Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Why Didn't This Squirrel Die? (Graphic)

Hello,

There was a fox squirrel out chewin' on the apple tree's buds.

Even though they're about two months out of season, we have deprecation laws, just have to report the taking to a C.O. within 24 hours (done).

Anyway, I ran and grabbed my .22 rifle, and found the thing heading toward the garden, about 50 yards away. So I braced against a tree and shot it through the head.

I went in, put my .22 up, and went back out to take pictures for the C.O.

Here they are, thumbed, so you can get the kiddos out of the room. Just click on the pics:


The bullet entered above the left eye.


As it expanded, the bullet blew out the forehead.


Exit through the right eye.

However, when I got to this critter, it was still alive, trying to sit up. When I went to stand on it (remember, no .22 any longer), it tried to fight me. I was able to kick it over and stand on its ribs to stop its breathing.

I do not understand how the squirrel could have survived like this. Both the frontal lobes would be pretty much, mush.

And the fact that I took my time getting the rifle put up and finding my camera - well, it was alive for about 15 minutes before I got out there.

I've never had this happen before. I'm starting to think my squirrels are bionic!

As well, it occurs to me that this could be a model for the combat shooter: If a 2lb squirrel took a comparatively large hollowpoint round through the head, and was still able to fight, what does that say about a human's ability to fight after taking a relatively small round to the head? I guess even CNS hits fail to stop now and again.

Has anyone else experienced this type of thing? I think I may go back to heart shots...

Thanks,

Josh <><

The squirrel is a registered Democrat. His brain was already mush, the bullet hit nothing vital.

I've saw a few do this, happens pretty often with perrifeheal (my spelling sux), anyway hits around the fringes of the brain. seems it disables them but doesn't impart enough shock on the CNS to kill them.
The first year I used my 17 HM2 for squirrels I had 5 out of 17 like that, all head shot.
RR

a copy paste of a post on this same topic on another forum

OK, I really like to hunt squirrels, it was my first hunting experience and I greatly enjoy it. now a little background on the subject. As a kid the only acceptable weapon for squirrel hunting was a shotgun, the guage depended on your level of recoil tolerence, about 1975 I started using a rimfire 22 LR as you all know was "all there is". over the years I took hundreds of the tree rats with a 22 LR, in that time once I shot a very nice mellanistic (black) grey squirrel, in the head. got it to the house and it wasn't dead, totaly incapacitated but not dead, in a vegatative state you might say, would kick and thrash when you touched it.
Since it was a rare black one and I wanted to have it mounted I just let it expire, took a couple hours, thats the only time that happened with a 22 LR.
Last year around christmas I purchased a savage mark II LH in 17 HM2, mounted a 4x16 V series weaver on it with a .25 MOA dot, shoots like a house afirehave shot 5 groundhogs with the lil rifle, one at 148 yds, and 2 date I have killed 18 squirrels with it, now out of those 18, there were 4 all headshot, that were totaly incapacitated but not dead, yesterday shot one broadside through the eye, came out the other eye and he just ran off 40 yds and set down, I dispatched him but can't for the life of me figure out how he survived the initial impact? anybody else seen this? any comments? sorry for the long post
RR

You think that was neat you outta try having one in your backpack coming around after thinking he was dead......lets just say my backpack took quite a beating that day between the 2 of us.