yankee Flipper"
bird feeder:

http://www.yankeeflipper.com/droll/index.cfm

I got tired of having to drag out an extension cord to plug the wall
wart charger into and charge up the two C-cell nicads in the Yankee
Flipper, so I soon mounted a small solar panel on its top which lets the
sun do that job for me.

Much fun to watch each new crop of squirrels struggle to try and find a
way to beat it, but they learn pretty fast and stop trying, and then the
show is over for the season.

I felt a little bad about screwing the squirrels that way, so I
converted an old gumball machine the kids had outgrown into a squirrel
feeder and toss some dried corn in it once a month or so. It's all gone
in a day or two.

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/nuts.jpg

It takes the little furry tailed roof rats almost no time to learn to
crank that wooden handle around with their paws and teeth. The chipmonks
will climb right inside the machine's chute leaving only their tails
sticking out.

Jeff (Who obviously has WAY to much time on his hands....)


--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
Stephen wrote:
My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels
and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range
would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp



About three years ago I solved the problem by buying a "Yankee Flipper"
bird feeder:

http://www.yankeeflipper.com/droll/index.cfm

I got tired of having to drag out an extension cord to plug the wall
wart charger into and charge up the two C-cell nicads in the Yankee
Flipper, so I soon mounted a small solar panel on its top which lets the
sun do that job for me.

Much fun to watch each new crop of squirrels struggle to try and find a
way to beat it, but they learn pretty fast and stop trying, and then the
show is over for the season.

I felt a little bad about screwing the squirrels that way, so I
converted an old gumball machine the kids had outgrown into a squirrel
feeder and toss some dried corn in it once a month or so. It's all gone
in a day or two.

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/nuts.jpg

It takes the little furry tailed roof rats almost no time to learn to
crank that wooden handle around with their paws and teeth. The chipmonks
will climb right inside the machine's chute leaving only their tails
sticking out.

Jeff (Who obviously has WAY to much time on his hands....)

I love it. You go to all that trouble to keep the squirrels out of the
feeder, and then you feed the squirrels.

You'd get along well with my wife. That sounds like our life, too. g

Ed Huntress

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 19:16:22 GMT, "Stephen" vaguely
proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

The difference between humans and animals...the animals don't like to
to look after the "nice" ones, while killing the rest.

My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp

************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.

Stephen wrote:
I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range
would be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

It should be plenty adequate.

You don't say where you live, but a number of cities in the US clasify
pellet rifles as firearms so firing a pellet rifle in the city limits
qualifies as a felony (discharging a firearm in the city limits). Might
be worth checking on in your area if you are not lucky enough to live in
a rural area.

Bob

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 20:51:24 +0100, Tim Auton
tim.auton@uton.[groupSexWithoutTheY] wrote:

"Stephen" wrote:

My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

With a decent headshot, yes. Hit a squirrel in the hindquarters with
that and it'll limp off and die slowly, which is bad. The unlicensed
limit for air guns in the UK is 12 ft lbs, and that's OK for taking
bunny rabbits (not jackrabbits or hares though) with a 20 yard shot to
the head. The gun laws in the UK mean air weapons are popular here for
hunting varmints. A search for "air rifle" with "game", "huting" etc.
should find you diagrams of target areas for a clean kill with that
kind of weapon. Practice on targets till you're sure you can get a
clean kill.


Tim
A good slingshot loaded with ball-bearings or Dollar Store Marbles
works very well on rabbits. The "tree rats" are a little harder to hit
than cotton-tails.

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 02:44:45 GMT, wrote:


A good slingshot loaded with ball-bearings or Dollar Store Marbles
works very well on rabbits. The "tree rats" are a little harder to hit
than cotton-tails.
I have started using ice cubes to chase the ****ty-cats around here,
self eliminating evidence.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

You are a total **** HEAD kill all the squirrels in the nighborhood so they
won't
eat a few dollars of bird seed a week .Why don't you just buy a squirrl proof
bird feeder for $25 dollars from e-bay it would be a lot cheaper than a pellet
gun.
http://search.ebay.com/bird-feeder-p...ftogZ1QQsocolu
mnlayoutZ3QQfromZR10QQcatrefZC6QQsotrZ2QQcoactionZ compareQQcopagenumZ1QQco
entrypageZsearch

TLKALLAM8 wrote:

You are a total **** HEAD kill all the squirrels in the nighborhood so they
won't
eat a few dollars of bird seed a week .Why don't you just buy a squirrl proof
bird feeder for $25 dollars from e-bay it would be a lot cheaper than a pellet
gun.
http://search.ebay.com/bird-feeder-p...ftogZ1QQsocolu
mnlayoutZ3QQfromZR10QQcatrefZC6QQsotrZ2QQcoactionZ compareQQcopagenumZ1QQco
entrypageZsearch

Guess you live in a high rise.

When we put feed in the six feeders on our deck, we have 4 pair of those harry rats
come to feed. The also eat our plants, just the expensive flowers that is.

The cost is far much more than a few dollars of seed a week.

Martin [ lives in a rain forest on the left coast ]

--
Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn
@ home at Lion's Lair with our computer
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

wrote:
"Stephen" wrote:
[snip]

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

A good slingshot loaded with ball-bearings or Dollar Store Marbles
works very well on rabbits. The "tree rats" are a little harder to hit
than cotton-tails.

Can you get a clean kill that way? I no anti-hunting freak, but I
think if you're going to kill something you really ought to do it
quickly and cleanly.


Tim
--
Google is not the only search engine.

There's room for ALL of Gods creatures...right next to the mashed potatoes.


"Stephen" wrote in message
...
My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels
and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range
would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 16:22:29 +0100, Tim Auton
wrote:

wrote:
"Stephen" wrote:
[snip]

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

A good slingshot loaded with ball-bearings or Dollar Store Marbles
works very well on rabbits. The "tree rats" are a little harder to hit
than cotton-tails.

Can you get a clean kill that way? I no anti-hunting freak, but I
think if you're going to kill something you really ought to do it
quickly and cleanly.


Tim
Quite true. Humanely is the only way to kill a critter.

The 1000 fps pellet gun is more than enough to kill the little
varmints. In fact..it may be a bit much, unless you are sure that you
have a clear and inpenetrable backstop. That pellet at 10 -15 yrds
will zing clear through them. Id Strongly recommend using a blunt
nosed pellet or even better, one of the hollow pointed ones that are
available as this tends to make the pellet break up or deform faster,
making a better and faster kill, and preventing the pellet from
traveling much farther with any force.

Whild head shots are the prefered way..it is a small target for a less
experienced marksman, so a shot directly though the body, from the
side, through both the shoulders will generally anchor them quickly
and destroy the heart/lung area and the shoulder bones blowing up will
send additional shrapnel into the vital organs causing them to bleed
out virtually instantly, if the blunt force trauma hasnt shocked them
into cardiac arrest.

Keep in mind that pigeons, like most birds, tend to be a skinny body
with a ballon of feathers around them.

With bb/pellet guns, I prefer to shoot them from the backside, at the
juncture of the wing/neck area. A vertical hold will put the pellet
anywhere in a line from the neck/spine area down to the heart lung
area, so if you misjudge elevation, the pellet will still penetrate a
vital area, usually also shearing the spine so they cannot fly away.

Of course for the squeamish..by aiming exclusivly at the head, if you
miss, there is unlikely to be any wound at all and virtually all hits
will be instantly fatal ones. They will flop around a bit as the
nervous systems fires at random, but the lights have been turned off
and no one is home. Quite humane and there is no suffering.

And of course if you are an atavistic animist, be sure that you give
your weapon a drop of blood from your first kill. On the barrel just
in front of the forestock is the best place as the acidic blood only
discolors the bluing minimally. Blooding is a eons old tradition
passed down from our ancestors insuring your weapon will kill well and
cleanly. Shrug... ask any shaman.
G

Gunner

"In my humble opinion, the petty carping levied against Bush by
the Democrats proves again, it is better to have your eye plucked
out by an eagle than to be nibbled to death by ducks." - Norman
Liebmann

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 04:52:31 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Guess you live in a high rise.

I live on 67Ha (150 acres) of bush.

I involved myself in this discussion from the "selective is wrong"
idea. I learn that if you want to be "nice" to nature you live with
the ****ing consequeces.

If you start to be choosy then you have to be extremely nasty
regarding the "nature" you so admire.
************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.

There's room for ALL of Gods creatures...right next to the mashed potatoes.

Never eat anything with the face--cut the heads off first.

GTO(John)

Oh my yes! I've dropped plenty of rabbits at up to 50 yards.
Rabbit jumps straight up surprised, comes down dead.

The best buy in a good air rifle when I was shopping was the RWS
Diana model 34. I'd go (went) lower velocity, higher caliber, as 800
fps .,22 cal in preferece to .177. For pellets, use the Beeman
Crow-Magnums. They are a blunt-nose pellet that mushrooms a lot
rather than just drilling holes, and they don't go as far if you miss.

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 19:16:22 GMT, "Stephen" wrote:

My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Thanks
Scp

"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in message
. ..
TLKALLAM8 wrote:

You are a total **** HEAD kill all the squirrels in the nighborhood so
they
won't
eat a few dollars of bird seed a week .Why don't you just buy a squirrl
proof
bird feeder for $25 dollars from e-bay it would be a lot cheaper than a
pellet
gun.

http://search.ebay.com/bird-feeder-p...ftogZ1QQsocolu

mnlayoutZ3QQfromZR10QQcatrefZC6QQsotrZ2QQcoactionZ compareQQcopagenumZ1QQco
entrypageZsearch

Guess you live in a high rise.

When we put feed in the six feeders on our deck, we have 4 pair of those
harry rats
come to feed. The also eat our plants, just the expensive flowers that
is.

The cost is far much more than a few dollars of seed a week.

Martin [ lives in a rain forest on the left coast ]

Ah yes, living in a rain forest.
The squirrels will eat your house, the slugs will eat your garden, the mink
will eat your chickens, the wolves will eat your dog, the jingle will eat
your property and the ravens will eat anything - including shiny tools.
The government won't let one eat/shoot/annoy anything.
Love it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Regards.
Ken (also living in a rainforest on the left coast (of Canada).

TLKALLAM8 wrote:
You are a total **** HEAD kill all the squirrels in the nighborhood so they
won't
eat a few dollars of bird seed a week .Why don't you just buy a squirrl proof
bird feeder for $25 dollars from e-bay it would be a lot cheaper than a pellet
gun.
http://search.ebay.com/bird-feeder-p...ftogZ1QQsocolu
mnlayoutZ3QQfromZR10QQcatrefZC6QQsotrZ2QQcoactionZ compareQQcopagenumZ1QQco
entrypageZsearch
Well where the hell is he going to get the meat for the squirrel stew then?

"patlandy" wrote in message
...
TLKALLAM8 wrote:
You are a total **** HEAD kill all the squirrels in the nighborhood so
they
won't
eat a few dollars of bird seed a week .Why don't you just buy a squirrl
proof
bird feeder for $25 dollars from e-bay it would be a lot cheaper than a
pellet
gun.

http://search.ebay.com/bird-feeder-p...ftogZ1QQsocolu

mnlayoutZ3QQfromZR10QQcatrefZC6QQsotrZ2QQcoactionZ compareQQcopagenumZ1QQco
entrypageZsearch
Well where the hell is he going to get the meat for the squirrel stew
then?

Darned right. I can post a good recipe for real Brunswick Stew if anyone
needs it. First, quarter and brown four squirrels in a four-quart Dutch oven
or deep saucepan...

'Got a recipe for woodchuck in sour cream, from Gourmet Magazine, too.

Ed Huntress

Old Nick wrote:

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 04:52:31 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
vaguely proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email


Guess you live in a high rise.


I live on 67Ha (150 acres) of bush.

I involved myself in this discussion from the "selective is wrong"
idea. I learn that if you want to be "nice" to nature you live with
the ****ing consequeces.

If you start to be choosy then you have to be extremely nasty
regarding the "nature" you so admire.
************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.
Ever have a 2.5" redwood limb fall 100' at you ? - My house and stuff
take hits every year. My shop has a 2" hole in the roof I patched in the
rain.

I am nature. I live on this earth. I provide for black bear, deer, possum
raccoon, small eagles, Bald Eagle from time to time, vermin under and on top of
ground and those climbing trees. The dozen or so bird species, including some exotic
and one that will never be mentioned :-) on my property. The snakes and newts go
at will. Our dog is sequestered on our back deck and the house. We kill invasive plants
and watch for fire (spending several thousand a year in property protection from fire)
and live on and underneath a hundred or so Coastal Redwoods.

Sounds like you have more land, but less property in my trees are between 100 and 200 feet tall.
The birds live at multiple levels and have their hour in the sun. The small birds are a crackup,
the pecking order is such that as one eats, two or three await in line.

And since I'm mostly at the top of the pecking order I choose how nature is around here.
When the bobcat or mountain lion (brown or black (one here, I haven't seen it yet)) move
through, I give way to them as the other animals here do. We don't put ourselves in harms way
so we have to kill something, but if push comes to shove don't worry.

In Australia, the bunnie lovers almost killed the ranches from what I heard.

Martin

--
Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn
@ home at Lion's Lair with our computer
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Old Nick wrote:

....snip.....

I involved myself in this discussion from the "selective is wrong"
idea. I learn that if you want to be "nice" to nature you live with
the ****ing consequeces.

Nice sentiments, but unfortunately where there are human arseholes,
nature has been mostly ****ed. Sometimes, buy reducing a few species
that cohabitate well with humans, you give a few more species a bit more
breathing room and a better chance of survival.

"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote:


In Australia, the bunnie lovers almost killed the ranches from what I heard.

Total load of ****ing cods wallop.
Rabbits (, hares, foxes, numerous birds, trout, etc) were brought to
Australia by various acclimatisation societies in the 19th century,
where they basically ran amuck because there were insufficent predators.

The real scream about rabbits has been for decades from people wanting
to farm them, but arse hole bureacrats in various agriculture/primary
industry government departments said no. I notice they are finally
winning. It might had had something to do with the embarrassing fact
that all that rabbit fur that goes into the aussie icon, the Akubra hat,
actually comes from NZ. {;-).

So far, it is rabbits 2, CSIRO 0. (CSIRO is Aust government funded
research organisation) Twice the CSIRO have developed ways (myxo and
calici) to kill rabbits and both time the old bunnies sprung back.
Interestingly, both times the virus was released early from testing on
an off shore island by being transmitted by the humble blow fly (wtf -
that is the CSIRO's excuse).

What really ensures the bunny is going to be around for a long, long
time is old farmers and their sons who lived through the depression and
various droughts. Rabbits are the closest most people can come to living
off the land (unless you can stomach cat). So, most have a patch hidden
away, just in case another hard times come around.

Also, shooting bunnies is a very good way to learn gun and hunting
skills.

At one stage, if you wanted to **** off the agricultural show societies,
you would ring up and ask if there as a category for rabbits at the
show. You could hear the contempt dripping off their tounge as they made
a polite replay. Now, I understand there are some bunny shows, but they
do not have any polly muscle.

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 15:41:15 +1000, Terry Collins
wrote:

Old Nick wrote:

...snip.....

I involved myself in this discussion from the "selective is wrong"
idea. I learn that if you want to be "nice" to nature you live with
the ****ing consequeces.

Nice sentiments, but unfortunately where there are human arseholes,
nature has been mostly ****ed. Sometimes, buy reducing a few species
that cohabitate well with humans, you give a few more species a bit more
breathing room and a better chance of survival.

Its not like humans are part of the ecology or anything. When we were
dropped off from the flying saucers we simply started taking over
everything as foreign invaders of the ecosystem..

Gunner
Chortle

"There is no difference between communism and socialism, except
in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism
proposes to enslave men by force, socialism - by vote. It is
merely the difference between murder and suicide."
- Ayn Rand, from "Foreign Policy Drains U.S. of Main
Weapons"

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 04:51:41 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

In the end I was just grizzling about the logic of only loving what
you want to love in your surroundings. I have found that _any_ attempt
to encourage "nice birdies" etc will result in unwanted stuff.

Ever have a 2.5" redwood limb fall 100' at you ?
- My house and stuff
take hits every year. My shop has a 2" hole in the roof I patched in the
rain.

Sorry. Your point is?

I am nature. I live on this earth. I provide for black bear, deer, possum
raccoon, small eagles, Bald Eagle from time to time, vermin under and on top of
ground and those climbing trees. The dozen or so bird species, including some exotic
and one that will never be mentioned :-) on my property. The snakes and newts go
at will. Our dog is sequestered on our back deck and the house. We kill invasive plants
and watch for fire (spending several thousand a year in property protection from fire)
and live on and underneath a hundred or so Coastal Redwoods.

Sounds like you have more land, but less property in my trees are between 100 and 200 feet tall.

If you mean less trees, I have 60Ha of which around 50 are full bush.

The birds live at multiple levels and have their hour in the sun. The small birds are a crackup,
the pecking order is such that as one eats, two or three await in line.

And since I'm mostly at the top of the pecking order I choose how nature is around here.
When the bobcat or mountain lion (brown or black (one here, I haven't seen it yet)) move
through, I give way to them as the other animals here do. We don't put ourselves in harms way
so we have to kill something, but if push comes to shove don't worry.


In Australia, the bunnie lovers almost killed the ranches from what I heard.

Not at all. The bunnies almost killed the farms, not the bunny lovers.
I am not aware of any great lobby to save the rabbit. Unless by bunny
lover you mean those that introduced them for their own purposes, and
may have fought to protect their own human-based interests.

As far as I know, the bunnies were introduced for hunting, for sport
and food, and I _believe_ to provide for the bloody foxes that were
also introduced so _they_ could be hunted for sport, by somebody that
misguidedly thought that they were at the top of the pecking order and
therefore could choose what they did or did not do to the rest of the
ecology, and could pick and choose what to encourage, and what to
shoot because it did not suit them. Having no other effective enemies
than Man (who soon forgot them in favour of mutton and beef), foxes,
and introduced cats, the rabbits went crazy. It's also interesting
that rabbit population density may not have been _that_ much higher
than in England. It's just that many farmers are farming land that
probably should not be farmed. It's very easy to damage a lot of
Australia. It's nearly a desert in 80-90% of its area.
************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.

Top posted just to throw in my two cents worth because I am bored.

Squirrels are obnoxious rats with cute fuzzy tails who tear things up.
They take one bite out of apples, strawberries, etc and throw them
away. They dig all over gardens. They pull up plants by the roots and
just dump em. They pour all the bird seed out to get the one little
type they like. They stand on their hind legs, smile at you, and flip
you off with a little squirrel claw, laughing all the way to a hiding place.

They won't leave short of killing them. You can't kill them so your
next bet is to harass them in hopes that they run like hell when they
see humans or at least you can feel better for having taken your revenge.

I'd go with a wrist rocket sling shot and a few bags of marbles. If
someone complains, you have the excuse that you weren't harming them as
you cannot hit the side of a barn. You are involved more int he process
so it "Feels" like you are doing something. It's quiet. It works on
cats too (which in a neighborhood are just rats that feed on rats)

Koz

Ken Davey wrote:

"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in message
...


TLKALLAM8 wrote:



You are a total **** HEAD kill all the squirrels in the nighborhood so


they


won't
eat a few dollars of bird seed a week .Why don't you just buy a squirrl


proof


bird feeder for $25 dollars from e-bay it would be a lot cheaper than a


pellet


gun.



http://search.ebay.com/bird-feeder-p...ftogZ1QQsocolu


mnlayoutZ3QQfromZR10QQcatrefZC6QQsotrZ2QQcoaction ZcompareQQcopagenumZ1QQco


entrypageZsearch


Guess you live in a high rise.

When we put feed in the six feeders on our deck, we have 4 pair of those


harry rats


come to feed. The also eat our plants, just the expensive flowers that


is.


The cost is far much more than a few dollars of seed a week.

Martin [ lives in a rain forest on the left coast ]



Ah yes, living in a rain forest.
The squirrels will eat your house, the slugs will eat your garden, the mink
will eat your chickens, the wolves will eat your dog, the jingle will eat
your property and the ravens will eat anything - including shiny tools.
The government won't let one eat/shoot/annoy anything.
Love it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Regards.
Ken (also living in a rainforest on the left coast (of Canada).

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 04:51:41 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

My posting as a reply to you was probably ill-chosen. My rant is about
the idea that the wife wants to feed the birds, but complains about
something else. It's also about deciding to feed wild populations,
thus possibly creating an imbabalce with unknown consequences, just
for fun. We do a lot of it already, but mostly for at least food or
profit.

I gave up being nice to anything, as in feeding/encouraging. I find
that most animals will, with or without encouragement, become a
nuisance one way or another given time. But I don't shoot anything
either. I gave that up as well. It got to be depressing and boring,
apart from useless.

I have, as I said 60Ha of land, with a lot of trees. I also try to
grow fruit, and other stuff. I am sure that some silly ******* nearby
will be feeding the cute little parrots that eat all my fruit.

BTW, shooting rabbits is not a viable way to eradicate them, in Oz at
least. And BTW, apparently I was somewhat right in my "history
lesson", but the rabbit _shooters_ also helped the rabbit spread! Once
again humans were the main problem. My point stands.

http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.pro...s/history.html

The myxo and Calesi were also failures partly because of human
****-ups, greed, short-sightedness and stupidity. The Calesi virus was
doing very well, with populations falling to the point where foxes and
cats were starting to die out, and in natures' cute was, started
making more of a mess of the native animals as well! G But of course
the rabbits started getting immunity. There were two research teams
trying to bring out new strains of virus fast enough to beat the
immunity. Last I heard, they had their funds removed. They were cost
ing (gasp!) I think a half mill each year. I believe the rabbit still
costs about $15 BIL a year in Oz.

So "bunny lovers" had bugger all to do with it. Mind you bunnies are
great lovers, and _that_ could be what you meant. G

Old Nick wrote:

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 04:52:31 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
vaguely proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email


Guess you live in a high rise.


I live on 67Ha (150 acres) of bush.

I involved myself in this discussion from the "selective is wrong"
idea. I learn that if you want to be "nice" to nature you live with
the ****ing consequeces.

If you start to be choosy then you have to be extremely nasty
regarding the "nature" you so admire.
************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.
Ever have a 2.5" redwood limb fall 100' at you ? - My house and stuff
take hits every year. My shop has a 2" hole in the roof I patched in the
rain.

I am nature. I live on this earth. I provide for black bear, deer, possum
raccoon, small eagles, Bald Eagle from time to time, vermin under and on top of
ground and those climbing trees. The dozen or so bird species, including some exotic
and one that will never be mentioned :-) on my property. The snakes and newts go
at will. Our dog is sequestered on our back deck and the house. We kill invasive plants
and watch for fire (spending several thousand a year in property protection from fire)
and live on and underneath a hundred or so Coastal Redwoods.

Sounds like you have more land, but less property in my trees are between 100 and 200 feet tall.
The birds live at multiple levels and have their hour in the sun. The small birds are a crackup,
the pecking order is such that as one eats, two or three await in line.

And since I'm mostly at the top of the pecking order I choose how nature is around here.
When the bobcat or mountain lion (brown or black (one here, I haven't seen it yet)) move
through, I give way to them as the other animals here do. We don't put ourselves in harms way
so we have to kill something, but if push comes to shove don't worry.

In Australia, the bunnie lovers almost killed the ranches from what I heard.

Martin

************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 15:54:12 +1000, Terry Collins
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Total load of ****ing cods wallop.

Well well, and so nicely put. However, I am not _quite_ sure of what
exactly you are trying to say in reponse.

Rabbits (, hares, foxes, numerous birds, trout, etc) were brought to
Australia by various acclimatisation societies in the 19th century,
where they basically ran amuck because there were insufficent predators.

The real scream about rabbits has been for decades from people wanting
to farm them, but arse hole bureacrats in various agriculture/primary
industry government departments said no.

Want to farm rabbits do we? So I _think_ you are saying that farming
rabbits is a good way to control them, given you opinion of those who
oppose it? I question this. Ask NZ about deer, and farming, and what
happens there. We have a couple of deer farms around here, (OZ) and
they get out regularly, in spite of 3 metre fences. They live in the
bussh, but not as successfully as rabbits.

What really ensures the bunny is going to be around for a long, long
time is old farmers and their sons who lived through the depression and
various droughts. Rabbits are the closest most people can come to living
off the land (unless you can stomach cat). So, most have a patch hidden
away, just in case another hard times come around.

Huh?


************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 04:51:41 GMT, "Martin H. Eastburn"
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Had a hoot about this:
"Sometime in the 1850's a man was charged at the Colac (Victoria)
Police Court with having shot a rabbit, the property of John Robertson
of Glen Alvie. He was fined 10 pounds. A few years later, Robertsons
son spent 5000 pounds a year in an attempt to control rabbits" (pg 21
Rolls). By 1869 it was estimated that 2,033,000 rabbits had been
destroyed on his property and that they were as thick as ever (pg 35
Rolls).

In Australia, the bunnie lovers almost killed the ranches from what I heard.

Martin

************************************************** ***
Marriage. Where two people decide to get together so
that neither of them can do what they want to because
of the other one.

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 12:48:08 -0700, Koz
calmly ranted:

Top posted just to throw in my two cents worth because I am bored.

Revised to interstitial, TYVM.


Squirrels are obnoxious rats with cute fuzzy tails who tear things up.
They take one bite out of apples, strawberries, etc and throw them
away. They dig all over gardens. They pull up plants by the roots and
just dump em. They pour all the bird seed out to get the one little
type they like. They stand on their hind legs, smile at you, and flip
you off with a little squirrel claw, laughing all the way to a hiding place.

Ayup. You've got to admit, though: the little critters got balls.
Here's proof: http://www.thehumorsource.com/pictures/135.html

I forgot the URL of the Squirrel Launcher, but that was a great
invention, too. Place nut on the modified skeet launcher, wait
for the fuzzy little bastid, and LAUNCH...


--
Impeach 'em ALL!
----------------------------------------------------
http://diversify.com Website Application Programming

Old Nick wrote:

http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.pro...s/history.html

LOL. If it is on the internet, then it must be true. {:-).

If you want to learn a bit, get the E.C. Rolls book listed in the
references. Actually, any Rolls book will give you a beter understanding
of Australian history than any formal history. He has a good habit of
looking at it from the working man's viewpoint and explaining how it
affected the everyday person.

....snip....

But of course the rabbits started getting immunity.

Nope, they knew that the kittens (baby bunnies) were immune to it from
the start. They also knew that it didn't work well in wet areas. It
didn't dint the bunny population in the SE coastal areas.

Old Nick wrote:

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 15:54:12 +1000, Terry Collins
vaguely proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Total load of ****ing cods wallop.

Well well, and so nicely put. However, I am not _quite_ sure of what
exactly you are trying to say in reponse.

Rabbits (, hares, foxes, numerous birds, trout, etc) were brought to
Australia by various acclimatisation societies in the 19th century,
where they basically ran amuck because there were insufficent predators.

The real scream about rabbits has been for decades from people wanting
to farm them, but arse hole bureacrats in various agriculture/primary
industry government departments said no.

Want to farm rabbits do we? So I _think_ you are saying that farming
rabbits is a good way to control them, given you opinion of those who
oppose it?

Nope. Read it all in context, but I'll make it simple.

1) There was no cute bunny lover brigade behind it at all.

2) The only pro bunny people making waves were those wanting to farm it.
No one has ever linked farming with bunny control (that I know of). They
just thought it was a another form of small holder farming. In fact,
bunny farmers are just as pro feral bunny control as any other farmer.
Why? The wild population acts as a mixo source.


What really ensures the bunny is going to be around for a long, long
time is old farmers and their sons who lived through the depression and
various droughts. Rabbits are the closest most people can come to living
off the land (unless you can stomach cat). So, most have a patch hidden
away, just in case another hard times come around.

Huh?

There are some good Rolls books on it.
A lot of large Australian farms still have bush patches.

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 07:35:35 -0400, Tom Quackenbush
wrote:


I believe it's also a spring piston type, not pneumatic.

Correct.


I think Bruce's recoilless statement was referring to pneumatics as
compared to spring piston types. I don't know for sure, but I'd be
surprised if a .22 pneumatic produced more recoil than a .22 RF.

I thought spring piston rifles *were* pneumatic, but after reading
posts I think I now understand the context of pneumatic. Yes, the
recoil in a spring-piston is mostly due to piston motion. Geez,
I've never noticed any recoil at all in a .22 rimfire and I burned a
lot of LR ammo in my little bolt-action clip-fed Mossberg when I was a
kid.

Recoil starts while the round is still in the barrel.

It does indeed, but the force vector is mostly axial with little
tangential component. That doesn't minimize the recoil but it does
minimize barrel deflection before the round is gone. F*t = M*v.
That's why target rifles have heavy barrels.

The RWS 34 Diana is on the heavy side for a field rifle, way heavier
than my lilttle Mossberg .22, but that mass doesn't hurt accuracy a
bit.

I gotta say I'd much rather shoot rabbits with the Mossberg .22 than
with the RWS air rifle, but use of a .22 just wouldn't be prudent
here. Pellets make the trip, do the job and are in the dirt 20
feet beyond my domain.



R,
Tom Q.
Remove bogusinfo to reply.

"Stephen" wrote in message . ..
My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

Yes, except for the fact that if you kill a squirrel or pigeon, all
you are doing is making room for another one to move in. The effect
is like sticking your fist in a bucket of water and measuring the hole
when you pull it out. The problem is not the squirrels or pigeons, it
is that you are providing a food source that is not natural. The
squirrels or pigeons are doing what is natural, they're eating.
Better to find some way to provide a relatively easy place to put
their preferred foods, and they would leave the food for the others
pretty well alone if you make it difficult for them to get to. You
can kill squirrels until hell freezes over and you won't eliminate
them at your feeder.

Don Foreman wrote:

I'm beginning to understand that "pneumatic" means pre-charged with
pressurized gas. I sure believe that such air rifles have virtually
no recoil. Hell, a .22 rimfire long rifle round in a bolt action
rifle has no noticable recoil.

That would be a "Pre Charged Pneumatic" or PCP rifle. That's the high
end of the market these days. The term pneumatic also refers to the
multi punp, like Crosman, Benjamin Sheridan, and Daisy have made, and
single stroke such as Daisy, Crosman, etc., on the low end, and a whole
pile of olympic grade high end makers.

Cheers
Trevor Jones