Ground squirrels
 

I have a choice to make and both choices seem bad.
My father's home butts up to the American River and the only thing that separates his home and the river is a levee.

The ground squirrels have honey-combed the levee and have multiple holes now in his back lawn.

I have two choices to get rid of this invasive species...
Kill them with a slow death by by-passing receptors that tell the animal to hydrate.
Slow death. 3 to 7 days. Pellets put in the entrance of the many holes.

Or... shoot them with a 22 cal pellet firearm that has a precision green dot (no suffering).

No safe traps please. No harse language please. No exhaust pipes. No country involvement. No peanut butter with (add whatever).

Just some help where you have a conscience.

I used to hunt and killed many animals three decades ago and I can't stomach
killing anymore.

Thanks

I have no qualms about killing them or how they die. Ideally I'd prefer a quick and comfortable death. I'd use both methods. Shoot as many as you can (if you can stomach it) and use the pellets (by-passing receptors type) for the left over. They are truly vermin. When I moved into my place, the guy who owns the plumbing company that did the plumbing brought his pellet rifle over, and we shot 12 to 15 of them. The hawks, buzzards, and ravens took care of the bodies. As time went on, I shot occasional ones as a sort of maintenance program. Been here nine years now and only have one or two around. They act like they know, because whenever they see me, the high tail it immediately. My real problem/struggle now is gophers. I'm still trying to get my home made rodenator to work.

I'm an animal lover....live & let live...but...

I've killed 5 big azz snappers in the past year...but when 4 .357 rounds each didn't kill two quickly enough..it bothered me...a little. You do what you need to do, but no way in hell would I use poison unless a last resort...but that's just me. Quick kills with a .22 pellet....do that...easy choice imo.

I wouldn't call a dot sight precision, but then I use a 32x scope to shoot golf balls at 100 yards w/ my 22...

That said, if you can hold minute of ground squirrel head at whatever distance then go for it. But I'd set up a target and confirm zero, build a dope sheet if needed, and certainly confirm group size.

My buddy in Washington shoots them with his scoped 22, he says he gets them as they pop up in their holes, they just drop back down in and he doesn't even have to worry about them.

Your only real choice to get rid of them is poisoning. You just won't be able to shoot enough of them to truly rid yourself of these pests.

I'm not sure shooting them is any more "humane" than poisoning them. If you shoot enough of them to put a dent in their population, you are going to see a lot of them run off with wounds that are not immediately fatal. Lots of them are going to suffer a good deal before they die. That's just the nature of the game when shooting at small pest species, especially if using an air rifle, or even a .22 rimfire.

You really don't get to have it both ways - killing them is going to be a little bit distasteful regardless of the method you choose. There really is no neat and tidy way to go about this.

Jeff is spot on. Poisoning is your only effective option. In a large maze of tunnels, there could be 50 or more in there. They will breed faster than you can shoot them.

Ground squirrels are an ongoing problem in my avocado orchard. I shot two to three a day for months with subsonic .22 CCI HPs and never put a dent in their numbers.

I buy the poison pellets in 5 gl buckets, and put it out every couple weeks. Even at that, they come back quickly if I slack off and forget for a month or six weeks.

Ground squirrels are very destructive.

Get rid of them. I have trapped with great success. Get a couple of these and drown them.

Black Fox Repeating Live Squirrel Trap - Information Page

I have spoken my distaste when someone recommends getting a dog for security (Yes the are a great deterrent, but they are a big responsibility... daily feeding/walking/picking up after.)

Having said that, you know anyone with a Jack Russel terrier (or a couple of them)?

This is in CA?

Need another .22 pellet gun shooter for backup lemme know.

If they butt up to the levee, you have a large challenge ahead of you.

You may be able to get someone else to take care of it though. Levee is probably compromised to some degree. Maybe see what Flood Control District has to say

I talked to two co-workers this morning that have homes on acreage in the foothills and without hesitating, they both said "shoot them."

I will call the county tomorrow and ask for help because of the levee.
The firearm is dead accurate. It is not a green dot by a green laser. so I am hoping for "one shot-one kill."

I think ground squirrels are something I'm not familiar with...at all...tree squirrels here. That said, you certainly don't need a scope on a decent air rifle out to 40-50 yds...I do think Higgins & I will agree on that much ;). Mebbe you can't...but I'd likely break out a .22 or something deadlier that goes "bang"...just beause I can....

Or just call Vash :)

Where at? Your sig doesn't say.

I am in Sacramento, Calif.
I am not joyful (ten in two hours) shooting them but I put a dent in the invasive population.

I went up to Placerville this morning and checked the accuracy of the firearm. Dead on at 50 feet.
We blew up cans of seltzer. I had to take a lot of head shots at 30 feet. They don't like the green laser in the eye so I had to climb up to the back of the eye.

Some got back down the holes, others just flew up in the air and a lot of blood.
Not proud but you have to understand the potential problem with the levee.

I sat in a chair behind my Dad's garbage can for support. Going back tomorrow.
Could still be there but two hours is enough. These guys were crawling over dead comrades to pop back up every 10 minutes.

Glad you decided on a plan of action.

Didn't read close enough earlier...didn't realize laser...bothers their eyes eh? Sounds as if you adjusted accordingly....and at 10 yds, easy-peasy head shots even with open sights on my air rifle....Jeff's too :). As distasteful as it is, you do what you need to do....keep on keeping on.

Ground squirrels? Nahh, I prefer cooking them whole.

When there is no desire to be sporting about it, when it's just a dirty job to do, every advantage is "fair". Scopes, lasers, sharks with lasers on their heads - you name it. Especially with targets that are about the same color and texture as their surroundings, and are scurrying about as they do.

I guess I'm not clear on what kind of numbers we are talking about in this infestation. Every experience I have had in shooting ground squirrels in a real effort to thin their numbers has involved several of us shooting several hundred of them per day. For days on end until we run out of time and have to go home. When we are not there, others are shooting them at the same pace we were. This goes on all spring and summer in some of our spots, and we still do not noticeably reduce their numbers.

It seems to me that if you can shoot a handful a day and feel satisfied that you are having an impact, that you don't really have a problem to begin with. If you can shoot them at a leisurely pace with an air rifle, you probably don't have a problem. Where we shoot them, by request, to help a landowner out with a ground squirrel problem, we all bring at least three or four rimfire rifles and that many handguns as well. Using up a brick of .22 ammo per day per shooter is kind of a slow day.

I'm not making this up, as preposterous as it sounds. In each and every case, once the landowner realized the futility of our efforts, they thanked us for our time and wound up poisoning. Even then it's virtually impossible to permanently rid the property of all of them. They're back the next year, we shoot them for awhile, and they guy winds up poisoning again. Wash, rinse, repeat.