safe distance/hunting with .22

[anweis]

There are homes 1/2 mile away from the place where i would like to hunt squirells this summer. I can't really find a safe backstop when shooting them down from a tree. With 38 grain subsonic (1050 fps), is it dangerous to shoot, will the bullet get to the houses?

[Graybeard]

Yes. The days of it being safe or relatively so to shoot up into trees even with rimfires is mostly over. Down here there are still large expanses of National Forest Land and WMAs where you can hunt miles from any homes and doing such shooting is safer but even then if open sky is showing you can't be sure a person or vehicle won't be at the end of the bullet's flight path. Of course it is quite hilly country and being able to shoot into a tree with a mountain behind it is quite do able.

Shooting into the truck of a large tree so you know you'll at least hit it if not the squirrel adds safety but in general shooting with open sky behind your quarry is not a wise thing to do.

[sachel.45]

sounds perfect for a shotgun

[Rangr44]

If you don't switch over to a shotgun there, you'll just HAVE TO have the dicipline to wait until a squirrel gets on your side of a tree trunk, putting the tree trunk between itself and the houses, making the tree trunk act as a backstop.

.

[mechanic]

sounds perfect for a shotgun

+1

[Duke0313]

.22 pellet gun might be okay, too.

[anweis]

Yes. The days of it being safe or relatively so to shoot up into trees even with rimfires is mostly over.

That's what i tought.
I will use a shotgun. I do hunt a national forest, occasinally, that would be the place for the rifle.
Thanks. 

[WyoStillhunter]

Here's the short version of a sad story:

About 20+ years ago a lady was shot dead while working at a nursery (trees and plants) alongside I-70 east of Columbia, MO.  One bulet wound to the head, no witnesses, no likely motive, etc. and the major case squad worked for a couple weeks without any progress.  As the local sherriff's deputies went house to house in wider and wider circles in this semi-rural area they broke the case.  A man who lived almost a mile away, on the opposite side of I-70 remembered shooting a .22 rifle out of his back door at a rabbit in his vegetable garden.  IIRC ballistics confirmed his weapon as having fired the bullet that killed the woman.  A ricochet traveled almost a mile and caused a death.  That is sobering to all of us who shoot firearms.

[S.S.]

Air Rifle would fit the bill.