# Urban...um... hunting?



## rabbitgal (Feb 12, 2005)

I moved to the Big City a few months ago and I'm a little shocked by the wide array of... um... small game available outside my apartment. I've never seen small game this large! And I can get close enough to all of them to hit them with a rock. 

So... my inner country girl has been thinking...

Is there a stealthy method of catching squirrels, cottontails, and pigeons that won't offend the neighbors? Live trapping perhaps?


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## Esteban29304 (Apr 29, 2003)

A small $30 animal trap will pay for itself , quickly. If neighbors are close , hide the trap in bushes & retrieve at night.


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## Ryan NC (Jan 29, 2009)

live traps and bows. Not sure about where you are at but here there is no regulation regarding hunting inside the city limits... There is a bunch of regulations about firing a gun inside the city limits tho. Heck we have an extra urban archery deer season now!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Try a sling shot. Rabbits are busy at night in our yard.

 Al


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Oh, at first I thought you meant "the other white meat"!

A nice pellet rifle would work well in a urban setting. Quiet enough that neighbors don't notice.


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## Scavenger (Jan 1, 2011)

A good pellet gun is worth the investment!


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## megafatcat (Jun 30, 2009)

Live trap or a relaxing snare. That way you can let em go and catch them again! Note, if you shoot or trap a rabbit, squirrel, etc you must have a license and do it during open season! With a live trap you can say that you were trying to catch fluffy who ran out the door yesterday, poor thing, and please have you seen her mykidsaresoheartbrokenandworriedandcouldyouhelpmeputupsomeflyers........ They will run away before giving you a ticket!


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## rabbitgal (Feb 12, 2005)

I like the way you people think. Seriously though, the critters here are so FAT. I've never seen such healthy squirrels. Pellet gun at oh.... 0500 or so oughta do the trick. No one's up that early.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Although if'n you do decide to "hunt" the neighborhood animals I'd be very hush hush about letting it be known. 
Them there bunnies, squirrels, etc may be "fat" cause they are being fed by yonder neighbors who enjoy just seeing them and their antics and may get highly upset if their "pets" started to suddenly disappear.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

As a boy, my friends and I were constant urban hunters. Slingshots in the heavy hedges in the parks for birds. Pellet rifles in the backyards for squirrels. Target bows and arrows in the fields by the tracks for pheasant and a trap line for rabbits. I always recommend a pellet rifle to my clients in the city and suburbs for unwanted wildlife visitors.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

You might want to make one of these and buy a baseball glove to catch them.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-d3rZZ-_M&feature=related[/ame]


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Tips for BYB, or BYS..(back yard bunny/back yard squirrel).

Pellet rifles are still pretty noisy, at least good ones.
Set up an indoor 'hide", turn up stereo, fire from "inside" the window, baiting helps to bring target into FZ.

Out door hides, plan egress routes, and weapon stashes, in case your position is compromised.

This actually work well with subsonic .22's, as well, but still to much collateral damage.
.....Lexus taillight lenses are expensive......"Be sure of your target and beyond".

I like the pump up w/multiple pumps, couple of pumps, BB's are lighter and do work, you don't need all that much to down Buggs, of course range is limited.

Although night vision is desirable (gotta get me one of those), a cheapo laser will light up an eye in the dark......Letting you know if it's a "bogie" or clump of leaves.

Practice, practice, practice, for shot placement is paramount, for a one shot, one kill.

P.S, one of those kid's small wood baseball bats, promotional type make a heck of a "throwing stick", my brothers weapon of choice.
After years of practice, deadly, would make a cave man proud.


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## rabbitgal (Feb 12, 2005)

My daddy was hunting squirrels in the city once and dropped one right in front of a passerby. Both of them go running up to the dead critter and the lady looks at him in shock, "What do you think happened to the poor thing? It just dropped out of that tree!"

Dad looked at her without missing a beat and said, "I think it had a heart attack. Did you hear that pop? That was his heart exploding!"

He never did get caught, although he once shot a BB into the window of the only cop in the complex. The guy looked at the BB hole in his double-paned window, looked at the BB still stuck between the glass, and didn't say a word.

I'm thinking a blowgun might be good... Almost no range to speak of, but it's so obvious if someone did find a dead squirrel.


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## zant (Dec 1, 2005)

Suppressed .22 with subsonic rds-if a bolt action,you may hear firing pin strike.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

We used a scoped crossman 760 powermaster shooting lead pellets. Ten pumps would drop a squirrel with a head shot. Our ambush was from inside a bedroom window early in the morning. Nobody saw or heard anything. Out to about 15 yards the accuracy was incredible.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

JJ Grandits said:


> We used a scoped crossman 760 powermaster shooting lead pellets. Ten pumps would drop a squirrel with a head shot. Our ambush was from inside a bedroom window early in the morning. Nobody saw or heard anything. Out to about 15 yards the accuracy was incredible.


That's what I use with only 3 pumps dropping rabbits with good shot placement.
I do just use BB's as they will feed from a magazine, helpful in the dark in one of my favorite "hides", front porch, at O dark-thirty.
Very quite even out side.


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

My neighbors would be horrified, but this thread has me smiling. 

One problem with live traps is you might catch skunks instead of bunnies.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

rabbitgal said:


> I'm thinking a blowgun might be good... Almost no range to speak of, but it's so obvious if someone did find a dead squirrel.


When I was a kid we hunted with blowguns and wire darts. They would nail a sparrow to the barn to slowly die. A rabbit almost couldn't be killed with one, even if the ad in the back of the magazine showed the shirtless he-man holding up a huge anteater and blowgun. 

Now they make broadhead darts and other trick setups, but it is still a slow killer unless the brain is hit. And a dart sticking thru the jaw of a suburban animal will get the attention of the local bored media, causing outrage and new laws and all sorts of trouble.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

If your good enough a wrist rocket works very well. I wasn't to good but my one friend was deadly. We'd go to the train yards and pick up pig iron that fell off the cars for ammo.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

I have been watching this thread with interest as a very rural guy! I have been blessed with an accurate rock throwing arm. I have knocked squirrels out of trees, pigeons off my sheds, and hit a coyote that was following me once, hard enough to make him whine and run away. I would suggest a pellet gun of a pistol variety though. Less chance to miss.LOL


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## Steve L. (Feb 23, 2004)

You guys are missing the most obvious answer.

Become a nuisance trapper. Then people will *pay* you to come to their yard, trap those bunnies and squirrels and take them away! :goodjob:


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Steve L. said:


> You guys are missing the most obvious answer.
> 
> Become a nuisance trapper. Then people will *pay* you to come to their yard, trap those bunnies and squirrels and take them away! :goodjob:


Yep. One of the guys that hunts black bear on me traps nuisance alligators in Georgia. Every year he brings a tail up for the "thank you" banquet for the landowners that let them hunt.


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## Danbo (Feb 2, 2011)

You are in an apartment, that puts other folks right up your rump. many municipalities have laws against shooting air rifles if you don't have more than X amount of land. Here it is an acre and I happen to have just over, so my garden grows meat and vegetables. The other problem is that city squirrels taste different than country ones. They tend to be garbage rats and therefore taste like it. I have deer that run through my yard weekly and all the neighbors said "oooo don't shoot those cute critters" untill all of their garden tomatoe plants were eaten down to the ground. sooo nock an arrow and sit on the back deck and make a precision shot. But if one of those bleeding heart PETA types sees me, I'm sure I'll be talking to the authorities.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

I'm kinda liking this set -up, not as expensive as a Star-lite scope.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/...pe-with-laser-light-combo-black.aspx?a=650812


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## Robbvious (Jul 23, 2010)

I've been using those really big old school wood board rat traps for squirrels for the last couple of years. Smear a little peanut butter on the trigger, and WHAP!, dinner's almost ready! They are easier to set than Conibear's and a lot cheaper than live traps. A chunk of carrot on the trigger will catch rabbits, too, but I've had better luck with tree rats.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Nailed the 10th rabbit since beginning of last fall. First 9 were females and were more or less sitting ducks for an air rifle. Last one decided to hang out near a patio deck and hop back under at first sign of danger. Got to where I could walk within 10' of it to get the rifle out of the garage but back under the deck before I could get a shot off. Outsmarted it this morning. Came out of the house with a .22 loaded with a CB short. Turned out to be a tough old male. Rabbit stew will be on the menu this coming week.

Martin


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