Well here in the PNW this time of year the spideys spread webs everywhere. I like to hunt/shoot them with a pellet rifle instead of knocking down their webs, squishing them or resorting to chemical warfare. I use my old Webly Hawk .177. I like to load the cheap "Walmart" WCs backwards and zero the sights to 5 yards. The spidey in the web sways with just the slightest of breeze and is a challenging off hand target. Of course I work around ensuring a safe back ground for the shot. The bigger, fatter spiders literally explode when hit squarely. Lots of fun for a lazy afternoon around the back yard. Got 5 big ones yesterday.

Anyone else hunt spideys?

Larry Gibson

that sounds like a ball!! what fun!! i need a new target for the rws i think you've me a plan.............. thanks..........

Why kill spiders

Obviously you don't want them infesting your home.
But if they aren't very poisonous and a threat, they are beneficial and necessary.

quote:

Originally posted by The Specialist:
Why kill spiders

Obviously you don't want them infesting your home.
But if they aren't very poisonous and a threat, they are beneficial and necessary.

So are most other "varmints". If you don't want to hunt spiders then don't. I do, that is why.

Larry Gibson

Why kill spiders? Don't think he is going to eat them live do you?

If it was a South American hunt with a blowgun then roasting them over a campfire, I'd have some respect.

quote:

Originally posted by The Specialist:
If it was a South American hunt with a blowgun then roasting them over a campfire, I'd have some respect.

You do that too?

Larry Gibson

Bird spiders are really good roasted....Have white meat in the legs - tastes like crab!

JW

Jeff Wemmer--Tastes like crab??? I thought all taste comparisons had to be to chicken.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Wemmer:
Bird spiders are really good roasted....Have white meat in the legs - tastes like crab!

JW

I'm going to start a new internet acronym "GOL"... Because when I read that, I said "Gross" so loud my engineer can into the office.

Sat in a bamboo grove and watched a huge wasp take on a huge tarantula...the wasp won and tried to fly off with it....couldn't so it dragged the tarantula off... I didn't know whether to fix bayonets or throw hand grenades...maybe not 'gross" but sure as hell scary! Would have been nice to have an air rifle then to deal with them but the air rifle wouldn't have been to good for who I was there to deal with. Such is life...always the wrong rifle.......

Larry Gibson

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Gibson:

Anyone else hunt spideys?

Larry Gibson

Never did the spidey thing.

But I've spent waaaaay too much time with my kids' Red Ryders running the lever at those big wood-boring bumblebees in the summertime. They hover just still enough that you can go about 1-for-4 or 1-for-5 on them in mid-air. Even a steel BB at 230 fps or so will explode one of the fat bastards quite spectacularly. Living in an old, wooden farmhouse provides me with a near non-stop supply of the varmints.

Larry, that huge wasp you saw was a tarantula hawk. They're almost completely black, and the biggest damn wasp you'll ever see. Sinister looking buggers, aren't they? You should sit and watch one sometime, as it's actually interesting to see them battle with tarantulas and sting them. Then, they deposit their eggs into the abdomen of the tarantula, which is still alive. As the eggs hatch and become larvae, they eat their way out of the tarnatula and become more little winged warriors.

I once spent an afternoon watching this battle in a blind over a waterhole where I was archery elk hunting. It helped pass the time. Unfortunately, when a big 6 pt. bull came to water and I drew my bow, I noticed something on my left shoulder. It was the tarantula hawk, dragging his tarantula up my sleeve. I just about sh*t when I realized they were headed for my collar, so I tried to smash him against a tree while still at full draw. The wasp stung me, I let out a shreak, the arrow went sailing into orbit on a trajectory similar to the space shuttle and that elk is probably still running for all I know.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Gibson:
Well here in the PNW this time of year the spideys spread webs everywhere. I like to hunt/shoot them with a pellet rifle instead of knocking down their webs, squishing them or resorting to chemical warfare. I use my old Webly Hawk .177. I like to load the cheap "Walmart" WCs backwards and zero the sights to 5 yards. The spidey in the web sways with just the slightest of breeze and is a challenging off hand target. Of course I work around ensuring a safe back ground for the shot. The bigger, fatter spiders literally explode when hit squarely. Lots of fun for a lazy afternoon around the back yard. Got 5 big ones yesterday.

Anyone else hunt spideys?

Larry Gibson

My friend has some woods on his property and we do the spidey thing as well during the late evening and "spotlighting" in the night. The only difference is that I use an IZH-46M air pistol.

I guess we don't want to mention wing shooting dragon flies over water do we?

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
I guess we don't want to mention wing shooting dragon flies over water do we?

Rich

Sounds like a ball!!

I've got this beautiful old Crosman 1100 in really nice working order and..........

You should shoot snails rather,they arent classified as Dangerous Game and they dont bite you when wounded!

quote:

Originally posted by lal:
You should shoot snails rather,they arent classified as Dangerous Game and they dont bite you when wounded!

Oh but we do....the really big ones that inhabit the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest Cascades and Coastal mountains. One has to be very careful with those as a pellet of proper construction is required in case one charges. The rogues are prone to charge especially when previously wounded or if they injured from a poachers snare.......they come in low and fast so if you dare go into the thick stuff to "sort it out" and must "stand the charge" then proper bullet placement is a must! Only thing that stops them is the frontal brain shot. A too high shot will be deflected off the "boss" and a serious sliming is the usual result. Serious busines this is......

Larry Gibson

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Gibson:
[ One has to be very careful with those as a pellet of proper construction is required in case one charges. The rogues are prone to charge especially when previously wounded or if they injured from a poachers snare.......they come in low and fast so if you dare go into the thick stuff to "sort it out" and must "stand the charge" then proper bullet placement is a must! Only thing that stops them is the frontal brain shot. A too high shot will be deflected off the "boss" and a serious sliming is the usual result. Serious busines this is......

Larry Gibson

I will volunteer to follow you into the bush on the trail of a wounded, rogue snail.

Initial testing (goofing) with my single-projectile loads for the Crosman 1100 show a very large caliber, very heavy projectile at modest veloctiy, producing snail-smashing K.E. numbers. Looks like it's destined to be a real stopper. A DGAR, so to speak.

I got your back.

Strut10

Good to know there are others who "understand".......

I welcome you on a hunt anytime.

Larry Gibson

This must be the only place on the planet where I can confess to having shot a few thousand frogs, salmanders and tadpoles with my trusty Daisy 25 without fear of being strung up.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikelravy:
This must be the only place on the planet where I can confess to having shot a few thousand frogs, salmanders and tadpoles with my trusty Daisy 25 without fear of being strung up.

Quite an accomplishment. You must be quite the hunter.

Ever try those brown, flying grasshoppers (the ones with the yellow wings) that show up mid-summer?? Not to ornery......no chance for a charge when wounded. So me & the boy go safari for them quite regularly.

The statute has tolled on my youthfull massacres, PETA probably would never forgive me anyway. No experience with grasshoppers. Took quite a few shots at dragon flies though. Can't remember if I ever got any.