Good job! My wife has taken a couple of deer but is still looking for her first hog. She usually lets me shoot them.

Hey TCEncore hows the damage on those squirrels with the 17 Hmr. Does it ruin much meat? Or are you sticking with head shots? Just curious cause I was thinking about getting one for squirrel but was worried it would really stick it to the squirrels.

Mike

Eterry - I grew up hunting cat squirrels on the Neches bottoms between Palestine & Rusk - the old Temple-Inland land that was a Type II area for a while. We had one place that we called the "big bottom" off the state railroad that had some really big old water oaks and overcup oaks that was consistently good for squirrels, at least up until they logged off all the surrounding timber.

Hitting cat squirrels with any 22 requires patience, an ability to rapidly acquire the squirrel in the scope, and a good hold for the brief time he's sitting there. I usually try to get a rest.

I don't cook & suck the brains - I just eat the front & back legs and the backs.

Mike72 -

the 17 HMR blows up the head or chest cavity. I usually try for head shots, but I also usually throw away any really damaged (shot-through) shoulders, anyway. Whether its shot with a 22 LR, 22 WMR FMJ, or 17 HMR VMAX.

head shots with the 17 HMR blow out the other side of the head. chest shots with it make a really big hole too. One I shot with the 17 HMR pistol entered the chest and exited the back. Holes in the skin were both relatively small, but when I went to skin it out, it tore in two.

here is what you expect when the 17 HMR VMAX meets up with a squirrel's head:



Troy

Here's a tip learned over several years of pistol hunting for squirrels, both fox and cat, but predominantly cat.

Use a .38 wadcutter in your favorite whatever.

A .22 LR in pistols doesn't have quite enough uuumph (technical term) for sure kills on head shots if you hit them a litte too far forward, or somethimes back as well, and who wants to see a wounded squrrel run off?

After losing a few that way, I switched to a .38 Wadcutter in a scoped Python and never lost another squirrel. Of course, no doubt, if you just hit the tip of his nose, he'll still get away, but it gives you quite a bit more leeway AND IS SAFER THAN a .22 due to its aerodynamics.

Squirrel hunting with a pistol is fun, but cat squirrels will teach you patience or you'll quit, especially if the leaves are still on the trees very much. I only killed a limit of 8 once or twice, but really, about 3 or 4 is all I want to clean at a time anyway. Hell, I'd rather clean a deer than 8 squirrels.

Thanks for the pic.. ouch..

Re: your comment about the 120 X bullet being stopped by the spine/hide. I am amazed at what the spine and supporting musculature do to bullets, even super bullets like X's and FailSafes.

I have a buddy who whopped a whitetail buck in the neck with a 180 Partition from a .300 Winch at a distance around 100 yards. The neck was broken and the deer died, but the bullet was stopped cold.

I've heard similar stories from other folks. The neck can be a tough item.

BigIron

I got the 17 HMR pistol at first to mostly carry when I was deer hunting. Xmas, I went out and ran out of 22 WMR bullets for my Contender Carbine, so carried the 17 HMR in pistol form. I actually did pretty good - 2 the first afternoon, and 3 the next morning. I was hitting about 50% with it. But you're right about the patience thing. Had I been using the Carbine, I'd have probably killed about 2x as many (if not more) mostly because you can acquire them in the scope so much faster than with the pistol scope. With the pistol, many times I had a squirrel almost lined up and ready to shoot when the little bugger would move (as cat squirrels always seem to). But it was lots of fun!

Troy