Favorite "around the yard " rifle

[baymule]

I don’t carry out in the yard. We don’t have bears, our place is totally enclosed in non climb horse wire, 4’ tall. We have 3 LGDs that keep coyotes away. Barring a cougar showing up and snacking on 4 dogs, I don’t feel threatened. People who know us open the front gate and drive in. Those that don’t stay on the outside and honk their horn. Some people who know us still won’t try to get past the dogs.

 

[flowerbug]

Very true. However a wise man once told me buy a gun until you have one for every window in your house. When you get that done buy a house with more windows! A gun will always put food on the table..

i can put meat on the table with sunflower seeds and the live trap if i really wanted to do that. no weapon needed other than a sharp knife. the beans at the moment are about as big as i want to get when it comes down to game hunting... we have a lot of animals here that visit and munch on the gardens that are not fenced well enough yet.

i have a .177 cal air rifle which i use for some varmints, but i am continually trying to change the fencing and rest of the site here so that i no longer have to hunt them to control the populations. our main varmints are deer, groundhogs, rabbits, chipmunks and raccoons, but i don't mind the raccoons at all because they do no damage to anything we grow (or they haven't in a long time other than eating some buckwheat sprouts/seeds this past summer when i tried to grow them as a cover crop)... the grackles i discourage because Mom hates them. we have had flocks of 25-50 birds of them here nesting at times and that is just crazy.

we have seen feral, semi-feral or neighbors kitties around hunting mice and such so i do not shoot at them ever. they are helping out. they often leave the property with something in their mouth if i see them. since we had one hanging out later this summer i've seen a notable difference in chipmunk and rabbit numbers. we now have a few chipmunks running around with full cheeks stashing things away, but i've not been able to get a good bead on them. they are not sitting still and eating like they would when it was warmer. sorry li'l guys but just cannot let all of you live here if we want any sanity. one season i trapped over 50 chipmunks in a few weeks time they'd gotten so many.

with the project i am working on now it will reduce hiding spaces for a lot of creatures so that will save me a lot of time wasted hunting or trying to hunt or worrying about dead animals getting under there and having to smell them for months... when digging out the ditch i found evidence of only one groundhog skeleton under there so i was very surprised by that. i guess they either did get away or something else ate them before they rotted.

if i shoot anything i say i'm sorry and then i bury it in a garden (same with road kill out front). i don't want to kill any animal if i can help it, but if it does have to happen i want it to be quick and with regret. to me it is a failure in our fences (which i cannot completely fix as i am not the property owner and some changes Mom does not want to make).

like the lawn mower, the air rifle is one thing i will not miss when i can stop using it. plans will be made when i can do either or both. celebration too.

i should say that almost everyone around us owns and uses firearms regularly. i'm not worried about any problems from the cities if the zombie tacolips ever happens.

i am myself not a violent person and all that, but don't mess with Momma or i'll take you down without a blink or regret if i can get my hands on ya... i've had enough martial arts to know which side of your face i'd need to push in the dirt. just sayin' lol... (read that all with a Yosemite Sam accent )...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

But, by the same token, cash can put food on the table. My ex-husband fancied himself a gun collector and bought guns to the detriment of our family. No one in life NEEDs 100+ fire arms. Wants and needs are different.

 

[baymule]

I have the firearms I need. I would like to have a 22-250, that is a sweet rifle. I just don't have a need to carry one around the yard. I don't have a problem shooting an animal for food or one that is destroying my property. I like to hunt, but my husband isn't a hunter, so it goes. I miss deer hunting.

 

[flowerbug]

I have the firearms I need. I would like to have a 22-250, that is a sweet rifle. I just don't have a need to carry one around the yard. I don't have a problem shooting an animal for food or one that is destroying my property. I like to hunt, but my husband isn't a hunter, so it goes. I miss deer hunting.

@baymule you are welcome to come take a nice vacation in the north and hunt all the deer you care to get a license for. i'm not even sure what those limits are any more, but we sure get plenty of them here. you know that though...

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I keep bringing up the idea of raising a pig or two... or possibly a goat or two to hubby. The pigs would churn up a fallow area and turn it into good garden with very little work from me. And, they'd provide good meat! The goats would mow down the brush between cultivated lawn and woods, and they would destroy the rampant poison ivy... with very little work from me. That would clean up a lot of tick habitat. Some how, he doesn't share my enthusiasm for farming.

I'd love to have a deer jump into my freezer. However, when I aim to kill, I rarely hit the target! Nor do I think I have the stamina or desire to learn to hunt without a mentor to guide me every step of the way.

 

[baymule]

I keep bringing up the idea of raising a pig or two... or possibly a goat or two to hubby. The pigs would churn up a fallow area and turn it into good garden with very little work from me. And, they'd provide good meat! The goats would mow down the brush between cultivated lawn and woods, and they would destroy the rampant poison ivy... with very little work from me. That would clean up a lot of tick habitat. Some how, he doesn't share my enthusiasm for farming.

I'd love to have a deer jump into my freezer. However, when I aim to kill, I rarely hit the target! Nor do I think I have the stamina or desire to learn to hunt without a mentor to guide me every step of the way.

There is nothing like home raised meat!

 

[baymule]

I don’t carry out in the yard. We don’t have bears, our place is totally enclosed in non climb horse wire, 4’ tall. We have 3 LGDs that keep coyotes away. BARRING A COUGAR SHOWING UP AND SNACKING ON 4 DOGS, I don’t feel threatened. People who know us open the front gate and drive in. Those that don’t stay on the outside and honk their horn. Some people who know us still won’t try to get past the dogs.

Let me EAT those words! We have a cougar in the neighborhood, it killed 5 goats a mile from us just a few nights ago. This evening a neighbor whose place backs up to ours, heard a cougar scream nearby. I need to get something out and keep it handy. I don't like this! My friend and guy we buy hay from, has lived here all his life and said it's been 6 years since a cougar was making problems around here. His Dad was also raised here and said there used to be more of them, they lost livestock to them.

 

[baymule]

I had a 22-250, Remington with a bull barrel. It was a sweet rifle. I would like to have another one.

I am right handed, but shoot left handed. Some day I'd like to shoot a left handed rifle.

 

[livinglandnz]

With the gun laws here in canada we are not allowed to carry handguns on our person. We can have them and need a permit to transport it from your home to the range.
On the homestead I always have a 22, a 303 and 12 gauge ready just in case. We have mink, lynx, coyote/wolf hybrids and now black bears in our area. I have a 22-250 on my wish list.

Got to love the old 303, my first rifle when I learnt to hunt deer.