First ground squirrel body recovered

[qball]

What slugs are you using and at what velocity? I’m surprised that you have so many crawl away. You may be getting minimal expansion on those slugs and that’s why they aren’t being killed quickly. At one point the NSA 24.8 grain slugs worked like lightning bolts on ground squirrels for me at about 950fps. Then NSA must have made a change and now they won’t expand at all. Still very very accurate though in my Crown MK2. In my Panthera the H&N HP2 30 grain .22 slugs are again like little lightning bolts when they hit squirrels; also at about 950 fps. They literally kill the squirrel almost instantly with solid shoulder hits. Even when their hole is just a couple feet away they never make it.
Kenny

I’ve hit them with 34.9 grain at 950fps but probably 700fps by the time it gets there at 200 yards. I stalk them with my impact shooting 23 grain at 940. I’ve even hit them with 50 grain at 920 and they all limp back. Granted they are unlikely to be idea shots but they were hit really hard in the vital but man are they tough. The property we go to they won’t let use get closer than 100 yard in the orchard and 160 yard by the open road/berm so ideal shots are really hard.

So just converted my 700mm impact to .25 so I can wack them with 34.9 grain @950 even at closer around 100-150 yards. Bigger hollowpoint should drop them a bit better.

 

[qball]

What type of ground squirrels are in your area? They vary in size and I would imagine tenacity. My local ground squirrels which are columbian ground squirrels can get pretty good sized and can be tough as nails. I hit one with a .223 that hit him mid body at about 50 yds away. I was using open sights on an AR- 15 so not a precision rifle I normal do ground squirrel work with. Blew his guts out and he ran 20 yds or so dragging his entrails behind him and into a burrow.

Dang! Ones here are pretty tough too. We found one my friend shot and it was laying there suffering so I put a 34.9 grain slug through its vital at 3 yards and didn’t do much. Then another through its head and it just kept on twitching. Finally we stomped its head with a big stick and and took a few hits before it finally stopped moving. Crazy tough critters. They do a ton of damage at the property so we are there to kill them however we can, still don’t want them to suffer unnecessarily but they sure make it tough being so alert and tough.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Dang! Ones here are pretty tough too. We found one my friend shot and it was laying there suffering so I put a 34.9 grain slug through its vital at 3 yards and didn’t do much. Then another through its head and it just kept on twitching. Finally we stomped its head with a big stick and and took a few hits before it finally stopped moving. Crazy tough critters. They do a ton of damage at the property so we are there to kill them however we can, still don’t want them to suffer unnecessarily but they sure make it tough being so alert and tough.

Might have to step up to 357!

 

[Ta-Ta Toothie]

Dang! Ones here are pretty tough too. We found one my friend shot and it was laying there suffering so I put a 34.9 grain slug through its vital at 3 yards and didn’t do much. Then another through its head and it just kept on twitching. Finally we stomped its head with a big stick and and took a few hits before it finally stopped moving. Crazy tough critters. They do a ton of damage at the property so we are there to kill them however we can, still don’t want them to suffer unnecessarily but they sure make it tough being so alert and tough.

I had a few possums at a previous place that refused to die. Multiple shots though the head and kept on going.