Air Gun Home :: View topic

j.m. · Member

I was about 25 yards away, with my beeman SS1000T. Hit all three of 'em in the head, but once shot they squirmed around for about a minute.

I shot the first, saw it squirm, and quickly reloaded and ran closer for a follow up shot, only to find the squirrels head lying stationary on the ground with the rest of it's body twitching. Brains and blood were oozing from it's forehead.

I was using beeman 7.2g coated hollowpoints, and my gun shoots these at ~930 fps.

My question is:
At 25 yards with this pellet and velocity, did I not kill the squirrel instantly? Or do they squirm when shot in the brain, kinda like a severed snake body might wiggle?

Im really concerned, i don't want to be torturing animals. They keep trying to chew their way into my garage to get at the birdseed...

Oh, and what do I do with the bodies? I don't want to leave them for crows with the pellet still in them...

Jon

j.m. · Member

15 views and nobody knows what to do with a squirrel body?

Airhawk · Member

When the brain is destroyed, the muscles continue to function randomly until they run out of oxygen. Shocked

Juggernaut0504 · Member

cook um' up and eat em'. never tried it, but you never know they might taste good. there's lots of stew recipes online. you could tan the hides search "brain tanning" again, I never tried this but plan to in the future.

fritz · Silver Status Member

It'll do that. The only way to stop that is complete and total paralysis caused by severing the spinal cord at the base of the skull. It's hard to do, and usually results in a brain shot. Either way the critter is dead, twitching or not. Nothing will live long without its brain.

Don't try to go for vitals in the chest. They are so small, and the squirrel can still run back to nest. When it dies in there, the others abandon the nest and will probably die. Especially if it's rather cold out.

Roy · Veteran Member

I shot and ate quite a few Wisconsin tree squirrels back when I was a kid. Because the meat is very lean, you will want to steam or stew it to insure tenderness. Don't try roasting them on the grill; my Dad tried that once and the meat was as tough as shoe leather.

kanyon · Silver Status Member

sniper · Silver Status Member

ok, dumb question. do they taste like chicken?? Laughing

how many makes 1 sandwhich??

Roy · Veteran Member

Sniper,
There are no dumb questions...

Tree squirrels, Gray and Fox, taste unlike chicken, beef, or pork. The flavor is, to me, strong and slightly bitter, so it is best to stew them for a while with onions or sour cream or something to help the taste; good recipes exist. The meat taste is not bad, though ! Corn-fed Fox squirrels might have better flavor than acorn-fed Grays--I don't remember for sure.

As for the "squirrel sandwich", ask my brother ! My early kills were taken with body shots(from a .22 firearm) resulting in cut hair that I could never completely clean off the meat. Unpleasant, for sure. These stray hairs turned the stomachs of my family who very politely felt obliged to consume the meal their Resident Hunter had provided. Even I didn't like hair in my food.
My brother, in a flash of creative inspiration, chopped his portion, hair and all, and stuffed it neatly between two hamburger buns, thus concocting a semi-palatable squirrel sandwich.

Jaxom · Senior Member

Concidering when the first post was made, I would assume by now the meat is no longer good. Only thing left to do is grab a shovel and get busy disposing of the carcasses.

IMHO, you shouldn't have shot at the squirrels unless your intentions were for food in the first place. The only exception to this rule is if the critters were an immediate threat to you or your family...rabid, posionious, destroying real property. Other wise, unless you're prepared to get out the pots and pans, don't pull the trigger!

Slavia · Moderator

Yup, get the shovel.

And next time have hamburger buns ready. Roy isn't making that story up. Not too bad tasting, as I recall.

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

alphakilla · Veteran Member

I've always believed that, "pound for pound", squirrels are among the toughest game species out there. They're also one of the tastiest. You just have to get used to all the squirming around when you shoot 'em, it's normal. You can cut that squirm time down by about half if you siwtch to .22 cal Wink

domer_pyle · Senior Member

sh!t man, i was hunting with a friend this last season using our .22 marlins and he shot one dead center between the eyes and ears in the forehead, and it was still breathing for a good 2 minutes before i finally shot him where the brain meets the spine to finish him off. even so i'm pretty sure it was dead or completely unconscious.

still made me wonder though, cause it's brain couldn't have been too intact so it shouldn't still be sending signals out right?