Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management weapon of choice for pond critter removal

I can't believe that not one person commented on my adjustable rest made from an old scissors jack. I was sure that would get some laughs!

Frog gig & spot light, red ryder bbgun, slingshot with marbles, and a plastic jar of p-nut butter was more like what I was thinking. Dang you guys are hardcore!! Admittedly I have not seen critters (beaver, offer, muskrat , geese, cottonmouths, blue heron, kingfishers, snappers, and tresspassers) yet in our new pond but anticipating their arrival soon. I'll polish up the ole .44 mag and find me some live traps and get ready.

Tony, no laughs here, that rest works pretty good! A guy around here made one and I used it a number of years ago.

I missed the jack because I was salivating about the gun. pretty neat idea.

I missed the gun too, nice!

Never seen a skunk , coon or yote that could withstand a 45 colt or 410 slug or buckshot.

It looked perfectly fine to me!

I have a couple of those Black Guns. Tons-O-Fun they are!!!

A couple 40 round clips here and there in rapid succession seems to keep the PITA neighbors close to home.

(It also did not hurt when the old man got his 3rd DUI and his oldest son got convicted of blowing up 11 mailboxes)

You people need to go to the range, you are embarrassing me. I carry a 40 S&W on my hip and I have an M-1 in the cabin if I need a little more range. If I need more rounds, I picked the wrong fight. If it picked me, I have backup .

i am glad you are such a good shot, however as Clint Eastwood said, " A man has got to know his limitations"

So it's between a .40 and a .30-06 for all your critter problems? Dang Brian, what do you swat flies with, an 8 foot 2x12?

Most problems around the pond can be solved pretty quickly with a decent .22 rifle with a scope on it. This takes care of raccoons pretty nicely. If you have bigger problems, like beavers, you may want to move up to a .223 or a .243 or something in that neighborhood.

Muskrats are almost impossible to shoot. They are best taken out with traps. Conibear traps are ideal for this. Drowning traps work. Snares can be good for them too if you know how to tie a good one.

If you want to cover all your bases I would just get a good .223 rifle and a bunch of conibears. Those two items will solve all of your pond problems...unless your problems include bears LOL.

Oh I wouldn't say that....

I have a Tarus revolver that fires 410 gauge and 45s .... I load one 410 and the rest 45s . The 410 shell is to clear my stair way thee rest is for killing wouldn't wanna be in that stairwell

You're right! My "short" range is about 100' from the back door to the house, the long range is about an hour or so away.
Gotta get this dialed in for 'yotes.


It shoots the cartridge on the left. The one on the right is a .308.


Here's the Kimber MachII. Sorry about #3 squirrel, THAT is the good side.....

I'm partial to this one.

Closest weapon, closest threat!

For the flies, I have the rubberband gun!

I like it!

Now if you could just get a picture of a cat in camo sniping squirrels with your Kimber, that would be one for the wall!

338?

Scott, you need to bring that Kimber down here in August and we'll go after some grey squirrels. Those fox squirrels in your photo look like they came over on the Ark with Noah, those things are huge! A grey is about 1/2 to 2/3rds that size, and super quick. They are a blast to hunt.

Ask Rex if muskrats are hard to kill, especially white ones made of PVC...

Muskrats are easy to hit with the 12 gauge and popping over the dam.

I prefer to have a neighbor trap out muskrats and beaver, but I have killed a few beaver and a lot of rats with a 22LR through the head while they are swimming. With a 22LR, you need to know what's down range because they can skip if you miss. I am quite a bit more successful using a rest compared with freehand. I was not naturaly a good shot, but I practiced and got some coaching from a competitive shooter. There are a number of techniques that can improve accuracy.

With a 22LR, you need to know what's down range because they can skip if you miss.



This is true of ANY round. And what needs to be beyond your shot is a backstop of some sort capable of containing errant rounds.

My understanding is that higher energy rounds are far less likley to skip on water, but I am no expert.

Depends on your angle of incidence. I skip .17 HMR's (ballistic tips) into WTs with many of my first ranging shots.

I have heard (but have no real evidence) that many rounds fragment, reducing there tendency to bounce. Is this true?