Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Hunting them with a shotgun

The gray squirrels never stay still enough for me to get a shot with my .22. My old eyes need a shotgun.

57 years ago I graduated from a 410 single shot to a 12ga semiauto. For 20 years that was my my only gun, then deer became abundant around here and squirrel hunting became a thing of the past. Now at near 70, I've hung up the rifle and gone back to my first love.

Winchester makes a load perfect for my old Winchester mdl 50. Barrel is marked mod but with their small game/upland load it shoots a tight full choke. Load is 1220fps, with 1 1/4 ounces of #5's. Product # is X12P5.

You shotgunners, give'em a try.

I still prefer a .22, but just picked up my first .410, a Savage 220, a couple weeks ago. This will let me safely take shots at ones in the trees. Also be a good rabbit gun, IF I ever see one outside of my yard.

I have taken out my Ithaca M-37 20 guage a couple of times this season. It has a fixed full choke and I was shooting trap with it a lot this summer. It works really well on squirrels and rabbits.
It was nice to get it out into the field after a lot of range time with it.
I still like rifles the best when it comes to squirrel hunting.

I like a .410 or 20 with 8 or 9 shot. I set my double up with IC and full tubes.

#8 or #9 shot? No way I'd want to pick out or eat all those tiny lead pellets. After skinning squirrels over the years with a #6 pellet stuck just under the hide that failed to penetrate fully into the muscle, I can't imagine that much smaller shot would have enough penetration at longer ranges. And at closer ranges I can't see loading the meat up with all those itty bitty pellets. I think #5's are a really good compromise between pattern density and penetration/energy for longish shots.

At close range I always aim a little in front of the head. Doing this I find very few pellets in the meat.

Always did like #5 shot in 12 or 16 Ga .

Yes...