My Nov 2020 squirrel harvest using 17 hm2 rifle

[squirrel1]

Bagged 2 more this afternoon. Soon as the sun came out (was overcast), they went in.
Brings season total total to 354
Career harvest to 51,196

Experimented with bipod style trigger stick shootings squirrels out of my side by side. So far it seems to work good. Steadier than mono trigger stick.

Hickory nuts here are scarce now. Acorns and walnuts is where the action is. Not many walnuts though. Squirrels may leave due to lack of food. Nope not.

[squirrel1]

A good morning condition wise. Disappointed actually. Fired 6 times got 6 squirrels. Noggin hits. Four of these squirrels never moved a muscle after I shot. One may have thought they missed. After 20 seconds approx they fell out. This rifle setup I have is my cat’s meow for squirrels.
Brings season total to 360
Career harvest 51,202

[KRAZO]

Details on rifle setup?

[Technician1]

Originally Posted by KRAZO

Details on rifle setup?

read plus or minus 5k, lilja barrel, nightforce scope. im sure there is more i cant remember. o and a disciplined shooter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[squirrel1]

Originally Posted by KRAZO

Details on rifle setup?

The details.
Cz455 with synthetic sporter stock sanded out. So the Lilja varmint taper hm2 barrel fits. Yo Dave trigger kit installed. Cams tape on stainless barrel. Sling. I do have CZ synthetic varmint barrle stock as well. I think my gun shoots better with synthetic sport barrel stock though. Could be just me.
Night Force 2.5x10 NXS scope with IHR reticle.
This scope keeps weight down somewhat.
Is max 10x enough for somelonger shot squirrel shots?
With this scope and reticle yes !
Even using just 6x mag with this scope I can easily do headshot out to 65 yards(grey squirrels).
Fox squirrels you can add 15 yards easily. All the way to 80-85 yards.
See post below.
So how does my rifle shoot.
I shoot cci 17 grain vmax. At 75 yards typical 5 shot groups are 3/4” or less.Most groups are no bigger than 3/4” at 75 yards. Some are in the half inch arena too. I don’t think I ever really need to pull a brush down my barrel. Seems powder fouling is all that barrel collects. I just pull a couple patches every 100 shots or so. And the rifle purrs.
The trajectory of the round is what makes it terrific on squirrels when leaves are off. I do depending laser some shots. The ones out there at 90 yards plus. Have had very good success killing squirrels in the point blank all the way to 125 yards. Farther than 125 yards you gotta be on your game more and have little more luck. Bullet expansion becomes practically nonexistent past 125 yards (approx). I have killed quite a few squirrels in the 135 yard plus all the way out to 178 yards in calm wind conditions. Used triggerstick to do. A mono trigger stick. Makes it tough. Some folks may read this and say how can you even see a squirrel that far. Easy. In pastures with walnut trees. Where the squirrels travel into and away fromwalnut trees packing nuts.

So can a good shooting 22 lr rifle be used to harvest squirrel ps from close to around 80 yards? Yes. I have done. Need a laser and not all shots can even be lasered. Plus layering tskes more time. Squirrels don’t give you time all the time, actually very little of the time.
Guessing yardage using 22 lr. You miss by 5 yards at say 75 yards. Big time error in your shot. With hm2 (set up right) just hold on squirrel and watch what happens. It is like cheating.

I have used 17 hmr on squirrels with leaves are off. The problems with it are, too noisy- it rings my ears. You shoot and you can’t hear anything for 15 minutes. 17 hmr ammo more expensive. And it makes a bigger mess of squirrels overall on average. So packing 17hmr shot squirrels is real messy.

17 hm2 is imo the supreme squirrel round period!!

I have hunted squirrels a long time. And spent hours on end in woods.
My 1710 Annie has lost a friend (me).
It does shoot good.
And I harvested loads with it.
But when leaves are off it is a no brained which of my rigs give me huge advantage.
Now a bs shooting hm2 I wouldn’t have or use.

Not all my shots in squirrels are long ones.
And hm2 does good on closer shots too.
Me having hm2 with me and a squirrel is barking and sitting 65 yards. And I can see a clear shot with little wind. Good nite Irene.
In poorer hunting conditions (dry leaves) hm2 gives huge advantage over 22 lr when leaves are off.

With hm2 vs 22 lr one can intentionally play off the squirrels when leaves are off. Doing so will allow you to move some and not be spotted as easily. And squirrels may start to congregate more. And when you fire, the squirrels less apt to get scared. I do this quite a bit hunting in the afternoons using hm2 when leaves are off. Name of the game be able to see squirrel and be in likely doable range. I try to play off squirrels at least 70 yards.
Getting 70-90 yards from cluster of hickory trees makes for some nice target practice with hm2. Lol

This video, the hill in video I collected quite a few bushy tails last winter with hm2 rifle. All shots 65 plus yards too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vukAwR_ChM

[squirrel1]

Went hunting for a while.
Squirrels stirred some. Saw 4 but only got one shot at one squirrel. I lasered after the fact. 85 yards. Squirrel was on top of old stump when I plugged. Held below eye. Bingo! Scope at mere 6x. I was rested on dashboards of my cam am defender. First time I have raised windshield and tried. Usually shoot out drivers door off of trigger stick.

Brings season total to 361.
Career harvest to 51,203.

Ps
Is is my opinion you are better off shooting squirrels up hill vs down hill. Easier to see limbs and twigs. This squirrel above down steep grade.
I got scope on couple more but could see some twigs in flight path. Twigs harder to see too for me. I usually try stake outs looking uphill to almost flat. Not much flat land around me. Bottom land fields is about all.
In the mornings I stalk squirels.
In the afternoons under poor conditions use my side by side.
If conditions are good to excellent in afternoon I stalk. And may sit down periodically depending.
All this above when leaves are off.
When leaves are on I stalk mornings, midday and afternoons.

[squirrel1]

Went hurting yesterday for a while. Shot out one fox squirrel approx 85 yards out of top of monster oak. It lodged some 35 ft in the air in a smaller tree encroaching beneath big oak. Tried to shoot to dislodgeno luck. So won’t count that one.

Went today.
Had fox squirrel on hickory limb. Laser on tree flashed 111 yards light wind quartering into me. Dialed up .75 moa put rifle on bipod trigger stick, touched the trigger and squirrel ran. Shooting angle upwards estimated 25 degrees. Thought I missed and then I heard him fall out. He fell out 3 trees over from tree inshot him. Right behind shoulder, aimed more centrr mass mass and saw some obstructions in scope but said what the heck. Has no clear view of head. Nightforce scope at 6x. Squirrel on right in pic. Don’t think bullet went through him either. Blood just on one side of body after thorough inspection. Have a few friends I wish could have witnessed this shot on this fox squirrel. I can just think what they would have said beforehand. Like your nuts on bagging that squirrel. lol. I tell them what I have done with the rifle on squirels, I think they think I am BSing them though. Some showed one first hand a 111 yard squirrel shot in field and another at 95 yards. I made a believer out of him that day. Need to give some of the others some live demonstrations on live squirrel.
Next fox squirrel I lasered after the fact 62 yards on end of old log. Aimed at his head and went through his eye and out his ear on other side.
Grey squirrels stirring very little. They may be getting time to mate.

Brings season total to 363
Career harvest to 51,205

[22 man]

Originally Posted by RimfireFun

I think both the OP's many pics and personal journal of kills is pretty morbid. I also don't believe it's healthy.

As someone who has been attacked relentlessly by people on this site for the last 15 years for posting dead squirrel pictures and talking about keeping records for you, I have one thing This is a hunting thread and it is known that there will be pictures of dead animals and the fact is most are of squirrels, obviously since rimfires are the gun of choice. If you think squirrel 1 is morbid please do not look at my pictures in the Squirrel Hunters thread. KEEP UP THE PICTURES SQUIRREL 1

[gmd1950]

Yep Kinda' like walking into a Strip Club and then complaining about the naked women....

[squirrel1]

My only regret is not putting pics on here sooner. And talking about them. But back then I didn’t have equipment to be able to post pics here. Now it is easy to do.

Some folks may learn something’s by looking and reading here in this thread and future harvest threads.

Some younger wannabe squirrel hunters may find info useful. As far as tactics, equipment, etc.

I in now way wanted to offend anyone here within reason.
Like was said, this subforum pretty self explanatory.
You come in here you shouldn’t be surprised what you will find.

I love squirrel hunting. This morning all those cannons going off by way of the deer hunters. When they heard my midget hm2 fire they probably laughed. Like what in the world caliber is that person using to deer hunt with. Lol

Cheers
Stay tuned more pics coming. November is close to being over. So a Dec thread will be started by me soon.

While I am here.
What equipment do I recommend if one decides to use hm2 for squirrel hunting.

General
An optic that has finer crosshair yet is very viewable in lower light conditions. Thicker reticle would drive one to need higher mag like 12x plus. Finer reticle lower magnification settingS very useable. Big thing here is lower mag will let you see trigs, obstructions closer to you while you aim at squirrel. Weight of scope should be considered. Scope weight = or less than 21 ounces is my recommendation.
Camo tape your shiny stainless barrel if applicable. Don’t camotape a non stainless barrel !!
A side note here.
I have used a lot of blued non stainless barreled rimfires over the years. Guess which one’s bluing has held up the best through all the rain and snow I exposed them to? My Anschutz 1710. I don’t take extreme care of my rifles either. Not like some folks.
A knife
A way to pack your quarry.
A way to pack ammo quietly. Those hornady and cci boxes rattle a lot. Unless you modify. Like I do.

Leaves on. Just go shoot squirrels. Range more limited due to visibility. But those 50-60 yard shots can come up. Real easy with good shooting hm2. Real tall shoooting stick, lot taller than the trigger sticks on the open market.

Leaves off.
Recommend laser range finder. Magnification at least 6x. This is what I use.
I do have another that is 4x. Harder to judge what you are lasering in the woods. In the limbs, etc. but the nice thing about this laser is it has angle reading displayed for incline or decline. I still like my 6x better in woods for squirrels. But using my other laser with angle readout has educated me on how to estimate shooting angles. Shooting angle will drive your trajectory somewhat, especially on longer shots.
Trigger stick.
Can be mono or bipod.
Tripod would be too cumbersome imo yet I haven’t used one.
Bipod for longer shots sure fells good to me.
Shooter will still need to hold steady in the back of the gun. Trigger stick won’t cure bad shooting skill habits!!

In the rain or snow.
You need scope covers.
Good idea before you use your scope in these conditions to clean your lenses well (properly). Just in case you have to wipe your lenses while afield. And I always use the Zeiss lens cleaning pads in the field (lightly) if I need to.
One needs to have some forethought and allow room under objective of scope for scope cover fit.
I use the Nightforce oem covers on my rig.
I don’t like the flip up butter creek scope covers.
Keep scope lenses dry as possible when hunting in the rain or snow. Keep inside of covers dry as possible too. You get internals of covers wet and put back on scope you will get fog super high percentage of time. Even is scope is deemed fog proof/waterproof!!
I am stating this info as first hand experiences.
It would be hard to find a person in USA that has more time (hours) outside with rimfire with scope in rain and or snow than myself.These times btw usually are when the bushy tails are extremely active outside their dens.
One of those smaller darker colored umbrellas can come in real handy too. Trust me. One that will fit in my trouser side pockets. For heavier rain or threatening rain conditions.
Tomorrow may be one of those rainy days I hunt if wind is not high. We’ll see. Some snow possible too.

My wallet is kept in quart ziplock freezer bag in one of my trouser side pockets.
Ammo is kept in one pint ziplock in front jacket pocket.
Don’t forget to keep keyless remote auto door opener dry if you have one.
I take an ample supply of Zeisss lenses cleaners with me too. They are in sealed packets. Purchased at Wally World. Btw Wally World has another brand stay away from. They don’t dry as fast or hardly at all in damp conditions. Think they are called nice and clean. Garbage really for my needs. Been there and done that.
Use them to wipe my glasses if I need to.
Wipe scope lenses.
And wipe internal of scope covers if they get wet.
When raining lightly I keep objective cover on until I get ready to bust quarry. Remember rifle is slung so eyepiece is inverted and not exposed to rain. In heavier rain I keep both ends of scope covered.
I don’t have to physically remove my Nightforce covers to shoot. You raise front and lower the back one. When installed correctly these covers don’t leak. My experiences with butler creek is they leak.

[RCoop]

Good info there!
I'm just jealous that we got no limb rats over here in the high desert.

[22 man]

Originally Posted by gmd1950

Yep Kinda' like walking into a Strip Club and then complaining about the naked women....