Shooting World Forums banner

House Squirrel?

4K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  Zerbe 
#1 ·
Hmm... wasn't sure whether to post this in the topic about building a "man cave", or small game...

I have my basement sort of set up as a man cave though the ceiling is not finished. I was sitting at a desk there yesterday working at my computer when my dog was fussing at the sliding door to go outside. I just walked over , grabbed the handle and pulled the door open without really looking outside.
That's when all hell broke loose! The dog bolted out the door as a red pine squirrel bolted up the side of the house and came in the door into the basement! He was able to jump up onto one of the air supply pipes for the furnace and ran to the other side of the room. He hid up there for about an hour while I was looking for where he went. I eventually suspected that that's where he was and banged on it with a broom. I opened the door and proceeded to attempt to herd him in that general direction. I had him cornered for a while on top of a trunk and behind a stack of the kids board games. I then attempted to shift the stack in such a way to chase him toward the door. Of course that just meant that he should really go back up to into the floor joists again and away from the door. He eventually found a place where there are two of these floor joists that are a couple inches apart and closed off on the bottom. As far as I can tell, he's still in there.

At this point, my wife and I have given up on the notion of getting it out alive and are planning a trip out to get a rat trap and bait it with peanut butter. :evil:
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Zerbe

Good luck .... Here's my suggestion .... Shooting Glasses, BB Gun, Peanuts, and a frying pan .... The frying pan is for after you use the first three items .... If you use your imagination I'm sure you can follow my thinking with what to do with the first three items :twisted:
 
#4 ·
Well, the Victor plastic rat trap is set and baited with a dollup of peanut butter with a pistacio nut in the middle! The trap is tied off in case it doesn't die immediately, and I have a pellet rifle ready as backup!

I also have a metal hot dog stick ready and wood set aside for the back yard fire pit! I talked to my dad this morning and he asked if I had a fur takers tag for my hunting license to set up that trap line in the basement!
 
#5 ·
I get them in the basement of the one cabin quite regularly. They dig under the wood skirt for the crawlspace and follow the water and sewer line into the basement. I find a 22 pistol with birdshot to work well and be a whole lot of fun. Once in a while I'll use the 40 S&W, 45 ACP, or 45 Colt with birdshot though the pellets are a bit larger. Wear safety glasses regardless of what type of gun you use and hearing protection is a necessity with the powder fired weapons (and a good idea with many air guns).
I have eaten a number of creatures but I haven't thought of eating a pine squirrel. I can't imagine there being much in the way of meat on them as even a large one is not all that much bigger than a chipmunk.
 
#6 ·
:? Alright house squirrel hunters, some of you mentioned air guns. I haven't owned a pellet gun for many, many, years. But have considered the purchase of a new one. While I don't want to spend the $ for a target grade air gun, I would want a quality accurate air rifle. I suppose the pump up kind are best since I will not use it on a regular basis. What do you suggest???
 
#7 ·
Wyo,
This is the one I plan to purchase next. :D
http://www.gamousa.com/Catalog.aspx?Family=71

Given that I live in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh in a "plan", this one should be quiet enough to pick off chipmunks in the back yard an not alarm the neighbors. :twisted: :lol:

What I have now are an old crossman pump bb/pellet rifle that might just annoy a rodent if you gave it all ten pumps, and a couple single pump air rifles that one of my brothers got about ten years ago via a bulk order from China. They are really crude, but shoot pretty hard. If you look closely at the stocks on them you might just find some bark still on them! :shock:
 
#8 ·
My personal "HOUSE GUN" is an older Daisy, pump up style ,air rifle. It's wearing one of those tiny tubed scopes that used to come on the Glenfield 22 combos. I perfer it, in the basement, to any of those newfangled ones. I can control velocities with how many pumps I apply. I get Starlings in the basement about every 2 months and get to go bird hunting! BB or pellets(the preferred ammo because of richo... bouncing BBs) work well with 3 pumps.

I was shooting my 243 one day at the range when a guy came up and asked he could go down range to set a target or 2. I didn't see what he was fixing to shoot, but he'd set up 2, one at 25yds and one at 50yds. I figured ,maybe a handgun or 22. Nope it was one of the new Gamo air rifles. That thing was sweet! Almost no noise when fired! The perfect thing for ***** or possums in the backyard. He had bought his to thin out the squirrel poopulation in his neighborhood and by his report, was doing a right bangup job of it.
This thing came with a 4x12x40 scope w/AO and would shot almost 1 hole groups at 50 yds. I don't remember if his was .177 or 22. In one ad recently, Gamo was claiming over 1600fps with one of their low drag pellets. Heck that almost a 22lr!

So, Gamo, if yer serious and one of the pump up styles if yer worried about too much power at time.



HWD
 
#9 ·
ok, final update on the house squirrel. The plastic rat trap just gave it a headache... twice..

I gave up on that and went back out and spent $25 on a "Have a Heart" wire box trap. I came back home and walked into my basement where that squirrel was sitting on the floor flipping me the middle finger before it ran back up to its favorite hiding place.

I smeared the trip plate in the trap with a generous helping of peanut butter and set it up on my cold air return run for the furnace. Within 15-20 min the doors dropped on the cage!!!! :lol: :lol:

Uglydog was right, it wasn't much bigger than a chipmunk. I just took him outside and let him go. I watched him run across the street and up to my neighbor's house. :twisted:
 
#10 ·
:cry: Zerbe :!: :!: You shock me :shock: Trapping the vermit then setting it free :!: Typical liberal activity :!: Where is your John Wayne, Rooster Cogburn, attitude :?: He may come back to haunt you for more free peanunt butter :!: Anyway, thanks for the stuff on the air rifles. I read about these and couldn't remember the brand name. :!:
 
#11 ·
Wyo,
There are two reasons I let the varment go.

1. The wife was right there when we caught it in the cage and for marital harmony reasons I let it go. :shock: If I remember correctly, even Rooster Cogburn gave in to the fairer sex on some of his habbits when pressed by Miss Goodnight! :lol:

2. It just didn't seem like "fair chase" to me.... I'll have to watch for him to show up again in the yard and pop him out there! :twisted:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top