Unclean kill shots…😞

[Emu]

Another solution is using for squirrel size animals .25 or .30 Cal with JSB Hades. Even if your shot is not perfect, the damage will provide a soon finish.

I have taken rabbits with .30 and they do no move "at all".

 

[HogKiller]

I went out last Wed, strong wind from the North, I'd just did a 50 yard sight in, JSAR Raptor .25 with AEA Center Punch 33.9, , saw a Ground Squirrel on a fence rail, went over and got braced on a garbage bin, it was turning around so it 's back was to me, I was shooting 90º to the wind so a small compensation to the right, let it go and a SOLID THUNK, went over to grab it and.....it was gone, Darn things are wearing body armor, I swear they are.

 

[Trucker3573]

If you hunt it’s just part of the deal sometimes. I wouldn’t get down so quickly.

 

[mtnGhost]

Yeah bad shots are the worst. Had to chase a starling down that I clipped at 25-30y barefoot in my backyard to dispatch him. I was batting 1000 all week with my .20 Sheridan Blue Streak, getting most them at 40-50y and sniping their scouts from the top of my walnut trees. Fortunately caught up to him and dispatched him.

Clipped another one with my power tuned Leshiy .25 with a JSB Heavy, and I ran after him and missed from 10y. That disappeared in the brush afterwards.

The only PCP I have that puts them and the squirrels down 100% of the time on the first shot is my .30 Maverick.

 

[bckyrdsnpr52]

While the higher percentage of shots I take on small critters are DRT kills. There are days like today. After a seriously contentious day at work. I bagged three starlings, the first? A DRT lightning strike. The next? A solid thwack, but it glided until it crashed into the side of my barn. The third took two! Shots! And while they where still coming in to the suet cakes I backed off because I clearly was off my game.

Starlings are tough little birds,

 

[beerthief]

Thank you gentlemen for understanding…

Even on our "best day ever" behind the trigger , their is always that one shot that doesn't go exactly right .

 

[N2 Shooter]

I unfortunately have one to share, and it just happened yesterday:

 

[L.Leon]

@N2 Shooter, that was unfortunate, but you had to finish what you started… Many years ago as a teenager I had to shoot a raccoon multiple times, was sending CB Caps out of a 10/22 Ruger. Never forgot that bad experience and haven’t shot a coon since.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Had my experience with one yesterday. Hit it at an awkward angle shooting into the horizon during sunset. First time I ever pierced and ear. It appears to have give it a flesh wound, but it knocked it off of the branch and out of the tree. I heard a little rustling in the leaves. Figured it was dying. Then when I went to find it it was not in an area where I figured it would’ve fallen. I went back and forth a few times and then I hear something move in front of me. When I walked up I saw this big eye on this small squirrel looking at me. When I lowered the muzzle to put it up to its head the squirrel hopped up and started climbing another tree. I suck at close up shots and there had to have been 2 yards between us. It took me three shots with it playing ring around the rosies on the tree trunk before I put it down with a body shot to the vitals. I had to wait until it was high enough to create enough distance between us to use my 10 yard hold. It happens sometimes. This is the second time I’ve knocked one down with a shot and it climbed back up a tree. First time was with a Huben K1 shooting CPHP. I had to work to get that guy, but I got him. I didn’t feel too bad. It seems like he was stunned by that .25 pellet knocking him upside the head. It was too late to take time to see all of the damage done. I had just enough light to inspect the organs before washing and putting the carcass in the freezer. He was too small to eat by itself.

 

[ToddGeddes63]

Luis,
I know from reading your past responses that you are ethical in your hunting practices, and you value a clean kill. The fact that you posted your frustration is proof of that.

 

[triplem]

There was one shot I took on a squirrel way out near the end of my property line around 30yds, .25 Grizzly pellet in my TalonP. It looked like a clean headshot but as I went out to get the body I saw the squirrel still alive laying in a small pool of blood. It was still in the same spot I downed it at but when I looked closer the pellet basically got the very top of its noggin, and guess the shock was enough to not make it want to move. Quickly dispatched with a pocket knife I tend to carry around with me.

 

[coastal drifter]

If a squirrel 🐿 was 100 lbs Id never go into the woods because you could not kill it.. They have a WILL to live as good as any animal.. Think about it.. Every day they get up knowing it could be their last from predators above, below , and around.. You day consists of always being on guard.. ….

and raccoons are some tough critters too.