Are squirrel a kin to wild boar?

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Bigragu

Bigragu

Member
Jul 8, 2018
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CA, United States
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Head shots on squirrels. All I’ve ever read and all I try to do as you all know these critters are tough beans. Well, today was no exception. I had the perfect shot. It’s as if time stood still and this squirrel wasn’t a twitching. He was facing me straight on perfectly, perched on a tree limb. I pop out my PRod, loaded with H&N Crow magnums, and the pistol is at speeds of 650 average. Distance- 15 yards.

Aimed right at the forehead, between the eyes. The thud noise was like one I’ve never heard when hitting these things. He did the typical back flip, hit the ground, ran up a tree stump about two feet, and I saw his mouth open up, eyes role back, and he was quivering as he fell backwards. Ok, I say, he’s down, just doing the “helicopter tail”as termed by AirgunHunter.



but, he jumps back on another tree, climbs up about ten feet, pauses to wipe his head and face off in an erratic motion like he’s got fleas on him. I load another one and go for the body and hit him, and all that did was cause him to shake that off and he proceeded to run up and disappear. Hate when that happens.

so, I go looking for blood or something, and found the pellet. It never went thru!! No blood to be found. Perfect mushroom of the pellet. Do these critters have some type of armor plate between fur and skull, like a boar, or do I need to up my velocities? I have never ever seen anything like this before in all my years popping these things.
 
Probably all of us have had this happen.. I know I have and I hate it when it does.. .. they are tough critters for sure.. Right between the eyes ain't the brain. Brain is just under the top of the skull.. Cut one up and see and you can appreciate just how small the brain is and its exact location.. Sounds like a low shot and messed up his sinus.. he may heal up or a predator will get him at some point in time. 


 
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I was bow hunting for white tails one day, when a squirrel camped out in my bait pile making the usual racket. Well I was going to show him who was boss. Swapped my broadhead for a field tipped arrow and skewered him to the ground. Shot hit high on the back, below the spine. Well he did the "curly shuffle" around that arrow and was REALLY making noise now. So, I had to go down and free him from his predicament. Pulled the arrow out of him, he ran up the nearest tree and proceeded to bark at me for the rest of the afternoon. Never phased him.
 
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I have said this many times more than I can count. Squirrels do not have armor plate and if you shot one in the head and it didnt die it was a bad hit end of story. There isnt a squirrel or rhino alive that will live after taking a shot to the brain that destroys the part of the brain that controls the animals life giving functions. Body shots on squirrels with an airgun except 40+ fpe will usually result in the squirrel running into a hole or cover and bleeding out where you cant see or recover them.

If you are claiming that pellet in the pic that looks like you beat it with a hammer hit a squirrel in the body and didnt penetrate but bounced off you are crazy. Theres no way that pellet struck a squirrel in the body becoming completely flattened from the energy it hit the squirrels body with and bounced off. Are you really trying to say thats what happened? Theres only two things that caused that much damage to that pellet. Either it hit the squirrel in the body like you said but the pellet didnt bounce off it completely penetrated and smashed against a hard backstop like the tree he was hanging on. The only other thing that could have caused that pellet to be damaged like that was a total miss and smacking into the tree or other hard object close to the squirrel. Theres absolutely no way that pellet struck with enough force on a soft side of a squirrel to cause that much damage but not penetrate. In fact on closer inspection of the photo it looks like wood stuck in the pellet. So again it either completely passed thru the squirrel and bounced off the tree trunk which sounds like the most likely scenario based on you saying it hit the squirrel or it missed the squirrel and just smacked into the tree trunk.
 
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LDP, I’m not so sure anymore
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I can confidently say the headshot was a bad hit. It happens none of us are perfect just learn from the shot placement and other factors when you do get bad hits. Thats all you can do. I can also confidently say that pellet didnt bounce off that squirrel. Theres allot of damage to the pellet so it hit something solid. Theres wood stuck in the pellet so it either completely passed thru or just missed the squirrel. I wouldnt be surprised if the pellet passed completely thru and the squirrel was able to make it to a hole or cover. Squirrels, deer, elk pretty much anything that walks and runs can cover decent ground while they bleed out. If the spine or front shoulders are not taken out the animal will most likely run until it bleeds out. Body shots on squirrels are dicy because they are usually close to a hole or cover. If you dont make a proper head shot, break the spine or front shoulders they will probably get to a hole or cover. 

You can increase the power and get to a point where the projectile hits the squirrels body with enough force to cause enough terminal shock to anchor the squirrel. If you like taking body shots you either need to increase power to get that kind of terminal shock or go for the shoulders and spine so the squirrel cant make it to cover. If you dont increase power or take away the squirrels mobility you will lose some of them with body shots. 
 
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I have said this many times more than I can count. Squirrels do not have armor plate and if you shot one in the head and it didnt die it was a bad hit end of story. There isnt a squirrel or rhino alive that will live after taking a shot to the brain that destroys the part of the brain that controls the animals life giving functions. Body shots on squirrels with an airgun except 40+ fpe will usually result in the squirrel running into a hole or cover and bleeding out where you cant see or recover them.

If you are claiming that pellet in the pic that looks like you beat it with a hammer hit a squirrel in the body and didnt penetrate but bounced off you are crazy. Theres no way that pellet struck a squirrel in the body becoming completely flattened from the energy it hit the squirrels body with and bounced off. Are you really trying to say thats what happened? Theres only two things that caused that much damage to that pellet. Either it hit the squirrel in the body like you said but the pellet didnt bounce off it completely penetrated and smashed against a hard backstop like the tree he was hanging on. The only other thing that could have caused that pellet to be damaged like that was a total miss and smacking into the tree or other hard object close to the squirrel. Theres absolutely no way that pellet struck with enough force on a soft side of a squirrel to cause that much damage but not penetrate. In fact on closer inspection of the photo it looks like wood stuck in the pellet. So again it either completely passed thru the squirrel and bounced off the tree trunk which sounds like the most likely scenario based on you saying it hit the squirrel or it missed the squirrel and just smacked into the tree trunk.
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Thank you 👍
 
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I do all my squirrel shooting with a standard 30 fpe .22, generally using the JSB 16 gr at about 900 fps. I have also killed them with a 12 fpe sping gun in .177. Honestly, I don't see much difference. Neither has enough velocity to create hydrostatic tissue damage, so you have to rely on a good hit. I've never lost a squirrel with a good hit anywhere from the heart/lung area up to the brain. There are, however, spaces in that area for a less-than-lethal hit, and sometimes it happens. No one is perfect with the rifle, and no rifle/pellet combo is perfect, flyers happen. The biggest variable is the critter. I read a description once of a squirrel as, "a tail tied to a bundle of nerves", not far wrong. A twitch by the target as you release the pellet can mean a complete miss, or bad hit. A hit anywhere south of the heart/lung area will almost always yield disappointing results. I have always believed, ethical shooters owe a clean kill to their quarry, even with varmints like crows and ground hogs. And ethics aside, it makes a more challenging shot. 
 
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