Author Topic: New Goal For This Squirrel Season (Read 2507 times)

223fan · « **on:** May 08, 2013, 12:51:04 PM »

My goal this coming season is to take a squirrel with a sling shot. I have started shooting sling shots quite a bit and am going to give this a try. I have a flippin out Ultima that I am accurate with out to 15 yards. Hopefully by the time season gets hear I can increase the range a little bit. I should start getting some good practice starting the middle of june on bull frogs. Is anyone else hunting with a sling shot?

Cleburne · « **Reply #1 on:** May 09, 2013, 01:20:35 PM »

Never considered it but see no reason why one can't be successful doing so. Would be a lot quieter than even .22 Shorts. And much lighter and easier to carry to boot. Let us know how it turns out when the season rolls around.

bulletstuffer · « **Reply #2 on:** May 09, 2013, 02:41:23 PM »

I just bought a Barnett Pro Diablo slingshot. This slingshot is sweet! I started shooting slingshots when I was a kid when you could buy a small one for a dime and a large one for a quarter. I used to change the bands out and tie heavy rubber bands together to get more power. Used a few marbles but mostly rocks since they were free.

This new slingshot with a single lead 00 buckshot is wicked! Accuracy and power

I hope to kill some grouse with it this fall and hopefully a bunch of rodents along the way

Oh yea...squirrels beware when I'm up in the deer stand too

Good luck,

Bulletstuffer

redleg11b · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2013, 02:31:24 AM »

I always take a slingshot out hunting. I don't hunt with it though. With practice they can make a formidable close range small game getter. I use 3/8" steel bearings, but have considered looking for larger lead shot. My boy likes trying to bounce cans with it when we go camping too. There are a few "survivalist" types that champion their use for low noise food procurement.

Cleburne · « **Reply #4 on:** May 11, 2013, 04:00:38 PM »

Quote from: redleg11b on May 11, 2013, 02:31:24 AM

I always take a slingshot out hunting. I don't hunt with it though. With practice they can make a formidable close range small game getter. I use 3/8" steel bearings, but have considered looking for larger lead shot. My boy likes trying to bounce cans with it when we go camping too. There are a few "survivalist" types that champion their use for low noise food procurement.

I used steel bearings once, .... learned my lesson. Hit something hard and they bounce back atcha! Lead's the way to go.

Bigeasy · « **Reply #5 on:** May 11, 2013, 06:02:19 PM »

Used one of the old Wrist Rockets with lead buckshot when I was a kid. Sort of like shooting a traditional bow, once you get the feel, they can be pretty accurate. I wonder what the velocity is for a modern slingshot with a 00 buck ball?

Larry

squirrelslayer · « **Reply #6 on:** May 11, 2013, 09:01:58 PM »

Damn, few years back my old roommate and I were wondering the same thing so we set up the chronograph in the living room and had at it. I don't remember our findings but do remember being completely blown away by how fast they actually went. Hornady 00 buck was our ammo of choice. We even got into trying different pull lengths and crazy stuff like putting one in the freezer for a while to see if the cold would effect the velocity. It slows down quite a bit when subjected to freezing cold conditions. Hot water soak allowed us to pull them farther but no gains in velocity. Room temp was always the best. We got good enough that our boot box target was at one end of the house "small 900ft house" and we were beating the 10 and 9 rings out of a 12'' pistol target.

Bugflipper · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2013, 07:55:46 AM »

When I was a kid I use to hunt grouse, rabbits and squirrels with them. The grouse are still legal to hunt but farming practices have made them very rare to see, so I leave them alone today. With squirrel I probably haven't shot one with a flip in 25 years. I do still hunt rabbits with them. Their nature of running to the first bit of cover and hiding makes them perfect for a flip.

bulletstuffer · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2013, 08:02:19 AM »

Just did the plastic one gallon milk jug test. Complete pass through at 10 yards with that 00 buck screaming out the back side

It's still cold up here but when it warms up I'll get the chronograph out for the speed test.

Varmints beware!

Bulletstuffer

redleg11b · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2013, 11:41:48 AM »

I guess the goal now is to find bulk 00 buck

Cleburne · « **Reply #10 on:** May 12, 2013, 01:47:58 PM »

Quote from: redleg11b on May 12, 2013, 11:41:48 AM

I guess the goal now is to find bulk 00 buck

Saw a box in Cabela's just yesterday. But for the price of factory 00 buckshot, I'd recommend casting your own .36 caliber round balls.

45-70.gov · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2013, 01:54:55 PM »

I HAVE A FEW HOME MADE SLINGSHOT FROM ''SNAP TIES''

we made them to kill seagulls eat our lunches

#3 rebar cut to 1 inch lenths will take them out of the air

don't ask me how i kmow this

mechanic · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2013, 02:44:29 PM »

I've taken three off the wife's bird feeders with a $9.00 Walmart slingshot and glass marbles. Only problem with a miss is that the marbles will shatter off shards of glass on the tree. They are very effective however at knocking Mr. Squirrel down.
Ben

bulletstuffer · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2013, 03:07:22 PM »

Lyman makes a nice 00 buckshot mold

It would be really bad to have to start calculating cost per shot in a slingshot

Happy hunting!

Bulletstuffer

45-70.gov · « **Reply #14 on:** May 12, 2013, 05:35:49 PM »

knocked one off the bird feeder with the blow gun a few days ago

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #15 on:** May 12, 2013, 06:02:18 PM »

Cheap Bio degradable practice ammo, use peanut M&Ms. For your sling shot.
They will break windows. Don't ask

But they shater on logs or brick walls and leave yellow, red, or green marks where you hit.

223fan · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2013, 03:25:06 PM »

I would like to try some 00 or some 36 cal round balls.

45-70.gov · « **Reply #17 on:** May 25, 2013, 04:11:19 PM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0

223fan · « **Reply #18 on:** May 26, 2013, 01:57:08 PM »

Thanks for the video that fellow knew what he was doing. For hunting ammo I am going to give hex nuts a try also,3/8- 1/2" range.

Mike in Virginia · « **Reply #19 on:** May 26, 2013, 02:30:44 PM »

Squirrel hunting with a slingshot? Lordy, I was raised on that. Way before my dad would let me carry a single shot .22, I got off the school bus, grabbed my slingshot and a pocket full of marbles and "steelies" (if you remember those), and hit the woods. I locked a lot of the critters off the hickory limbs, but never killed one. My slingshots then were made from a dogwood fork and inner tube rubber from a bicycle. That would take a rabbit, but not a squirrel.

Now there's all kinds on the market. Recently bought one from - can't remember the name - Chief something or other - and it shoots hard with tubular rubber, but haven't taken it hunting. He makes one with a 40lb. draw with an arrow adapter.

This year, since I can no longer pull a traditional bow, I'm going to try for squirrels with my crossbow with some of those hard rubber blunts. That ought to have more energy than a slingshot, you reckon?

Speaking of squirrels, no greater woods fun than squirrel hunting. Plenty of action and no big carcass to drag out and process. Skin him, soak him overnight in saltwater, boil him a long time, then roll in flower and fry.

If you're lucky enough to live in the eastern woodlands, you have a chance at fox squirrels, which are about twice the size of a gray. Lots of meat on one a fox squirrel.

foxchase · « **Reply #20 on:** May 26, 2013, 03:09:11 PM »

I always have several homemade slingshots around. I buy the tube rubber in bulk lengths at Home Depot. Marbles and rocks for ammo. I watch for a good fork when I'm in the wood to be used for the next slingshot.

Bugflipper · « **Reply #21 on:** May 26, 2013, 03:13:05 PM »

Not trying to be a smart allick, but what happened to just shooting rocks. River pepples are free and no doubt the squirrels won't know the difference. Even if you bought them $60 a ton vs $60 for 10 lbs of buck shot. Heck a 50 lb bag of rocks is $2 at walmart if you happen to live somewhere where there aren't round rocks.

45-70.gov · « **Reply #22 on:** May 27, 2013, 02:48:58 AM »

Quote from: Bugflipper on May 26, 2013, 03:13:05 PM

Not trying to be a smart allick, but what happened to just shooting rocks. River pepples are free and no doubt the squirrels won't know the difference. Even if you bought them $60 a ton vs $60 for 10 lbs of buck shot. Heck a 50 lb bag of rocks is $2 at walmart if you happen to live somewhere where there aren't round rocks.

finaly non-toxik complient and cheaper to boot

now this secret is out watch the prices rise

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #23 on:** May 27, 2013, 08:52:29 AM »

Quote from: Bugflipper on May 26, 2013, 03:13:05 PM

Not trying to be a smart allick, but what happened to just shooting rocks. River pepples are free and no doubt the squirrels won't know the difference. Even if you bought them $60 a ton vs $60 for 10 lbs of buck shot. Heck a 50 lb bag of rocks is $2 at walmart if you happen to live somewhere where there aren't round rocks.

But marbles, buck shot, ball berings and muzzler loader balls all are uniform in size and weight. and you can get better at accuracy with the same projectiles. Especally learning to shoot it.
I guess you could get a bag of rocks and sift them for similar sizes and use them. But I think ytou would be back to the $60 for 10 pounds with a pile of odd sized rocks in the back yard. Not bad if you have a project in the yard that needs a ton (1990 pounds once you sift) of rocks

223fan · « **Reply #24 on:** June 02, 2013, 02:52:10 PM »

For me its about uniformity. I do shoot rocks when ever I find a good one. I have had a couple of fork hits with rocks so I am more picky now.

geezerbiker · « **Reply #25 on:** June 03, 2013, 01:57:10 PM »

Several hundred years ago sling hunters and warriors started casting lead balls they called bullets for the same reasons. More uniform and the higher density made for harder hits.

This all reminds me of a time when friend and I were playing with home made blow guns. I was thinking in a time of famine or other poverty, one could use a blow gun in the city to hunt pigeons. I was sure I could do it but I didn't want to go kill a bird I wasn't planning to eat to prove it. My college roommate (was a serious dolt) and told me there was no chance in hell that it would work. So we went out in the back yard and I put a pen mark on a green apple still in the tree, went back 35~40 feet and nailed it dead center. I don't think it would have made for a clean kill but it I'm sure it would have brought a bird down.

This brings me to the point, can you be sure of a clean kill with a slingshot with a lead ball?

Tony

mechanic · « **Reply #26 on:** June 04, 2013, 04:19:05 PM »

Tony,

Speaking only for myself, if I'm hungry I won't worry too much about a clean kill on a pigeon. If the first one doesn't fall I'll try again.
Ben

geezerbiker · « **Reply #27 on:** June 07, 2013, 05:30:27 PM »

I think you helped make my point. Unless I'm in a kill something to eat situation, I wouldn't try taking an animal with something that wouldn't give me a clean kill.

At this point in my life I can't imagine not having a gun, air rifle or bow to hunt with so I've given up on thinks like blow guns and slingshots to kill game.

Tony

Bugflipper · « **Reply #28 on:** June 13, 2013, 08:35:10 AM »

Quote from: mechanic on June 04, 2013, 04:19:05 PM

Tony,

Speaking only for myself, if I'm hungry I won't worry too much about a clean kill on a pigeon. If the first one doesn't fall I'll try again.
Ben

I imagine the mystical ficade of mother earth and thanking the animal spirits for their sacrifice wears thin when your ribs start showing.

pastorp · « **Reply #29 on:** June 23, 2013, 08:22:44 AM »

All this talk about hunting with sling shots bring back a lot of childhood memories. You all remember the old WhamO sling shots. Before I had money to buy one I would get scrap lumber out of my dads wood pile and cut them out of plywood if I could find it. I'd buy the rubers complete with leather pouch at the sports store.

Mike, the guy you probably got your slingshot from was Chief AJ. Nice guy. I have one of his slingshots as well as his adult BB guns.

All this gets me to thinking how a 50 caliber lead ball would work on a hog from a slingshot.

Maybe even a elephant if they ever open a season on them in Florida.