It's on like Donkey Kong!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Granny (my wife) has been busy this summer, she's potted various tomato, pepper and other plants in the house as well as bringing home large plants from her nursery for early tomatoes, peppers, etc. She now has a fairly large garden growning on our patio at the back door. Her plan has been to grow enough tomatoes, etc to not only supply us until late fall, but all of our children/grandchildren living within reasonable distance.

But trouble has started. A tree rat aka a grey squirrel has managed to get into her tomato plants not once, but twice now. They first knocked over one of her larger plants, which she set back up. But the worst has now happened, they managed to kill one of the "baby" seedling plants that was healthy and vital, as she calls it. Granny is mad as fire and wants those "darn squirrels" eliminated now! It's on like Donkey Kong she says, they've violated some unwritten rule with her about not harming her plants. She wants to know what I'm going to do about it.

Luckily, a month or so back, I hired Mountain Air guns to fine tune a QB 78 Deluxe in .22 caliber for maximum performance. I received the air rifle, but due to some other demands at the house, haven't been able to get to it, scope it (Can't see the iron sights well enough any more, dang I hate getting old.) and zero it. I did manage to buy pellets/CO2 cartridges and try the rifle out and it smokes from a velocity standpoint from what I can tell, so I'm sure it'll be a great tree rat zapper.

My original plan was to use it to reduce the burgeoning and unhunted squirrel population in and around my house. There's a stream back of the house and lots of nuts for the squirrels to eat and they're out of control all over the place.

Things have come to a head this week, when they invaded Granny's space and killed one of her plants, so I have a scope on order, should be here day after tomorrow and I'll have to get busy and produce results quick before Granny gets out her CZ .22 bolt action rifle with scope and handles it herself.

[AlaskanGuy]

Lol... Nice... I will be watching for pics.....

[starmac]

He He , even a squirrel should know better than mess with anybody called GRANNY. lol

[mikeym1a]

I get the picture of Jed's granny in mind!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I get the picture of Jed's granny in mind!

I hate to admit it, but my wife grew up in a very small mountain community in Western North Carolina called Smith's Cove, near Asheville, NC. Her mother actually looks and talks a lot like Jed's Granny.

[CastingFool]

While getting the tree rat with an air gun may be a lot more fun, I would set out a couple of live traps. they are on duty all the time, while you are getting other things done.

[PbHurler]

Mmmmmmmm, fried squirrel with biscuits & squirrel gravy!

[prsman23]

Setup a defensive perimeter. I'm thinking barbed wire, hedgehogs(not the animal) and possibly claymores. Shhhhhh is about to get real. Best of luck soldier.

[Smoke4320]

Setup a defensive perimeter. I'm thinking barbed wire, hedgehogs(not the animal) and possibly claymores. Shhhhhh is about to get real. Best of luck soldier.

Whirl a squirrel with Punji sticks underneath and punji stick tree swatters .. couple squirrel on a stick around their hangouts might help

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Mmmmmmmm, fried squirrel with biscuits & squirrel gravy!

Man that sounds good. But I'm not sure if squirrel is a good idea this time of year in Northeast Georgia or not. We have to get rid of the pests and I was hating the idea of wasting the meat, but not sure if it's safe to eat or not.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

While getting the tree rat with an air gun may be a lot more fun, I would set out a couple of live traps. they are on duty all the time, while you are getting other things done.

Acquiring traps in this area is next to impossible. I'm not sure they are even available. But there's so many squirrels out there right now, lots of targets of opportunity, all of them fat and happy.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Whirl a squirrel with Punji sticks underneath and punji stick tree swatters .. couple squirrel on a stick around their hangouts might help

That thing has to be hilarious to watch in action.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Setup a defensive perimeter. I'm thinking barbed wire, hedgehogs(not the animal) and possibly claymores. Shhhhhh is about to get real. Best of luck soldier.

We've already added mulch on the plant buckets to disguise the plants some. I am likely going to "snipe" out of one back window we have the screen has been lost from. Less likelihood of the "liberal, very heavy, very short haired female" couple living next door seeing me that way. The cop on the other side, I'm less worried about, even though she's female, she's very friendly and seems down to earth, plus the squirrels make her dog nuts.

[prsman23]

I've done the sniping out of the back window with much success.
Hippies have no idea. Squirrels suddenly get under control. A good plan. I don't have neighbors behind me so no worries about hitting anything other than trees with my pellets.

[MBTcustom]

Think about an over sized bug zapper with an ear of corn instead of a black light. When you see the lights go dim, grab a plate!

[Dan Cash]

Acquiring traps in this area is next to impossible. I'm not sure they are even available. But there's so many squirrels out there right now, lots of targets of opportunity, all of them fat and happy.

Sportsman's Guide has live traps amongst others. I am sure you have a Tractor Supply Company in your area; they too should have said instruments.

[aspangler]

When Momma's not happy, ain't NOBODY happy!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Sportsman's Guide has live traps amongst others. I am sure you have a Tractor Supply Company in your area; they too should have said instruments.

Not interested in traps.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Think about an over sized bug zapper with an ear of corn instead of a black light. When you see the lights go dim, grab a plate!

Wow, instant fried squirrel. Only negative is no bacon grease or lard involved.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Scope came in today and I put it on, tightened down the screws equally and started the process of sighting in the scope. I haven't shot in a long while and I could really tell it. My shooting muscles were not nearly as stable as they were a few years back before I started taking care of my Dad, but got better a little as the session wore on, though it slowed me down.

I got started late by the time I built a target box out of cardboard/magazines/etc and got it set up at 10 feet for the initial adjustment. So about the time I started holding good enough to finish the scope at ten feet and move to 30, I ran out of most of my light. So decided to throw up a quick group and see where I was at.

Group was 2" high, clustered together nicely and about half an inch left. I'm pleased with the group and feel comfortable I can improve that once I've shot a bit more to get the rust off.

Right now, I'm pretty pleased with this QB78 and the little bug buster scope I put on it. I'm glad I followed the recommendation of this scope from Pyramid Air.

Tomorrow, I'll finish sighting in at 30 feet and consider if I need to shoot out any further to get a feel for where the pellets arc is. It's obviously still rising at 30 feet, so I'd like to know where it starts to fall so I know where to put a point of aim up to 60 feet (30 yards) away. That's about the extent of coverage I need to have to defend Granny's garden from the evil attacking tree rat hordes.

BTW, Granny kept a close eye on the proceedings, especially the final group. She is deadly serious I take down some of those squirrels. My fear is she'll get her CZ 452 with the monster scope on it and start taking the little dudes out. She's deadly with the rifle, but I think the noise will have the fat short haired liberal female couple up in arms for sure.