Need something quiet for ground hogs (PA)

I've killed a lot of critters over the years using various sized Conibears (the one in the pic was to show what it looks like), and the only critter I can remember that wasnt dead when I came back, was one possum (he was dead soon after though :) ). Never caught anyones pet either.
 
Last time I had enough time in PA to shoot some groundhogs I took 37 with a single shot Winchester .22 using Stingers. They almost always ran some even with very solid heart lung hits. Shots into the side of the head, even with grey matter visible often had them running and flopping a bit. Very few were stopped solid. VERY few. Dial in the rifle at the range you intend and put it in the ear. I weighed some of the big ones that summer, largest was a shade over 14 pounds. A .22 mag with hollowpoints works better.
 
Put a 220 Conibear over his hole. Guide his head to the wires by placing leaves, sticks, etc around the outside of the trap. He'll go for the light and push the wires.
 
A spring-piston airgun that's powerful enough for hunting has a large gas cylinder, many times larger in volume than a .22 Short case. This means that the pressure is maintained as the pellet goes down the bore. The residual pressure is still fairly high when the pellet exits the muzzle so they are fairly noisy, but still not as powerful as a .22 Short.
Click to expand...
A powerful springer will be pretty noisy, but a lot of the noise is mechanical in nature. There is residual pressure when the pellet exits, but not nearly as much as one might expect. The piston is usually rebounding from the front of the cylinder during that phase of the shot and it's often the case that there's so little pressure behind the pellet that you actually get higher velocities from a shorter barrel. Cardew's book has a thorough treatment of this subject.

Overall, firearms are a lot handier for dispatching pests, and with the right ammo they can be very quiet. Airguns are nice because they often skirt some legal issues and they have a much shorter lethal range. Even the lighter rimfire rounds can be dangerous for surprising distances while a conventional airgun pellet from a conventional airgun will be harmless after about 400 yards.

Killing something the size of a groundhog humanely will require very precise shot placement when using very light weapons like spring piston airguns or rimfires with low-end loadings.
 
Standard Velocity CCI .22lr is quieter than normal .22lr but not as quiet as CB Longs. My experience has been that the Standard Velocity rounds are very accurate but not sure if they have the pop you want for one shot hog kills.
 
My aunt uses .22 Longs in town on her 'hogs'. She stands inside her house so most of the noise and the muzzle stay inside. Neighbors have never mentioned loud noises. Hogs are D.R.T. (head shots) Neighbor keeps rabbits out of garden same way. In town, behind medical clinic & bank. Feeds them to his dog. Never heard any shots. Both w/bolt rifles by the way
 
Two summers ago I killed 11 ground hogs at our local city sewer treatment plant. The workers had been drowning them out and using pitch forks on them, which wasn't always successful. Out of the 11 animals killed only two got down their hole. I don't know if it was the lack of noise or the hit in the head that made the difference. Not all of them were head shots. The rifle was a 5 MM Spring piston Beeman R1. I didn't try my 177 caliber or my.25 caliber Beemans, the 5MM worked very well and isn't noisy.
 
Aquila has some 60 grain subsonics which ought to pack a bit more punch than the lighter subsonics. They may keyhole when fired through a standard twist rate.22 barrel (they seem happiest at 1 in 9"), but that shouldn't be a problem at the range you are talking about.

Nick
 
TOTALLY QUIET

http://www.get-revenge.us/molecontrol.html

RodentBomb4x.jpg



;)
 
Groundhogs are too smart for "Have a heart traps". Please disregard my earlier suggestion posted here. I did not take into consideration the legalities. I would suggest that if you live in a residential area that you do not use a firearm to kill a groundhog. Call a pro or put up a fence. It is not worth the risk.
 
Last edited:
CCI .22 short CB

I shot a ground hog this spring, within the city limits of a nearby burg. Old gentleman in church called, couldn't get any help to corral this garden raider.
I followed up, he was right. So I volunteered.

I found a box of the CCI .22 short CB's (the CB part is important, CB's are MUCH quieter than regular .22 shorts) and rezeroed my grandad's
.22 short only Win bolt rifle. A very rare rifle BTW, 1000 made.

First visit to town, the chuck obligingly appeared at about 20 ft. The little CB slug hit just ahead of the ear, and exited behind the other. He never twitched.
The shot was at a downward angle and the slug buried in the garden soil.

Old gent was sitting on the front porch, just around the corner. Never heard me shoot, nor the neighbors on the house porch adjacent. From a rifle length bbl, a .22 CB short is quieter than some pellet rifles.
 
Light a road flare, toss it in his hole and cover the hole with dirt. The flare burns all the oxygen and I've read on the internet that's important.
 
the 17HMR is very similar to a 22 as far as noise. If you buy the hollow points they are very good at killing ground hogs.

Some other people mentioned a cross bow, I think that would be very fun and they are very quiet with the right set up.
 
I don't really get the "quite" part. Who is it we're trying not to disturb? Certainly the ground hog wont care after you shoot him. And if we're trying not to disturb the neighbors, I would have to ask why? Are we discharging in a residential neighborhood?

Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top